For the first time since 2007, eight Big 12 players rushed for at least 1,000 yards in 2016. However, D'Onta Foreman of Texas was the only one to rank in the nation's top 30 in rushing.
Even with Foreman, Texas did not rank among the top 15 teams nationally in rushing average (17), nor were they even the top rushing team in the conference. That was Baylor, who rode Shock Linwood and Terence Williams to 241.8 yards per game, 14th in the FBS.
MORE: Who Will Lead the Big 12 in Sacks in 2017?
Linwood is gone but Williams is back. Can the Bears' junior claim the Big 12 rushing title in 2017?
Here are the five most likely candidates to lead the conference in rushing this year, ranked:
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5. Chris Warren III – Texas
Chris Warren is a specimen who is averaging better than six yards per carry in his career. And he'd be in the top three if not for injuries — missed their final eight games in 2016 with a knee injury and suffered a hamstring injury in spring practice.
He's arguably as talented of a runner as Foreman, who racked up 2,000 yards as a result of Warren's 2016 injury. When asked in May if there's more concern about Warren's weight (hovers around 250 pounds) or keeping his pads low, head coach Tom Herman said neither, instead pointing to his most recent injury.
“I worry about seeing him in full pads,” Herman said. “He missed the last three weeks of spring ball with a pulled hamstring, so I don’t know a whole lot what to worry about.”
Warren has never attempted recorded than 71 carries in a season.
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4. Kyle Hicks – TCU
Kyle Hicks exploded as a junior, going from 422 total rushing yards and a 4.2-yard average in his first two years to 1,042 yards and a 5.1-yard average in 2016.
He was one of only three Big 12 rushers to record more than 200 attempts and is expected to receive a heavy volume again in 2017. Hicks had four 100-yard games but seven with 61 or fewer yards, including just 47 on 25 carries vs. Oklahoma State.
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3. Justice Hill – Oklahoma State
Justice Hill had only 24 total carries and 89 yards in his first three games as a true freshman in 2016, yet still finished fourth in the Big 12 with 1,184 yards. He had at least 16 carries in nine of their final 10 games and is the only proven runner on the roster.
Hill did enter college with a nagging shoulder injury and had offseason surgery that forced him to miss spring practice.
“He had come into the program with a shoulder injury,” head coach Mike Gundy said in April. “So I had great concern about his ability at 175 pounds to withstand the punishment of playing in this league.” But Hill's runs inside the Sherman E. Smith Center in team periods against starting defenders didn't lie."
The sophomore will run behind an offensive line that returns three starters and alongside the best quarterback-receiver duo in the country in Mason Rudolph and James Washington.
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2. Terence Williams – Baylor
Lost during Baylor's unexpected 2016 campaign — for a multitude of reasons — was a monster season from sophomore running back Terence Williams. Despite a late-season injury that gave him five total carries over a two-game stretch, the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder still finished with 1,048 yards on fewer than 200 carries.
Baylor led the Big 12 in rushing last year and that could be the case again in 2016 with new head coach Matt Rhule's pro-style attack that features a heavy ground game. Two Temple players had at least 150 carries during his final season with the Owls, and Jahad Thomas had a whopping 276 in 2015.
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1. Justin Crawford – West Virginia
Justin Crawford ran wild in his second season at West Virginia after arriving as a JUCO transfer in 2015. He averaged a Big 12-best 7.3 yards per carry (sixth in the FBS) in rushing for 1,184 yards on just 163 attempts.
Somehow Crawford finished third in the conference in rushing despite having six games with 42 or fewer yards, including games with minus-two, 12 and 16 yards. He had 14 carries of at least 20 yards and four of 40 yards.
Though the Mountaineers usually spread the ball around, Dana Holgorsen hasn't been afraid to have a workhorse running back and routinely rides the hot hand. In 2015, Wendell Smallwood had 238 carries.
