The eagle may soar; beavers build dams.
– Bill Vaughn, writer
Lost in the sauce of the historic campaign that Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty put forth last season was the stellar effort of another RB out west. A runner from a glorified MWC team, if you will.
That was Oregon State’s Anthony ‘Hank the Tank’ Hankerson, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and 15 TDs to go along with 150 receiving yards. Remarkably, Hankerson did this with another Beaver runner, also putting up notable numbers in Jam Griffin (at least early on in the season).
What’s more, Hankerson’s numbers before Griffin’s injury were actually better compared to afterward when he was the solo workhorse, which was a strange turn of events.
Like the player he’s being irresponsibly compared to in the opening line, Hankerson also did some damage against the P4 opponent Oregon Ducks in 2024. Jeanty did it better, of course, but Hankerson got his pound of flesh, too. He ran for 57 yards and scored twice while catching six passes for 36 yards.
Like Jeanty in 2024, Hankerson will be expected to carry this team in 2025. His running mate, Griffin, moves on. Last year’s starting QB, Gevani McCoy, transferred to Texas State (taking 328 rushing yards and five scores with him). Some young receivers emerged in 2024 that I’m excited about who will ease the burden slightly, but by and large, this is Hank’s team.
And it wasn’t that long ago that this Oregon State program was a stud factory at the RB position. Experienced CFF players will remember the name Jermar Jefferson, a great CFF asset at RB in 2018 and 2020. In 2021, BJ Baylor took over and had himself a 1,000-yard season under then-head coach Jonathan Smith.
Smith moved on last offseason, and a new staff took over. They didn’t have much play-calling experience to draw from (one season, 2019, at SJSU), so this stuff was, by and large, a question mark for CFF value. And I’d say they still are largely a question mark as we have a limited sample of data to evaluate for their tendencies. Nonetheless, it’s better than nothing. So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the system in place.
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 18.9 — OC: 16.5 (half PPR)
As alluded to earlier, there isn’t much to cover in this section, as both coaches are fairly new to this play-calling thing. The OC Ryan Gunderson’s 2019 SJSU team was the only data point prior to this year, and while the RB1’s PPG average was OK, there was nothing remarkable to report (see Table 1. below) outside of the fact that that player saw over 40% carry share on that team. Typically, that would mean a lot of carries, but in the case of 2019 SJSU, that carry share resulted in a mere total of 10 rush attempts per game for this player.
Gunderson was formerly the quarterbacks coach at UCLA before taking over at Oregon State as the offensive coordinator. I assume he was the primary play-caller, as head coach Trent Bray’s background is in defense (he was formerly the Beavers’ DC).
One of the notable things about ORST’s 2024 team was that they ran a lot of plays per game. They averaged 72.33 plays run, which was 27th in the FBS. Moreover, their play-calling split skewed heavily to the run at 57/43 runs to passes. That partly explains how both Hank and Griffin were able to eat.
However, that play-calling split was not expected, as the only data point we have from Gunderson showed a 38/62 run-to-pass split at SJSU in 2019. This shift was probably a result of the staff recognizing the team’s strength and strategizing around that.
In addition to the returning staff being a plus for Hank, his primary competition for carries moves on via Griffin’s expired eligibility. Griffin himself accounted for 67 carries, over 400 yards, and four scores in just his first four appearances, before going down with an injury in his fifth game, where he had six carries and 37 yards.
Anthony Hankerson (5’8″, 205)
2024 RUSHING STATS: 232-1082-15 (19.7 PPG)
In addition to his rushing production, Hankerson also caught 27 passes (40 targets) for 151 yards over his 12 games, demonstrating that he is a capable receiver.
And if you’re wondering where he came from, he spent his first two seasons playing a complementary role on Coach Prime’s CU Buffs. He never saw more than 78 carries nor broke 400 yards there.
He was originally rated a three-star prospect out of what is perhaps the #1 high school program in America when it comes to collegiate and NFL production: St Thomas Aquinas in Miami, FL.
His list of interested parties at the time (according to 247 Sports) included none other than the Florida Gators, Colorado, Arizona, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and others. I guess that 247’s offer list has incorrect data or peaked early in his recruitment, as the programs he visited all appear to be G5s or lower-tier P4s.
Looking at this year’s RB class, returning players like Darius Taylor and Desmond Reid have been valued ahead of Hankerson and are seen by some as worthy of the 1.01. I think Hankerson is in the same tier as those RBs and could probably just as easily be justified as worthy of the first overall pick when considering that both of the top competitors for rushing production in Griffin and the QB Gevani McCoy, have left the program.
RB2 Salahadin Allah figures to play a more active role in the backfield this season, which could change things for Hankerson. But it’s hard to envision Hank the Tank not being the main engine of the offense once again in 2025. Furthermore, Hankerson was at his best when Griffin was playing last year (counterintuitive as that may be).
Assuming the pace of the offense remains fast, and the play-calling split skews heavily to the run game, Hankerson has as good a chance as any to finish as the RB1 in CFF for 2025.
