The Underdog best ball offseason is underway. There are strategies to form, ADP evaluate, and maybe most importantly, position battles to dig into. Today, I give you five of the most important RB battles to follow along with this offseason. Five battles that, if you predict correctly, will provide you with a significant leg up this season. Five battles that I think will make or break your 2025 season! Let’s get into it…
Quinten Joyner vs. J’Koby Williams, Texas Tech
After two incredible seasons for Tahj Brooks, the starting running back spot is up for grabs. Joyner committed to Texas Tech via the portal, and then weeks later, Williams looked incredible in the bowl game. He ran for 123 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He also impacted the passing game, bringing in four receptions for 36 yards. Williams didn’t do much besides that in 2024, but it’s hard to do anything with Brooks commanding a large share of rushing attempts.
The same can be said for Joyner, the USC transfer. Woody Marks was great this past season, meaning just 63 attempts for Joyner. Boy, did he look good in that limited usage, though? Against Notre Dame, he really showed off his juice, rushing for 83 yards on 10 carries. Securing 12 receptions as a backup shows me he can handle passing work when called upon.
Joyner’s frame (5’11″, 216 per ESPN compared to Williams’ 5’10″, 180) certainly fits the bellcow role, so he has the leg up going into the spring. I’m not sleeping on Williams, though. I can’t shake that bowl game where he looked so impressive.
Whoever wins this job is going to make people very happy. While the Red Raiders haven’t shown to be a great spot for an RB1 in fantasy, Brooks saw 285+ attempts in back-to-back seasons. Even if there’s some regression in terms of usage for the starter, Joyner and Williams have plenty of meat on the bone.
Kamari Moulton vs. Jaziun Patterson, Iowa
At Iowa, they play defense and run the football. There are no doubts about what they want to do stylistically. Even with the addition of FCS star quarterback Mark Gronowski, the Hawkeyes will be focused on the run. And even better, they will give their starter heavy usage consistently. Kaleb Johnson is out, so it’s up to Kamari Moulton and Jaziun Patterson to prove they’re the guy worth starting.
These two have differing frames, similar to Texas Tech’s Joyner/Williams battle. Moulton is a thick 5’9″, 197, while Patterson is a little more slender at 5’10″, 195. The numbers don’t do the difference justice, though, as you would never imagine them being two pounds different. Both had a chance to shine against Missouri in the bowl game and largely they did. Both had a 20+ yard run and ended with 6.9 YPC or better on 23 combined carries.
The big thing to point out here is that Moulton saw the heavy usage against Illinois State before Kaleb Johnson popped off in the second half, not Patterson. He was the one of the two that impressed enough to get those early carries. In 2025, will Gronowski’s ability to run the ball with his large frame open up the possibility of wanting a more versatile back like Patterson? Or will the staff lean on a thicker back like Moulton?
Terion Stewart vs. Braydon Bennett, Virginia Tech
Stewart vs. Bennett is a really fun battle for 2025. The former being a more proven commodity at the lowest of FBS levels (BGSU). The latter being the flashy in smaller usage player at competitive G5 ranks. Both have seen injuries slow them down, but both are now in a position to be a fantasy darling this season. Bhayshul Tuten came from North Carolina A&T and went on to have the following seasons:
183/1,159/15
173/863/10
Tuten was a force in CFF, and now, there’s no reason to think that 850+ yards and 10 touchdowns are not possible for whoever wins this job. The upside isn’t the same as others in this article, but the cost will be much lower in some cases.
CJ Baxter vs. Quintrevion Wisner, Texas
The Texas RB1 is about as good as it gets, with Sark yielding 1,000+ yard rushers consistently. Baxter came into 2024 with a good shot at filling that role before an injury took him down. Jaydon Blue was unimpressive before injuries slowed him down, allowing Wisner to take over. Wisner never really gave up that role, rushing for over 1,000 yards this past season.
Looking at the stats, these two stack up about the same, generating 4.7 and 4.8 YPC in their last season. Will the healthy Wisner coming off being a key piece of a deep playoff run be the guy? Or will the former prized recruit coming off injury be given the keys to the RB1?
Kyson Brown vs. Kanye Udoh, Arizona State
I’ve publicly come out and said that the debate on these two running backs will ruin marriages. With Cam Skattebo out at Arizona State, who takes over at this potentially prime spot? Kenny Dillingham has no issue with heavily using his best players (think also Jordyn Tyson’s crazy 2024 usage as well), so this is a position we want to nail down. Udoh comes in from Army as the sexy transfer, but does he fit the mold? At Army, he had two receptions in as many seasons, and in high school, he had just three receptions in two seasons.
On the other hand, Brown had 13 receptions in 2024 and 9 in 2023. Albeit a small sample, there’s a clear difference in receiving potential and fit if we want to try to get as close to Skattebo schematically. In the two games where Skattebo was hurt/limited, he wasn’t uber-impressive, but he did run for 136 yards on 33 carries and two touchdowns.
This is going to be a fun debate all season about sexy transfer versus the good in-house option. To me, this is one of the most clear battles, or, at the very least, the risk of a player (Udoh) is way too high to draft at good draft capital.
