Top 5 Running Back Performances of Week 2 College Football: Omarion Hampton, Darius Taylor, more

Justin's NCAA college football top running backs from Week 2 of the 2023 season. Top RB performers include Omarion Hampton and Darius Taylor.

Week 2 of the college football season is over. It was a fun day of football and included some good performances from running backs, with eight of them going over 150 yards. That includes North Carolina's Omarion Hampton, who had 234 rushing yards in an overtime win over Appalachian State. That was one of the most exciting games of the weekend, as the teams went back and forth with UNC eventually coming out ahead with the 40-34 victory.

This is an FBS-focused piece, but I want to highlight one FCS player real quick. New Hampshire almost took down MAC program Central Michigan, with running back Dylan Laube finishing with 12 catches for 295 yards and two scores. He also added 30 rushing yards and a touchdown. Huge game for that kid. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on New Hampshire this year because of him.

Below are the top five running back performances from Week 2 of the college football season. These are judged through a combination of statistics, fantasy scoring, and game context, with consideration also given based on the team's offensive systems. Let's take a look at this week's top performances.

5. Jawhar Jordan - Louisville

Jawhar Jordan's Week 2 performance is notable for how much he produced on a per-touch basis. He didn't have a lot of touches, but he did a whole lot with them.

Jordan had just seven carries but finished with 135 rushing yards, an average of 19.3 yards per carry. He found the end zone twice on the ground. Jordan also caught two passes for 43 yards.

Jordan has just 14 carries so far this season, but has produced 231 yards on those carries, an average of 16.5 yards per rushing attempt. The Cardinals seem content on really spreading the carries out between Jordan, Keyjuan Brown, and Isaac Guerendo, but Jordan's established himself as the big play back.

4.  Jacory Croskey-Merritt - New Mexico

Croskey-Merritt had a solid Week 1 showing against Texas A&M, carrying the ball 11 times for 50 yards and a score. Not great, but 4.5 yards per carry against the Aggies was a decent showing for a player who joined the Lobos this season after beginning his career at Alabama State.

This week, Croskey-Merritt saw just one more carry than he did against A&M, but the Tennessee Tech defense had nothing for him. He finished the day with 12 carries for 162 yards and three touchdowns as the Lobos rolled to a 56-10 victory.

That included two long touchdown runs. In the first quarter, he opened the scoring with a 48-yard rush, and then early in the third quarter, he added a 55-yard scamper.

3. Keith Willis Jr. - Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech played its third game of the season this week since the team played a Week 0 contest against Florida International. Running back Keith Willis Jr. shook off a poor start to the year with a huge effort in the win over FCS program Northwestern State.

Willis had 13 carries for just 38 yards coming into Saturday's contest. He improved on that by leaps in the victory over the Demons, carrying the ball 13 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

Louisiana Tech has a lot of running backs on its roster, with three different ones finding the end zone on Saturday and a fourth finishing with 52 rushing yards. It's a good problem to have for Sonny Cumbie as he tries to get the program back to where it was under Skip Holtz.

2. Darius Taylor - Minnesota

Darius Taylor, the No. 12 running back in last year's recruiting class according to Rivals, opened his college career last week against Nebraska with about as close to nothing as a player can do. He had just one touch in his debut, carrying the ball for three yards. Sean Tyler's 10 carries led the Gophers.

This week against Eastern Michigan, the ball was almost always in Taylor's hands. He had 33 carries in the win, finishing with 193 yards and a touchdown while also adding two catches for 13 yards.

Tyler still had a sizable role with 17 carries for 93 yards, so this isn't suddenly about to be Taylor's backfield exclusively. However, the freshman has shown why he needs to be out on the football field for Minnesota, and I'd expect we see this be much more of a platoon going forward.

1. Omarion Hampton - North Carolina

UNC running back Omarion Hampton had two touchdowns in the team's season opener against South Carolina, but he finished with just 37 yards on 16 carries, a 2.3 yards per carry average.

This week, he made up for that. Hampton finished Saturday's overtime win over Appalachian State with 26 carries for 234 yards and three touchdowns while also adding a 10-yard reception.

In a game where quarterback Drake Maye failed to throw a touchdown, Hampton's performance was key in getting the win. for UNC. His 68-yard first-quarter touchdown run got the team on the board, his 16-yard fourth-quarter touchdown was the score that got UNC to overtime, and his 17-yard OT touchdown was what got the Tarheels into a second overtime.

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