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2018 NFL Draft Preview: Saquon Barkley at top of list of talented running backs

Saquon Barkley may be at the top of the list of most talented running backs, but the 2018 NFL Draft is full of talented ball carriers.
Credit: Matt Kartozian
Penn State running back Saquon Barkley avoids a tackle from a Washington Huskies defender during the 2018 Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

CLEVELAND -- After more than a decade of devaluation by NFL coaches and decision-makers, the running backs are making a comeback, and they are doing so in a big way.

Typically a position general managers wait to select until the middle rounds of the NFL Draft, running backs have made their way up the boards, with one even considered by many to be the top prospect in the entire class, regardless of position, in 2018.

Here is a look at five of the top running backs in the 2018 NFL Draft:

Saquon Barkley (Penn State)

The 5-foot-11, 229-pound Barkley declared for the NFL Draft after a standout junior season with Penn State.

On 217 carries, Barkley ran for 1,271 yards and matched a career high with 18 rushing scores. Additionally, Barkley turned 54 catches out of the backfield into 632 yards and three touchdowns, and despite being an impact player on offense, was utilized on special teams, too.

Barkley returned 15 kickoffs for 426 yards and two touchdowns, including a 98-yard score against the Ohio State Buckeyes in mid-October.

Sony Michel (Georgia)

Michel built an impressive resume through his first three years with the Bulldogs, but he saved the best for last.

Against Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, Michel rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 carries, while turning four receptions into 41 yards and a fourth score. He finished his collegiate career with 98 yards on 14 carries against Alabama.

On 156 carries during the 2017 season, Michel rushed for 1,227 yards and 16 touchdowns. Michel’s yards, 7.9 yards-per-carry average and touchdowns were single-season career highs, better than the 1,161 yards and eight scores he posted as a sophomore.

In four years at Georgia, Michel rushed for 3,638 yards and 33 touchdowns on 591 carries.

Rashaad Penny (San Diego State)

For Penny, it was not so much about improving his draft stock as much as it was validating his collegiate production, and the 5-foot-11, 220-pounder lived up to the hype with a standout performance in a losing effort against the Army Black Knights in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

On just 14 carries, Penny rushed for 221 yards and four touchdowns against the Army. It was Penny’s fifth straight 200-yard performance, and his four touchdowns were a single-game season high.

Penny rushed for 2,248 yards and 23 touchdowns on 289 carries in 2017, all of which were single-season career bests. Prior to 2017, Penny’s previous single-season bests were 135 carries, 1,005 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2016.

Derrius Guice (Louisiana State)

With Leonard Fournette rushing over, around and through opposing defenses at the NFL level in 2017, Guice saw his workload increase significantly last fall, and he had another standout season for the LSU Tigers.

Guice rushed for 1,251 yards and 11 touchdowns on a career-high 237 carries in 2017.

Overall, Guice’s best season with the Tigers came in 2016, when he rushed for 1,387 yards, 15 touchdowns and 7.6 yards per carry.

In three years at LSU, Guice netted 3,054 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns on 471 carries.

Derrius Guice in Midnight Green?? 😮pic.twitter.com/u4V6ehBVMK

— Jon Marks & Ike Reese on 94WIP (@MarksReeseWIP) April 23, 2018

Nick Chubb (Georgia)

Chubb may not have made the highlight-reel-type plays that his former Georgia Bulldogs teammate, Sony Michel, posted in 2017, but his resume was an impressive one, largely built upon competing against Southeastern Conference foes.

Three times in four years, the 5-foot-10, 225-pound Chubb carried the ball over 215 times with more than 1,100 yards on the way to 4,769 yards and 44 touchdowns on 758 rushing attempts in his career with the Bulldogs.

Chubb burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2014, rushing for a career-high 1,547 yards and 14 scores on 219 carries, but he was far from done there.

Chubb ended his career with back-to-back 1,100-yard rushing seasons and set a career high with 15 touchdowns in 2017, a season that finished with Georgia’s appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Nick Chubb is a grown man pic.twitter.com/zh0goMj1zH

— Football Is Life (@FootbaIl_Tweets) January 2, 2018

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