Greg McElroy defends his ranking of Desmond Reid on Top 10 college football running back list

Spring practice is in the books and college football season is just around the corner. With that, it was time for analyst Greg McElroy to look ahead and rank his 10 best running backs for next season. That included an interesting pick, with Pitt Panthers star Desmond Reid coming in fifth on the list.

An often overlooked player, Greg McElroy defended his ranking of Desmond Reid on Always College Football. In particular, for the versatility he offers to the Pitt offense both in the passing game as well as the rushing game.

“One of my favorite backs in the entire country,” Greg McElroy said. “I think he’s highly underrated. That’s Desmond Reid at Pitt. Now, if you look at Pitt’s offense in the first six or seven games, it was pretty good. They had a healthy Eli Holstein. Desmond Reid was rocking and rolling. Everything looked really good for them. The offensive line, sure they had a couple of issues, but for the most part, Pitt was playing good football. It all came to a crashing halt there around the midseason point and, yeah, it wasn’t great down the stretch but Reid from start to finish was pretty impressive.”

Coming out of high school at Miramar in Florida, Desmond Reid was an unranked recruit in the Class of 2022. Undersized, he’d land at Western Carolina. After two seasons as a standout there, he made the jump to the FBS ranks at Pitt in 2024.

“Now, this young man has got a great story,” McElroy said. “He started his career at Western Carolina, transferred to Pitt. He went with his offensive coordinator Kade Bell, who was with him at WCU in 2022 and 2023. I think a lot of people wondered when Desmond Reid transferred up to the highest level of the sport, would he be big enough? He’s five-foot eight-inches, 175lbs. Would he be big enough to weather the storm that you’ve got to deal with when you’re playing against Power Five competition on a week-in, week-out basis? Well, not only was he incredible, but he beat you in so many different ways.”

Last season, Desmond Reid rushed for 966 yards in 11 games for five rushing touchdowns. That was on 5.3 yards per attempt. Receiving, he had 52 passes for 579 yards and another four touchdowns. His season was highlighted by four different games where he rushed for better than 100 yards on the ground. He had another three going over 100 yards receiver, including the Cincinnati game when he was able to do both.

“This guy ran for nearly 1,000 yards. He also caught 52 passes for 579 yards and another four scores through the air. So, this guy’s got nine touchdowns overall,” McElroy said. “But his all-purpose production was amazing. Top six in all of college football with nearly 155 yards a game. Like I said, at five-foot eight-inches, 175lbs, pretty impressive. I think he’s only going to get bigger. He’s only going to get stronger. Another offseason with Power Four resources. He’s going to be in a really good spot to continue to succeed. The guy’s just a great football player. I mean, he’s just awesome and he can beat you with routes out of the backfield. He can be a slot receiver. He’s obviously great if you just hand it to him and let him do work between the tackles.”

Pitt opens its 2025 season on August 30th against Duquesne. A week later, Pitt begins play against FBS opponents in a season where they’ll need Desmond Reid at his best.

“This guy is just a really well-rounded football player that I don’t think gets nearly enough attention. Doesn’t get nearly enough credit,” McElroy said. “But pound-for-pound, he’s one of the best football players in the entire country. So, Desmond Reid makes our top five.”