Three looming questions about Arkansas football in 2025: Running Backs
The offseason is in full swing, and there’s a little less than a month before the Arkansas Razorbacks will start fall camp ahead of the 2025 season opener against Alabama A&M on Aug. 30.
HawgBeat is continuing our series asking three looming questions about each position group ahead of next season. Up next in the series is the running back room.
RELATED: Three looming questions about Arkansas football in 2025: Wide Receivers
The Razorbacks finished 34th nationally in rushing (184.8 YPG) as a team in 2024, third in the SEC behind Tennessee and Texas A&M, and tied for second in yards per carry (4.9) with Auburn, right behind the Volunteers (5.0 YPC).
There’s some new faces in the room, as the Hogs lost leading rusher Ja’Quinden Jackson (149 carries, 790 yards, 15 touchdowns) to the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent, but three of the other remaining top four leaders return.
Fourth-leading rusher Rashod Dubinion (56 carries, 335 yards, 2 touchdowns) transferred to Appalachian State to play for former Razorback OC and Newport native Dowell Loggains after compiling his best season as a Hog.
There are multiple options in the backfield, though all are unproven.
Here are three looming questions about Arkansas’ running back situation next season…
Who will be the lead back?
The second-leading rusher behind Jackson last fall was quarterback Taylen Green (156 carries, 602 yards, 8 touchdowns). While Green is the best version of himself utilizing his legs, he needs to continue evolving at going through his progressions in year two under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino before he tucks and goes.
Sophomore bruiser Braylen Russell (6-1, 235), a Benton graduate, finished third on the team with 67 carries for 354 yards (5.3 YPC) and three scores. 175 of those of those yards were against a bad Mississippi State defense, in which Russell suffered a hamstring injury in that game. He played the next week against Ole Miss, but logged just two yards on four carries before sitting out the remaining three games of the regular season.
Russell entered the transfer portal, twice, between the end of the regular season and the Liberty Bowl, but is off to a fresh start with a new mindset and appearance after dropping 15 pounds during the offseason.
New Mexico State transfer Mike Washington, another big-bodied back at 6-2, 225, will compete for the RB1 role with Russell. Washington was initially committed to Utah after hitting the transfer portal following the regular season in mid-December and flipped to Arkansas less than a week later.
Last fall with the Aggies, Washington played in all 12 games with four starts and rushed 157 times for 725 yards (4.6 YPC) and eight touchdowns, plus hauled in nine catches for 74 yards and a score. Prior to New Mexico State, the New York native played at Buffalo where he rushed for 1,119 yards and 10 touchdowns in three seasons.
RELATED: Three looming questions about Arkansas football in 2025: Quarterbacks
Who else will earn carries?
Florida State transfer Rodney Hill only carried the ball 28 times in 2024, but made the most of his totes averaging 6.6 yards and also scored two touchdowns. His most impactful game was the Liberty Bowl victory over Texas Tech, rushing for 81 yards on eight carries.
The Hogs added a familiar face in AJ Green, who signed with Arkansas in the 2021 class and is now on the roster as a walk-on. Green was on the Oklahoma State roster last season when he missed the entire year due to an achilles injury sustained in spring practice with the Cowboys.
The speedy Green knows what it takes to play in the SEC and had a productive career from 2021-23 at Arkansas, played in 37 games with four starts and logged 951 yards on 201 carries (5.4 YPC). He also caught 19 passes for 184 yards and two scores.
True freshman Cam Settles enrolled in January and earned praise from offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino in spring practice. Settles was a key part of Parkview Magnet’s squads that won three consecutive Arkansas 5A state championships from 2022-24.
“I like Cam Settles a lot,” Petrino said in April. “He is big, strong and has shown he can pass protect. That is the first thing as a young guy that gets you in the game is your ability to protect the quarterback.”
Will Arkansas have a 1,000-yard rusher?
Since 2017, Arkansas has produced a 1,000-yard back twice and one of those was during the Sam Pittman era: Raheim “Rocket” Sanders in 2022, who finished fourth all-time in school history for a single season with 1,443.
One of the biggest keys will be staying healthy, which most of the running back room has struggled with at times. Russell has dealt with the injury bug dating back to his high school career, while Washington experienced his first injury free season in 2024. Additionally, Hill missed three games last season due to a concussion.
