After a truncated 2020, Minnesota returns to a full 12-game football season Sept. 2 against Ohio State. Here at Ski-U-Blog will be previews of the team's notable players within each position group. Today, we discuss the Gophers' deep running back corps.
Likely Starter
Minnesota has been of a streak of good running backs since David Cobb seized the starting job in 2013. Cobb gained the most rushing yards of any Gopher ever in his 2014 season before being drafted. Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks traded carries their first two seasons, at times serving as the only productive aspects of mediocre to dreadful offenses. Brooks battled injuries as an upperclassman but still contributed as Smith became the program's career all-purpose yards leader.
It's not outlandish to say that Mohamed Ibrahim is the best Gophers running back since Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney occupied the backfield. In 2021, Ibrahim will almost certainly pass Cobb and Barber on the Minnesota career rushing leaderboard, and there's a good chance he overtakes Maroney and Smith. Darrell Thompson holds the record; though it'll require breaking Cobb's single-season record and then some, it's not impossible for Ibrahim to match Thompson.
