A way-too-early ranking of the top 10 Big 12 running backs ahead of 2024 season

Maybe the toughest running back in the Big 12 to tackle, Tahj Brooks returns after a 1,538-yard, 10-TD season in 2023. He also has been ridden hard with 593 career carries in Lubbock.

What Brooks lacks in explosiveness, he makes up for in his ability to break tackles. Last season, he caused 96 missed tackles to lead the nation. The next closest player had only 78.

What made Brooks' 2023 season so impressive was that he was the Big 12's second-leading rusher despite the fact that everyone on the planet knew Tech was going to pound the ball up the middle given the limitations of the passing game with QB Behren Morton playing through a shoulder injury.

This fall, Morton and the passing attack should be better and Brooks likely won't be asked to run the ball nearly 300 times like he did last year. Still, he will be the focal point of Tech's attack and he could end up as the school's all-time leading rusher.