Who is the best running back in the Mountain West?

There are several very talented back in our conference. Everyone knows names such as Donnel Pumphrey, Jeremy McNichols, Brian Hill and Tyler Ervin. One people may not be as familiar with, however, is Utah State's Devante Mays. Mays has been an under-the-radar star for the Aggies this season, but his star is beginning to rise, and he just may be the best back of the group.

Of course, no one from SDSU, Boise St, Wyoming, or SJSU will take kindly to that statement, so we will need to provide the context for the claim. To do so, I will present the stats from the best back of each team in the conference.

First stat, which is the one everyone will point to right away to naysay the idea, is total yards. Here are the results (btw, just to explain the Nevada backs, their stats were so close that they were nearly identical, so I cut them a break and used the best stat of either Butler OR Jackson. You're welcome, Nevada):

You'll be saying right about now, "Mays has less than half as many yards as the top RBs. He's sitting in 7^th place in the conference, so how can you possibly say that he may be the best?" Of course, you are smart enough to know that total yards only tells part of the story, so let's look at yards per game.

"Ha! That didn't change anything. Mays is still suffering from severe lack of impressiveness!" Yes, I know, hold your horses. "But we haven't looked at the RBs with the most touchdown carries! That'll prove his mediocrity!"

"Well, okay... he did jump up to 4^th in that category... but he's still only producing half what the top backs are able to do. This still doesn't prove anything!" Right you are! But now we get to the material point, my good sir (or ma'am...), which is this: how many touches is each of these backs actually getting?

"Wait a moment... you mean that the backs with the most attempts are getting the most total yards, yards per game, and touchdowns?! What kind of wizardry is this?!!" Precisely my point. Mays was getting reps as a second string back behind USU's LaJuan Hunt for most of the season. Only over the last couple games has he really been allowed to showcase his talent. Given that context, let's now look at the same stats, but adjust them for actual attempts! First, instead of total yards or yards per game, let's look at yards per carry.

"Alright, but that's immaterial! Of course the backs with higher reps are getting lower yards per carry; they're more tired on their later reps (except Brian Hill, whose stamina is unfathomable)!" True, no arguments from me there. There will certainly be some drop off if Mays starts consistently getting 20~ carries per game.  But the fact that his average is that much higher is impressive. In fact, Mays has the 14^th highest average in the nation of backs with at least 500 rushing yards.

"But-!" And now let's look at touchdowns per attempt.

"Wow, that's impressive... But he's still not as high as McNichols!" That's is also true. Which is why I will now refer you back to the first paragraph of the article, where I explicitly stated that Mays "just may be (emphasis on the may) the best back..." I don't really know if Mays is as good as any of the more well-known backs in the conference. He's good, certainly, and he may be great. Without getting more reps, we may never know, although he is starting to get those reps- last game vs. Wyoming he matched Brian Hill rep for rep.

The point is, Mays is very, very good. Thank goodness we'll get to see him for another year so that we can find out just how good that really is.