Will Boston College Football Have A 1,000-Yard Rusher In 2012?

On Wednesday, Heather Dinich took a look at which ACC running backs will crack the 1,000-yard mark this fall? HD noted UNC's Gionvani Bernard, Clemson's Andre Ellington, N.C. State's Mustafa Green and Virginia's Perry Jones as the four most likely backs to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark this fall, then goes on to name five other backs who you should keep an eye on.

Curiously absent from her list was either Boston College RB Andre Williams and Rolandan Finch.

As dreadful as BC's offense was at times last season, Finch still finished with 705 yards on 157 carries. That was after splitting carries with both Williams and Montel Harris and really only getting a bulk of the work in half of BC's games in 2011. To be sure, Finch likely won't get 1/4 of the way to 1,000 in a single game this fall, but the BC back did compile a bunch of yards in a small number of games.

You have to think either Williams or Finch could get close to the 1k this fall should the offensive line rebound and Doug Martin gets the passing game to a point where opposing defenses have to respect Rettig's ability to beat them through the air. One would probably also consider Spaz's track record in overusing our running backs in games.

See also: Montel Harris single-game carry totals.

2009: 15, 19, 12, 25, 25, 11, 27, 22, 27, 38, 23, 41, 23
2010: 19, 29, 19, 15, 14, 26, 27, 37, 36, 23, 24
2011: 9, 22

Also, consider the Eagles' recent track record. BC has had four 1,000-yard rushers over the last 10 seasons alone. Montel Harris accomplished the feat in 2009 and 2010, while Derrick Knight compiled back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2002 and 2003.