The SEC lost six 1,000-yard rushers from 2017. Some teams will handle the losses better than others.

Replacing two of the best running backs in recent years will be a tall order across the state of Tennessee this season as Vanderbilt moves on without Ralph Webb, and Tennessee will turn to someone other than John Kelly to run the ball.

Even with Kelly and Webb, the Vols and Commodores last season were the bottom two teams in rushing yardage in the SEC. Overall, there were seven teams across the league that failed to rush for even 2,100 yards.

While Georgia and Alabama led the league with 3,876 and 3,509 rushing yards, respectively, Mississippi State, Auburn, LSU, Missouri and Kentucky also all rushed for at least 2,102 yards.

Below that group, here are seven teams most likely to see a boost in their rushing efforts this season.

Texas A&M

Early expectations are that Jimbo Fisher will use running backs more than Kevin Sumlin did.

Trayveon Williams, who had 14 carries for 43 yards and six catches for 58 yards in the spring game, should get the bulk of the carries. With Fisher giving the roster a clean look, it’s difficult to imagine Williams not catching his eye after he is the only true freshman at A&M to rush for more than 1,000 yards (1,057) in a season. But there is a host of teammates to help carry the load, too, as the Aggies try to improve on last year’s 2,023 rushing yards.

The Aggies have the sizzle in the backfield, too, by the looks of Kwami Etwi’s 55-yard touchdown in the spring game.

Look for Kendall Bussey or Jacob Kibodi to back up Williams, but the edge might go to Kibodi to offer a bigger frame (6-2) as Bussey and Williams are roughly the same build.

Arkansas

Devwah Whaley and Kendrick Jackson return to a backfield that hopes to start another 1,000-yard rushing streak for a player after the Razorbacks’ four-year streak ended last year. Whaley contributed 559 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on a 4.4 per-carry average.

There’s some style options as well, as Chase Hayden and T.J. Hammonds offer a speed element, and Maleek Williams offers power along with Whaley’s talent between-the-tackles. Independence Community College and Texas A&M transfer Rakeem Boyd is another player to watch as all of them adjust to a new fit in a new system.

A glance at the SMU pass-rush breakdown shows that Chad Morris’ play-calling was 486 rushing plays, and 487 passing plays. Arkansas, meanwhile, was 462 rushing plays to 340 passing.

Much has been made about Arkansas’ pace and number of plays overall, but that should suggest that the running backs will get plenty of chances to contribute and help top last season’s team rushing total (2,016 yards, No. 9 in the SEC).

Florida

The Gators appear to have one of the deepest backfields around with the return of Jordan Scarlett following his suspension last year.

Scarlett (below) is expected to get the bulk of the carries two years after he produced 889 yards and 6 touchdowns by averaging 4.97 yards per carry. He rejoins last year’s rushing leader Lamical Perine, who had 562 yards and 8 touchdowns, and freshman surprise Malik Davis, who is recovering from a knee injury.

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Adarius Lemons, who saw spot duty as a freshman, averaged 7.2 yards-per-carry, last season while rushing for 136 yards. Almost all of that came after Davis’ injury. Early enrollees Dameon Pierce and Iverson Clement showed plenty of potential this spring.

Add the combination of players returning from suspension or injury and Florida conservatively could expect to add more than 1,000 yards to last year’s total (1,720).

Ole Miss

There’s plenty of depth to replace the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher in nearly a decade in Jordan Wilkins, who ran for 1,011 of the Rebels’ 1,607 yards last season.

In the spring game, Scottie Phillips and Eric Swinney each showed plenty of potential to be key contributors in a group that includes D’Vaughn Pennamon, who is recovering from a dislocated knee injury at the end of last season.

Phillips, a JUCO transfer, and Armani Linton, a converted defensive back, are among those in the mix for significant carries. Swinney, also trying to rebound from a serious knee injury two years ago, saw first-team snaps this spring.

Swinney and Pennamon are the most experienced with a combined for 115 career carries heading into their junior seasons. Pennamon is close to getting his full range of motion back and is on track to rejoin the backfield during fall camp.

Swinney filled in as the backup running back late last season in Pennamon’s absence and could be the favorite to lead the depth chart, but there’s plenty of competition from Phillips, Woullard and Linton.

Ole Miss’ offense revolves around the passing game. The running game should be better, but don’t expect that dynamic to shift dramatically.

South Carolina

The Gamecocks ran for just 1,588 yards — almost 1,000 fewer than their 2013 total and their fewest since gaining 1,576 in 2009.

Consistency is the name of the game, most notably with their top two rushers, Rico Dowdle and Ty’Son Williams. Dowdle burst on the scene two years ago, but has been slowed by injuries (broken bone in his leg and a pulled hamstring).

Williams, who had 63 yards on four carries in the spring game, was supported by Caleb Kinlaw, who chipped in five carries for 21 yards.

Williams also had a big game against Missouri, as he helped set up the clinching score, and also had memorable outings against Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M. But he also didn’t play against N.C. State or Kentucky and didn’t produce much against Wofford and Clemson.

Along with Dowdle and Williams, A.J. Turner is the other top rusher back this season.

The Gamecocks arguably have the most optimistic combination of experience and potential as they combined for 1,253 yards last season. Delivering on that combination has been a different story as they’ve been 12th in the SEC in rushing the past two seasons.

Tennessee

Kelly’s departure is a blow — he accounted for more than half of the team’s 1,409 yards last season — but that’s not to say Ty Chandler hasn’t shown potential. Take the Kentucky game last season when Chandler had 120 rushing yards.

Add rising sophomores Tim Jordan and Trey Coleman, incoming freshman Jeremy Banks and graduate transfer Madre London to the mix. One twist is that the group will be coached by Chris Weinke, the former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Florida State. He never coached or played the position before, but coach Jeremy Pruitt believes Weinke will help teach the backs pass protection.

Vanderbilt

No matter who runs the ball for Vanderbilt this season, it will be nearly impossible to not think of Webb, the school’s all-time leading rusher who accounted for 831 of Vandy’s league-low 1,286 rushing yards last season. And because of a slew of injuries and limited contact in the spring game, it was difficult to determine the depth chart breakdown of Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Josh Crawford, Khari Blasingame and Jamauri Wakefield.

One thing the group has in common is experience. Blasingame is a fifth-year senior, Crawford is a redshirt junior, Vaughn, who had several catches and played with the first team in the spring game,  transferred from Illinois, and Wakefield is a sophomore.

Blasingame and Wakefield had the most production last season with 45 and 28 carries, respectively, in 11 games each.