At the college level, the success of many RBs’ is dependent on scheme and line play. These two SEC runners, however, were more than comfortable with getting yards by making men miss in space.

Pro Football Focus has been pioneering analytics in football, and the firm published a nifty stat on Monday. Two SEC RBs topped their list of “highest breakaway percentage vs Power 5 teams”, or in simpler terms, which runners gained the highest percentage of their yardage on big plays (any runs of 15 yards or more).

The first name was a no-brainer, but the second-place finisher may be surprising to some. In fact, he gets so little respect, his name was spelled wrong in the below graphic.

Derrius Guice had LSU fans saying “Leonard Fournette who?” as the former backup twice broke the Tigers’ previous school record for single-game rushing yards and finished the year atop the SEC with 1,387 yards on the ground. One doesn’t go from an understudy to a clubhouse leader in one season without a a hefty yards per carry average, and Guice’s 7.6 YPC was the best in the conference among qualified runners.

Missouri freshman sensation Damarea Crockett had a similar story, as his carries took an uptick after Week 5, and the Mizzou offense benefitted tremendously. The casual fan may find it easy to write off the northernmost Tigers in the SEC due to their poor defensive showing last season, but they have a homerun threat in Crockett who deserves defenses’ respect.

Crockett’s 6.9 YPC was just behind Guice, and the pair made a living last season by feasting on the second levels of some of the best defenses in the nation.