The Pac-12 is one of the strongest conferences in the country in terms of running back depth and its highlighted by Washington’s Myles Gaskin.
No. 12 Washington football is going to need some help getting into the College Football Playoff this year. The Huskies have not played against a single ranked opponent yet and probably will not until they face the No. 20 Stanford Cardinal on Nov. 10. However, one of the bright spots for the Huskies has been star junior running back Myles Gaskin.
In eight games this season, Gaskin has taken 104 carries for 626 yards and eight touchdowns. Gaskin has added on another 109 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver. The Huskies have a very balanced offense that can beat teams in multiple ways.
Junior quarterback Jake Browning is also one of the best in the Pac-12. When Browning is on, Washington is nearly an impossible offense to shut down. As soon as a defense is able to figure out the deep ball and keeping the ball away from star receiver Dante Pettis, the Huskies can then hand it off to either Gaskin or fellow running back Lavon Coleman.
Both Gaskin and Coleman were supposed to split carries this season. Yet, Coleman has taken less than half the carries that Gaskin has for way less than half the amount of rushing yards. Coleman is still a good change of pace as a bigger rusher.
The upset loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils in Week 7 was a huge setback for Washington. Pretty much the entire offense was shut down, and the receivers could not hang on to anything. Gaskin was held to 67 rushing yards on 14 attemps and no touchdowns. Yet, that was more of a symptom of the lag from the entire offense.
Now, let’s take a look at three reasons why Gaskin is the most underrated running back in the Pac-12.