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Pac-12 football: Midseason awards and superlatives

By Patrick Mayhorn

GENE, OR - OCTOBER 13: Linebacker Justin Hollins #11 of the Oregon Ducks, place kicker Peyton Henry #47 of the Washington Huskies, punter/holder Race Porter #46 of the Washington Huskies and cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. #4 of the Oregon Ducks watch as Henry's field goal attempt to win the game misses in the final seconds of the regulation at Autzen Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won the game in overtime 30-27. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
GENE, OR - OCTOBER 13: Linebacker Justin Hollins #11 of the Oregon Ducks, place kicker Peyton Henry #47 of the Washington Huskies, punter/holder Race Porter #46 of the Washington Huskies and cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. #4 of the Oregon Ducks watch as Henry's field goal attempt to win the game misses in the final seconds of the regulation at Autzen Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won the game in overtime 30-27. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /

Biggest surprise: Jermar Jefferson, RB, Oregon State

Without looking, if I asked who the top five leading rushers in the country are, who first comes to mind? Some combination of Darrell Henderson, Jonathan Taylor, Benny Snell, A.J. Dillon, Miles Sanders, Bryce Love, Trayveon Williams, or Alex Barnes, right? That seems like the logical answer, because those guys are all household names, and seem like pretty easy answers.

You’d be right with most of those names. Henderson leads the country, with Taylor behind him. Williams and Barnes are both in the top five. Snell is in the top ten, Sanders is close to it, and Love and Dillon probably would be too, if not for injuries. Not so well-known, however, is the man coming in at number three on that list.

Oregon State running back Jermar Jefferson has 865 yards on 130 carries through six games. He’s averaging 6.7 yards a carry, and has found the endzone 12 times already, and you probably haven’t seen him play once. It’s easy to understand why that is. Oregon State is bad, and because of that, they’re rarely on TV, and when they are, you probably don’t have any reason to watch them anyway.

This kid is worth the time though. He’s pretty much the whole reason that Oregon State’s offense is secretly pretty solid (though Conor Blount does deserve some credit), and he’s the biggest thing to be excited about in Corvallis right now. Jonathan Smith is still building out there, but having an elite running back will certainly speed up that process. Oh, and did I mention that he’s a true freshman?

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