College Football: 5 running backs who’ll contend for Heisman Trophy in 2020

First and foremost, there’s not a more apt name for a running back than “Gainwell”. What makes it even better is that there’s no nickname involved here. We’ve had fitting nicknames in the history of the sport, like defensive tackle Tank Carradine from Florida State, but his real name is Cornellius.

It’s a lot like that viral tweet about nominative determinism and Tom Hanks’ kids. Kenny Gainwell was absolutely born to, well, gain yards.

That’s exactly what he did a year ago. Leading Memphis to a 12-win season and an AAC  championship, Gainwell racked up 1,459 yards on the ground, and caught the ball for another 610. Additionally, he found the end zone 13 times on the ground and three through the air.

The impressive part of Gainwell’s 2019 campaign was that he never had a week where he was truly absent. Sure, there were a couple games in which he wasn’t productive on the ground, but he consistently took what the defense gave him and made the most of it.

This was especially the case against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl. Gainwell carried the ball just nine times for only 34 yards, but his seven catches for 78 yards made it a productive day for the Tiger back.

There were seven games last season in which Gainwell fell short of the 100-yard rushing mark. However, in fourteen games, there was only one instance in which Gainwell didn’t have at least 100 all-purpose yards.

Gainwell is a dynamic back that produces week in and week out, and he’s poised for a special 2020 season.