NFL

The 5 Most Successful Small-School Running Backs in the NFL

Brian Westbrook may have been the best running back in the last decade and a half, and he went to a small Catholic college.

When NFL Draft season rolls around, most people look for big names from big programs in big lights.

They want their favorite team to announce a sexy pick from the big conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sometimes, though, a small-school player can be just as exciting of a prospect. When they make a splash in the pros, it’s actually even more exciting than a big conference player doing it because the likelihood is much smaller for them.

We looked at the top non-FBS pass-catchers already, so who are the best small-school running backs to emerge since 2000 in terms of our Net Expected Points (NEP) metric?