Bryson Washington

The breakout was real: 1,028 yards and 12 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2024 made Washington a preseason All-American and a Doak Walker name. Then 2025 happened — he played all 12 games but kept exiting early, finishing with 788 yards and six scores on 154 carries, a season that felt less like a step back than an interruption. So when he entered the portal on January 4, it landed as a surprise, and when he picked Auburn, 247Sports slotted him as the No. 7 running back available. Under new coach Alex Golesh — who has been blunt that the identity is to run it early, often, and effectively — Auburn paired Washington with returning leading rusher Jeremiah Cobb into what beat writers are calling a thunder-and-lightning duo, Cobb on passing downs, Washington on early-down and red-zone work. There's a quieter signal in our own numbers too: the buzz around him (81st percentile perception) outruns what the tape actually produced (64th percentile), a gap our model still grades as "matched" rather than hype. The forward stake is the one Auburn fans keep circling: a three-deep room means rest and rotation, which is exactly the thing a back who couldn't stay healthy needs — but it also means he has to earn every carry he gets in 2026.