Mark Fletcher Jr.
Mark Fletcher Jr. ran for 507 yards in the College Football Playoff and carried Miami to the national championship game. Then he turned down the NFL to come back and finish the job.
Buzz vs Tape
Every angle we can check here reads about where you'd expect this season.
Also checked out fine:
The story
He led the ACC with 1,192 rushing yards in 2025, scored 12 times, and saved his best for January -- 507 yards across four Playoff games as Miami reached the national championship. A 6-2, 225 senior could have left for the draft; instead he stayed, telling reporters he'd always planned to be "a true senior," and Mario Cristobal has held him up as the program's standard. Now he's a preseason All-American anchoring a Cristobal backfield built on exactly the kind of downhill, gap-scheme power he runs. The forward stakes are the rematch with history: Miami was one game from a title, and Fletcher came back to close the gap. A projected 1,500-yard season would do two things at once -- vault a throwback power back into the top tier of 2027 draft running backs, and give the Hurricanes the closer they were missing.
Career Arc
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-ACC
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Mario Cristobal.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mario Cristobal
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 3 · RecognizedR09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
All-Conference HM / 2nd team. Conference recognition has started.
Recognition
Production
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-ACC
Career stats
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2025
W 24–14
at Ohio State
90 rush yds (19 car)
How he plays
Play style
Fletcher is a true bruiser -- 6-2, 225, built to fall forward. The power shows up on tape and in the numbers: PFF charted 3.66 yards after contact per carry and 104 forced missed tackles in 2025, and our play-by-play put his rushing-touchdown rate in the 81st percentile, the mark of a back defenses can't stop at the goal line (he scored 12 times). Scouts (Vikings Wire's summer eval) describe a runner who "keeps his legs moving through contact" but "also elusive in space," with "dynamic change-of-direction skills once in the second level" and "excellent motor to finish big runs late." The honest read is in the efficiency: a 52nd-percentile success rate and mid-pack yards-per-carry say he's a volume-and-finish back more than a home-run hitter -- the chunk gains come from contact balance and a closing motor, not breakaway speed. He's a gap-scheme, between-the-tackles hammer who wears defenses down and finishes drives.
Our classifier reads him the same way: just keeps getting the ball, series after series.
2026 Outlook
Miami
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Running back · Miami
Returning around him
- 12% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- 9 Miami players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -6 net (13 in / 19 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Miami · Last season: 13-3 (AP #10) · Talent rank #15 · 2026 recruiting class #9
Perception vs tape
He led the ACC with 1,192 rushing yards in 2025, scored 12 times, and saved his best for January -- 507 yards across four Playoff games as Miami reached the national championship. A 6-2, 225 senior could have left for the draft; instead he stayed, telling reporters he'd always planned to be "a true senior," and Mario Cristobal has held him up as the program's standard.
Read the story →DNA match
Player DNA
Workhorse
Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to CJ Donaldson’s 2023 season.
Matches CJ on
Differs from CJ on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to CJ Donaldson's junior season at West Virginia (2024).
Matches CJ on
Differs from CJ on
Heisman trajectory
Heisman Trajectory · 2025
Peak #36
Peaked at #36 this season.
Development
Development Trajectory · rushing yards
2023–2025+132%
Up 132% from first season to most-recent.