The scoop: LSU's Derrius Guice had become the forgotten man at running back in the first half of the season when so much attention was focused on the outstanding play of Penn State's Saquon Barkley. However, Barkley cooled off just as Guice started to heat up over the past few weeks. Scouts haven't cooled on Guice's NFL potential at all despite his quiet first half of the season, and one scout believes Guice is about to "get 'em talking again" with his next two games (at Tennessee, vs. Texas A&M).
The skinny: I struggled this summer when deciding which running back to rank No. 1 at the position between Barkley and Guice. Both players have great size and are exceptionally talented, so I went back and forth until ultimately settling on Guice. There's no doubt the pendulum swung in the other direction with Barkley's impressive start, but Guice is doing a good job of reminding us about what he can do.
It appears that Penn State head coach James Franklin is limiting the wear and tear on Barkley down the stretch (averaging 16 touches in the past two games), but Barkley's production has been very poor by the star RB's standards in the past 3 weeks (averaging 2.9 yards per carry).
Guice, on the other hand, appears to be healthy again after dealing with a nagging left leg injury earlier in the season. He hung 276 rushing yards on Ole Miss, 147 on Arkansas and is expected to load up the stat sheet against both Tennessee and Texas A&M.
The Barkley vs. Guice debate could be more interesting than some might expect if both decide to enter the draft after the season.
