With Gator Bowl looming, Trayveon Williams has the chance to cement his legacy as one of Texas A&M’s best RBs ever

A little over two years ago, Texas A&M Aggies running back Trayveon Williams entered the 2016 a relative unknown to those who don’t follow college football recruiting. Originally a TCU commit, Williams wasn’t a five-star player, he wasn’t even ranked in the top 300 players nationally. But the Aggie freshman came in and immediately seized attention, separating himself from a perceived timeshare with Keith Ford and James White and beginning what has quickly become one of the best running back careers at a school known for a prolific running attack.

While he totaled 97 yards against UCLA to begin his career, he lept onto fans’ collective radars with this elecrifying run against Auburn in the third game of the season.

Williams would finish with 127 rushing yards that day, and follow it up with 153 a week later against Arkansas. Two weeks after that, he ran for more than 200 yards in a double overtime victory over then-undefeated Tennessee. This set him on a path that ended with him having the first 1,000 rushing yard season for a true freshman in Texas A&M history.

2017 was a down year by Trayveon’s standards, as he finished with less than 800 yards despite tallying more than 200 rushing yards in the team’s now infamous season-opening collapse against UCLA, where they blew a 34-point lead.

Coming into 2018, Williams was now the unquestioned leader of the Aggie backfield, with his only competition for carries coming from freshman Jashaun Corbin. And with new head coach Jimbo Fisher’s run-heavy offense, Williams has thrived. On the season, he has rushed for more than 200 yards in a game twice (Northwestern State and Ole Miss) and had six other games with more than 100 yard on the ground. His 1,524 yards and 15 touchdowns easily made Williams the top running back in the SEC and a first team All American, but with the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on the horizon tonight, Williams likely has one more record on this mind.

If he can run for 168 yards or more, Trayveon will tie Darren Lewis for the most rushing yards ever for an Aggie in a single season. But even if he falls short of this, and even if he does leave early for the NFL Draft following today’s game, Williams will have cemented himself as one of the greatest running backs to ever wear the maroon and white. Let’t take a look at where he stands historically:

1,524 yards in a season (3rd all time)

3,379 career yards (3rd all time)

240 yards in a single game (2nd all time)

15 rushing TDs in a season (8th all time)

31 career rushing TDs (8th all time)

Thanks, Trayveon, for one of the greatest three-year runs we’ve ever seen by a Texas A&M running back. #BTHOncstate