Michigan State Football: Kenneth Walker III will rush for 1,000 yards in 2021

It’s been a long time — a really, really long time — since Michigan State football last had a 1,000-yard rusher.

LJ Scott approached the mark with 994 yards in 2016 and 898 yards in 2017 and Elijah Collins was just shy in 2019, but outside of those three instances, the Spartans haven’t exactly been the same ‘pound green pound’ team that fans had been used to seeing in the early Mark Dantonio days.

The last Spartans to rush for 1,000 yards was Jeremy Langford back in 2014.

Seven years.

That’s just way too long for a Big Ten team that was dominant up until 2015 and average from 2017-19 to go without a 1,000-yard rusher. Especially since that had been a staple of the program for years.

All of that could soon change, however, as Mel Tucker brought in one of the best running back transfers in the nation in Kenneth Walker III from Wake Forest. Pro Football Focus even listed him as the fifth-best returning running back in college football for the 2021 season.

With Elijah Collins back to full-strength, Michigan State will have a deadly one-two punch.

Walker III is going to reach that 1,000-yard mark

Every headline and quote from the Michigan State coaching staff coming out of spring practice about Walker III has been overwhelmingly positive.

Even Walker III’s teammates have raved about him saying he’s going to “be a problem” and telling fans to keep an eye on him this season as he’s going to put on a show. That’s some high praise from guys who have only seen him practice for a couple of months. But it just goes to show how good and polished of a runner he is and what kind of potential he has.

Michigan State is going to be in really good hands this season with him and Collins running the show but Walker III will likely get the bulk of the carries and if that means somewhere around 200 touches, he will become the Spartans’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014.

If he averages between 4.9 and 5.9 (his two averages at Wake) yards per carry and touches the ball at least 200 times, he should easily reach that 1,000-yard mark. Even if he got less than 200 and was around 150-200, he’d need to average somewhere around 6.0 yards per carry and that’s not crazy to envision, especially if the offensive line improves like I think it should.

Don’t be surprised when Walker III becomes a fan favorite in 2021.