Peanut Butter Fluff: Meet CFB's Leading Freshman Rusher
Peanut Butter Fluff: Meet CFB's Leading Freshman Rusher
"Generational. I’ve been doing this since 1985. I think I’ve had four, maybe five guys, where you are like, 'I don’t know if I’ll ever have one like this again.' He is that type of guy.”
Drafted outta high school and I hit my free throws…
- Ace Hood, musician
There is no true freshman RB killing it in college football as much as Da’Marion ‘Fluff’ Bothwell right now. If you had asked CFFers before the season started who they thought would be the biggest freshman breakout at RB, I’m sure almost none of them would have answered with Southern Alabama’s three star RB, whose only other FBS offers were EMU, Jacksonville State and Navy.
But here we are in week four of the season, and Fluff is leading all freshman runners in yards and scores. Bothwell is ‘both’ notable for his amazing nickname, and the fact that he’s hit 100 yards in back-to-back weeks now, with the latest performance also seeing him lead the Jags in carries. Kentrell Bullock is the other Jaguar runner who is heavily involved, and between him and Bothwell, they form a dangerous tandem.
Though, with quotes like these from his former head coach, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised:
“Generational,” Oneonta coach Phil Phillips told AL.com last fall. “I’ve been doing this since 1985. I think I’ve had four, maybe five guys, where you are like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever have one like this again.’ He is that type of guy.”
One of the things I like about participating in a deep format like CFFNate’s dynasty league is that you can act on virtually all of the ideas you may have when it comes to waivers. In my home league, there’s no chance I could have rostered Bothwell after week one. But in a 45-man roster, 24-teamer, I did just that. Now, it seems that move is paying dividends. I featured Bothwell on the Pig Market two weeks ago as a watchlist player, and we’re still waiting for the volume to catch up with the production. However, if he keeps lighting off 100 yard performances, the carries would presumably follow given this staff’s track record at the tailback position (more on this later).
One of the other notable things about Fluff is his insistence on tucking in his jersey like he’s Ezekiel Elliott. I’ve emailed Fantrax over a dozen times insisting that ‘swag factor’ should act as a multiplier for CFF points scored, but I’m still waiting for their response. In the interim, we’ll just have to settle for Bothwell’s 100 yards and two scores per game. They play LSU next weekend, which in theory shouldn’t be as productive for the Jaguars’ players, but then again that LSU defence has been suspect.
Regardless of whether Bothwell continues his massive output on limited touches, or takes over the backfield later, he will be a sought after name in C2C/dynasty CFF leagues, and in future CFF redrafts. So, let’s take a look at his background.
Da’Marion ‘Fluff’ Bothwell (5’10, 220)
2024 STATS (four games): 37-359-6 (19.3 PPG)
Bothwell was a super producer in Alabama high school playing at Oneonta High in the north of the state. If you’re keeping score at home, it seems like this past year’s crop of talent in Alabama was pretty unreal when you consider the likes of Perry Thompson, Cam Coleman, and Ryan Williams (reclassified) in the same class. The list of immediate impact contributors from this state in the year 2024 is both unusual and extraordinary.
Here are a few of Bothwell’s accolades from high school:
Last year as a junior, Bothwell finished with 3,112 rushing yards and 44 total touchdowns, the latter of which is one of the highest marks in a season in Alabama history. He helped Oneonta reach the AHSAA Class 4A state semifinals with a 315-yard, five-touchdown night in the quarterfinals.
His name can be found several times in the AHSAA record books for various statistical achievements and career milestones.
Bothwell is a top 100 running back nationally in the class of 2024, per the 247Sports composite rankings, currently ranked No. 90.
The three-star recruit committed to South Alabama last month, choosing the Jaguars over offers from Army, Navy, Jacksonville State and more.
Bothwell joined the South Alabama team over the summer after a career at Oneonta in which he posted often ludicrous statistics on both sides of the ball. After running for 3,112 yards and 41 touchdowns as a junior in 2022, Bothwell battled through a hip injury to rush for 2,031 yards and 32 more scores as a senior.
In his first game of his senior season, Bothwell effectively did it all for his team:
The senior totaled more than 375 yards and eight touchdowns on offense, according to AL.com. He rushed for 265 yards and four touchdowns, made four catches for 122 yards and three receiving touchdowns and passed for 40 yards and one touchdown.
On defense, Bothwell racked up 17 tackles, including a sack, in the Redskins' 26-point victory.
It’s surprising that despite his massive output at a high classification in a big football state, Bothwell was a fairly under-the-radar recruit. As mentioned, his only FBS offers were EMU, Navy, Jacksonville State, and of course South Alabama.
He was rated just barely inside the top 100 at his position by 247 Sports’ internal rating, and the 2165th rated overall prospect on the composite.
Additionally, despite only joining the program in the summer, Bothwell hit the ground running in week one with a score on only six carries vs. UNT. Here’s what he had to say after the game:
It felt great, because coming into the game, I was just a little nervous about it being my first game and then getting used to how different it is from high school. It’s not as much different as I thought it would be. I mean, it’s a little faster. You’ve got to read blocks and stuff like that a little faster, but I’m getting used to it.
His current head coach, Major Applewhite, also commented on the performance:
He scored, so that’s good. We’ll always take that. But I thought he did well and I’ve seen these guys before — whether it’s quarterbacks, guards, DBs, Week 1 to Week 2 that you get more and more comfortable with the calls. You get comfortable with pre-game, your preparation, all those things, and you just start to play freer as the season goes along. So I don’t expect anything different in terms of his process of maturing as a player on game day.
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 13.931 (half ppr)
The head coach of the Jags is the aforementioned Major Applewhite, who took over for Womack when he left to be the DC of the Tide. Applewhite served as the OC at South Alabama from 2021-2023. The OC is a man named Rob Ezel, most famously known for his impression of Nick Saban when he played at Alabama. Seriously, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go and check that video out. Ezel was promoted from TEs coach where he served under Applewhite for the last three seasons. He also spent six seasons as an analyst at Alabama.
Ezel doesn’t have any experience as a play caller, so below are the tendencies of only Major Applewhite.
As can be seen in Table 1., his RB1 averages around 35% carry share, but has been as large as 41% in previous seasons. Many of you will recall that La’Damien Webb was a back-to-back 1000-yard rusher under Applewhite. He saw 240 and 210 touches in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
It should be noted that Applewhite’s RB1 averages around 18 targets per season, so not really much of a factor in the passing game. Webb saw solid receiving usage, but through four games Bothwell hasn’t really been used that way, averaging one target per contest.
Applewhite averages a ratio of 53 to 47% in favour of running on offence, and a pace of 24.6 seconds per play.
Closing
Bothwell’s early breakout is unusual in the realm of CFF. Very rarely do true freshman RBs secure a program’s backfield the way Breece Hall or Jonathan Taylor did. It’s not clear if that will be the case for Bothwell as things currently stand.
The biggest obstacle for Bothwell is the fact that there’s another, more senior, runner who’s also playing well. Bullock is still considered the starter, even though Bothwell had more carries in the last game. Usually, if freshmen take over, it happens at some point in October. That’s how it went for Breece Hall in 2019 with Iowa State. Jonathan Taylor was just from a different planet—he took over in week two of his freshman season. Unreal.
I like Bothwell, and I swear it’s not just because of the name. He’s a perfectly proportioned athlete already as a freshman for a collegiate RB. His early usage and production are very promising for future seasons.
The concern I have as a shareholder in a long-format like a CFF dynasty league is whether he’s even going to stay at Southern Alabama after this season. I’d imagine Auburn, and some of the other SEC schools will come calling in December. Unfortunately, that’s just a risk you have to take to play this game.
Bothwell is still hard to justify as a starter in a regular, redraft league at the current moment. His input volume doesn’t match the production, which suggests that the bottom should be falling out soon. On the other hand, he’s seeing more carries as the season goes on, which could be a trend going forward. If you have the space, he’s worth holding onto. ◾
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