There is a Future Phenom Waiting in the Wings in Corvallis
“Oregon State has churned out productive running backs left and right over the 21st century and that trend looks to be continued thanks to Salahadin Allah.”
I am not those men. I am Salahudin.
- Salahudin, Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Surprising as this may be to some, the Oregon State Beavers program was an absolute RB factory in the 2000s. Between the years 2005 and 2010, every single Beavers roster produced a runner who surpassed at least 1100 yards rushing, and no RB1 carried the rock less than 256 times in a single season.
Unfortunately, in the 2010s things changed. Oregon State experienced a drought of 1000-yard rushers for seven straight seasons starting in 2011, until the freshman sensation Jermar Jefferson came along in 2018. J-Jeff monopolized the backfield almost immediately finishing the year with 239 carries for 1380 yards and 10 scores.
Injuries cut Jefferson’s year short the following season, but when he was playing he was great. His replacement, Artavis Pierce, was a serviceable player to hold in CFF leagues as well while Jefferson missed time. In fact, yours truly did exactly that (shoutout to the Lockeroom Lads Invitational league).
So when the COVID year came along (and Pierce left for the NFL), I made sure to stash Jefferson at the end of every draft on the off chance that the PAC12 (RIP) would reverse course and play football again in 2020. That decision was made shortly thereafter by the powers that be, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In only six games, Jefferson rushed 133 times for 858 yards and seven scores, along with 67 yards receiving. BJ Baylor carried the torch in 2021, rushing 227 times for 1337 yards and 13 scores.
Then there was the Damien Martinez era. As a freshman, he led the Beavers with 982 yards as the RB1A in a committee with Deshaun Fenwick. In 2022 Martinez also split carries but this time he was able to top 1000 yards rushing.
Of course, this was all under a previous staff. Head coach Jonathan Smith left for East Lansing last offseason, and the new staff that took over was nothing short of a complete question mark.
Yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In fact, at one point the 2024 Beaver team looked primed to produce not one, but two 1000 yard rushers in Anthony Hankerson and Jam Griffin. What’s interesting is that Hankerson was actually more productive when sharing the backfield with Griffin, who succumbed to injury in week four.
But Griffin moves on; so who’s going to spell Hankerson this season and take the torch in 2026? An update out of 247 Sports provides some food for thought on this:
“Oregon State has churned out productive running backs left and right over the 21st century and that trend looks to be continued thanks to Salahadin Allah.”
The Texan was a late pickup for Oregon State in the class of 2024 as the Beavers were able to flip the talented back from Sam Houston late and after a year Allah looks to be an absolute steal. Allah entered the season as RB3 but after a season ending injury to Jam Griffin took the backup spot and was solid behind Anthony Hankerson, capped by a 68 yard effort on only nine carries against San Jose State.
Allah has reportedly been crushing it in the weight room this offseason and looks primed to take a big leap in year 2. With his mixture of strength and speed Allah has the potential to be the best all-around back for the Beavers in quite some time.
Oregon State's offense should be much more explosive already with the addition of Maalik Murphy, but if Allah and Hankerson can become the 1-2 punch the staff hopes they can be then look out.
In line for a much bigger role as a sophomore will be Salahadin Allah who averaged just under 5 yards a carry as a true freshman and came on strong against San Jose State and Washington State.
The writer mentions a potential increase in role for Allah, but what will that actually look like? I looked to an update midseason in 2024 to provide some clarity on the matter:
While it isn't clear what the Oregon State coaching staff is planning for the deployment and role for Allah going forward, Gunderson did say that they ideally want him to receive between 25-30% of the offensive snaps.
According to Gunderson, Allah brings a different style of running to the backfield. Griffin and Hankerson, were more or less, one side of the same coin. Allah was described as faster than either and more of an upright runner.
The speed is verifiable, with 247Sports reporting that Allah had run a 11.41 100-meter as a junior in high school. It's shown up in his limited action this season, springing a pair of runs for 20 and 21 yards against Idaho State and Nevada, respectively.
I get that the update was from 2024, and we are decidedly not in that year anymore, but keep in mind that update also came after Jam Griffin went down with injury, which coincided with Allah stepping into the RB2 role.
Despite what Gunderson mentioned about the desired split, Allah didn’t really step into a lot of snaps after Griffin went down. He never saw double digit carries last season after becoming RB2, with a season-high of nine vs. SJSU.
Gunderson addressed this contradiction later in the season during a press conference citing the flow of games Oregon State was involved in late in the year as the primary driver not allowing them to play Allah as much as they wanted to.
Understandably, it’s hard to trust a true freshman with the rock when games are on the line. But now we enter year two, and when you look at what Griffin and Hankerson were able to do as a duo last season, one has to wonder whether Allah can have a productive year not just in 2026, but in 2025 as well as Hank’s wingman.
Early practice reports suggest that he’s having a good spring camp, here’s one writer mentioning him in early March: “Running backs Salahadin Allah and Cornell Hatcher highlighted the group today”.
I would imagine that in 2025, Allah will actually be stepping into the “25-30%” of snaps Gunderson mentioned last year. If Oregon State continues to run the football as much and effectively as they did a season ago, that could mean Allah finds himself as a CFF-relevant player this year.
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 18.9 — OC: 16.51 (half ppr)
There isn’t much to cover in this section as both coaches are fairly new to this play calling thing. OC Ryan Gunderson’s 2019 SJSU team was the only data point prior to this year, and while the PPG average was OK, there was nothing remarkable to report.
Trent Bray, the head coach, was in his first year as a play caller last season with the Beavers. Gunderson was formerly the QBs coach at UCLA, and was probably the primary play caller as Bray’s background is on defence.
One of the notable things about ORST’s 2024 team was that they ran a lot of plays per game. They averaged 72.33 plays run, which was 27th in the FBS. What’s more, their play calling split skewed heavily to the run at 57/43 runs to passes. That partly explains how both Hank and Griffin were able to eat.
However, that play-calling split was not expected as the only data point we have from Gunderson showed a 38/62 split run to pass at SJSU in 2019. This shift was probably a product of the staff recognizing the strength of the team and strategizing around that.
Griffin himself accounted for 67 carries, over 400 yards and four scores in just his first four appearances, before going down with injury in his fifth game where he had six carries and 37 yards.
Salahadin Allah (5’11, 205)
2024 RUSHING STATS: 55 - 258 - 1 (2.87 PPG)
Allah was one of many hidden gems within the state of Texas in the 2024 class. Rated a three-star prospect by 247 Sports, he held a limited offer sheet that included Oregon State, Sam Houston, and West Texas A&M (FCS).
His short offer sheet is likely due to the fact that his senior season was cut short by injury. He appeared in only two games, rushing 23 times for 187 yards and a score, and catching seven passes for 84 yards and two more scores.
His junior season was more fruitful, as he appeared in seven games and rushed for 584 yards and three scores. He also caught nine passes for 168 yards and two more scores.
In three of the first four games the Beavers played last season, both Hank and Griffin received 20+ touches. Hankerson is probably going to continue to average 20+ opportunities a game, but there is also a possibility that Allah actually surpasses the 25-30% mark Gunderson mentioned last year, and sees around 15-20 opportunities a game himself.
QB Maalik Murphy is not a runner. He may be an upgrade from a passing standpoint relative to Gevani McCoy, but I would be surprised if the Beavers move away from their 57/43 split in a dramatic way in 2025.
Also of note: McCoy ran 59 times for 328 yards and five scores in 10 games as starter last year. In contrast, Murphy ran 19 times for -79 yards (sack yardage) and two scores in 12 games with Duke last season. So those vacated carries will likely trickle over to the running back room too.
Both Allah and Hankerson look to be capable receivers at the RB position too, so both can be used on third downs.
The overall point I am making today is that while there is a lot of reason for optimism regarding Allah’s stock in 2026 and beyond, there is actually reason to believe that he could be a breakout star as early as 2025. ◾
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Sample of 2018 to 2024 excluding 2020.