In Mississippi, the tradition of producing top running backs continues to draw attention from football observers and recruiters alike. In 2016, sports writer Rick Cleveland highlighted several standout players from the state, including Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Walter Payton, Marcus Dupree, Jerious Norwood, Deuce McAllister, Jimmy Johns and then rising star Cam Akers. Cleveland wrote: “These eyes saw Walter Payton play at Columbia High School. These eyes saw Marcus Dupree play at Philadelphia. They saw Jerious Norwood play at Brandon, Deuce McAllister at Morton and Jimmy Johns at Brookhaven. (…) But these eyes have never seen a better Mississippi high school football player than Cam Akers, Clinton’s 17-year-old wunderkind, whom I saw in person for the first time here Thursday night.”
Akers emerged as a five-star recruit in the same class as Najee Harris and made an impact with nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns over three seasons at Florida State before being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft.
New talent such as Tyson Robinson from Brandon is following in this path. Robinson remembers watching Akers compete against his brother’s team. “When I was growing up, Cam Akers played against my brother so he was one of the big ones,” Robinson said. “He is really well known and then Walter Payton is a great. Those two are the big trendsetters in Mississippi. Watching him on the field was crazy. He played my brother one time and the game was tight but Cam just took over. He was playing quarterback, running back, he was the greatest show on turf.”
Robinson also has family ties to Columbia—Payton’s hometown—which influenced his knowledge of Payton’s legacy: “We know his relatives well,” Robinson said. “I watched him a little bit on YouTube and it was just like, man, he was tough.”
The pipeline remains active with younger players emerging each year. For instance, Zaiden Jernagin of Louisville recorded more than 2,200 all-purpose yards and 31 touchdowns during his freshman season and now ranks as No. 13 overall—and top-rated running back—in initial projections for his class.
Jernagin explained how another star influenced his choice to become a running back: “When I was younger, I really wanted to play receiver because the first time I watched football was in that game when Odell had that one-handed catch and I always wanted to replicate that catch (…) In Little League we always ran the ball, so that’s how I became a running back.”
Recruitment efforts remain strong for these athletes by major colleges across several states including Tennessee, Mississippi State University—who has focused attention on Jernagin—and others.
Robinson described why running backs continue to be prominent: “Running back is really the main position here (…) Running back and d-line are the big two in Mississippi but we produce running backs down here.”
Mississippi’s reputation for nurturing elite runners includes historic names such as Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Payton—regarded by some as among football’s best ever—and persists with new prospects who aspire to similar recognition.
