College football 2018: Top 30 breakout players to watch

As a true freshman in 2016, Kennedy McKoy made an immediate impact with 472 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Last season as a sophomore, he saw his workload increase by nearly 50 carriers as he totaled 596 yards and ran for seven scores.

With the departure of back to back 1,000-yard rusher in Justin Crawford, the door is now open for McKoy to step in as the feature back in West Virginia’s ground game. The Mountaineers have been up and down as a team lately, going 10-3 in 2016 and 7-6 last year, but enter 2018 with high hopes. McKoy will have a major responsibility in the running game but he’ll have a lot of pressure taken off his shoulders thanks to a returning starter at quarterback in Will Grier, who put up 3,500 passing yards last year, and brings back his favorite target Gary Jennings, as well as a host of other talented weapons on the outside.

McKoy is in a position not only to break out himself but to make or break West Virginia’s season. Physically, the 6’0″, 200-pound back has all the tools needed to rush for 1,000-plus yards and give the Mountaineer offense the balance it needs to contend in the always-competitive Big 12. He’d done it as a secondary runner but sustaining it over a full 12-game schedule is another ball game.

He’ll have help from fellow junior Martell Pettaway, who is a dangerous receiver out of the backfield and a wrecking ball at 5’9″, 210 pounds, but Kennedy McKoy will be counted on as to be the Mountaineers’ bell cow in 2018. If he can deliver, he’ll likely earn himself a chance to play on Sundays and West Virginia could land a New Years Day bowl game or perhaps even better.