By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – When greatness is witnessed over the course of a season as what has occurred with Iowa junior running back Kaleb Johnson, it’s only natural to want to rank where it stands.

Johnson will enter Friday’s regular season finale against Nebraska with 1,492 rushing yards and with a UI single season record 21 rushing touchdowns.

Johnson’s rushing total currently ranks third on Iowa’s single-season rushing list behind Shonn Greene’s 1,850 yards in 2008 and Tavian Banks, 1,691 yards in 1997.

Johnson probably would have a good chance of surpassing Banks if he were to play in whatever bowl game Iowa gets invited to, along with the Nebraska game.

Heck, Johnson might surpass Banks against Nebraska, considering he only needs 199 yards to tie him.

Johnson rushed for a career-high 206 yards in the win over Minnesota in the Big Ten opener, so it’s not unreasonable to think that he could do it again.

But where would Johnson’s 2024 season rank all time at Iowa?

And where would he rank on Iowa’s all-time list of greatest running backs?

It’s hard to answer those two questions with full confidence without knowing what Johnson will accomplish against Nebraska on Friday, and if he were to play in a bowl game, though that seems unlikely.

Shonn Greene’s 2008 masterpiece of a season is widely recognized as the greatest individual season for an Iowa running back.

But Greene’s 2008 performance goes beyond just the overall rushing statistics.

It was his consistency, and that he basically put a team that was 3-3 on his back and then carried it to a 9-4 finish, rushing for at least 100 yards in all 13 games.

Greene ran with power and with explosiveness, much like the 6-foot, 225-pound Johnson has this season.

Greene would go on to win the Doak Walker Award in 2008 as the nation’s best collegiate running back, and the fact that Iowa won six of its last seven games that season helped him do it.

The current Iowa team is 4-3 over its last seven games, and in all three of the losses to Ohio State, Michigan State and UCLA, Johnson was held below 100 rushing yards.

So, Greene’s 2008 season still remains as the standard.

But a case could certainly be made for Johnson having the second best individual season for an Iowa running back, especially if he were to play well on Friday.

It’s hard to compare seasons based on just statistics because the circumstances are so different with each running back.

For example, Ladell Betts only rushed for 857 yards in 1999, but it was some of the toughest yards an Iowa running back has ever gained because he was running behind an overmatched offensive line, and playing for a team that finished 1-10 in Kirk Ferentz’s first season as head coach.

Betts, who is Iowa’s current running back coach, ranks second in program history with 3,686 rushing yards despite playing on three losing teams.

He trails only Sedrick Shaw, whose 4,156 rushing career rushing yards has held up since 1996.

A very strong case could be made for Sedrick Shaw being the the greatest Iowa running back of all time, even though for some odd reason he isn’t in the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame, apparently because he doesn’t meet some of the criteria.

Okay. Fine. Whatever.

But Shaw is the only player in program history to surpass 4,000 rushing yards, and he scored 33 touchdowns and averaged 5.0 yards per carry for his career.

Those seem to be hall of fame numbers.

We’re talking about a guy that carried 42 times for 250 yards in a 21-7 win at Michigan State in 1995, and his team needed every one of those yards to win on the road.

Shaw also kept Tavian Banks as a backup for three seasons, which is spectacular by itself considering how talented Banks was as a a big-play running back.

What separates Shaw and Ladell Betts from Shonn Greene and Tavian Banks is that the former both had sustained success over four seasons, while the latter mostly had one great season.

Kaleb Johnson is sort of in the middle in that this is by far his most productive season, but he also set an Iowa freshman record with 779 rushing yards in 2022.

So, Johnson is far from a one trick pony with 2,734 rushing yards over nearly three seasons.

But who’s the best Iowa running back dating back to 1979, which marked the start of Hayden Fry’s 20-year coaching reign?

It would be hard to say the best of all time because some of the old timers who have long since passed would say that Willie Fleming was the greatest Iowa running back of all-time, even though he only played one season in 1959.

A case could be made for Ronnie Harmon being the most talented Iowa running back of all time, but he only played running back as a junior and senior in 1984 and 1985.

Harmon played receiver as a freshman and sophomore, more like a wingback, and he played the position at an extremely high level.

Some believe that Harmon would’ve been Iowa’s greatest receiver of all time if he played the position for four seasons, and there is also a belief that Harmon would have been Iowa’s greatest running back of all time if he played that position throughout his Iowa career.

Harmon finished his Hawkeye career with 2,271 rushing yards and with 2,045 receiving yards on 146 catches. He scored 22 rushing touchdowns and 10 receiving touchdowns.

From a talent and versatility standpoint, Ronnie Harmon stands above all other Iowa running backs.

But again, who’s the best? And does Kaleb Johnson belong in the top five?

Here is my answer with my top five Iowa running backs dating back to 1979:

1. Sedrick Shaw, 1993-96 – His body of work and his consistency gives him the edge. The Texas native ran with both power and finesse, and he was tough and durable. He could run over or around defenders. He didn’t last very long in the NFL, but these rankings are based solely on what each running back accomplished at Iowa. Shaw still ranks first on Iowa’s all-time rushing list with 4,156 yards, and it’s been nearly 30 years since he set the record.

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2. Ladell Betts, 1998-2001 – The Blue Springs, Missouri native has the distinction of having played for both Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, but also the misfortune of playing on some bad Iowa teams. Iowa combined to finish 7-27 in his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, but Betts was one of the few bright spots as he led the team in rushing in each of those three seasons and in all four of his seasons at Iowa.

Betts didn’t have the luxury of running behind a veteran offensive line like the one that has paved the way for Johnson’s record-breaking season. Betts had some of the greatest four and 5-yard runs by a Hawkeye because so often there was hardly any room for him to maneuver.

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3. Ronnie Harmon, 1982-85 – You name it and Harmon could do it at a very high level. He was sure-handed and he could make defenders miss in open field.

He would go on to play for more than a decade in the NFL where he became one of the top third-down backs in the league, mostly because of his receiving skills.

Again, if this ranking was based solely on talent, Harmon would be ranked on top.

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4. Kaleb Johnson, 2022-present – The Hamilton, Ohio native has thrived this season despite getting little help from the Iowa passing game.

The Iowa notes refer to him as Big Play KJ, and it fits since Johnson has 20 rushes of 20-plus yards, six 40-plus yard rushes and nine touchdowns runs of 25-plus yards this season.

He also has  program record 21 rushing touchdowns this season.

Johnson would be a serious threat to dethrone Shaw if he were to return to Iowa for his senior season, but that seems highly unlikely.

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5. Shonn Greene, 2005-06, 2008 – Take away his record-breaking 2008 season and Greene only rushed for 378 yards as a Hawkeye.

However, the Sicklerville, New Jersey was so dominant and so consistent in the 2008 season that he belongs in the top five.

The fifth spot basically came down to Greene and Tavian Banks, and yes, a strong case could be made for Banks being fifth or even higher on the list.

 

Also considered: Tavian Banks, Akrum Wadley, Albert Young, Fred Russell, Owen Gill, Tyler Goodson.