Syracuse Football: As LeQuint Allen heads to pros, a dive into the running back room

Syracuse football junior running back LeQuint Allen Jr. has declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, and I sincerely hope that Orange Nation gets to watch him compete at the professional level in the near future.

The 6-foot, 201-pound Allen, who hails from Millville, N.J., put forth consecutive terms where he rushed for more than 1,000 yards, and he also has proven an excellent receiver coming out of the backfield.

While Allen did have one campaign of college eligibility remaining, he's elected to head to the NFL, and I wish him all the best. In 2024, as Syracuse football went 10-3 overall, Allen rushed for 1,021 yards and 16 touchdowns, per SU Athletics. He also recorded 521 receiving yards and four more scores through the air this past stanza.

As a sophomore in 2023, Allen tallied 1,064 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. In 2023, he resided on the All-ACC second team. During the recently completed 2024 season for the Orange, which should finish inside the top 20 of the College Football Playoff top-25 rankings, Allen picked up All-ACC honorable mention nods as both a running back and an all-purpose player.

Let's examine the Syracuse football running back room for the 2025 season.

Undeniably, Allen's departure from the Hill is a big void to fill, but the 'Cuse does have numerous talented running backs who are likely to have larger roles in the next campaign.

In terms of which running back will be No. 1 on the team's depth chart, I'm speculating here, although I think it would amount to either redshirt junior Will Nixon or freshman Yasin Willis.

The 5-foot-11, 202-pound Nixon only appeared in three games in 2024 before unfortunately suffering a season-ending injury. He carried the ball a total of 19 times for 76 yards.

The 6-foot-1, 226-pound Willis, a four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle, rushed 36 times for 130 yards this past term. His best game occurred when Syracuse football upset a ranked UNLV squad on the road in early October, as Willis rushed eight times for 62 yards and a touchdown in that triumph.

Other running backs on the Orange's 2024 roster have included freshman Jaden Hart, redshirt freshman Tyler Chandler, freshman Jordan Montanez and freshman Malachi James.

Within the team's large 2025 class, there are at least two runnings whom I'm aware of, and they are three-star Malachi Coleman from Virginia and Tylik Hill, who committed to the 'Cuse in late December.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound Hill, as a senior in the recent 2024 season at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, N.J., rushed for 2,336 yards and had a whopping 27 touchdowns.