Pitt Football: Which Big East Rushers Can Crack The 1,000-Yard Mark In 2011?

Brian Bennett of ESPN.com has his list of top contenders for 1,000-yard rushers for each team in the Big East next season. It's no surprise that Ray Graham tops the list for Pitt.

The conference lost most of its top rushers from last season - Jordan Todman, Bilal Powell, Dion Lewis, Delone Carter, Noel Devine, five of the top six leading rushers, are all gone.

Bennett has Graham as his second leading candidate to rush for had ,000 yards in the conference behind only Cincinnati's Isaiah Pead. That's probably where I'd slot Graham, but I might be tempted to put him first. Pead only rushed for 1,029 yards last year and I could see Graham topping that with a full load. Pead was the team's primary rusher and Graham had nearly as many carries in a supplementary role to Lewis.

Graham rushed for about 1/2 a yard less per carry, but had two more touchdowns and could get into a pretty good rhythm as the starter. If he stays healthy, I see him as having a big workload next season.

Bennett even concedes that Graham could have a better year, as he slotted Graham first among running backs in handicapping conference Player of the Year honors.