Fantasy RBs are made of two distinct types: the feature back, and the run-heavy offense. The SEC is lucky enough to have both of these: the conference has no shortage of pro-style teams that use a feature back, and even the teams that use a spread attack either use a feature back with limited rotation or a spread-option style that looks to have plenty of carries. This is good news for fantasy owners, especially since the first tier of guys here are as legitimate as they come. Then again, the second tier here has three feature backs, too. If there’s one thing the SEC has this year in spades, it’s running backs. Come early and come often.

Alabama RB Trent Richardson should do a lot of celebrating in 2011, similar to this from the 2010 BCS Championship Game (Icon SMI)

First Tier: Team Anchors - RB1 goes here. Dependable, proven performance, with upside.

1. Trent Richardson, Alabama

It’s easy to get seduced by the new hotness; Marcus Lattimore dominated headlines last year. However, this Alabama team looks eerily like the Alabama team of a few years ago, and Mark Ingram had a decent year that time around. Richardson’s, er, Trent Richardson counterpart in 2011 – Dee Hart – is out for the season with a torn ACL, so there are no new competitors for his position. That means Richardson gets to shoulder the load in a run-happy offense with a history of producing high-yield RBs that goes even more run-happy once they get a lead – and considering a national title isn’t unreasonable this year, that’s going to be high frequency. That’s as good as it gets. 1,500 and 15 isn’t out of the question. Read the rest of this entry →