Michigan Football: Predicting Zach Charbonnet’s rushing yards in 2020

Zach Charbonnet had a stellar campaign for Michigan football as a freshman. Here’s a look at what he could do as a sophomore in 2020.

Zach Charbonnet, the product of Oaks Christian High School in California, had plenty of hype surrounding him leading into his freshman season with Michigan football. The four-star recruit had big shoes to fill, and fill them he did, rushing the ball 149 times for 726 yards and 11 TD’s.

After losing Karan Higdon and Chris Evans following the 2018 season, Michigan football was looking for a new starting running back. Charbonnet had a great opportunity to earn the starting job and that’s exactly what he did. He ran for 90 yards on eight carries in the season opener against Middle Tennessee State.

Carrying over the momentum from his debut, Charbonnet put together another strong showing against Army, in week two. He finished the game with 33 carries for 100 yards and 3 TD’s.

Under first year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, Charbonnet proved early on that he could be a reliable option at running back. His performances were needed as the passing game took a while to click.

As the season wore on Hassan Haskins started to get more carries and the passing game started to heat up, causing Charbonnet to see his carries decrease. However, finished the season strong with 13 carries for 84 yards against Alabama in the bowl game for Michigan football.

All in all, Charbonnet had a very productive season  in 2019. What can we expect from him in 2020?

2020 Predictions

Zach Charbonnet is going into his sophomore season with a full head of steam. He should have an abundance of confidence because he showed that he handle the workload required to succeed in the Big Ten.

Chris Evans and Blake Corum will be joining Haskins, Turner, and Charbonnet at running back. The increased competition should bring out the best in all of the backs.

Gattis showed last season that he has a knack for putting players in a position to succeed. That should continue this season even when it seems that there is no way he can find snaps for all five halfbacks.

The biggest question heading into the season is how the offensive line will perform having to replace 4 starters? Their performance will have a direct correlation on the success of the running backs. If they can produce holes, Charbonnet will find them.

Charbonnet scored 11 touchdowns last season all from within the red zone. His longest touchdown run was 12 yards, twice. He should continue to get touches in the red zone because he has a knack for hitting paydirt.

With all that being said, Charbonnet should have another very productive year in 2020. I expect that he will get around the same number of carries and run for over 900 yards with 7-10 touchdowns.