Joshua McCray

Senior running back for Georgia. 2025: 135 rushing yards, 3 rushing TD, 3 catches.

RB · Georgia · Sr. · #2

6′1″ · 235 lb · Enterprise, AL

CFB Index 32 · #301 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceReturning to Georgia for 2026

How he plays

Just keeps getting the ball, series after series.

TD rate: 86th percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

135

rushing yards · 2025

3 TD · 2.5 per carry · 3 catches

Backed by 9 car · 61 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game. -- Best game: 17 rush yds, 2 TD, at Tennessee

Swing playSwung Illinois from 48% to 71% to win.Illinois at Purdue · 13-9

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for Georgia. 2025: 135 rushing yards, 3 rushing TD, 3 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Illinois in 2021.

His career, year by year

Joshua McCray

RB · Georgia · Sr · #2

Just keeps getting the ball, series after series. Joshua McCray has played for two head coaches across five seasons and two programs. One game to point at: 43 rush yds, 9 rec yds against Georgia Tech — Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Illinois5-7HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning

2022Illinois8-5HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning

2023Illinois5-7HC: Bret Bielema · Balanced

2024Illinois10-3HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2025Georgia12-2HC: Kirby Smart · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

32Below cohort / limited sample #301 of 326?

High confidenceFading12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: td rate (86th percentile). Concern: yards / carry (0th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#65 / 456 · 86th pct

5.7%

Success rate#282 / 456 · 38th pct

41.2%

EPA / carry#392 / 456 · 14th pct

-0.04

Explosive rate#423 / 456 · 7th pct

1.9%

Yards / carry#456 / 456 · 0th pct

2.5

Box-score rates (7)

Rush TDs#200 / 349 · 38th pct

Carries#302 / 349 · 13th pct

Receptions#305 / 338 · 8th pct

Long run#319 / 349 · 8th pct

Rec yards#329 / 338 · 3rd pct

Rush yards#345 / 349 · 1st pct

135

Yards / carry#349 / 349 · 0th pct

2.5

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

80th → 14th percentile

Success rate

82nd → 38th percentile

Explosive rate

39th → 7th percentile

Yards / carry

63rd → 0th percentile

TD rate

89th → 86th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home6g	7.2	1.4	0.2
Road5g	18.4	2.5	0.4

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	10.1	1.7	0.4
Weeks 8+4g	16.0	2.1	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Kirby Smart

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

32 · #301 of 326 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #301 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-SEC

Based on 2025: #35 of 37 SEC RBs

How the All-SEC estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Georgia	53	135	2.5	3	--
2024	Illinois	117	609	5.2	10	--
2023	Illinois	43	156	3.6	2	--
2022	Illinois	19	58	3.1	0	--
2021	Illinois	112	549	4.9	2	--
Career		344	1,507	4.4	17	--

Season	Team
2025	Georgia	3	5	1.7	0	--
2024	Illinois	13	116	8.9	1	--
2023	Illinois	6	30	5.0	0	--
2022	Illinois	4	19	4.8	0	--
2021	Illinois	2	43	21.5	0	--
Career		28	213	7.6	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2025

W 43–35

vs Ole Miss

13 rush yds (5 car)

Edged out Ole Miss at home in a shootout.

With G. Stockton — 289 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · QBR 96.9 · 59 rush yds (10 car) · 1 TD · D. Bell — 19 rush yds (2 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 6 · Kentucky · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA -4.00Josh McCray run for no gain to the UK 11
Week 3 · Tennessee · 3&1 · Q3 · EPA +2.45Josh McCray run for 1 yd for a TD (Peyton Woodring KICK)
Week 15 · Alabama · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA +2.34(01:06) #2 J.McCray rush left for 4 yards gain to the ALA47 (#0 D.Lawson), 1ST DOWN
Week 8 · Ole Miss · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA +2.13Josh McCray run for 2 yds to the UGA 46 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Tennessee · 2&1 · Q5 · EPA +1.90Josh McCray run for 1 yd for a TD
Week 5 · Alabama · 2&1 · Q3 · EPA +1.90Josh McCray run for 1 yd for a TD (Peyton Woodring KICK)
Week 7 · Auburn · 3&1 · Q4 · EPA -1.59Josh McCray run for a loss of 2 yards to the AUB 40
Week 14 · Georgia Tech · 3&1 · Q2 · EPA +1.53(14:59) No Huddle-Shotgun #2 J.McCray rush middle for 8 yards gain to the GT45 (#15 T.Butler; #2 E.Lightsey), 1ST DOWN
Week 15 · Alabama · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA -1.43(01:33) #2 J.McCray rush middle for 3 yards loss to the UGA45 (#8 J.Hill)
Week 15 · Alabama · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA -1.28(09:51) Shotgun #14 G.Stockton pass complete short right to #2 J.McCray caught at UGA26, for 4 yards loss to the UGA26, End Of Play

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 45-7vs Marshall	2	6	3.0	0	5
Wk 2	W 28-6vs Austin Peay	1	-1	-1.0	0	0
Wk 3	W 44-41@ Tennessee	7	17	2.4	2	5
Wk 5	L 21-24vs Alabama	6	15	2.5	1	7
Wk 6	W 35-14vs Kentucky	5	13	2.6	0	8
Wk 7	W 20-10@ Auburn	6	24	4.0	0	17
Wk 8	W 43-35vs Ole Miss	5	13	2.6	0	5
Wk 11	W 41-21@ Mississippi State	3	5	1.7	0	2
Wk 14	W 16-9@ Georgia Tech	13	43	3.3	0	8	Season-high 43 yds
Wk 15	W 28-7@ Alabama	3	3	1.0	0	4
Bowl	L 34-39vs Ole Miss	2	-3	-1.5	0	0
Total		53	135	1.9	3	17

How he plays

Play style

Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.

CFB Index positional classification

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

The closer

~ our read

9.5%Carry share

14.9%Q4-lead share

50.0%In competitive games

9.5% of carries overall (53/556) → 14.9% of Q4-with-lead carries (18/121) — 50.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

8/123rd/4th & short

9/36Inside-5 share

8 of 12 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (66.7%). 9 of the team's 36 inside-the-5 carries (25.0%).

2026 Outlook

Georgia

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Georgia

Returning around him

69% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
8 Georgia players drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -7 net (9 in / 16 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Georgia · Last season: 12-2 (AP #2) · Talent rank #1 · 2026 recruiting class #6

DNA match

Player DNA

Workhorse

Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Marco Lee’s 2022 season.

Marco Lee

79%match

South Alabama · 2022

Jakobi Buchanan

Army · 2022

69%

Deion Hankins

UTEP · 2021

68%

Jacqez Barksdale

Buffalo · 2024

65%

Matches Marco on

Weight

Yards / carry

Recruiting rating

Differs from Marco on

Class year (higher)

Height (higher)

Through 5 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Joshua Samuel’s path through Austin Peay.

Joshua Samuel

99%match

Austin Peay · 2022

Garrett Groshek

Wisconsin · 2020

93%

Demetric Felton

UCLA · 2020

All-Pac-12NFL Rd 6

93%

Thad Franklin

Florida A&M · 2025

91%

Jordan Brunson

Miami (OH) · 2025

89%

Matches Joshua on

Yards per carry

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Dylan Downing's graduate season at Miami (OH) (2024).

Dylan Downing

67%match

Miami (OH) · 2024

Deion Hankins

Texas State · 2024

All-Conference USA

63%

Trenten Howland

Oklahoma State · 2025

59%

Tucker Gleason

Toledo · 2025

All-MAC

56%

Rashad Amos

Georgia State · 2025

All-MAC

55%

Matches Dylan on

Yards / carry

Height

Weight

Differs from Dylan on

Rush TD rate (higher)

Receiving share (lower)

Player DNA

Players who play like Joshua McCray

Anthony Tyus III

Northwestern · 2023

76%

Sam Scott

Wyoming · 2024

73%

Ja'Quinden Jackson

Arkansas · 2024

68%

Dante Dowdell

Kentucky · 2025

68%

Raheim Sanders

South Carolina · 2024

68%

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

202111 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Workhorse

Players who play like Joshua McCray