Sam Franklin

Senior running back for South Florida. 2025: 474 rushing yards, 4 rushing TD, 5 catches.

RB · South Florida · Sr. · #4

5′10″ · 204 lb · Little Rock, AR

CFB Index 42 · #200 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceReturning to South Florida for 2026

The numbers

474

rushing yards · 2025

4 TD · 5.9 per carry · 5 catches

Swing playSwung South Florida from 72% to 94% to win.South Florida at Memphis · 34-31

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for South Florida. 2025: 474 rushing yards, 4 rushing TD, 5 catches.

Transferred from Oklahoma to South Florida in 2025.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Does a little of everything without one standout trait.

Yards / carry: 82nd percentile.

The full scouting read

Sam Franklin

RB · South Florida · Sr · #4

Does a little of everything without one standout trait. Sam Franklin has played for two head coaches across two seasons and two programs. One game to point at: 91 rush yds, 2 rush TD against South Carolina State — Week 4, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2024Oklahoma6-7HC: Brent Venables · Run-leaning

2025South Florida9-4HC: Kevin Patrick · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

42Rotational starter #200 of 326?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / carry (82nd percentile). Strength: long run (88th percentile). Concern: receptions (18th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / carry#83 / 456 · 82nd pct

5.9

Explosive rate#111 / 456 · 76th pct

8.8%

EPA / carry#144 / 456 · 69th pct

0.18

TD rate#146 / 456 · 68th pct

3.8%

Success rate#303 / 456 · 33rd pct

40.0%

Box-score rates (7)

Long run#40 / 349 · 88th pct

Yards / carry#52 / 349 · 84th pct

5.9

Rush yards#173 / 349 · 51st pct

474

Rush TDs#153 / 349 · 50th pct

Carries#211 / 349 · 40th pct

Rec yards#268 / 338 · 20th pct

Receptions#269 / 338 · 18th pct

Season trend

EPA / carry— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Yards / carry— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

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 · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	46.3	6.8	0.3
Road6g	25.0	4.6	0.3

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	38.0	6.3	0.4
Weeks 8+6g	34.7	5.1	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Brian Hartline

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

42 · #200 of 326 RBs

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-AAC

Based on 2025: #24 of 37 American Athletic RBs

How the All-AAC 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	South Florida	80	474	5.9	4	--
2024	Oklahoma	18	132	7.3	0	--
Career		98	606	6.2	4	--

Season	Team
2025	South Florida	5	36	7.2	--
2024	Oklahoma	5	18	3.6	--
Career		10	54	5.4	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2025

W 63–36

at North Texas

51 rush yds (8 car) · 1 TD

Dominant 27-point win on the road against North Texas.

With B. Brown — 245 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · QBR 72.6 · 82 rush yds (21 car) · 2 TD · C. Leon — 44 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 50 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Memphis · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +5.93(00:13) No Huddle-Shotgun #4 S.Franklin rush middle for 73 yards gain to the MEM00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:02, 1ST DOWN #7 N.Gramatica kick attempt good (H: #37 C.Leon, LS: #95 G.Cates). #66 T.Morman injured on the play
Week 4 · South Carolina State · 2&10 · Q4 · EPA +5.34Sam Franklin run for 54 yds for a TD (Adam Zouagui KICK)
Week 4 · South Carolina State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.81Sam Franklin run for 30 yds for a TD (Adam Zouagui KICK)
Week 7 · North Texas · 2&6 · Q3 · EPA +2.58Sam Franklin run for 11 yds for a TD (Nico Gramatica KICK)
Week 14 · Rice · 2&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.29(10:26) No Huddle-Shotgun #4 S.Franklin rush right for 33 yards gain to the Rice16 (#3 T.Morris), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 3 · Miami · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.98Byrum Brown pass complete to Sam Franklin for 7 yds to the USF 32 for a 1ST down Miami Penalty, Personal Foul (Armondo Blount) to the USF 47 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Old Dominion · 3&21 · Q2 · EPA +1.74(13:25) No Huddle-Shotgun #3 G.Moore pass complete short middle to #4 S.Franklin caught at ODU45, for 14 yards to the ODU30 (#8 B.Alisandro)
Week 6 · Charlotte · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +1.74Sam Franklin run for 8 yds to the CLT 31 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Charlotte · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.71Sam Franklin run for 19 yds to the USF 44 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · UTSA · 3&5 · Q3 · EPA -1.57(03:11) No Huddle-Shotgun #4 S.Franklin rush middle for 3 yards loss to the UTSA33 (#35 J.Jones)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 34-7vs Boise State	3	7	2.3	0	5
Wk 2	W 18-16@ Florida	1	2	2.0	0	2
Wk 3	L 12-49@ Miami	4	10	2.5	0	5
Wk 4	W 63-14vs South Carolina State	4	91	22.8	2	54	Season-high 91 yds
Wk 6	W 54-26vs Charlotte	14	76	5.4	0	19
Wk 7	W 63-36@ North Texas	8	51	6.4	1	15
Wk 8	W 48-13vs Florida Atlantic	10	38	3.8	0	8
Wk 9	L 31-34@ Memphis	6	81	13.5	1	73
Wk 11	W 55-23vs UTSA	5	18	3.6	0	15
Wk 12	L 38-41@ Navy	4	4	1.0	0	3
Wk 13	W 48-18@ UAB	1	2	2.0	0	2
Wk 14	W 52-3vs Rice	10	65	6.5	0	33
Bowl	L 10-24vs Old Dominion	10	29	2.9	0	7
Total		80	474	5.7	4	73

How he plays

Play style

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

The closer

~ our read

16.8%Carry share

17.1%Q4-lead share

11.1%In competitive games

16.8% of carries overall (80/477) → 17.1% of Q4-with-lead carries (18/105) — 11.1% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

4/23Inside-5 share

4 of the team's 23 inside-the-5 carries (17.4%).

2026 Outlook

South Florida

Preseason read · May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Running back · South Florida

Returning around him

13% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
Transfer portal: +10 net (44 in / 34 out)

2026 Award watch

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

South Florida · Last season: 9-4 (AP #25) · Talent rank #52 · 2026 recruiting class #90

DNA match

Player DNA

Balanced Back

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Chance Bell’s 2021 season.

Chance Bell

81%match

San Diego State · 2021

Jamious Griffin

Oregon State · 2022

79%

Nelson Smith

Navy · 2020

78%

Kaelon Black

Indiana · 2024

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 26

77%

Omiri Wiggins

Louisiana Tech · 2025

76%

Matches Chance on

Yards / carry

Rush TD rate

Weight

Through 4 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Asim Rose’s path through Kentucky.

Asim Rose

94%match

Kentucky · 2020

Daijun Edwards

Georgia · 2023

93%

Cam'Ron Valdez

Texas Tech · 2024

92%

Julius Loughridge

Fordham · 2024

93%

Jayden Limar

Oregon · 2025

92%

Matches Asim on

Yards per carry

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Zachary Palmer-Smith's senior season at UL Monroe (2025).

Zachary Palmer-Smith

76%match

UL Monroe · 2025

Marlon Gunn

East Carolina · 2025

75%

Anthony Hankerson

Oregon State · 2025

73%

Reggie Love III

Illinois · 2023

72%

Kaelon Black

Indiana · 2025

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 26

72%

Matches Zachary on

Yards / carry

Total rush EPA (college ability)

Weight

Differs from Zachary on

Height (lower)

Heisman trajectory

Heisman Trajectory · 2025

Peak #223

Final rank

#245

Avg #251.7

Finalist prob 0%

Peaked at #223 this season.

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

Sam Franklin

20249 games

202513 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Balanced Back

Heisman trajectory

Peak #223