There was some discussion yesterday about Jamaal Williams and what other BYU running backs were better than he is. I don't get it. I don't think people are appreciating the rare talent we have in Jamaal Williams.

I get the love for Harvey Unga. But I wonder if there isn't some sort of nostalgia for what was seen as a really good BYU offense, with Jamaal getting shortchanged because of the frustrations of the last couple of years.

Harvey had three really good seasons, three 1,000-yard seasons, which hasn't been done at BYU before. But a lot of his greatness was due to durability.

Jamaal's had two years at BYU. Two things Harvey has over Jamaal: Harvey had a 1,000 yard season as a redshirt freshman - 1,227 yards to Jamaal's 775 (nothing to sneeze at for a 17-year-old true freshman). But Harvey had 244 freshman carries vs. Jamaal's 166 on an offense with a crappy o-line, a QB playing with a back injury, and an offensive coordinator who was fired after the season.

While Harvey was consistent, his best year was as a freshman; He didn't really improve, except that his YPC got a little better between his sophomore and junior seasons, after dipping following his freshman season (5.0 frosh, 4.7 soph, 5.2 junior). Consider this: J.J. DiLuigi has a better career YPC (5.1) than Harvey (5.0).

Of BYU's players who have rushed for 1,000 yards in a season, the top 5 season YPC stats go like this: Staley 8.1 (2001), Van Valkenburg 6.0 (1972), Fortie 5.8 (1962), Jamaal 5.7 (2013), Taysom 5.5 (2013), Brown 5.3 (2005). Brian McKenzie also averaged 5.7 in 1996, gaining 950 yards - close enough.

Jamaal Williams as a sophomore averaged a yard per carry more than Harvey as a sophomore (5.7 to 4.7).

The stats confirm what I saw last year - Jamaal is a special talent, and a far more skilled running back than Harvey was. At 6-0, 200, he's not a small running back. There's no reason to think he's not durable, and he's as explosive a running back as we've had since the significantly smaller Ronney Jenkins. And what he did last year was with a crappy o-line - one of the worst in recent memory, and he shared carries with a QB who ran for 1,300 yards, himself.

With just a little more than 1,400 yards, he could pass Unga on the career rushing list this year - is there anyone who truly believes this is out of reach, if he remains healthy?

I just don't get why people don't think Jamaal's at least on Harvey's level as a running back (I actually think he's significantly better, and that we're going see that for a certainty next year). But it's pretty clear that sophomore Jamaal was better than sophomore Harvey, and Harvey only played one more season.