The Mountain West has had its fair share of dominant running backs in its history, as the position has been the highlight of the conference several times over the years. Some of the more recent examples of dominant half-backs are Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty (2022-24), SDSU’s Donnel Pumphrey (2013-16), Wyoming’s Brian Hill (2014-16) and UNLV’s Charles Williams (2016-21). All of these players had either an electric final season before heading to the league or have the national or school record for most
rushing yards in a career.
While one dominant running back can be made, having two on the same team at the same time is much more rare. That is exactly what the Nevada Wolf Pack seem to have with their duo of sophomore Dominic Kelly and junior Hurschel Turner Jr., who have had great performances throughout the 2026 season and can be the first pair of backs to post two, 1,000 yard performances in the same year for the Pack since 2015.
How have they done so far?
Kelly and Turner have both had their moment in the spotlight this season. The sophomore was the first to strike in the Wolf Pack’s home opener against Western Kentucky, earning 152 rushing yards and two touchdowns through 11 attempts, an average of about 13.82 yards per carry. Turner had his moment in Nevada’s most recent game at UTEP, where he rushed for 192 yards and a touchdown through 19 carries (10.1 yards per carry). In both of their highlight games, Kelly and Turner had a 72 yard rush that put six on the board.
Both men also supported the other in their Old Trapper Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week performances, as Turner had 52 yards and a touchdown against WKU while Kelly had 99 yards and a touchdown versus UTEP.
In total, Kelly (440) and Turner (426) have posted a combined 866 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. That is about 45.5 percent of the total offensive yards (1902) the Wolf Pack had gained so far this season and exactly half of the total touchdowns. And as of now, if both men continue to hit their 88 and 85 rushing yards per game average, not only will they combine for 2,077 yards through the regular season, but also post two individual 1,000 yard seasons. As mentioned before, the last time that happened at Nevada was in 2015, when James Butler (1,342) and Don Jackson (1,082) accomplished the feat together.
Turning to the conference, the pair of Kelly and Turner have been some of the best in the Mountain West as well. Outside of Air Force, the Wolf Pack is currently the best across the Mountain West in rushing yards per game (212.2, 173.2 of that is from the duo) and total rushing touchdowns (12, three short of the Falcons). Individually, Kelly sits third in total rushing yards, total touchdowns and average yards per game, while Turner is right behind his running mate at fourth. There are some RB duos that are also complementing each other well, such as Samuel Harris and Markell Holman from Wyoming and DJ Scott and Myles Mitchell from NDSU, but neither duo is as productive as the Wolf Pack pair.
Can they keep this up?
Kelly and Turner have had a great performance so far, but they will be tested throughout the rest of the season. Across the next month and a half, the Wolf Pack will play two programs that have allowed 170 rushing yards or more per game this season, those being NIU (211.4) on Nov. 14 and Hawaii (170.4) on Nov. 21. Both programs have had a very rough time in the first year of the new Mountain West, so those can be some momentum games for the Pack in between the gauntlet it will face.
The next four games will be tough statistically, as the Pack will play NDSU (second in rushing defense in MW, 114.8 yards per game), San Jose State (fifth in MW, 143), UCLA (third in Big Ten, 87.6) and New Mexico (first in MW, 100.8). With one school being ranked 12th in the entire nation, and two conference foes ranking in the top three in the Mountain West offensively (SJSU and NDSU) and defensively (New Mexico and NDSU). Finishing up the season with Silver State rival UNLV, who currently sits fourth in rushing yards allowed with 848 and just recently held the Bison to a mere seven points and 176 total rushing yards across 39 attempts.
So, to answer the question, a cautious/concerned maybe. Nevada did rush for 187 yards (Kelley had 60, Turner had 111) against an Air Force team that sits second in the conference in rushing defense, so there is a chance that the Union and Kelly/Turner can continue their rushing spectacle. However, with the stats mentioned above and the uncertainty at quarterback with sophomore Carter Jones potentially missing time due to a reaggravated injury, there are too many question marks to truly make a decision. But regardless, Wolf Pack fans should tune in to see their two-man wrecking crew push for greatness.
