In the month of April, HSOT Insiders will receive daily articles to preview the 2025 high school football season in North Carolina.

Today, we have a breakdown of the 4A N.C. High School Athletic Association returning rushing threats.

Since players often don’t play the same number of games, we break our stats down into averages.

For ruhers, we have yards per game, yards per attempt, touchdowns per game, and touchdowns per attempt.

To have players featured in these articles, teams either must post their full stats online or send them to Joel.

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Top Returning 4A Rushers: Yards Per Game

Minimum: 6 games

1. Shannon Wingate Jr., senior, Maiden (transfer from North Lincoln) — 148.4 YPG
2. Shawn Davis, senior, East Duplin — 133.1 YPG
3. Kaleb Pone, senior, North Johnston — 127.7 YPG
4. Darion Avery, senior, T.W. Andrews — 126.7 YPG
5. Jaidyn Briskey, senior, Cummings — 121.7 YPG
6. Devin Witherspoon, senior, Cummings — 113.6 YPG
7. Zamari Sweatman, senior, North Surry — 105.1 YPG
8. DK Mitchell, senior, Hibriten — 105.0 YPG
9. Bobby Hawkins Jr., senior, Roanoke Rapids — 101.6 YPG
10. Braylon Thompson, senior, Brevard — 88.6 YPG
11. Tanner Stewart, senior, Bandys — 86.6 YPG
12. Elmer Littlejohn, senior, R-S Central — 84.3 YPG
13. Noah LeBlanc, junior, East Duplin (transfer from Richlands) — 79.7 YPG
14. Keanu Escalante, senior, Forbush — 73.9 YPG
15. Ethan Dempsey, senior, Mount Pleasant — 71.6 YPG

Top Returning 4A Rushers: Yards Per Attempt

Minimum: 50 carries

1. Jaidyn Briskey, senior, Cummings — 10.0578512396694 YPA
2. Devin Witherspoon, senior, Cummings — 9.92063492063492 YPA
3. Dionte Neal, senior, Reidsville — 9.109375 YPA
4. Keeshon McKinnie, junior, East Duplin — 8.98148148148148 YPA
5. Izeiah Oates, senior, Eastern Wayne — 8.83561643835616 YPA
6. Darion Avery, senior, T.W. Andrews — 8.67808219178082 YPA
7. Shawn Davis, senior, East Duplin — 8.66272189349112 YPA
8. Kaleb Pone, senior, North Johnston — 8.13375796178344 YPA
9. Braylon Thompson, senior, Brevard — 8.11111111111111 YPA
10. Shannon Wingate Jr., senior, Maiden (transfer from North Lincoln) — 7.66789667896679 YPA
11. Karter Macfie, senior, Brevard — 7.64814814814815 YPA
12. Noah LeBlanc, junior, East Duplin (transfer from Richlands) — 7.62608695652174 YPA
13. Elmer Littlejohn, senior, R-S Central — 7.26724137931035 YPA
14. David Porter, junior, Nash Central — 6.43396226415094 YPA
15. Markel Marshall, junior, Ledford — 6.43137254901961 YPA

Top Returning 4A Rushers: Touchdowns per Game

Minimum: 8 games, ties broken by games then total yards

1. Shannon Wingate Jr., senior, Maiden (transfer from North Lincoln) — 2.3 TD/GM
2. Jaidyn Briskey, senior, Cummings — 2.2 TD/GM
3. Shawn Davis, senior, East Duplin — 1.7 TD/GM
4. Devin Witherspoon, senior, Cummings — 1.6 TD/GM
5. Zamari Sweatman, senior, North Surry — 1.33 TD/GM
6. Kaleb Pone, senior, North Johnston — 1.3 TD/GM
7. Braylon Thompson, senior, Brevard — 1.29 TD/GM
8. Ethan Dempsey, senior, Mount Pleasant — 1.17 TD/GM (12 games, 859 yards)
9. DJ Davis, senior, West Craven — 1.17 TD/GM (12 games, 616 yards)
10. Darion Avery, senior, T.W. Andrews — 1.1 TD/GM (10 games, 1,267 yards)
11. Elmer Littlejohn, senior, R-S Central — 1.1 TD/GM (10 games, 843 yards)
12. Nyrell Skinner, senior, Brevard — 1.07 TD/GM
13. Bobby Hawkins Jr., senior, Roanoke Rapids — 1.0 TD/GM (11 games, 1,117 yards)
14. Tanner Stewart, senior, Bandys — 1.0 TD/GM (11 games, 952 yards)
15. Landon Pope, senior, Pisgah — 1.0 TD/GM (11 games, 748 yards)

Top Returning 4A Rushers: Touchdowns per Attempt

Minimum: 25 carries, ties broken by most yards

1. Fisher Leftwich, senior, North Surry — 0.1864 TD/Att.
2. Jaidyn Briskey, senior, Cummings — 0.1818 TD/Att.
3. Xavier Cuthbertson, junior, West Craven — 0.1724 TD/Att.
4. Max Davis, junior, Burns — 0.1458 TD/Att.
5. Devin Witherspoon, senior, Cummings — 0.1349 TD/Att.
6. Keyahjae Smyre, junior, Maiden — 0.1290 TD/Att.
7. Dionte Neal, senior, Reidsville — 0.125 TD/Att.
8. Izeiah Oates, senior, Eastern Wayne — 0.1233 TD/Att.
9. Shannon Wingate Jr., senior, Maiden (transfer from North Lincoln) — 0.1181 TD/Att.
10. Braylon Thompson, senior, Brevard — 0.1177 TD/Att.
11. Shawn Davis, senior, East Duplin — 0.1124 TD/Att.
12. Keeshon McKinnie, junior, East Duplin — 0.1111 TD/Att.
13. DJ Davis, senior, West Craven — 0.1022 TD/Att.
14. Nyrell Skinner, senior, Brevard — 0.1014 TD/Att.
15. Elmer Littlejohn, senior, R-S Central — 0.0948 TD/Att.

HSOT Insiders should stay tuned to the site throughout the spring and summer months for more football preview articles.