Top MAC Football Players: #1 Kareem Hunt (RB- Toledo Rockets)

We've finally come to a close on our countdown. 69 days ago, we started counting down and profiling the best names in MAC football to lead up to this season and here we are: the final player. We didn't end up with last year's MAC Freshman of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in Jarvion Franklin. The best player in the MAC before the season starts is the star running back for Toledo, Kareem Hunt.

We saw early on how much of an impact he was going to be at Toledo, so much as we put him at no. 21 on last year's countdown. After 866 rushing yards as a true freshman, Hunt followed that up with an even more impressive sophomore season, one of the top leading rushers in the nation.

Hunt missed three games last year with an injury and he still finished tenth in the nation with 1,631 rushing yards on 205 carries, scoring 16 times. He averaged 8.0 yards per carry last season, and caught the ball nine times for an average of 4.3 yards per reception.

His biggest performance of the year was in the GoDaddy Bowl against Arkansas State, where he had 32 carries for 271 yards and five touchdowns. Two games before that against rivaled Bowling Green, he helped beat the Falcons for picking up 265 yards on the ground and scoring twice. He also showed up when the Rockets took on the Missouri Tigers, 148 yards with three touchdowns on just 15 rushing attempts.

The Rockets will be without Hunt for the first two games of the 2015 campaign after being suspended for a violation of team rules. Hunt is already expected to be an NFL prospect for when the 2017 Draft rolls around, but not being able to play against a [currently] ranked Arkansas may hurt his stock a little bit. If he can stay healthy and Toledo's inexperienced offensive line can make holes for him, Hunt should still be one of the nation's top backs this season.