Eastern Michigan running back Anthony Sherrill is the fifth best rusher in the nation, but you wouldn’t know it from the lack of hype surrounding him.

Junior running back Sherrill and NIU running back Michael Turner – who leads the nation in rushing – will be the featured matchup on Saturday, despite only one of the two backs getting national recognition.

“Those two runners Saturday are as good as there are in the MAC,” Eastern Michigan coach Al Lavan said. “They could play for a lot more teams than just MAC teams.”

Sherrill comes into the game with seven consecutive 100-yard rushing games. Last week, he ran for a career-high 230 yards and four touchdowns against Ball State.

Sherrill’s current total of 1,361 yards rushing are already the most in a single season for an Eastern Michigan back.

Turner was named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker award on Wednesday. The award is given to the nation’s top running back.

At the beginning of the season, Turner had hype surrounding him for the Heisman trophy but isn’t listed as a top-5 pick on ESPN.com this week. The Eagles are 3-8, which hurts the chance of Sherrill getting recognized for either award.

“I’m not really playing for personal recognition,” Sherrill said. “I’m playing the game of football because it’s a team sport.”

The 5-foot-9 junior’s running style is finding a hole and bursting through it, he said.

NIU coach Joe Novak believes Sherrill’s game comes down to his balance.

“He’s a real good player,” Novak said. “He has tremendous balance. Just when you think you’ve got him down, he sticks that hand out and keeps his balance and keeps going.”

Eastern Michigan ranks 115th in the nation in total offense, despite Sherrill’s 123.7 yards per game on the ground.

“He’s meant everything to our offense,” Lavan said.