Some folks did say he was one of the best, and they were right by many objective measures.
I just can't stop on this one.
By many other objective measures, he was not. Yds per carry and broken tackles. PFF has him as tied for the 93rd spot among halfbacks. His pass block and run block ratings brought his overall score down. Just looking at his run grade (by far his best attribute) he still has 62 FBS backs in front of him. Add in guys like Lan Larison, Julius Loughridge, Marcus Yarns, and Hope Adebayo from the FCS and he drops further.
Hell, all three of Boise State's backs are better. Bosie St. 3rd stringer only has 112 snaps but has a higher grade (overall and as a pure runner) than Mahdi. Yet, he is not included in the list that pushes Mahdi down to 93 because he doesn't have enough snaps to be eligible. Now thank about the running back rooms of the better P5's. Do you really believe Mahdi cracks into them?
With that being said, no doubt it would be a terrible blow for us if he left. I really enjoy watching him. He is a wonderful jump cutter and exlpodes through a hole better than most. He improved his PFF grade by dang near 10 pts (both his overall grade and run only grade) from the previous year. If he improves his pass blocking and pass receiving grades he will move on up the rankings. Couple that with improving his run grade from 85 to the 90's he could become one of the best in the country.