Keeping A Large Running Back Room Satisfied Could Be A Problem For WVU
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MORGANTOWN -- We've all been there.
The big game is on TV and you've got the gang over … Fred and Charlie and Joe and yourself. You ordered a pizza, they're bringing the beer..
It's almost game time and Fred has his girlfriend along and Charlie's son came with him and Joe's two brothers join him … and then your golf foursome stops by, too, unexpectedly.
Just one thing: There's not enough pizza and beer to go around!
Welcome to the West Virginia running back's room.
The Mountaineers are all excited about their running back room this year, which will run behind a veteran offensive line. The running game is all the rage and is supposed to carry not only the ball but the team.
But wait.
There's four of them in there -- Tony Mathis, Justin Johnson Jr., Jaylen Anderson and CJ Donaldson Jr., who is limited right now in spring practice as he recovers from ankle surgery last year but is expected to play.
And that doesn't even mention freshman Jaheim White, who may also carve out a place in the rotation for himself.
Will there be enough carries to go around?
And, remember, you now are going to have a quarterback in the run game mix as they go to a zone-read offense with either Nicco Marchiol or Garrett Greene running the show.
That's a whole lot of folks going after eight pieces of pizza.
Think of it this way, last year WVU was running about 60 to 75 plays per game, about half of them running plays. They topped out at 53 running plays against Oklahoma -- and that probably is the best comparison to what you are looking at this year because Greene played half of that game and surpassed 100 yards rushing for the only time in his career.
Say they average 55 running plays a game this year, and that's a lot, but it comes to 11 per person.
Running backs, however, like to be used; to get into the flow of the game; to feel the defense and the timing with the offensive line. Many grow stronger the more they carry. In the modern era, Amos Zereoue once carried 41 times in a game, Quincy Wilson once 40.
The question is, how many is enough?
"If we get it to the right players at the right time, we may not need it 20 times," Mathis said on Thursday in a post-practice interview.
All of the players offer different options, Donaldson being the most versatile with tight end in his background, which makes him the kind of back you can split out and pass to, yet with the power to be an inside runner or attack the edge.
With the new zone-read offense, expect WVU to attack the edge a lot with running backs or with the quarterback pulling the ball and keeping it. That's all right with Mathis.
"They have to honor the QB. That's one less guy on us when we have the ball," Mathis said. "The end can't just slide down the line."
Having had Don Nehlen and Rich Rodriguez in their history, being a run-heavy team is big part of WVU's history.
In fact, the mid-2000s juggernauts of Rodriguez's offer up a blueprint of the type of plays that can be run and show just how valuable an attacking ground quarterback can be as proved by Pat White.
His 2007 team ran the ball an amazing 628 times for 3,664 yards in Rodriguez's "Spot The Ball" offense. Rodriguez's first really good team, the 2002 bunch, still hold the record with 314 rushes for 3,687 yards.
But Rodriguez didn't have to try to keep a room full of running backs satisfied.
The 2002 team saw Avon Cobourne carry 325 times for 1,710 yards, Quincy Wilson 140 times for 901 yards and quarterback Rasheed Marshall rush 177 times for 66 yards.
And in 2007 it was Slaton with the ball 211 times for 1,104 yards, White with 197 carries for 1,335 yards out of the quarterback spot and Noel Devine 73 runs for 627 yards, an 8.6 yards per carry average; while Owen Schmitt carried 47 for 272 yards.
This group's talent isn't quite as top-heavy as were those that Rodriguez had, so the distribution will be more equal.
"With Coach Scott being our OC, that shows he's going to obviously, hopefully use everybody in the right way and get everyone his touches. A lot of schools have a lot of backs, so you just have to know how to go with it," Mathis said.
To accept this, you need a room full of unselfish running backs.
"Our room is special," Mathis said. "I feel like us and the OL have the tightest rooms on the team. We are all on the same page, on the field and off the field. We do a lot of stuff together. Selfless is definitely the word."
So, pick up the phone, call in for a couple more pizzas, and sit back and enjoy the season.