RB Update: Tight competition should yield strength
The following is a sample article from the 2016 Season Preview issue of SPARTAN Magazine.
The Season Preview will include in-depth coverage of each position group in the manner found below.
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EAST LANSING - Last season, Michigan State’s football team rode a three-running back rotation to a Big Ten title and the program’s first-ever entry into the College Football Playoffs.
In key victories over Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa, the Spartans’ run game proved to be a key to success, although a different runner was the chief ball carrier in each game.
Behind the primary carries of LJ Scott, Gerald Holmes and Madre London, the Spartans amassed more than 2,100 yards on the ground, averaging 3.8 yards carry and 151.3 yards a game.
Despite those positive numbers, co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Dave Warner wants to streamline the run game process this season for a team that finished 12-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten. And MSU wants to improve on that 3.8 per-carry average.
To their credit, Scott, Holmes and London each averaged more than 4.2 yards per carry. The team average was hurt by QBs Connor Cook, Tyler O’Connor, Damion Terry and fourth-string RB Delton Williams combining last year for 228 yards on 93 attempts (2.4 per carry).
Michigan State should have fewer negative plays in the QB run department this year, and the returning RBs are expected to be more precise and experienced on when to cut and which hole to hit. Furthermore, the coaches are hoping for a year of good health on the o-line, something MSU enjoyed during the Rose Bowl year of 2013, but not last year.
As for the stable of RBs, the Spartans enjoyed a luxury not many Division I powers could claim last season - three capable runners who all took their turns as productive starters. But Warner said the rotation prevented the running game from enjoying the rhythm of having one terrific feature back. The next task if figuring out which of the three RBs is most-equipped to become a terrific feature back.
“It just comes from going through what we went through last year,’’ Warner said. “It wasn’t a good situation trying to rotate that many guys in at tailback. I don’t think it was fair for them and I don’t think it was fair for our offense because a guy’s got to get in there and get in the flow. He’s got to get a sweat going and feel good about it and that didn’t happen very much last year.”
Heading into the season opener against Furman, Warner was still trying to read his stable.
“I’m not sure it’s worked itself out yet but we’ll see how it all shakes itself out,” Warner said. “That being said, I think all three guys are really going after the position.
“With LJ, just because he was freshman last year and going through it all for the first time, I think I’ve seen the biggest change in him because he’s got a year of maturity, a year of knowledge and a year of experience. So I see a little more confidence. But they’re all performing well, so it should be fun.’’
Scott (6-1, 230, Soph., Hubbard, Ohio) expressed some of that upgraded maturity, confidence and knowledge when he was asked what he had to do to come out on top in the battle that will likely extend into September.
“It’s always about doing something extra, no matter what it is or what it takes,” Scott said. “If it’s about going back in that film room to watch extra film, knowing what gap I’ve got to hit, what the pulling guards or what the up front procedure is. Because knowing the game and what you have to do will get you on the field pretty quick.’’
Warner has a desire to get back to a run game that enjoyed the use of a primary running back such as was the case with Javon Ringer, Le’Veon Bell and Jeremy Langford in past Spartan seasons under Mark Dantonio. However, Scott, Holmes and London have vowed to make Warner’s decision on selecting two primary runners, as difficult as possible.
London, who had one 100-yard game last year and finished with 500 yards on 119 carries, while scoring three touchdowns, knows that the little details and nuances of the position are going to be what separates a trio that combined to total 1,739 yards on 375 carries.
Together, they averaged nearly 4.7 yards a carry.
Scott led the trio with the most yards (699), the most carries (146) and the most touchdowns scored (11) and seems to be the leader in the clubhouse to nail down the No. 1 or No. 2 spot in the backfield. He had one 100-yard game last year but scored two touchdowns in four of MSU’s games last season.
London (6-1, 206, Soph., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) has dropped close to 15 pounds since last year and looks faster. He was the starter in the first half of last season before a knee injury knocked him out of the Maryland game and hampered him the rest of the year.
“There’s really nothing that stands out,” London said, when asked about the competition. “We all can make people miss. It’s just about trying to make those big plays into outstanding plays. The competition’s about giving every play your all because you don’t know when it’s going to be your last play out there.
“Just because we’re all competing for the same spot doesn’t change anything because you’d still have to work hard to better your craft anyway. But the way it is now, you can’t take any plays off, because there’s somebody right there ready to take your spot. What it does do is instill in you that you’ve always got to be working hard because when you get to that next level, there’s going to be even more people trying to take your spot.’’
Even though London wouldn’t speculate his position in the pecking order as preseason camp winded down, he had a good grasp on the requirements for the job.
“I can’t really say where I’m at,” he said. “All is know is that it’s my job to just keep making plays. Sometimes you may want to take plays off but my job is just to be focused all of the time because deep down, we know we could be the heart of the offense. So, as a running back, you have to be prepared for whatever.
“All I know is if we’re all talented and we’re all making plays, it’s going to be hard for them to make a decision. Our job is just to keep making plays and that’s not going to change just because they’re trying to find just two running backs. We’re all going to try and make it hard on them to try and find a starting running back. So really it’s going to be about being a big time playmaker in big time games. That five-yard run, you’ve got to make it into a seven-yard run. Whoever does that, that’s going to be the starter.’’
Tyler O’Connor, a 5th-year senior, who was officially named the Spartans’ starter at quarterback on Aug. 22 by Dantonio, said all three are capable of being starters at any major football program in the country.
“It’s almost like if you put up a silhouette of each, you could tell how they’re going to play,” O’Connor said. “Obviously, I don’t have a say as to who is going to play or what situations they’re going to be in but they definitely all have their styles and they’re all very beneficial to our offense in different ways.
“Madre can be a guy that can take it 80 yards, G’s (Holmes) a good guy on 3rd-and-short because he’s going to fall forward nearly every single time and LJ’s going to get those extra yards when you think there’s nothing there, he’s going to make something happen. They really all bring something to the table. I just try and make sure they’re going to do the right things when we break the huddle and they’re all going to the right place.’’
Holmes, a junior, who tallied 540 yards on 110 carries last season, while scoring eight TDs, missed just one game last season and had his only 100-yard game in a loss to Nebraska, where he finished with 117 yards on 22 carries.
Of the three candidates, Holmes had the least amount of lost yardage in 2015.
“I’m kind of approaching it the way I did last year because I went from being the second back to the third back and then the first back,’’ said Holmes, who lost just 10 yards last season and averaged 41.5 yards a game. “So really, for me, it’s about knowing who I am personally, the ability I have and having faith in myself. Whenever the coach calls my name, I know in that moment that I have to get the job done. You’ve got three backs that can all be on a team of their own. So it might turn out to be the way it was last year, but more structured. So right now, I’m just going in with the mindset that I can make plays, so whenever I’m called, it will be my turn to make the play.
“MSU has always had the history of having great backs, so I look at it like there’s three Le’Veon Bell’s on one team. If everyone’s healthy and makes it out of camp, it’s just going to come down to whoever the hot guy is and if I’m that guy, it will be up to me to keep the job going.’’
Williams (6-1, 228, Sr., Erie, Pa.) returns to the backfield, this year as a fullback. SMU transfer Prescott Line (6-0, 253, Sr., Oxford, Mich.) has the look of a consummate hammerhead fullback.
“Prescott Line is doing good things,” Warner said. “He was in a situation at SMU where they ran the spread and weren’t going to use a conventional fullback a whole lot, so he wanted an opportunity, and we like what we see so far.”
MSU also uses its wideouts in the run game.
Last season, R.J. Shelton finished fourth on the team with 127 run yards. Shelton starred at RB in high school and made a major splash in the MSU run game as a true freshman in 2013 with 153 yards rushing on 21 carries (7.3). He rushed 21 times for 148 yards in 2014 (7.0).
Last year, Shelton’s carries were up (24) but his productivity was down (127 yards, 5.3 per carry).
Shelton is expected to be targeted as a wide receiver more often than in the past, this fall. So it remains to be seen whether his impact in the run game will remain the same, or possibly increase.
Senior WR Monty Madaris and strong-running redshirt freshman WR Darrell Stewart are also possibilities as fly sweep options.
Warner is looking for improved big-play ability from the running back candidates - an aspect that could decide the competition.
“Big play ability is certainly important, the chance to take the ball the distance, which we didn’t do a lot of last year,” Warner said. “That includes the ability to make guys miss and break tackles and so forth. That’s important, but obviously you have to be well-rounded, too. You’ve got to be able to pass protect and do the things without the football. There certainly are some guys that are better pass protectors than other guys. Others are better with the ball in their hands.
“We are going to be who we are and that’s the way we’ve been for nine years. We’re not going to change anything based on the tailback. Each of those guys has something to offer, and they have all improved.”
