Running backs: Is WVU’s the best unit in the Big 12?

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Today brings the seventh episode of an eight-day video series providing a position-by-position examination of where the West Virginia football team stands after spring practice.

We scour the two-deep and break down a Mountaineers team seeking to improve upon last season’s 4-8 finish.

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THE LINEUP
Tue., April 15
 Defensive line: Can no-name group hold the front?
Wed., April 16
 Linebackers: Will they be nasty or negligible?
Thur., April 17
 Secondary: Trying to reverse two dreadful years of pass defense
Fri., April 18
 Special teams: Aiming to be really special in 2014?
Mon., April 21
 Offensive line: Are the Mountaineers vulnerable up front?
Tue., April 22
 Receivers: Can they get their swagger back?
Wed., April 23
 Running backs: Is this the best unit in the Big 12?
Thur., April 24
 Quarterbacks: Can any of the current QBs win eight games?

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Pitt transfer Rushel Shell had eight carries for 37 yards and two catches in the Gold-Blue spring game. He’s listed third-string on the running back depth chart.

 

Despite losing 2013 offensive MVP Charles Sims—whose one-year stopover produced 1,095 yards rushing, 45 receptions and 14 combined touchdowns—West Virginia isn’t concerned about its running backs situation. There’s too much talent, too much versatility returning.

“Everybody says we were going to have a big dropoff with losing a great player like Charles, but I thought our guys answered the bell in the spring,” said running backs coach JaJuan Seider. “There are some pretty talented guys in that room. I think a couple of them may be able to play on Sundays if they do what they need to do.”

Pitt transfer Rushel Shell is the best power back, while Dreamius Smith marries a breakaway burst with the ability to pound between the tackles. Then there’s the sleaker Wendell Smallwood, who feels equally natural running draws as he does catching passes in the slot.

“Will we have a bellcow? I don’t know,” Seider said. “But I know if a guy gets hot, he’s going to stay in there, and I think we’ve got some guys who can get hot really fast.”

“We probably won’t have a guy go for 1,700 or 1,800 yards because we’re pretty deep in that backfield. But let’s be a group that at the end of the year we have 2,500 or 2,700 yards rushing as a whole group, because then you are productive.”

Projected starters: Smith (5-11, 224, senior) and Shell (6-0, 218, redshirt sophomore) figure to command the bulk of the carries, but Smallwood (5-11, 202, sophomore) possesses a Sims-like versatility.

“In the spring, he probably was our best football player,” Seider said.

Cody Clay (6-4, 256, redshirt junior) is the leader at H-back. He displays a body a built for blocking but possesses enough mobility and hands to make possession-type catches from the slot.

Backups: Dustin Garrison (5-8, 180, redshirt junior) and Andrew Buie (5-9, 188, redshirt junior) appear to be down the pecking order. They are guys competent enough to contribute situationally should injuries necessitate, but not the kind of backs that typically start for a Big 12 power. Then again, few programs have the luxury of a fourth-string tailback like Garrison who led the team in rushing as a freshman, or a fifth-stringer like Buie who carved up Texas for 200-plus.

At the H-back, Elijah Wellman (6-2, 235, redshirt freshman) emerged as a goal-line receiving threat during the spring.

Watch the video at the top of the page for player highlights and to learn how Allan Taylor and Justin Hoff grade the running backs after spring practice.







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