Curious to see what everyone's thoughts are on the running backs this year. This is the deepest the room has been in as long as I can remember in terms of guys with upper end talent.
Daniel Young - 6'0 210
Similar body type to Kyle Porter, but does everything we'd want a guy like Kyle Porter to do, much better, except pass protect and that's still TBD. He's a guy who will be able to be consistently leaned on in a running back rotation, regardless of talent that makes it's way to campus in the future. Vision can't be taught. 5.1 YPC on 23 attempts last year.
Toneil Carter - 6'0 205
The one guy on the team with proven big play ability from the back field who is able to play 2 games without getting injured. Sky is the limit for Toneil. He's more inconsistent than Young in what we saw, but to me has shown flashes of a higher ceiling. Quickness and vision is dangerous, and has the highest top end speed of someone who carried the ball last year out of the RB position. 4.9 YPC on 37 attempts last year.
Keaontay Ingram - 6'1 190
He's a freshman. We don't know what to expect. His HS tape shows a quick, elusive, purposed runner, who runs a bit high, but given a set of cutback or counter plays and inside zone to keep the defense honest, could be really dangerous in this offense. In an attempt to compare what someone of his ability and recruiting ranking (247 composite #6, .9324 rating) has shown is capable of in the past 3 years or so as a freshman, we can consider our very own Toneil Carter, Devwah Whaley, Trey Sermon, and Saquon Barkley as players who saw some significant playing time as a freshman. While Saquon is an outlier and Trey Sermon benefitted from having Baker Mayfield under center, it would be a welcome addition to get 5 YPC out of another set of legs in the backfield, especially one with pigskin security and big play ability.
Tre Watson - 247 says 5'11 205, looks shorter
Has the most experience out of the group, minus Kyle Porter, whom I will leave out of this discussion, in large part due to the addition of Tre Watson. I see Watson as a replacement for Kyle Porter in all passing situations where we'd want an experienced RB to help with blitz pickups to go along with someone quick out of the backfield. Hasn't had a single season where he's had 200 carries, but will not be asked to be the primary ball carrier unless he shows out. He has a career rushing average of 5.1 YPC, but given his 2 best and most heavily used seasons out of the backfield were alongside Jared Goff and a 5th year senior Davis Webb, he had a massive benefit and likely took advantage of soft defenses. This can't be understated. Will we want to use him in some different ways than the previous 3: draws and counters out of the shotgun on passing downs, screens and passes to the flat. He's our "keep em honest" RB.
We have a back field with 4 different guys that have different skillsets that Stan Drayton, Herb Hand and Tom Herman need to be able to make good use of to take heat off of Sam and/or Shane and/or Cam (I kid I kid). The talent level is the highest and deepest it's been in a while. We need to take a massive leap forward in the running game, it's the difference between 7-5 and 10-2. And if Kyle Porter sees the field, it should only be in mop up duty after Keaontay needs a rest.