Competition stiff for running backs
By Garrett Downing
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter
April 14, 2008
As Vince Davidson and L.J. Flintall stroll out of recent spring practice, they talk and joke like any good friends. Just by watching them, nobody would guess they are in the midst of a tight four-man competition to become Ohio University’s starting running back.
“Before we are football players, we are all friends,” Flintall said.
Toss in Chris Garrett and Donte Harden, and the four backs are fighting to replace Bobcats all-time leading rusher Kalvin McCrae. After McCrae’s three years as an All Mid-American Conference performer, the running-back spot is undecided for the first time during Frank Solich’s tenure as head coach.
“I love competition,” Garrett said. “I don’t want anything handed to me, and I don’t want anything handed to anybody else.”
Two weeks into spring practice and nobody has separated himself from the pack. All four backs bring something different, but none has much game-time experience in the backfield. The four combined for 29 carries last season, and with a young group, Solich plans to use a rotation until someone solidifies himself as the number-one guy.
“I think next year it will be a deal where it is not going to be a (one) man running back position like it was this year with (McCrae),” Solich said.
Garrett is entering his third season and has the most experience of the four, but not in the backfield. He has switched to running back after spending his first two years as a return man and receiver.
He is an explosive player who showed his breakaway speed as one of the MAC’s most dangerous return men, a job he plans to continue. The move to running back puts Garrett back at the position he played in high school, where he totaled more than 4,000 yards in his career.
“I kind of feel like a kid again because I have pretty much played running back all my life,” Garrett said.
Flintall is preparing to take the field after sitting out last year because of transferring. He red-shirted at Wake Forest in 2005, and transferred to Hutchinson Community College in 2006 before coming to Ohio last year.
After watching from the sidelines and working in as a scout-team player during practice last season, Flintall said he appreciates what he has learned from watching the backs ahead of him.
“I had someone to watch first,” Flintall said. “And having that experience makes you all the better.”
Davidson, a freshman from New Jersey, saw limited playing time behind McCrae last year. He showed promise in a victory over Temple late in the year, where he totaled 77 all-purpose yards and scored a touchdown.
“I feel like it gives me a slight advantage because I got used to the linemen, and I got some experience,” Davidson said.
Harden, another freshman in the position battle, also saw limited action last year. A shoulder injury cut short his season last year, and he had to go through physical therapy to get back to full speed. He will be a red-shirt freshman next year because he was given a medical red-shirt after the injury.
“The shoulder injury kind of set me back,” Harden said. “But the physical therapy helped strengthen my shoulder.”
Regardless of who gets the majority of carries, the Bobcats will need to run the ball successfully to have a potent offense. In eight of his nine seasons as a head coach, Solich has had at least one player rush for over 1,000 yards.
“Seeing what he has done with his tutelage of running backs in the past, it only gets you excited because you know you are going to have the chance to be coached by the best,” Flintall said.
Ohio also has the benefit of three mobile quarterbacks working under center. Theo Scott, Brandon Jones and junior-college transfer Boo Jackson are fighting for the quarterback spot, and all three have the ability run when a play breaks down.
“Any time that trigger man is a threat, that causes defenses fits,” offensive coordinator Tim Albin said. “We are going to use those talents.”
With a new group of running backs and a mobile quarterback, the Bobcats’ offense will have a new look next year. As the young group in the backfield tries to fill in for McCrae, and his school-record 1,434 yards last season, they know it will not be an easy task.
“It seems like there was always that one go-to guy, and now that he’s gone, we have ourselves,” Flintall said. “Right now we are just trying to fill big shoes.”
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