The Florida Gators Running Back Room Is Packed, Stacked and Versatile...and Dangerous
If Dameon Pierce is being honest, he’s tired of giving this stump speech. He swears he’s answered the question over and over, people unbelieving and poking, but the facts haven’t changed. So this time, he wants everyone to hear him loud and clear.
“Make sure y’all write this down,” he asks.
The Florida Gators running back room is packed, stacked and versatile.
“You know me, I'm the bruiser, I'm the big guy, the big man,” begins Pierce. “I like to run through people not around people. You know, we got [Malik Davis]. I think [Davis] like to be in the open field more, like pass packages or whatever.
“Nay'Quan [Wright], he like a little Swiss Army Knife, we put him out in the pass game or you know, he short and stocky to run through you too, you feel me? And then we got [Demarkcus] Bowman and Lorenzo [Lingard], who are like more of our top-end speed guys. Like, if they get step on you, you not catching 'em, so like, just hang that up.
We’ve known this, at least in theory, for a while. After adding former five stars Lorenzo Lingard and Demarkcus Bowman through the transfer portal, as well as returning a three-headed monster in Dameon Pierce, Malik Davis and Nay’Quan Wright, it’s no surprise that Head Coach Dan Mullen told GatorBait at SEC Media Days that running back was the unit he worried about the least.
We didn’t see much of the group last season (or any of Bowman or Lingard for that matter). The Gators were 96th in the nation in rushing offensive, averaging only 131 yards per game on the ground. Pierce didn’t care. He says the unit understood.
“We had a generational quarterback here at Florida and maybe one of the greatest tight ends in the history of college football, so…”
He trails off, allowing everyone to remember the record breaking offense the Gators had with Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney. Florida lived in the air, because they thrived there.
“You had Kadarius Toney, you had Kyle Pitts. I mean, two No. 1 draft choices outside on the perimeter,” points out running backs coach Greg Knox. Pitts went No. 4 overall to the Atlanta Falcons and Toney was selected No. 20 overall by the New York Giants. Trask ended up going in the second round to the Super Bowl Champs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he’ll learn behind Tom Brady. In other words, the Gators didn’t need to run.
Even when the running backs did get involved, it was typically on swing passes and wheel routes that will haunt Kirby Smart for years to come.
Now, with a mobile QB in Emory Jones and a lack of top speed talent on the outside, the Gators are moving their game inside and leaning on the five deep running back unit. It’s a weighty responsibility. Luckily for Greg Knox, he has a stable of backs that can carry the load.
“I tell my guys all the time, ‘We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to play much better. We’ve got to do a better job. All right, we’ve got to be the bell cows.’ And so, as we approach practice every day, we approach practice with that mentality of being a leader, being able to carry the offense, being able to do our job and execute at a high level.”
Their job, as all offensive plans do, stems from the quarterback. Jones’ teammates maintain he’s a pocket passer with mobile ability. But anyone who has seen Emory Jones play knows he’s not afraid to use his legs. The running game often sets up the passing game and Jones skill set in that area opens up the entire field for the running backs according to Malik Davis.
“I definitely think it will create larger holes, some bigger passes, just because he’s such a threat. When you’ve got a mobile quarterback, it opens up doors for a lot of opportunities for other guys on the field.”
If the Gators are going to become more balanced because of Jones’ legs, that also means finding ways to get all five guys involved in the game plan. As Pierce alluded to, Davis can be a huge threat in the open field as a pass catcher as well. In fact, Davis was the fifth leading receiver on the Gators last season, finishing with 31 receptions for 377 yards, averaging 31.4 yards per game just through the air.
“Coming in as a freshman and then learning and seeing that the game of football is changing, even at the next level, that’s what’s required from running backs,” explains Davis. “So I just took it upon myself to just work on that. That’s something that I take pride in just working on, because it’s needed and it definitely helps.”
Wright, who averaged 19 yards a game rushing and 19 yards a game receiving as a freshman, can also be a swing guy. The goal is to get them all involved, as much as possible. Dan Mullen is adjusting his playbook as such.
“I wouldn’t be shocked to see us with multiple running back packages this year, with more than one on the field at a time a little more than we’ve done maybe in the past. Just utilizing our talent and our depth of what we have at that spot,” reveals Mullen.
The key to making this quintet work though—the multiple sets, the rotations, everything—is a buy in from each and every guy. Running backs typically work up a lather, wanting to stay in a game and build up to big plays. In the NFL, teams are known to lean on one bellcow, just using others for situational plays or injuries. Knox doesn’t want just one bellcow though; he wants a team of oxen. For a team of oxen to not kill each other, they must move in the same direction, with the same goal.
It’s a strategy the Gators have used in recent years with their receivers, and now it’s being applied to the strength of this year’s team.
“I think one of the things that those guys have done is really bought into what we do of, one, our job is putting guys in position to do what they do well on the field,” brags Mullen. “When you get into play count of the ability to stay healthy, the ability to stay fresh by rotating a bunch of guys through, and our guys have really bought into that.
“When you look at our running back stats as a whole position group, they’re pretty good and maybe not one guy gets all the stats, and everybody else gets nothing. It’s allowed us to be pretty successful over the last several years, and guys having the opportunity here as well as the opportunity beyond here because of how we’ve done things.”
One of the greatest examples of this has been Lorenzo Lingard. The former Miami Hurricane was used sparingly last season, taking only five rush attempts for 32 yards and not appearing at all in three games.
“For him to sit back and play his role that he had and support us, and every day he’s the same type of guy. Even today, we talked, we spoke today after practice about things that he liked that I did today. He was pointing some of those things out to me. That just shows you what type of person he is,” Davis says of his teammate.
“I guess God just blessed me to be around those type of guys.”
This rotation, and leaning on each guy at different times, allows for another advantage as well, as Dameon Pierce so eloquently states.
"I mean, you can't break 80 yards if you're tired with dead legs man. So I'm alright with being fresh when I go out there.”
The Florida Gators running back room is packed, stacked and versatile. They’re five-deep, a cohesive unit and as Pierce puts it, they come with a warning for opposing defenses.
“All five of us dangerous, so don't go out there lackin'."
Lorenzo Lingard looks like a guy no one is going to enjoy meeting to tackle, if they can catch him.