Texas Tech has an embarrassment of riches at the running back spot and things are looking up, in terms of the depth chart, the quarterbacks. Let’s look at a projected depth chart for the quarterback, running back and fullback.
| Quarterback | Running Back | Fullback |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick Mahomes SO (6-3/221) |
DeAndre Washington SR (5-8/198) |
Quinton White JR (5-7/207) |
| Davis Webb JR (6-5/227) |
Justin Stockton SO (5-10/189) |
Tyler Scalzi JR (6-4/237) |
| Nic Shimonek RS SO (6-2/218) |
Demarcus Felton RS FR (5-7/188) |
Mason Reed RS FR (6-2/221) |
| Payne Sullins RS FR (6-2/172) |
Corey Dauphine FR (6-1/180) |
Stanton Keane RS FR (6-0/222) |
| Hunter Rittimann RS FR (6-0/177) |
Best Competition?
Running back and it’s not even close? It’s probably unfair for me to put White at fullback, but why not? Anyway, back to the running back spot, where it appears that there is competition at running back for day, so much so that I decided to put White at fullback. There’s probably plenty of opportunity for White as a second running back, much like Kenny Williams did last year. White is more similar to Williams than anyone else on the roster, and I like the two of them, Washington and White, as a two-back set.
But back to the running back spot where it’s pretty amazing to have Washington, Stockton, Felton and Dauphine as your top four running backs. Depth for days, yo. And yeah, it is probably premature to think that Dauphine and/or Felton can play, but based off of what I saw in teh spring game, Felton isn’t going to be easy to jump and I love the fact that he is so imilar to Washington. Stockton’s improvement between the tackles during the spring game is incredibly encouraging.
As to the quarterback spot, I think that it’s great to have Webb adn mahomes, but this point has really been talked about all spring and I don’t know how much more we can discuss the topic.
And if White can be the guy at fullback, with Scalzi an option at tight end, along with Reed and Keane and I think we may be onto something.
Freshman Impact?
Well, Daupine is your lone freshman and I have no idea how he finds time in this loaded backfield. It’s amazing to think that a guy like Daupine may not crack the top three, but that’s a testament to running backs coach Mike Jinks.
Expectations for 2015?
Washington had one of the best years in a long time and he only rushed for 1,103 yards. As a unit, this group rushed for 1,836 yards and I think we can see 2,000+ yards from this group and we’ve talked before about how the rushing touchdowns have to improve as they only had 8 last year. My hope is that this group, no matter who is toting the rock, has 2,200 or so hards and 20 touchdowns. That’s probably asking a bit much, but I think we want this group to be aggressive with how they run the ball. Put the ball in the hands of your best playmakers and that starts with these guys.