Texas State’s running backs start every individual drill with an up-down. Every drill. Some drills, they don't do anything but up-downs.
They always have a football tucked into the crease of the elbow of their ball-carrying arm. The ball better not budge when you hit the ground. And you better not use that arm to push yourself back up.
That’s running backs coach Nick Whitworth’s philosophy, anyway. The Bobcats lost 11 fumbles in 2018, tied for the 27th most in the NCAA. Whitworth wants to make sure that’s not the case again this season.
“With that running back position, you really have to build in this innate grip that's in your in your head where like, you don't even know how to hold the ball otherwise. And that takes 10,000 reps of continuous, conscious focus on squeezing that ball,” Whitworth said. “It's kind of like clenching your teeth. If you're a teeth clencher, you kind of do it all the time and don't really know it. I'm trying to do the same thing with their care, with their ball security.”
The running backs have been sharpening their skills in a lot of different areas this offseason. It’s already paying off. At Texas State’s spring game on Apr. 13, head coach Jake Spavital made it clear who impressed him.
“Those running backs jump off the tape a little bit. I thought that was pretty good to see from my vantage point,” Spavital said. “If you’re going to win championships, if you’re going to win games, you gotta establish the run game. And I liked what I saw today.”
The coaching staff still felt the same as the team regrouped on the first day of camp last Wednesday.
“I think what I felt like we improved the most was with the offensive line and the run game. We thought that maybe we were going to be real pass heavy. But that wasn't the case,” offensive coordinator Bob Stitt said on the first day of training camp Wednesday. “When we got towards the end of spring, we felt like we could run the ball maybe a little bit more than we could pass it.”
Stitt did say at Texas State’s media day on Sunday that the quarterbacks and wide receivers have made serious progress since the start of training camp, thinning the gap between the running and passing games, but that the running backs have still looked “really good.” Whitworth said the group hasn’t seen any setbacks since spring camp.
Senior running back L.D. Harris said a lot of players at his position have been putting in extra work outside of the team’s normal practice schedule. It’s sparked a healthy competition between teammates, especially when it comes to receiving.
“We go to the JUGS (throwing) machines and we're catching 150 balls, 200 balls, just to see like, ‘OK, I caught more than you.’” Harris said. “It definitely puts you into perspective when you’re out there because when the quarterback throws you the ball and you see it coming, it's so much easier to catch.”
The players have noticed their own importance to the offense. Senior running back Anthony D. Taylor said it’s given them confidence and motivated each of them to want to be better.
“(We want) to be the best running back unit in the conference, and to be the reason why this team wins,” Taylor said. “We're the heart of the offense, I feel like, the running backs. So how we do is how the offense kind of will be. So if we're down, then the offensive is down. Every single time we go out there, we're trying to add the most energy to the offense.”
Both Stitt and Spavital would ideally like to see an even split between pass and run in playcalling, though it will mainly depend on the flow of the game. Spavital typically rolls with three go-to backs during the season, but knows it’ll be important to continue developing the rest of the depth chart in case a change is needed. Texas State currently has nine running backs listed on the roster.
Whitworth’s looking forward to seeing how much they can keep improving before the team kicks off the 2019 season at Texas A&M on Aug. 29.
“They're moving better. They're bending better. They're accelerating better. They look better,” Whitworth said. “So we're taking steps forward, I think, and I'm pretty happy with what they've done.”
Taylor, who ran for a team-best four touchdowns last season, said he’s excited to keep proving what the running backs are capable of.
“We've all been helping each other get better each and every day, and just very enthusiastic in that room,” Taylor said. “And we continue to grow every day. We've always been clicking. This whole group of running backs has been together for years now. So we're all helping each other reach a goal.”
