Spring Review: Running Backs should be a strength in 2022
by Bob Redman, aka Hollywood Bob
There were big questions about the running back room before spring practice started for the Florida Gators back in March. The first spring session under head coach Billy Napier has come and gone and we’ve heard plenty about what went on behind the closed gates of Florida practices during the 14 sessions leading up to the open spring game on April 14. While we still have to see it to believe it when the fall comes around, the running backs showed that they should be a strength.
Florida lost their top two running backs after the 2021 season when Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis both moved on and have been preparing for the NFL Draft that starts tonight. The two got the lion’s share of the carries last year with Nay’Quan Wright being the third back in the lineup and getting carries, just not as much.
There were two others that fans really wanted to see and they barely got time on the field including no time during critical moments in games. Lorenzo Lingard was a five-star prospect from the Orlando area that originally signed with Miami and transferred to Florida before the 2020 season. Demarkcus Bowman was a five-star prospect out of Lakeland that originally signed with Clemson and transferred to Florida before his first year was done at Clemson. Both could have seen the field a lot last year and both were basically ignored.
Wright was injured late into the year. He spent the last two months of 2021 recovering and that recovery continued through the first few months of this calendar year and really all of spring. While he was allowed to participate in some drills this spring, he wasn’t allowed to play during contact drills. He was able to learn, but not go hard.
What we did get to hear about all spring and then see in the spring game was the play of Bowman and Lingard along with transfer Montrell Johnson who followed head coach Billy Napier from Louisiana and arrived in January. We heard of a hard running group that showed a bit of their different styles of play.
The leader of the group all of spring has been Lingard. The redshirt junior is the tallest, the strongest, and the fastest of the backs. He’s a straight line runner who is working on his jump-step, but if he gets a crease he can take it the distance from anywhere on the field.
Bowman is the jitterbug of the group, the kind that can make you miss in a phone book. He fumbled a couple of times in the spring game which won’t be looked on favorably by the staff, but he’s a big play waiting to happen every time he touched the ball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_S1iTO9jM
Associate Head Coach -Offense/Running backs Jabbar Juluke talked about the two near the end of spring drills
“I’m impressed. I think those guys are very talented young men that have some ability,” Juluke said of Lingard and Bowman. “They’re different in their own right. I just got to get them to practice the right way. Having ability and practicing wrong doesn’t help us, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re practicing the right way and maximizing our ability. You got to go out there and do things the right way and be consistent at doing it, but they have a unique skill set. I’m excited about working with them. I want them to continue to advance and help them both on and off the football field.”
Johnson knew the offense when he arrived at Florida in January, but it took him a few days of practice to feel comfortable in his new surroundings. About midway through spring drills, his comfort level improved and he started showing good things. In the spring game he finished with 55 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. He showed the ability to run in traffic and maneuver his way for extra yards in doing so.
“Montell’s extremely bright, picks things up quickly,” Napier said after the spring game. “He certainly was a very productive back for us last year. I think rushed for (838 yards and 12 touchdowns) and was the conference freshman the year. He belongs out there. I think he’s 5-11½ and weighs 217 pounds. He hit 21 1/2 mph last year in a game on his GPS. He’s got a big lower half. He’s got contact balance. He can protect. He can catch. He’s certainly going to provide depth and production for our team.”
The running backs are going to be leaned on in the fall. The Billy Napier offense is one that will rely heavily on the run anyway and these three players showed throughout the course of the spring that they will be able to carry that burden. But they will also get Wright back in the fall when his knee is healed and the redshirt sophomore adds a lot to the room even before Napier has seen him make contact with a defender.
“Very impressed with Nay’Quan as a person,” Napier said. “He has some maturity. He has big picture perspective. He can see things from a coach’s perspective. I think he’s intelligent, he’s tough. He’s been through some things – he’s resilient. He has some leadership qualities. We need the guy. We not only need the guy as a running back, we’re missing the guy from that perspective – but we’re also missing his ability to affect the rest of the team. I would say in my short time Nay’Quan is one of the players I have the most respect for just because of his approach and overall attitude.”
They have to suit up and perform on Saturdays in the fall, but it seems that the running backs have answered a lot of the questions that most of us had before spring practice started.