2010 Ole Miss Football Preview Continued: Running Backs

Over the next couple of weeks, I will offer an early preview of the 2010 Ole Miss Football Team.  Specifically, I will offer my opinion on the positions where the team has question marks and is counting on untested players to fill starting spots.  I welcome and appreciate comments.

The second part of this series will focus on the run game.

To say that the Ole Miss running game last year consisted of two plays—Dexter McCluster Left and Dexter Mcluster Right—would be cynical and myopic.  But that does not mean it is completely wrong.

The real legacy of McCluster’s 2009 Campaign—the only season in SEC in history when a player accumulated over 1,000 yards rushing and over 500 yards receiving—is not torching Monte Kiffin’s Tennessee defense for 282 yards on the ground, the video game cutbacks, or even disproving durability concerns with increasing touches and production as the season progressed.

The McCluster Effect is the growing number of high school prospects similar in build—roughly 5’7” and 165lbs.—with 4.4 speed who received offers from BCS schools as the season progressed.  Even a cursory examination of a recruiting news wire will show players accepting offers to schools from the Big Six after early offers only from schools in conferences like the Sun Belt, the Southland, and the Mid-American.

It seems everyone is looking for the next Dexter Mcluster—including Ole Miss.

The smallest guy on the team left the biggest shoes to fill.   

The optimist will remember that McCluster did not begin the year as the starting tailback—Brandon Bolden did.  The pessimist will remember how unthreatening the offense was with Bolden in the lead role.

Ultimately, it was Bolden’s lack of big play potential that necessitated McCluster’s move to the backfield full-time.

Do not dog Bolden, though.  He is effective and consistent.  His stat line from his first two seasons is essentially the same—five yards per carry and 10 yards per catch.  That moves the chains.   Moreover, he handled the demotion by moving into the fullback spot for the injured Andy Hartmann and helped paved the way for McCluster.

Bolden, sans drama, just did what his team asked him to.

This year, Ole Miss needs Bolden to find a way to run between the tackles.  The consistent inability to establish an interior run game this past season allowed opposing defenses to zone play—no gap assignments—their outside linebackers and kept the safeties in the passing lanes.  If it seemed at times that Jevan Snead was always throwing into double coverage, he was.  My argument is he did not have a choice.

Bolden is not a consistent home run threat.  He is a tough, smart, and competitive player who can be used to contract the box and keep the safeties looking in first.  He is not the kind of back that scares defenses, but is just the kind to keep them honest.

Unlike Bolden, consistency has plagued former Parade All-American Enrique Davis.  Similar in stature—6’0”, 220lbs.—to Bolden, Ole Miss Fans have seen glimpses from Davis and hang onto the idea he can be an impact back.

Davis has shown that he can hit the hole and break tackles.  Unfortunately, he has also shown the ability to miss it and end up bogged in the backfield.  Davis’ carries should increase this year with the graduation of Cordera Eason, and maybe more touches will lead to greater consistency.

Head coach Houston Nutt has built much of his reputation on the stable of backs his teams roll out.  Davis was somewhat of an afterthought among the group in 2009, but an improved Davis would increase the aggression of a power run game, complementing schemes for the lighter, faster pop backs on the roster.

Among the latter, put rising sophomore Rodney Scott at the top of the list.  Scott—at 5’10” and 195 lbs.—will never be mistaken for McCluster, but Scott’s 4.45 speed can press the edges and move down field where his size turns advantageous.

To label Scott as merely quick or elusive does not paint the landscape.  He is intuitive with the ball in his hands, with a loose-hipped stride that—even in limited exposure this year—is more threatening to break than either Bolden or Davis.

Look for Bolden to handle the majority of the heavy lifting inside, and Scott to get more carries on zone-stretch and waggle (trap) calls.  Additionally, Tim Simon—if he is able to recover from the devastating injury that quickly ended last season—could be a name to remember.  The staff is high on him.

Still, as confident as Coach Nutt may be in the talents of the previous group, all are yet to show the one thing that made McCluster so dynamic—the ability to win every matchup.

Korvic Neat could be the guy.

Neat, a rising redshirt freshman sounds the part—5’8” at 170 lbs., monster quick, excellent body control, near-elite separating speed in the second level.  When recruited from Hallandale Beach, FL, Neat was abruptly pegged the next Dex.  Time reveals truth. But remember, even Run DMC did not start out that way.

Devin Thomas, who was rumored to be transferring at midyear but stayed, is another back that plays well in open space and may get an opportunity.

As with all Houston Nutt teams, the running game will be a priority and no one ever has an definitive answer on exactly how and who when the season starts, including Coach Nutt.

There is a variety of depth at the position with two or three potential stars that will see playing time this year.  All of the talent is young—Bolden and Davis will only be juniors, everyone else younger and less experienced—but there is talent.

Coaches and fans would love to see the experienced Bolden gained at fullback translate into effective interior running in the spring.  It is time for Davis to figure it out.  Scott and, if healthy, Simon will carry the rock and their degree of success could ultimately determine the effectiveness of the play-action scheme.

Korvic Neat is the wild card.  That is a lot of pressure for a freshman.  But, if Neat shows he can find space, the No. 1 effect it has is keeping fleet-footed WR Jesse Grandy out wide and going vertical.

As Ole Miss Fans saw this past season, a legitimate deep threat is necessary to the success of OC Kent Austin’s game plan.  Defenses, especially in conference, are just too good to play on a small field. 

Austin’s offense has to force safeties to make choices after the ball is snapped.  Linebackers must be challenged to hold gap assignments.  Allowing the back half of the front seven to just roll through the zone options of contain, drop, or blitz make it too tough for a quarterback to find success.

Ask Jevan Snead.

Ole Miss will run the ball well because Coach Nutt always finds a way to do so.  But, if McCluster’s greatness wasn’t proven by the army of people it took to stop him, it might be by the army it takes to replace him.