Miami Football: How the Hurricanes Plan to Replace Star RB Lamar Miller

It wasn't a shock to me last year when Lamar Miller decided to leave Miami after his sophomore season.  Miller has the athleticism and speed to shine bright at the next level.

My only problem was, who and how are the Hurricanes going to replace a running back that gained 1,918 yards and 15 touchdowns in his first season-and-a-half at Miami?

Mike James and Eduardo Clements competed against each other during the spring session, with neither player dominating over the other.   By the looks of it, the Hurricanes are going to have to use a running back by committee.

James, who played some time at fullback in his freshman season, looks to be the starter for the upcoming season.  He is a tough runner with decent speed.  James ended the season last year with 72 carries for 275 yards and seven touchdowns.

While he split the carries with Miller, James struggled at times holding onto the ball, something this Miami team can not afford to do.

Miami's second-string running back will most likely be Clements, who got just 15 carries last year for 82 yards and a touchdown.  Although his touches were limited, he was able to catch 14 passes for 163 yards, leading all running backs in receptions.

Both James and Clements could certainly put up big numbers together and could be a solid one-two punch, but things may change this fall when true freshman, and 5-star recruit, Duke Johnson comes into play.

Johnson is a very quick back with tremendous field vision and could very well be the best running back on the team.  He has a tremendous upside and could really make things more complicated.

If Johnson is as good as advertised, I would not be surprised at all if he ends up getting some starts midway through the season. 

No matter how it looks when that happens, it's only good for the Hurricanes to have competition at the position.  As we already know, head coach Al Golden plays the best players, regardless of how long a particular player has been at the university.

Either way, Miami doesn't have any single running back on the team as good as Miller, so they will have to use a few to fill the spot.

To me, it doesn't really matter, as long as they all are productive and can gain over 2,000 yards between them, it will be a success.