Welcome to the second part of the position preview for the LSU Tigers. This week, we’ll be looking at the LSU Tigers at the running back position.
Who Left After Last Season?
There were no Tigers that left after last season as most of the Tigers running backs were either freshmen or sophomores. This fact speaks to the depth that LSU has in that position for the next two seasons. Based off of past trends with LSU this is a big positive.
Who’s Returning?
As mentioned before, everyone is returning to the Tigers and the embarrassment of riches with the Tigers at the running back position is ridiculous. Obviously you’ve got possibly the best back in college football right now in Leonard Fournette to lead the charge, but there’s some interesting names that should see a good chunk of the carries this season. The first of which has to be one of the best freshmen in the SEC last season: Derrius Guice. Once you go beyond that, it gets a little more interesting.
The Other Guys
Speaking of the rest of the running backs on the roster, there’s three Guys like Darrell Williams and Nick Brossette could be a solid pair of backs in any other situation and get a good chunk of the snaps. But when you’ve got a player like Fournette and a solid number two back in Guice, the question is: who gets more snaps? I would think that Brossette might get a little more snaps than Williams simply because he has the potential of being that third running back and possibly being the second back come 2017. This is all dependent on how he looks after his injury during the Ole Miss game last year. But the third running back will probably get a very small sliver of that pie and relegated to special teams.
How Will the Pie Be Split?
The LSU Tigers will face an interesting conundrum heading into this season: how much of the pie will they give Fournette? Now you would think that LSU should give the vast majority of the pie no matter what the situation. I’d pump the brakes and look back to what Les Miles said last season about keeping Fournette on a pitch count. This would probably be the smartest move if LSU wants to start to move away from their bread and butter: the run game. But the odds are Fournette will see about 60-65 percent of the pie because LSU wants to see Fournette end his collegiate career with a Heisman Trophy. Guice will be right behind him probably taking the rest of the snaps at running back continuing to excel behind one of the best in the SEC.
Conclusion
The LSU Tigers don’t have to worry about the running back position for possibly the next two years. But when you look at this year’s team, the Tigers will be relying on their top-level backs to help them get to Atlanta and possibly the College Football Playoff.
-Clint Domingue
LSU Tigers Position Preview: QBs