Throughout fall camp, LetsGoPeay.com will take a look at each of the position groups as the Austin Peay State University football team goes through preparations for the 2021 season. We're days away from a visit to Chattanooga to kick this thing off, and we look today at the chain-movers in the backfield—the running backs.
Quantifying someone as a running back for Austin Peay is a bit of a fools' errand—there are guys who line up in the backfield and guys who line up in the slot and guys who line up out wide and depending on the play and the series, the same guy could be featured anywhere on the field.
This complicates a positional preview, somewhat. CJ Evans Jr. is going to get carries. So will Jay Parker, Josh Watch and any of a number of young talented freshmen could have the opportunity to sneak into the backfield and sneak past the defense as Scotty Walden, Kirk Bryant and Jourdan McNeill figure out how best to deploy their various weapons.
And those Gov Backs, the guys falling under Bryant's purview, we covered earlier in the summer. Not much has changed since that was posted—talented ballcarriers still need touches to put their skills to use, and they're going to find their way into the backfield and into McNeill's world, splitting gaps, bouncing outside and combining speed and power to further the Austin Peay attack.
That flexibility? That's music to McNeill's ears. The more talent he can put in position for success, the better for him and for the Govs.
"Coach Bryant and I work hand-in-hand to make sure our offense is streamlined," McNeill said. "They know what to do, where to go, the scheme, all of it. it's beneficial, because in my position group I may have three or four guys but overall we have eight or nine playmakers who can take the ball. We've got a lot of weapons we can use that are transferrable between the backfield and the slot.
"[Flexibility] allows me the freedom to be a constant teacher. Guys can come in knowing what they did in high school, but they don't know football. We get into a lot of the 'why.'"
Delving in further on the true north-south runners for McNeill, there is always and forever Ahmaad Tanner to talk about. In our Camp Correspondences, we've raved about how Tanner has performed—he's added burst and agility without seeming to sacrifice any of what made him special in the first place, namely, the ability and desire to seek out contact and administer punishment to any defender unlucky enough to find themselves in his way.
"Ahmaad has been a tireless worker," McNeill said. "He's extremely consistent and he hasn't grown lax with the details. He's leaner, but he can carry the ball 25 times a game if we need him to. He's so reliable, he knows what to do and he doesn't make mental errors. He runs hard. In this offense, if we're getting four yards a carry touch after touch, we're going to be successful and the big runs are going to pop."
If Tanner is the reliable workhorse—and given his current rate of production, he's poised to become the ninth runner in Austin Peay history to reach the 2,000-yard mark for his career, so he certainly seems reliable—then what do we make of Brian Snead? The fourth-leading rusher in the Ohio Valley Conference a year ago, Snead did such historic, incredible work in the first quarter alone against Tennessee State—204 yards rushing, three scores on his first three touches—that it overshadowed the rest of his campaign. That's not a fair comparison for him, but it offers a unique insight into both how good he already is and how good he may still become in the future for the Govs.
"The thing I've always preached with Brian is dominating the details," McNeill said. "He's as talented as anyone running the ball in college football; if he keeps dominating the details, it won't be close. He has home run potential every touch, and he's doing a great job buying in and coming in ready to work. You can't define success on one play, one drive, one practice, one season… he's been doing a better job of attacking every day as its own, and I'm proud of him for that. He's a smart guy who wants to learn, wants to grow, wants to be the best. He wants to know more than just his assignment, which I appreciate because it makes me a better coach and it lets me know that he's engaged in what we're doing."
As the nominal top-two in the stable of running backs, Snead and Tanner are less thunder-and-lightning and more thunder-and-thunder—the duo get north-and-south for four yards a pop with consistency, moving the chains and providing the Govs with a pair of worthy workhorses to wear out opposing front sevens. Jariel Wilson also has impressed with extended reps in camp and has added bulk to his frame. With Tanner set to depart at season's end, Wilson is beginning to work his way into the rotation by building his body up for maximizing his touches now while preparing for an expanded role in the future.
"Jariel is a talented runner," McNeill said. "He's done things in practice to help him compete. He's been exceptional in fall camp as far as regurgitating the offense, going out on the field and putting a good product on tape. He's increasing his physicality, he's running hard and doing everything he needs to do to help him get on the field on Saturday's.
"I'm excited with where the room is as a whole. I love getting in the room with those guys and just talking football and their lives. It's some of the best times I can ever remember."
If Wilson cracks the rotation of between-the-tackles maulers, an asset becomes a strength for the Govs in 2021. But it's not just their capabilities in the run game—all three are effective threats out of the backfield, and Tanner has long been a capable pass blocker.
If depth becomes an issue, pick your (extremely talented) poison at that point from the guys who also get it done in the Govs Backs room. Jevon Jackson was recruited as a running back. You probably remember CJ Evans Jr., who took the college football world by storm on the first play from scrimmage in the Fall 2020 opener against Central Arkansas, when took the pitch, hit the afterburners and raced to the end zone in front of a national audience. Kam Thomas is the latest in a long line of Ramsay High School products to come from Birmingham to Stacheville, joining Kordell Jackson and Baniko Harley—he has home run potential each time he touches the ball. Iven Dayton and Hayden Whites can get it done if they need to. Armond Carter Jr., who was put on scholarship on August 12, had eight carries in 2019 before moving out wide.
Bottom line (to quote Austin Peay broadcaster Van Stokes): no matter what happens, the Govs are in good shape in the backfield.
"I played in this style offense in college," said McNeill, who was a three-time all-conference honoree as a player for Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden at East Texas Baptist. "If you have guys who don't get tired and you have two or three of them who can churn out four yards carry after carry, those four-yard gains turn into 40-yard gains real quick. We've got a great shot at being able to do what we want to do on offense from a tempo and pace perspective."
2021 Returnees / 2020 Stats
CJ Evans Jr. (So.) / 9 games, 67 carries, 365 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns, 26 receptions, 201 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 4 kick returns, 62 kick return yards
Jariel Wilson (R-So.) / 3 games, 3 carries, 4 yards
Jay Parker (R-Jr.) / 8 games, 1 carry, 3 rushing yards, 21 receptions, 223 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 12 kick returns, 204 kick return yards, 1 punt return, 8 punt return yards
Brian Snead (R-Jr.) / 2020-21 OVC All-Newcomer Team; 7 games, 95 carries, 522 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns, 5 receptions, 24 receiving yards
Josh Watch (R-Jr.) / 3 games
Ahmaad Tanner (Gr.) / 5 games, 55 carries, 283 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 receptions, 15 yards
Armond Carter Jr. (Gr.) / 2 games, 2 receptions, 15 yards
2021 Newcomers / 2020 Stats
Kam Thomas (Fr.)
Iven Dayton (Fr.)
Hayden Whites (Fr.)
Jevon Jackson (Fr.)
