Spring Practice No. 2 Breakdown: RBs
Updated Spring Schedule for Next Week:
Tuesday, April 2: 8:30-11 am (Open fans/media)
Thursday, April 4: 8:30-11 am (Open fans/media)
Saturday, April 6: 10:45-1 pm (Open fans/media)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As part of the 2019 spring camp, GoLobos.com will do a position-by-position breakdown of the various positions on both offense, defense and special teams. Today’s breakdown is on the running backs position.
Letterwinners returning:
Daevon Vigilant (So., Downey, Calif., 43 carries, 185 yards, 2 TDs in 2018)
Ahmari Davis (Sr., Oakland, Calif., 51 carries, 185 yards, 4 TDs in 2018)
Micah Gray (So., Clovis, N.M., 7 carries, 23 yards in 2018)
Javohn Jones (Sr., Albuquerque, N.M., 3 carries, 4 yards in 2018)
Redshirts/Squad members returning:
Lawrence “L.O.” Johnson (Fr., Waunakee, Wisc.)
Bryson Carroll (So., San Antonio, Texas, 12 carries, 39 yards in 2018)
Kentrail Moran (So., O’Fallon, Ill.)
Bobby Cole (Chatsworth, Calif.)
Letterwinners lost:
Tyrone Owens (186 carries, 687 yards, 6 TDs in 2018)
Zahneer Shuler (51 carries, 228 yards, 3 TDs in 2018)
2019 Signing Class in camp:
None.
2019 Signing Class not yet enrolled:
Chad Alexander (Fr., New Orleans, La.)
Breaking down the 2019 Lobo running backs is tricky, because they are in a way, the great unknown. You have two players that each have earned two redshirts due to injuries in Daevon Vigilant and Kentrail Moran, both highly touted recruits off stellar prep careers. Both are in their fourth year with the program, but both have played just one season, and both have redshirted due to injury twice. To put that in perspective, they were in the same recruiting class as Corey Bojorquez, who will be entering his second season with the Buffalo Bills in the fall.
The Lobos have just two seniors in Ahmari Davis and Javohn Jones, both of whom missed time with injuries last year (Davis the final 4 ¾ games, and Jones the opening three). Micah Gray was mostly used on special teams although was productive in a limited rushing role.
Add in a pair of redshirts in Bryson Carroll, the former quarterback who did play twice last year, rushing for 39 yards on 12 carries, and Lawrence “L.O.” Johnson, who looks to be in the mold of bruising running backs Richard McQuarley and Zahneer Shuler. Bobby Cole is also similar to Johnson in build to Johnson and showed good things last year while working on the scout team in practice.
Add that up, and it’s a key position battle in spring ball. While it’s a whole lot of unknown as far as who will carry the load, and how the carries will get split up, there are some known things about UNM’s returners, and all are pretty good.
Combined, the four backs who saw action last year that didn’t earn redshirts (Vigilant, Davis, Jones and Gray) combined for 232 snaps. They committed zero penalties, and in pass blocking, allowed just three pressures combined. Vigilant actually had a perfect 100% pass blocking efficiency (all stats here courtesy of Pro Football Focus).
Both Vigilant and Davis proved to be adept at a key statistic, converting first downs/touchdowns. Vigilant percentage of rushing attempts and receiving targets that were converted into either a first down or a touchdown was a whopping 34.9%, and Davis was right behind at 33.3%, both numbers towering above the national average at 21.5%. Vigilant was a solid receiving target as well as UNM’s QBs had a 140.1 rating when throwing to him, the best among all backs and +6.2 points over the FBS average for RB targets.
With all of that, it’s probably not a surprise that UNM’s top two returning rushers from last year are Vigilant and Davis. Both rushed for 185 yards, tying for fourth on the team. Davis was a tough out between the tackles, rushing for 66.5% of his yards between the tackles (123 of 185). Vigilant proved a tough out as well, rushing for 110 of his 185 yards after contact (59.4%).
It’s that toughness that figures to be brought by both Moran and Johnson off redshirt seasons. The question that was posed to Head Coach Bob Davie about which player would be the one to step up into the role vacated by Tyrone Owens, and as fans can see, there are plenty of exciting options and candidates for the role.
And that’s what makes this part of spring camp so fun. It’s an entire running back room battling for open positions. Regardless of if you are scholarship or not, coming off injury, coming off a strong season, it’s anybody’s position, and it all plays out over the next five weeks and on into summer.
NEXT UP: Tuesday, April 2, corners.
PRACTICE NOTES: Thursday was the second day in just helmets and shorts … Beau Hott, who spent his first four years in a red practice jersey as an offensive lineman, is now in white, but he’s not on defense. He’s working on long-snapping for the field goal unit, and all specialists at practice wear white.