In our ongoing series better know a football position, Illini Unit Breakdown, we must move to the  ever expanding stable of running backs. By my count, none of the running backs who saw time last year have left due to graduation, and have added two fairly highly touted RBs. Which makes six possible options for Zook and Schultz to examine at Camp Rantoul. If last year is any indication, we could see every runner on scholarship at one point or another this season. So I suppose we should learn about just about all of them....

The usual formula  of this post would begin by asking Who would start?  In this situation however the question is probably not very helpful.  As mentioned above, without a feature back last year Zook and Locks mixed Jason Ford and Mikel Leshoure in as true freshmen along with returning jr. back-up Daniel Dufrene and RS Freshman Troy Pollard. At this point, the stable of RBs features only one Senior in Dufrene, and the rest are all Sophomores or younger. Dufrene has shown flashes of being a reliable blocker and as the veteran of the group most likely knows the offense better than the other RB's. As the main backup for the departed Mendenhall, Dufrene was the logical choice to take over the feature spot. As Phil Steele points out however, Dufrene is 25 lbs lighter than Mendenhall and lacks the real breakaway speed that made #5 so successful. The other three backs each had their own set of problems. Mikel Leshoure was involved in an incident with a team mate that left him  with a broken jaw that sidelined him for the last 3 weeks of the season.  Jason Ford came into camp with weight issues that took several games for the coaches to feel comfortable with him getting significant carries, and Pollard saw very little action after recovering from a season ending knee injury the year before.

Several people have said that in their second year in the program, both Ford and Leshoure have built significant bulk in the off season and may finally eclipse Dufrene as the go to back this season, though more than likely all three will get alot of carries. Bud Golden will likely have to do something spectacular to really get meaningful snaps, but the other incoming recruit, the last moment turncoat from OSU, Justin Green is the most intriguing newcomer. While he was recruited as a defensive back, Green wanted to play RB, and reportedly came to Illinois over Ohio State for that opportunity. He is reportedly fast to the line and an very good open field runner. The one downside being that as a true freshman he will likely suffer due to his lack of size (178lbs) In the open field though, he could be deadly.

Fact is this team is going to have get a whole hell of alot better at running the ball with old having to rely on #7 to do it. The running game had alot of starts and stops last year but ultimately were stuffed down the stretch. Juice is still by far the team's leading returning rusher. If he leads the team in rush yards again this year it will be a bad sign for Illinois' fortunes. New OC Mike Schultz liked to run the ball a hell of a lot at TCU (he coached Ladainian Tomlinson at TCU) and I have no doubt he will do what ever he can to try and balance the offense out somewhat compared to last year. TCU has always ran a very efficient offense that  works well with mobile QB's. But the bread and butter was the running game. I would seriously love to see Juice sling the ball all over the field to our mighty receivers. But with out at least the threat of a running game better than last year's, we will see more and more teams simply blitz Juice into oblivion. If I had to guess who will have the most carries this season, I say Jason Ford, the RB with the most TD's a year ago. He can punch through holes and even has some open field speed to be contended with. If he has kept himself in shape and benefited from a year in the system, he seems to be the logical choice. As much as I like Dufrene, I think we have seen the best he can do. I am really excited to see how this group has improved from last year, because after last year's throwing fiesta (often at the end of games in desperation situations) I would like to see some nice offensive ball control, and a running game to let this offense operate at its absolute peak.