Miami Hurricanes offense under Shannon Dawson will take running back by committee approach
The Miami Hurricanes first-year offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson used a running backs by committee approach when he was heading up the Houston offense the last couple of years; previously he had also headed a featured running back attack at Southern Miss with Ito Smith.
His plan at Miami this coming season?
The committee approach. And it sounds like that’s here to stay in the future under Dawson, as well.
“College football today is running back by committee, has to be,” Dawson said on Monday. “They have to run the ball, catch the ball and they have to pick up a 230-pound linebacker running through the A gap. So the amount of physical abuse those guys take is high.
“Having some guys that are bigger helps, having guys that are smaller and can get out into space helps. If you look at that room, we have a good combination of a lot of guys, also a lot of able bodies. … We want to be running back by committee so one guy isn’t taking all that. We can rotate guys in, distribute the runs where one guy doesn’t get worn out.”
Good news for Dawson and Miami at the position is there’s a lot of talent, and different backs with different skillsets.
There are bigger, more powerful backs like freshman Mark Fletcher, Nebraska redshirt freshman transfer Ajay Allen and Don Chaney. And then there are the speedy smaller guys like freshman track champion Christopher Johnson and returning starter Henry Parrish.
TreVonte’ Citizen, who is in the bigger back mold, also told CaneSport today that he’s hopeful that he can make an impact this season coming off a torn ACL suffered in practice last year.
As Dawson said today, “there’s a lot of different skillsets in that room.”
Miami fans can expect to see a lot of those different skillsets in each game. And whoever emerges from fall camp with the starting job may not even be the guy who winds up with the most carries.
The post Miami Hurricanes offense under Shannon Dawson will take running back by committee approach appeared first on On3.
