Florida football: Gators August and September report card

Running Backs

In 2018 the Gators jumped from outside the top 100 in points per game to 22nd overall in the nation. This in due part was thanks to the stable of running backs Dan Mullen had available upon his return to Gainesville.

The Gators averaged 213.3 yards rushing in 2018. While Feleipe Franks was not afraid to call his own number with the ball on multiple occasions within a game, the primary workhorses on the ground were juniors Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine.

Both running backs averaged approximately 6.0 yards per carry on a combined 265 rush attempts and 12 total rushing touchdowns. After a year of redemption for Scarlett after the infamous 2017 credit card scandal, Scarlett would forgo his senior season and would be drafted in the 5th round by the Carolina Panthers. Meanwhile his running mate Perine would return to Gainesville for his senior season.

Returning with Perine to the Gators backfield in 2019 are sophomore Dameon Pierce and redshirt-sophomore Malik Davis. Pierce, a highly rated four-star running back out of high school, ran for 424 yards off 69 carries during his freshman season at Florida. Meanwhile, Davis, who missed the majority of the 2018 season due to a broken left foot, returned to the program in hopes of rekindling some of the on-ground magic he displayed during his freshman year in 2017.

Playing behind an offensive line with four new starters in 2019, the trio so far has taken its fair share of lumps through the first five games of the season.

The unit’s first task was against the Miami Hurricanes, who were recognized preseason by many college football experts as having one of the best set of defensive linemen and linebackers in the nation. In 2018 the Canes had the 46th ranked rush defense and through their first five games in 2019 are ranked no. 6 overall.

While not many people expected the Gators to rush for more than 200 yards against the Canes in the season opener, it appeared the entire rushing attack for Florida went MIA against Miami.

Perine would be the lone Florida football running back to carry the ball more than three times as he rushed for a mere 42 yards on 10 carries. Meanwhile, Pierce and Davis would both be outrushed by Florida punter Tommy Townsend on the night, as both combined for negative seven yards rushing on six carries. This also included a costly fumble by Davis within Miami territory early in the second quarter.

Much like their quarterback, the running backs unit would look to restart their 2019 season on a much higher note against Tennessee Martin.

Once again Perine served as the team’s primary ball carrier, as he rushed for 51 yards off of 10 carries and caught three passes for 15 yards. Davis would be the first Gators running back to find the end zone in 2019 off a 1-yard run in the red zone early in the third quarter. He would end the evening with 18 total rushing yards off of 3 carries.

Pierce improved his yards per carry average against the Skyhawks, but would only rush the ball five times in the game for 25 yards. Meanwhile, redshirt-freshman running back Iverson Clement would have the unit’s biggest highlight of the evening, as he took off for 41-yard rush late in the second half on his only rush attempt of the evening.

The Gators would end the game with 231 total rushing yards. While this total was much improved compared to the unit’s first performance of the season, none of the running backs consistently showed to have imposed their will on an inferior opponent and instead the unit barely averaged their rushing total from a season ago.

As the Gators traveled to Lexington, the running backs would hope to improve their performance against a Kentucky team that held Florida’s running backs to a combined 74 yards rushing in last year’s game. Unfortunately, the opposite would incur.

While the Gators managed to rally from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Wildcats, it was no thanks to the ground game. Perine would carry the ball for a season-high 14 times, including one for a touchdown. However, he would gain a minuscule 27 yards on the ground. This would be the lowest yard per carry average (1.9) for Perine in a game since his performance against Florida State in 2017 (1.7).

Pierce was the only other Gators running back to see action on the ground in Lexington but was held to just eight yards rushing on two attempts. Florida football would total 138 yards rushing for the game, but this was mainly thanks to a 76-yard touchdown run by wideout Josh Hammond late in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

After Franks was ruled out for the remainder of the season, it appeared that Mullen and co-offensive coordinators Billy Gonzales and John Hevesy wanted to help out new starting quarterback Kyle Trask by calling for more production on the ground against Tennessee.

The Gators would only post 128 yards rushing against the Volunteers. However, there were signs throughout the game that this unit is perhaps on the brink of finding consistency against SEC competition. Perine and Pierce each had double-digit rush attempts for the game as they combined for 101 yards rushing off 25 carries. Both players each found the end zone against the Vols.

Against Towson in week 5 Florida football managed to average 5.0 YPC as a team. However, the running backs as a whole only managed to put 128 rush yards against this FCS opponent. Though the Gators barely managed to win the time of possession battle in a 38-0 victory, there were still inconsistencies in the ground attack.

In his fifth straight start at running back, Perine could not find any daylight to run through on the line of scrimmage, rushing for a minuscule 15 yards on seven carries.

The only bright spot from the running-backs core came from Pierce, who managed to rush for 84 yards on six carries. This included a 37-yard touchdown rush off the left side late in the third quarter.

As of week 5 the Gators currently are 88th in the country in rush offense, averaging just 4.36 yard per rush. In comparison LSU, Vanderbilt and FSU are the only opponents left on Florida’s schedule that are ranked lower in rushing offense this season.

There are many reasons for the lack of success for the running backs this season. It is difficult for any college football program, let alone an SEC program, to find success early on the ground with four new starters on the offensive line.

Florida’s biggest playmaker Kadarius Toney, who was expected to help out in the rushing attack, has been sidelined with an injury since exiting early from the Tennessee Martin game.

Florida also has incorporated more rushing plays in 2019 that involves the quarterback lining up under center as opposed to receiving the snap via shotgun formation.

Regardless of the reasons, this unit now faces two defenses within the next two weeks that both rank inside the top 25 in total rush defense through five weeks.

With Perine failing to post more than 30 rushing yards in two of Florida’s last three games, and with no signs of Toney returning to the lineup in the near future, it may be time for Mullen and running backs coach Greg Knox to give more carries to the more physically skilled Pierce.

Grade: D+