A Look at the Gators RB Room – Who’s There, and Who can be a Star?

The Gators have a very skilled and deep room of running backs this year, which comes at a convenient time given their overall lack of experience at receiver. With all of these options in the backfield, who can the offense rely on to produce?

It seems that the #1 guy in the room is going to be Louisiana transfer Montrell Johnson, who came over with coach Napier. The second year running back had 838 yards and 12 TDs in his freshman year as a Ragin’ Cajun, with season highs of 150 yards against Arkansas St and a 4 touchdown performance against Ohio.

Johnson, at 5’11” and 200 pounds, has the strength to run through tacklers, but also has the speed to run past defenders.

He doesn’t have the most experience in the RB room, but his natural ability and familiarity with Napier will likely result in him being in the lead role.

A returning name with a good bit of experience as a Gator is Nay’Quan Wright. Wright split carries with Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis last year, but still showed flashes of being an elite playmaker. He totaled 326 yards and 1 TD, before breaking his ankle in the regular season finale against FSU.

As Wright gets healthier, he’ll be a great pass catching option out of the backfield for the Gators, and his abilities to make defenders miss in space will have Gator fans on the edge of their seats whenever he gets the ball.

Florida fans are also excited to get a look at 2 other transfers who haven’t gotten much playing time so far in Demarkcus Bowman and Lorenzo Lingard.

Bowman was heavily favored to choose UF out of high school for most of his recruitment before choosing Clemson, but decided to come back home to Gainesville after a year. He only got 14 carries last season, but it’s apparent to everyone who’s watched him that he has special talent.

He has elite breakaway speed and quickness, and will pair very well with Johnson.

The 4th and final guy who will be in the rotation is Lorenzo Lingard, a transfer from Miami. Lingard, like Bowman, has elite breakaway speed, and is uncatchable once he gets to open grass.

Both Lingard and Bowman are 5 star transfers, and will likely get the carries they deserve this coming year.

The Gators backfield is loaded with talent, and with the Gators likely running a ground heavy offense this season, they’ll all get their chance to show the country what they can do.

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