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2020 LSU Football Position Breakdown Part 2: Running Backs

Davis-Price, Emery and Curry headline running back unit in 2020

For years, the LSU offense was stuck in an old school brand of football. The Tigers would recruit the fastest and the burliest running backs they could get their hands on and try to beat opponents with a smashmouth style that was past its time.

In 2019 that all changed with the switch to the spread offense but the running back position didn't lose any of its significance to the offense.  Junior Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for 1,414 yards and an SEC leading 16 touchdowns while adding another 453 yards through the air on 55 receptions.

It was a phenomenal season and a glimpse into what an LSU running back would look like in a modern day offense, but Edwards-Helaire was a unique back who did it all. 

"He's what makes the offense go," Joe Burrow said before the national championship. "I know where Clyde is going to be 100% of the time. If everything is covered downfield, I just have a feeling I know where Clyde is going to be. If I get in trouble, I just dump it down to Clyde. He'll make two or three guys miss, get 3-4 [yards], keep us on schedule."

Over the next week we'll be breaking down each position group as the final signing period for the 2020 season approaches. LSU returns three young running backs in 2020, all of whom are eager to prove themselves after up and down seasons behind Edwards-Helaire. 

Projected Starter: Tyrion Davis-Price (sophomore)

This is a position battle that will likely carry on into the start of the season but for now it seems like the right choice to stick Davis-Price at the top of the depth chart. At 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Davis-Price was used as the primary backup to Edwards-Helaire during the 2019 regular season.

As a freshman, Davis-Price received 60 carries for 275 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season, far eclipsing his freshmen teammates John Emery (36 carries) and Chris Curry (17 carries). Known as a bruising back that doesn't go down easily, Davis-Price will need to improve as a pass catcher and blocker to win the starting job.

It's also very possible the coaching staff could utilize multiple running backs as "starters" if none stick out like Edwards-Helaire did in 2019. The one knock against Davis-Price is that he didn't get much postseason work, receiving just eight carries against Georgia and Oklahoma and none in the national championship win over Clemson.

To be fair, none of the other running backs outside of Edwards-Helaire received any work in the national championship but when Edwards-Helaire was hampered with an injury for the Oklahoma game, Davis-Price couldn't latch on to that starting role.

This will in all likelihood be an open competition through the Spring and Fall camp with three very capable backs.

A look at the depth chart: John Emery (sophomore), Chris Curry (sophomore)

With currently no running backs signed to the 2020 class the depth chart is mighty thin at running back with Emery and Curry as the only two scholarship players next to Davis-Price.

Emery came to LSU as a five-star recruit out of Destrehan High School, heralded as the next great running back for the Tigers. But the freshman wasn't able to comfortably find his footing in the offense in his first season, which is fine. At 6-foot-0, 203 pounds, Emery has the speed and body type to be a tremendous college running back.

After a 39 carry season that saw him rush for 188 yards and four touchdowns, Emery will be eager to prove himself come Spring camp. In LSU's win over Utah State, Emery showed he can be a piece in the passing game, hauling in four receptions for 34 yards while adding an additional 45 on the ground, easily his best game as a freshman.

If he can prove to the coaching staff to be a threat on the ground and through the air, his electric blend of size and speed would make him a tough cover in the SEC.

Curry is in a similar boat to Emery as he didn't get much workload in the regular season. But unlike Emery, Curry has a postseason performance against Oklahoma to hang his hat on in the offseason. When Edwards-Helaire was limited in the Tigers 63-28 Peach Bowl win over Oklahoma, it was Curry who earned the bulk of the carries.

Curry rushed for 90 yards on 16 carries, nearly matching his regular season totals in the one game alone.

“He did amazing,” Edwards-Helaire said after the game. “To jump up and become the starter and almost mentally prepare the entire week. To be able to focus in and understand the things he needed to do was big for him.”

LSU does have some 2020 running backs on its radar as the final signing period for the class draws to a close. Those names include five-star Zachary Evans and four-stars Jahmyr Gibbs and Kevontre Bradford. From a talent perspective, Evans would be a great fit but he is currently favored to land with Texas A&M.

Gibbs and Bradford seem like the more attainable goals at the moment but regardless, the running back position will be one to monitor over the coming months.