Deep RB Room Creating Lengthy Position Battle for Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This time last season, the running back room for the Louisville football program was in an interesting position.

Following a pair of very productive seasons as the primary man in the backfield, Javian Hawkins was heading to the NFL. He departed the Cardinals as their 10th all-time leading rusher with 2,355 yards, including a 2019 campaign where rushed for 1,525 yards to set a single season program record by a running back.

With his move to the professional ranks, Louisville then had the task of figuring out how they would approach the position in 2021. Head coach Scott Satterfield eventually decided that the Cardinals would primarily go with running back by committee, even after undergoing a position battle that lasted nearly the entire offseason.

Fast forward to now, and it seems that the Cardinals are in for another offseason-long position battle, but not because they're not sure what they have. This time, it's due to the fact that the running back room is loaded with talent.

"I tell you, it excites me," offensive coordinator Lance Taylor said. "I'm a former running back coach and run game guy, so the run game always excites me. I believe that offensive football, and football in general, it starts up front and the game is won in the trenches. It starts with the O-line, but then we've got a deep, talented running back group that I feel really good about what they're bringing."

They might be losing guys like Hassan Hall and Maurice Burkley, but the Cardinals are also returning their two leading rushers out of the running back room: Jalen Mitchell and Trevion Cooley.

Mitchell received the majority of the reps in the rotation, running for 722 yards and five touchdowns. But Cooley, a true freshman, displayed his long term potential on multiple occasions with 431 yards and a touchdown. Even Jawhar Jordan looked impressive in the bowl game, compiling 137 all-purpose yards, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

The cherry on top of the running back room has only been a Cardinal for roughly four months. Joining Louisville from Tennessee via the transfer portal, Tiyon Evans was the Volunteers' leading rusher through most of the 2021 season, until an ankle injury forced him to sit for the final five games of the year.

He ended that season with 525 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, with the majority of the production coming in the first five games before his ankle injury. Evans had three 100-yard games over that stretch.

It's safe to say the Satterfield, who is well known for his propensity to run the football, is extremely excited for what Louisville will feature out of that position next season.

"They bring some different things to the table," he said on the first day of spring practice. "Cooley looked like he had an extra gear today with some of the runs that he broke out on. Tiyon's a big back, he showed great vision today on some of the runs. Jaws has some juice in his legs, and Mitchell's just a very solid and consistent back."

Of course, as you can imagine, this makes determining a "starter" at running back far from an easy task. But if there's anyone who's used to having a loaded running back room, it's Taylor.

As the running backs coach at Stanford, he coached two Heisman Trophy runner ups in Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, with both on the same roster in 2015 and 2016. He also had a deep group while at Notre Dame, headlined by back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher Kyren Williams.

"I just kind of sit back and chuckle, because now that's (running backs) coach (De'Rail) Sims' problem, not mine," he quipped. Taylor now coaches wide receivers on top of carrying the title of offensive coordinator.

Taylor has lauded Sims' efforts in the short time he has been with the program, saying that he has done an excellent job in terms of "honing in on the details of that position," as well as being a master motivator.

"They've gotten better each and every day, and that's one thing I'm excited about that group," he said. "I've seen that group grow so much just in five practices that have been here."

As the program advances through the rest of spring practice, summer workouts, and into preseason fall camps; Satterfield, Taylor and Sims will continue to monitor the position battles between the top four backs, and aren't in any hurry to name a starter.

In fact, Taylor revealed that because it is such a deep group, every one of those four will have a chance to run with the first and second team offense. They want to get the reps evenly distributed amongst them, no matter who is RB1 in any given practice, and continue their overall evaluations.

"I think that it's going to continue to be a revolving chair. We'll continue to mix those guys in, and get each one of them reps with the first team, because they've all earned carries with that first team."

Louisville finished the 2021 season with a mark of 6-7 (4-4 in ACC), including a 31-28 loss in the First Responder Bowl against Air Force. The Cardinals will kickoff the 2022 season at Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 3.

(Photo of Trevion Cooley: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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