Exclusive: Vanderbilt Football Loves the Playmaking in its Backfield

It is not often where college football teams are comfortable with sending any of their running backs on the roster onto the field for meaningful plays. But Vanderbilt football is one of those exceptions to that principle.

The Commodores boast of a running back room led by Sedrick Alexander and MK Young, but also are fine with putting Jamezell Lassiter or Gabe Fields on the field at times as well. This year, Vanderbilt also has freshman running backs Evan Hampton and Izayah Lee on the roster who could see some snaps as well. The depth of the position room is clear to see.

But Vanderbilt believes its running back room is dangerous for a perhaps more important reason: the playmaking ability each guy in the room has. From last season to this season, the belief in its running backs has only grown and this past spring period is what fueled the coaching staff’s belief.

“We kind of put a premium emphasis on just making people miss more, and so that was our focus going into the spring,” Vanderbilt running backs coach Ghaali Muhammad-Lankford told Vandy On SI. “They hold themselves accountable, they hold each other accountable, and so I really felt like we made a significant jump at that this spring.”

Vanderbilt knows that there is no way to simulate a 80-yard touchdown run from MK Young in practice, nor is there a way to simulate a 65-yard Sedrick Alexander touchdown run at Alabama in a practice setting.

But what teams can do in practice is finishing plays and playing through the whistle. If a running back develops the habit of not stopping his run until he hears a whistle, that eventually will open up the chance for explosive plays.

Last regular season, Vanderbilt had 70 rushes go for 10 or more yards. That is an average of 5.8 runs per game going at least 10 yards. Nonetheless, Muhammad-Lankford wants to see the improved finishing of his running backs result in beating last season’s mark of explosive runs.

It is a constant pursuit of improvement when it comes to Vanderbilt’s running back room. The sky seems to be the limit for the Commodores’ backfield. When thinking about where his room needs to improve at specifically, Muhammad-Lankford doubled down on his confidence he has in the playmaking ability of his running backs.

“You know what I feel like, to be quite honest with you, those guys truthfully do a pretty good job. Obviously, versatility is what allows them to be successful. Playing the position, we're talking about guys that can line up out at receiver and can create mismatches with linebackers and win those particular one on ones,” Muhammad-Lankford said.

Alexander is one of those guys that Vanderbilt has always trusted in and sees the versatility in. So much so that Muhammad-Lankford believed Alexander has the “best hands” he has ever had the opportunity to coach.

Last season, Alexander had 19 receptions for 200 yards and four touchdowns to his 567 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. Muhammad-Lankford knows that those numbers are not an extreme outlier in running back stats, but he does believe his skillset is something that not too many running backs in college football have.

The playmaking ability goes beyond just Alexander and that is what makes Vanderbilt confident in sending out whoever from the running back room when his number is called upon. There is belief in the program that Young is an “improved blocker” that is motivated to put up better numbers than he did last season.

Down the depth chart, Vanderbilt is happy with the speed it sees from four-star freshman running back Evan Hampton and the physicality that freshman Izayah Lee showed during the spring. Sandwiched in between the dynamic starting duo and the freshman duo are Lassiter and Fields, where Muhammad-Lankford told Vandy On SI the patience and elusiveness is present.

In other words, there is an outpour of confidence from Vanderbilt’s coaching staff that the running back room possesses every quality a program would want in their running backs. The only thing left to see is how the improvement from the spring translates to the fall.

“We have an explosive running back room to where we can kind of pick up that load. We're always going to do the best thing possible to create the best advantage to win,” Muhammad-Lankford told Vandy On SI. “Whoever we need to try to scheme to get the ball, we're going to do that.”

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