A Tale of Two UW Backs
Salvon Ahmed is used to succeeding after taking over for Myles Gaskin, so maybe we should have seen this coming.
Ahmed followed Gaskin as the starter at the University of Washington and he's now doing the same with the Miami Dolphins. And he's performing well enough that he's putting himself in position to keep getting carries when Gaskin returns from his stint on injured reserve.
It's a pretty wild situation for the two former UW running backs, who have surprisingly found themselves as the keys to the Dolphins running game in 2020.
When training camp opened, it was veterans Jordan Howard and Matt Breida who were supposed to handle the bulk of the work at running back, but Gaskin ended up being the feature back because he kept outperforming the other two.
And Ahmed is also now showing he deserves offensive snaps after being promoted from the practice squad and performing well in his first two NFL games.
Ahmed came off the bench in Gaskin's first game on IR and then earned the start last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers when he finished with 85 yards on 20 carries. It was the second-highest single-game rushing total for the Dolphins this season, behind Gaskin's 91 yards against the New York Jets.
At UW, Gaskin was a four-year starter, and a highly productive one at that. He rushed for at least 1,268 yards and 10 touchdowns in each of his four seasons.
So his ability to produce at the NFL shouldn't be surprising, even if he doesn't the ideal skill set, which is why he lasted until the seventh round of the 2019 draft.
Ahmed finally got his chance as the starter at Washington as a junior in 2019 and rushed for 1,020 yards and 11 touchdowns before making the decision to enter the draft as an underclassman.
In a way, the decision backfired because he went undrafted, but he obviously showed enough in college that the 49ers signed him as a rookie free agent and the Dolphins later picked him up.
And Ahmed hasn't stopped since, earning the promotion to the active roster and then making the most of his opportunity in regular season action.
Husky Maven publisher Dan Raley recalled their time as teammates at the University of Washington.
"Gaskin took over as the starting Husky tailback midway through his freshman season and never gave the job back, turning in four consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons and becoming Washington's all-time leading rusher," Raley said. "He was extremely adept at finding holes to run through and somewhat fearless, as one would expect from a 5,000-yard rusher.
"Meantime, Ahmed never shared the backfield with Gaskin. He was mostly a return man as a freshman and in their final college season together he more likely was the third tailback. Ahmed was always known as a speedster and he became the full-time starter in 2018 after Gaskin left, but he didn't run hard, didn't stick his nose into contact. I called him a tap dancer.
"I thought it was a huge mistake when Ahmed passed up his senior year to turn to the NFL. I wasn't surprised when he didn't get drafted. I wasn't surprised when the 49ers and Dolphins cut him. He didn't like contact. He had a 1,000-yard season and he broke an 89-yard TD run against USC and went 60 to score against Oregon State as a junior, but he wasn't going to pick up the tough yard. He later had a bad combine, running 4.6 40s, which were way off his college clockings.
"Gaskin, because of his size, seemed destined only for a brief NFL stay, but he deserved a chance because he runs hard. Ahmed must have got the message along the way that he had to become a more physical back, because he wasn't going to get a NFL shot otherwise.
"I'm surprised that both have become starters, though with a COVID season anything is possible. I'm not surprised Gaskin received an opportunity and took it — because that's what he did in college. I didn't see this coming from Ahmed at all, but he apparently learned he had to change and become a tougher back as he bounced from NFL camp to camp."
Regardless of how it plays out, it's going to make for a fun situation when Gaskin comes off IR and the Dolphins have the two former college teammates involved in the offseason.
This could present a new situation for the two running backs if they ever wind up either splitting carries or even being used in the backfield at the same time.
Running backs coach Eric Studesville studied both in college, though never really as a tandem.
“I didn’t really watch how they meshed because they came out at different times, so when I was evaluating Myles, that’s who I was watching primarily," Studesville said. "You see flashes of other guys as they play in games as you watch them, and then last year obviously it was Salvon who I was watching and evaluating what he was going to do when he was coming out. So I don’t really group them together or compare them. I’m trying to evaluate each guy separately so that I have an opinion on that specific guy.”
For Ahmed, though, he's just enjoying being back with his college teammate.
“He’s been a tremendous help, just like when I first got to Washington," Ahmed said. "I was a freshman and he was a junior. He just kind of showed me the ropes and made sure I was good. It’s definitely a blessing to be a part of this organization and also to be with Myles again.”
