Clemson Football: RB room is dangerously explosive heading into spring
The Clemson football running back stable may be the deepest and most explosive it has ever been heading into the spring of 2019.
As we head into the beginning of spring practice, we’re giving you a quick look at each Clemson football positional unit pre-spring.
We took a look at the quarterbacks Wednesday and we will continue the series by looking at the running backs today.
When you look at this RB room, I think there’s two things that you should notice:
- The depth
- The explosiveness
There’s no doubt coming into this season that this running back group has a chance to be special. As a matter of fact, I think they have a chance to be the best group in Clemson football history.
What to watch for:
There are three running backs that are going to get the majority of the carries this season for the Tigers. That’s Travis Etienne, Tavien Feaster and Lyn-J Dixon.
Each one of those guys were at least a 4-star coming out of high school and each one has proven to be explosive and capable of reeling off big runs.
Etienne comes into the 2019 season as potentially the best running back in College Football. Etienne is currently fifth in the Heisman odds, and for good reason. He’s an explosive back with plenty of room to grow and improve. When he touches the ball, he just finds a way to get yardage and break off explosive plays.
Statistically, Etienne scores a touchdown every 7.85 carries. That means every time he gets eight carries, you get a touchdown. That’s amazing.
Next is Tavien Feaster, who is an explosive back that has grown up in the Clemson football system and has a chance to have a big senior year.
And behind Feaster may be the best pure-runner of the entire group in Lyn-J Dixon, who will now be entering his sophomore season. Every time Dixon touches the ball, there’s a chance he can be gone. The key for him will be developing into a good pass-protector.
That’s a pretty dynamic set of running backs to split carries.
In addition to those guys, Darien Rencher may also compete for some playing time as the fourth-string running back and freshmen Michel Dukes and Chez Mellusi will join the team in the fall.