How will Clemson football distribute the rushing carries in 2019? Here’s our prediction for how we’ll see rushes divided up coming into this season.
The 2018 Clemson football running back carried the ball a total of 439 times last season. The Tiger rushers combined for 3,274 yards.
We saw a balanced approach to the running game last season, with Travis Etienne getting 204 carries, Tavien Feaster getting 78 carries, Adam Choice with 77 and Lyn-J Dixon with 62. Darien Rencher also had 15 carries and Ty Thomason had three.
When you look at those combined numbers, you have to imagine that Clemson will use its running backs for around 30 designed rushes a game. The stats (439 total carries over 15 games) last season average out to 29.3 rushes (not including QB rushes or scrambles) per game. This number obviously could rise or fall a little depending on RPOs and what certain defenses show the Tigers this season.
That being said, if Clemson football rushes the ball right around 30 times a game and 450 times in a season- assuming the Tigers play 15 games- how will the carries be distributed? Here’s our prediction for how we’ll see the rushes divided up.
Running Back Carry Total Predictions (Average per game):
- Travis Etienne 240 (16 carries per game)
- Lyn-J Dixon 130 (8.7 carries per game)
- Darien Rencher 45 (2.7 carries per game)
- Chez Mellusi/Michel Dukes 35 (2.3 carries per game)
When you look at these divisions, it’s clear that the Tigers are likely going to take a different approach than what they have in the past few seasons.
Travis Etienne is going to see a carry increase, but I don’t think the Clemson football coaching staff wants to see him carry it more than 250 times. Likely, you’ll see him average out somewhere between 15-18 carries per game. Etienne will have more in close games, but there will also be blowouts where he only carries the ball 11-14 times.
Lyn-J Dixon is going to get somewhere between 8-12 carries per game, as well. Normally, the Tigers have divided up carries and had two running backs get anywhere between 5-10 carries each, but Dixon is going to get all of those carries this season.
Darien Rencher will be used comparable to how Lyn-J Dixon was used last season. He’ll get a lot of fourth quarter touches when the game has been decided and will even see a series or two when the game is still on the line.
The two freshmen are split because I’m not sure what to make of them yet. One of them could very well overtake Rencher at that third-string spot. They will likely be used in garbage time and I would imagine that the coaching staff tries to redshirt one of them. We’ll still see both of them in at least four games this season, in my opinion.
Their numbers may be a little too high, but I do think we’ll see some carries distributed to that fourth spot- no matter how the coaches try to do it- and it will likely come out to around 35 carries over the course of a season.