About two weeks remain until Florida football kicks off the 2017 regular season against Michigan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Gators enter this year as back-to-back SEC East champions, notching 13 conference wins under coach Jim McElwain since he took over the program in 2015. As always, UF’s success on the gridiron this fall will largely depend on its roster, a group of players featuring both seasoned veterans and unestablished newcomers. Here is the position preview for players set to play at running back for the Gators this year:
Players: Malik Davis (Fr.), Tyriek Hopkins (R-So.), Adarius Lemons (Fr.), Lamical Perine (So.), Jordan Scarlett (Jr.), Mark Thompson (R-Sr.)
The hot topic off the offseason has been quarterback play, but where Florida’s offense has the best chance to improve is in the running game. The Gators were the worst rushing team out of 14 SEC schools in 2016 in yards per game. Florida’s 128.2 per game average last season sticks out in a conference that saw eight teams average more than 200 yards per game. Since two of Florida’s top-three quarterback contenders have never played a snap in Jim McElwain’s offense, the coaching staff could look to lean on the run in 2017 to take pressure off the passing game.
Projected depth chart: Scarlett, Perine, Thompson, Davis
Jordan Scarlett looks to have the starting slot all to himself after a standout sophomore season. “The biggest thing about Jordan was the mentality he brought week in and week out to our offense,” offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said Aug. 2 at football media day. “This was a guy every week we could count on.”
Scarlett, a 5-foot-11, 206-pound tailback, finished the season rushing for 889 yards, far and away the most on Florida’s roster, and he averaged five yards per carry. And McElwain said Scarlett’s rounded out his game over the summer offseason.
“He's really worked on some of the things,” McElwain said, “especially being able to catch the ball a little bit more, be more of a three-down back, and yet having change-ups there with Lamical (Perine), Mark Thompson.”
As a freshman, Perine leapfrogged Thompson and Jordan Cronkrite — who’s since transferred to South Florida — on Florida’s depth chart. Perine (5-11, 218 lbs.) showed tremendous upside in 2016 when he rushed for 105 yards against Kentucky and 106 against Missouri. Despite limited reps, Perine capped his first season with 421 yards and made a strong case for the second-string job this season behind Scarlett.
Behind Scarlett and Perine, predicting UF’s third-string RB is complicated. Thompson (6-2, 239 lbs.) seems like the choice after finishing 2016 with the third-most carries on the team for a total of 299 yards. The coaching staff had high hopes for Thompson last season, giving him 15 carries against Kentucky, but ball security became an issue after a couple of fumbles, and he was never given more than five carries in a game throughout the second half of the season.
Davis, a three-star recruit, has been getting attention ever since he averaged 8.5 yards per carry at Tampa Jesuit High School, setting a Hillsborough County record with 7,025 career rushing yards in the process. If the Gators lose one or two of the top-tier backs to injuries or other circumstances, expect to see Davis (5-11, 194 lbs.) get a few carries in a backup role.
No matter who’s taking the handoffs in 2017, McElwain hopes to rely on running the ball late in games to kill the clock when the Gators have a lead.
“Philosophically, I've been a guy that loves to throw it early and then hopefully wear them down a little bit and then shorten the game (with rushing)”, he said, “and get on the back porch quicker.”
You can follow Matt Brannon on Twitter @mattb_727, and contact him at mbrannon@alligator.org.
Jordan Scarlett runs with the ball during Florida's 24-10 win against Georgia on Oct. 29, 2016, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
