Virginia Tech has a surplus of a commodity desperately needed by the North Carolina football team this season: running backs. The Hokies have three healthy, dangerous tailbacks champing at the bit.
Ryan Williams, a first-team All-ACC selection a year ago, set the freshman running back rushing record in the ACC with 1,655 yards. He is joined by Darren Evans, who ran for 1,265 yards in 2008 but was forced to sit out the 2009 season after undergoing surgery on his ACL. They are complimented by redshirt freshman Tony Gregory.
“All of them bring a special thing to the table,” UNC cornerback Kendric Burney said. “I think Ryan Williams is one of the best backs in the country just from watching film on him and being able to see him in action last year.”
Though considered one of the most explosive running backs in the country before the season, Williams has been slowed in 2010 due to a lingering injury to his right hamstring and is now averaging a meager three yards per carry.
That’s the beauty of the Hokies’ running attack, though. If Virginia Tech’s best player isn’t getting it done, it has three more that can. This year, Evans leads the Hokies’ tailbacks in rushing yards with 515 and has done it in a different manner.
“I would say Evans is more of power back, whereas Williams and the freshman are more of scat backs — they will make you miss,” senior linebacker Quan Sturdivant said.
That list of backs is enough to make many coaches drool. But it is leaving out the leading rusher on the team this season — quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The mobile senior signal caller has gained 584 yards on the ground this year and makes the Hokies’ offense especially versatile.
In order to deal with the Taylor and the running backs, UNC has developed a special game plan.
“It’s called a mush rush,” defensive tackle Tydreke Powell said. “You just are basically spying with all four defensive lineman, and you just don’t rush as much. You just contain him and make him throw out of a wall.”
