The U football team has traditionally been known for its running game, a fact that, despite the installation of a more spread out, quarterback-centered offense, probably won’t change too much this season.
By all accounts, the best two football players on the U offense are tailbacks Marty Johnson and Brandon Warfield, both of whom are capable of starting for quite a few Division I teams.
There was a lot of talk over the offseason surrounding who would earn the lone starting running back spot. But that has turned out to be a non-issue.
Head coach Urban Meyer has made it clear that both will see significant playing time this season, though it’s always possible one player may eventually win the job outright.
“I’m not worried about running back,” Meyer said. “It doesn’t matter who starts, they’re both going to play. We expect that position to be a 1,400-yard rusher. If it’s between the two of them, then it’s between two of them.”
While Johnson entered the 2002 season as the unequivocal starter, he faces much more of a challenge this season.
Over the first two games last year-wins over Utah State and Indiana-Johnson compiled an astounding 419 yards on the ground, leading the nation in rushing while averaging 7 yards per carry.
But his 229-yard performance in the Utes’ 40-13 victory over the Hoosiers ended up doing him in for the rest of the season. Johnson tore his ACL, leaving the centerpiece of the U offense in the hands of backup J.R. Peroulis.
Peroulis struggled in his two starts-consecutive losses to Arizona and Michigan-and the following week took a back seat once again to an upstart junior college transfer named Brandon Warfield.
A former star at Kilgore Junior College in Texas, Warfield emerged with a 193-yard effort in a losing cause, a performance that cemented him in the starting lineup for the remainder of the 2002 season.
After sitting on the sidelines for most of the team’s first four games, Warfield managed to compile 985 yards in seven starts, earning second-team all conference honors. He capped off his out-of-nowhere season with a 40-carry, 194-yard effort in the team’s season-ending 13-6 win over rival BYU.
When Meyer, the offense minded former Bowling Green coach, took over for embattled former U coach Ron McBride, he inherited a team used to running a ball-control offense that relied almost exclusively on the run. Meyer brought an offensive system that starts four wide receivers and relies heavily on the quarterback and passing game.
Needless to say, that approach didn’t exactly mesh with what Utah had on its roster.
But with Johnson mostly healthy and recovered from his knee injury, Meyer has made sure not to neglect his running game. In fact, he said, “we’re still a run-first team.”
Since the wide receiving corps remains the weakest position on the team right now, Meyer will focus on Johnson and Warfield to carry the load on offense. What that means is that the two backs will often be on the field at the same time, and both will see plenty of carries.
The only difference is how the team will run the ball.
U quarterbacks will be running the show out of the shotgun this season, rather than the I formation that fans have been accustomed to in years past. With four starting receivers, the U tailbacks will be running the ball without the benefit of a fullback.
The switch has certainly made a difference in the way the running backs play the game.
“In the I, it’s easier to go downhill and get your shoulders going upfield,” Johnson said. “Now, in the gun, when you take the ball, sometimes your shoulders are facing sideways first, and then you’ve got to turn upfield. It’s easier to tackle you head-on when your shoulders are to the side when they come try to tackle you head-on. So that’s been an adjustment.”
Still, the Utes expect Johnson and Warfield to make the transition smoothly.
“I have run in the I my whole life, and running without a fullback is tough, but I can still see the holes and hit them and get some good yardage,” Warfield said. “Both of us are big, punishing backs. We will make yards no matter what. It’s not that big of a deal what set we run out of.”
Provided the U’s two stars can stay healthy this season, the team’s rushing attack will likely be one of the strongest units on the entire squad.
The position is loaded with talent, and while some anticipated that the new offense would de-emphasize their roles, the new four-wide offense could actually help the runners’ performances.
“With four wide receivers and a running back, you can’t have eight people sitting in a box,” Johnson said.
“When they start stacking a box and we can’t block as many of them, last year we’d just try to run it anyway…but this year we’re just going to check out and throw the ball. And once they start worrying about the pass, there’s nobody in the box and we can turn around and run it. So I think it will work.”