OSU’s Running Back Depth to Provide Fresh Legs Later in Games

The Cowboys’ depth at running back has been a big attention grabber this offseason, but Thursday, the talk of an outstanding stable of running backs was backed up.

Oklahoma State’s top four backs, Justice Hill, J.D. King, LD Brown and Chuba Hubbard, ran for a combined 331 yards in the Cowboys’ blowout victory, and at Monday’s media luncheon Mike Gundy gave some insight into how he sees the team using all four backs moving forward.

“Our plan is to get (Hubbard) or (Brown) in there at the end of the third quarter … and they’re fresh and the defense is tired,” Gundy said. “Let ’em run.”

That has to be a scary thought for opposing defenses. After three quarters of chasing Hill and King, two fresh guys, one a world-class sprinter, come in and hit reset on the stamina bars.

On Tuesday, Hill said the four running backs’ goal going into the Missouri State game was for everyone to get 100 rushing yards. Hill (122 yards) and Brown (110 yards) met the goal, with King (52 yards) and Hubbard (42 yards) missing out, but hey, there’s always next week.

The strategy of getting Brown and Hubbard more involved toward the end of the third quarter does, though, limit Hill’s number of touches, another thing Gundy has talked about during the offseason.

“Obviously, (Hill) is going to be playing throughout the games, but I would like to, if it’s best-case scenario, limit him to 15 touches,” Gundy said. “That doesn’t guarantee you any long-term stability, but those guys take a lot of hits at that position. The more that we can protect him physically and really cardiovascularly, it’s going to be better for out team.”

Hill averaged about 21 carries a game in 2017. King had the most rushes in a single game last season when he tallied his 36 against West Virginia. This season, a running back will probably hit 21 at some point, but anyone hitting 36 is unlikely.

Hill has said he’s fine with not having as many carries as he has had in the past, and as a whole, the running back group seems supportive of each other.

“It didn’t matter to me,” Hill said about having only 10 carries Thursday. “I wanted to see everybody else get some opportunities. We all were going to go out there and try to run for 100 yards, a piece. It didn’t bother me at all, not having a lot of carries.”

Hill’s experience also allows the Cowboys’ offensive staff to limit his reps in practice. Gundy said in practice Hill probably gets the least reps because of his comfort with the system.

“He gets it,” Gundy said. “He’s been there. (King) gets the most, would be my guess, then (Hubbard) and (Brown) get the rest of it. So, we’re getting quality reps there, and we’re fortunate that Hill is mature and intelligent, and he’s been there. We can save his body a little bit, and we can give those other guys some mental reps. Hopefully we just keep them fresh and let them go. ”