A look at Washington Football’s running backs

Washington football’s training camp is starting soon, so let’s take a look at a room where there are a lot of question marks, the running backs room

Washington football fans haven’t had to worry much about the running backs over the past four years with Myles Gaskin as the starting back. But he’s gone now, and there are a lot of carries up for grabs in the offense.

The success of these running backs will help open up the passing game for the Huskies, and while we might see more touchdowns in the air this year, the Huskies will have to find someone to hand the ball to in short yardage situations.

The running backs will have a place in the passing game as well, especially on third down. Junior Salvon Ahmed expected to start had 21 catches last year while redshirt sophomore Sean McGrew had six catches for 110 yards. Both have soft hands and good shiftiness out of the backfield.

Another player who will get plenty of chances to show his talent is junior Kamari Pleasant. Last year he had 214 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries in 11 games.

The Huskies have three other running backs, however, they may see limited action. Senior Malik Braxton only played two games, and got two carries last year after transferring from Western Oregon. Also, there is Richard Newton, a redshirt freshman out of Lancaster, California, who is listed fourth on the depth chart so he will probably see some action especially in non-conference games or blowouts.

The final running back is freshman Cameron Davis out of Rancho Cucamonga, California will likely be redshirted unless he can leapfrog some of the other running backs ahead of him. His senior year of high school he ran for 1947 and scored 20 touchdowns.

Only time will tell if any of these guys can make the same impact as Myles Gaskin, but in all likelihood it’s going to take a group effort to replace him. Having a strong running game will be crucial to take pressure off of the passing game and set up play action.