When it comes to running backs on the WVU football team, Noel Devine is number one with a bullet. There is no questioning that he is the most talented runner for the Mountaineers (some may argue the he is the most electric player in WVU history) and deserves the starting spot for every game. Last season Devine carried the ball 241 times for 1,549 yards and 13 touchdowns, all of which were career highs. Devine is WVU's go to man at running back. After that, the depth chart gets a little hazy.

The second leading running back for the team last season was the bowling ball known as Ryan Clarke, who carried 60 times for 255 yards and eight touchdowns. Even though he had a good number of carries, Clarke is still considered primarily a short yardage rusher and fullback. The back who had the most carries after Clarke? Jock Sanders with 35.

Since Devine took over as the number one back his sophomore season, the Mountaineers really haven't had a set number two rusher. Mark Rodgers would get a few carries to spell a winded Devine, but he transferred from WVU at the end of the season and will be playing for Cal Poly in the fall. Sanders and Tavon Austin have filled in for Devine often, but doing so takes away from their potential touches at the wide receiver position, not to mention causing changes in formation and substitutions with a receiver now in the backfield. This spring, talent like Shawne Alston and Daquan Hargrett started to really show the team that they are ready to play football at the Division I level. Running backs coach Chris Beatty says with all of the running backs at his disposal, it's time to find a set number two man.

"We need a guy that can step up so we don't have always put Jock back there or put Tavon back there. We want those guys to be able focus on their deals. We know we can put them back there and we're going to put them there so they can get carries, but at the same time you want to have a number two that can sit back and be the number two so when Noel comes out you don't have to move a bunch of people around to do that," Beatty said. "Shawne gives us something we need, as far as a bigger body getting downhill, and Daquan is a lot like what we have already. It's big for them to continue the momentum from spring."

Alston's six foot tall and 220 pound heavy body was frequently seen making contact with the defense down field during spring drills. His downhill style of play is a big change from the cut and shift style of Devine. A man more in Devine's image, Daquan Hargrett's 5'6 self was frequently seen cutting and juking defenders during his set of spring drills. 
 

While both of these players impressed, it must be said that they did so against fellow teammates in a spring practice setting, a far cry from doing it under the lights of Mountaineer Field on game day. Coach Beatty realizes he's blessed with a littany of talent in the back field, but many of those talented players have a lot to learn about playing during an actual season.

"Do we have some good players back there? Yes, but they haven't done a whole lot out there on a Saturday or a Thursday night, so they got a long way to go, but it's always good. You can never have too many good players. Anybody that ever tells you that, they're lying," Beatty said with a laugh.

The importance of Alston and Hargrett's emergence during the spring can't be stated enough. Coaches always say spring is the time for young players to emerge and show what they have to make the depth chart in the fall, and they mean it. Going into fall camp, Beatty and the offensive staff know exactly what they have to work with in the back field talent wise. Because of how fast fall camp turns into the first football game, the staff doesn't have time to mess around and experiment with different players in different positions. Beatty says thanks to their work in the spring, the team can look forward to the first game as soon as camp begins.

"We don't have time to really experiment too much once camp starts. Spring is the time you look at some different things, who you want to develop and see if some people are capable of doing some different things they might not have normally been asked, but during the fall camp, you're really just focusing on Coastal Carolina. We'll do some little things here and there, sprinkle some things in, but for the most part it's getting better at what we do."

WVU already has what it feels like is a strong one-two punch with Devine and Clarke. They now have a similar set of players waiting in the wings to help spell the first string. With the second spot up for grabs and two running backs who have completely different styles, it all comes down to competition.

"They'll narrow it down themselves," Beatty said of his running backs. "We'll find out pretty quick who steps out amongst that group. Hopefully they all do well, but there will be somebody who makes it a little easier choice for us. That's the way it always seems to be. Somebody steps up a little bit above everyone else."