UAPB running backs need consistency

On various occasions last season, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff running backs had standout performances.

Maintaining that for the entire season proved challenging, and UAPB will need more consistency from its running backs in 2024.

Rising sophomore Johness Davis was the Golden Lions’ leading rusher last season with 350 yards and one touchdown. After an 82-yard showing at Tulsa to begin the year, he had a breakout 167-yard day in the Southern Heritage Classic, scoring his lone touchdown of the season against Tennessee State.

Those would be Davis’ best performances of the season, by far. After carrying the ball 17 times at Tulsa and 24 times against TSU, nagging injuries kept him from getting more than nine carries or 34 yards in a game the rest of the year.

His Southern Heritage Classic performance got Davis named the FedEx Ground FCS National Freshman Player of the Week. If Davis can get back to playing at that level this fall and maintain it for all 12 games, that would be a big boost to the Golden Lions’ offense.

When Davis faded in UAPB’s third game against Miles College, true freshman BJ Curry stepped up. He delivered a 98-yard performance with a touchdown against the Golden Bears in one of UAPB’s two wins of the season. But again, he never came close to replicating that performance. The 12 carries he got were the most he got all season, and he finished as the third-leading rusher with 209 yards.

Senior Johnny Williams stepped up in November, scoring a touchdown in each of UAPB’s final three games. He rushed for 88 yards at Prairie View A&M and 99 at home against Grambling State after entering the month with 40 total yards.

Williams finished as UAPB’s second-leading rusher with 263 yards. While UAPB gets Davis and Curry back, Williams was a senior and won’t return. With three touchdowns, Williams was the only UAPB running back with multiple rushing scores. Quarterback Mekhi Hagens was the only other Golden Lion to score multiple rushing touchdowns (four).

One of the other departures, former Campbell transfer Michael Jamerson, led UAPB’s running backs in receiving with 117 yards and a touchdown. The only other players to break 100 rushing yards, Kierstan Rogers and quarterback Jalen Macon, also do not return.

UAPB does bring back Dae’Trell Cooper, who scored a touchdown in the spring game, and Joshua Edwards, who transferred to UAPB from Arkansas State in 2022. Neither has seen significant playing time in Pine Bluff thus far.

In the early signing period, UAPB brought in Tennessee Tech transfer Oshawn “OJ” Ross to help fill the void. In two seasons with Tech, Ross carried the ball 62 times for 334 yards and two touchdowns. In UAPB’s spring game, he showed his strength as he carried defenders for extra yards on several occasions.

After the spring game, UAPB head coach Alonzo Hampton said Ross needs to work on his patience in finding holes, but he otherwise had a good spring.

“He’s a smaller back, but he can see it, and he makes good cuts,” Hampton said. “Obviously, we gotta be able to get some guys up there [on the offensive line] that knock some guys back for him. … He’s going to be a really good player for us.”

Following the spring game, UAPB picked up the first of many post-spring transfer commitments from Lindenwood transfer Chris Gannaway, a Bryant native who played in two games as a freshman.

Continuing the trend of adding players who received little to no playing time at their previous stops, UAPB later in the spring added a commitment from Louisiana-Monroe transfer Za’Marion Webber, a freshman who did not play with the FBS program last year. He joins two FBS wide receiver transfers who also did not play at their previous schools.

Gannaway and Webber will essentially be UAPB’s freshmen at the position this year since the Golden Lions didn’t sign any high school running backs in February.

Between Davis, Curry, Ross and the post-spring additions, UAPB has a committee of running backs who can contribute. The key for them will be to remain healthy and play to their potential all season rather than a game or two each. None of the backs last year came close to filling the void left by Kayvon Britten, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2022 before transferring.

Of course, their success will also rely heavily on the offensive line, which replaces most of its starters from last season.