Bryson City – Quick, who is the Maroon Devils leading rusher this season?? Who led them in rushing last year? Hold on before you answer those questions, maybe a better one is who are the Devils starting running backs?
The answers to those questions tell an amazing story and punctuate how good Offensive Coordinator Jeff Marr and his staff really are at coaching players.
For the last two years injuries have forced Marr and his staff to develop a different philosophy for the running game.
“We constantly preach a Next Man mentality”, stated Marr. “We also take great pride in making our backs adaptably by having them learn both spots in our backfield. By doing that we can insert who we feel the “next” one is if someone gets banged up regardless of the position.”
For the second straight year the Maroon Devils leading rusher, at this point in the season, is someone who was not necessarily a starter when the season started. Last season sophomore Chris Miller entered the picture due to injuries. Before you knew it Miller had become the Devils go to back, and ended up rushing for over 600 yards finishing with the second most carries on the team.
Entering this season Marr and his staff had depth at running back, something they thought would be an advantage. They were counting on Derek Fortner, Miller, and sophomore Keshaun Beaner to handle the bulk of the running game. Just a mere three weeks into the season all three were unavailable due to injury.
At that point the Devils moved wide receiver Jordan Cody to the backfield, where he finished with a career high 128 yards on 16 carries. Two games later Marr found himself without Cody as well as the other starter Derek Fortner.
Facing Tuscola the Maroon Devils were literally down to their last two healthy running backs Brody Sitton and Dylan Smith. Sitton, who missed most of his junior year to a knee injury had limited experience in the backfield, while Smith was getting the first action of his career at running back.
Sitton finished the game against Tuscola with a game high (and career high) 120 yards on 16 carries, while Smith had 54 yards on 11 carries. The duo paced the Maroon Devil offense to 229 yards rushing.
Swain opened their conference schedule the next week with Hayesville, again without Miller, Fortner, Beaner, and Cody. No worries, Next man up, Dylan Smith finished with a career high 121 yards on 14 carries, while Sitton pounded out 81 more yards and the Devils finished with 362 rushing yards and more importantly a 43-22 win.
Hopefully you are beginning to see a trend, a different Next man each week. The continual success regardless of who it is, well that is a testimony to a solid system and great coaching.
Now thanks to a coaching staff who has confidence in their players and players who play hard when it is their time, the Maroon Devils will have great depth in the backfield for the remainder of the season.
Tonight against Andrews, for the first time this season, with the exception of Chris Miller, the Maroon Devils will have their whole compliment of running backs healthy and ready to play. I have a feeling part of the game plan for the rest of the season will be to use that depth to wear down opposing defenses.
Next man up!