Three backs, two running styles, one goal: move the chains or find the end zone, whichever comes first.
Rounding out the bottom of the conference in total first downs last season and scoring only eight times amongst three backs, Baylor looks for a more productive ground attack from its three running backs this season.
“We’ve got guys that can play. What we have to do is make sure we put them in a position to be successful,” coach Art Briles said.
Briles added that the running game is not a cause for concern.
Eyes look first in the direction of Corsicana senior Jay Finley, who two years ago led the team with 865 yards rushing off 149 carries and seven touchdowns.
The 5-foot-11,205-pound tailback looks to run past and around tacklers more than over them in his search for the end zone, but last season he found his ability limited by a high ankle sprain that he thinks is buried in the past.
“It’s a little frustrating because I’d like to do more, but it’s healing. It’s on time,” Finley said.
If Finley can’t find his groove, the Bears have another option in sophomore Jarred Salubi. The Waco native picked up 298 yards off 50 carries as a redshirt freshman last year and has an elusive running style similar to Finley.
Currently listed as No. 1 on the depth chart at halfback, the Bears will need Salubi to develop into a consistent threat to help keep opposing defenses from locking in on quarterback Robert Griffin.
“Being my first year, I was kind of nervous in some games. I was just trying to see where my comfort level was. Hopefully this year I’ll show a lot more poise,” Salubi said.
Salubi does have the ability to pick up yards, especially on the outside, as he averaged 6.0 yards per carry last year. The trick will be making sure those six yards result in the Bears moving the chains.
With the return of Griffin as a second threat in the backfield to scramble for first downs, Salubi and Griffin could pose a nice tag-team effort on the ground.
However, that would be forgetting BU’s third force at tailback, Dekalb junior Terrance Ganaway.
The short-yardage specialist loves to run people over, and he did so to find the score five times in 2009. The only fine print on those five TDs was three of them coming on Ganaway’s career high, three-touchdown performance against Northwestern State.
The Bears will be looking for more consistent numbers out of Ganaway as well as a demonstration of his ability to pick up first downs on “third-and-short” situations.
Baylor was second to last in the Big 12 in total third down conversions, succeeding only 60 times out of 167 attempts for a 35.9 percentage.
“I’m not working like I’m fourth string or third string. I’m working like I’m a starter,” Ganaway said. “I think that’s the biggest thing, to be confident in who you are.”
Though overshadowed by the loss of Griffin, Finley’s ankle injury had a significant impact on the Bears running game in 2009 as it put a question mark at a position that had previously seemed locked up.
In the long run, though, it opened the door for younger backs to have a go against Big 12 defenses for the first time.
If Sept. 4 finds Finley ready to run, the fifth-year back will have the support of his coach.
Now he must lead the trio of tailbacks to provide a ground attack that finds orange first down markers and orange pylons almost at will.