Missouri thin at running back

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri’s baseball team has nearly as many scholarship tailbacks as its football team.

On the diamond are Tyler Hunt, who is finishing up his senior season, and Marquise Doherty, who is expected to return to the gridiron this summer for his redshirt freshman season.

That’s two. The football team currently has a grand total of three.

“Well, it is what it is,” running backs coach Cornell Ford said, “and we’re just trying to take one step at at time. We understand that we’re young there, but it’s our job to get them ready and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Gone to graduation are Hunt and Russell Hansbrough, a former starter and 1,000-yard rusher. Those departures were expected. What wasn’t expected was losing Morgan Steward to a career-ending hip injury and Chase Abbington deciding to quit football.

“It (stinks), because they were part of the family,” junior Ish Witter said. “But you’ve got to look forward. You can’t look back like, ‘Dang, he quit.’”

Witter is the lone returning running back with any collegiate experience. With 619 yards on 153 career carries, he’s practically the grizzled veteran of the group.

“Anytime you can get reps in the game, that makes you a better football player,” Ford said. “Because you can learn from it. You understand the intensity that it takes and the level and the speed. More so than anything else, it’s the speed of the game, and you can’t get that going against the scout team. So, Ish will be a better football player because he played a lot last year.”

Joining Witter are redshirt sophomore Trevon Walters, redshirt freshman Ryan Williams and walk-on junior Shaun Conway. Despite their lack of collective experience, Witter shied away from saying he’s got an upper-hand on the starting spot.

“Nobody’s really talking about depth right now,” he said.

Still, Ford likes what he’s seen.

“He’s made a big jump,” Ford said of Witter. “A different player. I think he’s committed himself to getting in better shape. His body fat percentage has gone down. He’s a little quicker, and his pad level is where it needs to be now.

“When you looked at him last year, I thought he was on the ground a lot. And you don’t see him on the ground as much this spring. So he’s made a lot of improvement.

Witter said any leading he has done this spring has been by example. But, again, Ford was willing to say what the soft-speaking Witter wouldn’t.

“I think he looks forward to that role (of being a leader), being, again, that he played last year,” Ford said. “We’re putting a lot on his shoulders at this time.”

Though every job is up for grabs, Ford said.

Walters missed his redshirt freshman season because of an ACL injury suffered in the spring and a setback caused by a September car accident during which teammate Terry Beckner Jr. was driving.

Head coach Barry Odom said Walters has made as much progress this spring as almost any player on the team. Saturday, be broke free for a 27-yard run off right tackle in Missouri’s scrimmage.

Williams, a 6-foot, 180-pounder, will get his first look at the field this season. He missed practice Friday after suffering ankle and knee injuries on successive plays, but has since returned to practice.

“It’s four of us,” Witter said. “We’ve all been making plays when we get the chance to. There’s not one running back that (stands out). All of us are making plays.”

Conway, a walk-on, has gotten his looks, too. He scored a 1-yard touchdown in Saturday’s scrimmage.

“Wow, he’s a quick little guy,” Ford said. “For being a smaller guy, we still have to kind of teach him to play with his pads lower, but he’s got a lot of energy and eager to learn and a hard worker. And he’s quick as a cat, so in certain situations you might be able to throw him out there, and he’d be adequate.”

Luckily for Ford — who said Missouri is “constantly looking for talent” — there is help on the way. In addition to Doherty, whom Odom initially thought would be participating some during spring camp, junior college transfer Nate Strong and four-star recruit Damarea Crockett should be in black and gold come autumn.

Strong checks in at 6-foot, 211 pounds, and Crockett is a 5-foot-11 212 pounder. That size gives them a bit of a different look than the traditionally shorter backs Missouri has recruited in the past.

Though Ford, who coached cornerbacks at Missouri the last 12 years, has said previously he’d like a bit more size in the backfield, he’s not in any position to be picky.

“We’re looking for guys that can run the football,” Ford said. “I don’t really care about what size they are. As long as they’re effective and they can get the ball north and south and be physical, that’s more or less what I’m looking for.”