Can the sophomore take a leap forward in Year 2?
Last season, Jamal Haynes (a relatively unknown wide receiver convert) led the Yellow Jackets in rushing and had one of the best rushing seasons for a Georgia Tech running back in some time. He was accompanied by a couple different guys in the rotation like Dontae Smith and Trey Cooley (although the latter faded toward the end of the season).
This year, that number 2 spot is up for grabs with Smith playing out his eligibility last season. The guy I’m putting my money on is sophomore Evan Dickens.
Dickens caught my attention in last year’s Spring game. I was so excited for Dickens’ potential, that I wrote about Dickens as a breakout player last year too! I’ll try not to rehash too much of it, but the primary thing that stands out to me about Dickens is ability to maintain balance and carry defenders with him.
So a year has passed since my last Dickens article. Well, what’s changed?
He appeared in 12 games between running back and special teams, rushing 11 times for 47 yards. Not a great stat line, but as mentioned earlier, the Yellow Jackets were pretty stacked at running back. In this year’s Spring game, Dickens rushed for 22 yards on four carries. Not bad, but not overwhelmingly great.
I chose to write about Dickens again because I hopped on his hype train last year, and I’m not ready to get off, but the truth is that there are any number of guys who could fill that number 2 slot behind Jamal Haynes. Going back to Chan Gailey (that’s as far back as my fandom goes), it seems like Georgia Tech has always had a strong stable of running backs, and this season should be no different.
Who do you think steps up at running back this season?