The key to UW’s crowded tailback competition? Win in space and you’ll skip the line

Together, Washington’s running backs compiled 1,783 rushing yards, 5.4 yards per carry, 470 receiving yards and 30 total touchdowns in 2022.

With more left on the table.

UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb noted during the bye week, on Oct. 24, that “if the first guy that touches [our running back] is a secondary player, we’ve got to win at least 50% of those battles. And right now, I’d say we’re well under that.”

Which may explain why Washington added two more tailbacks — Mississippi State’s Dillon Johnson and Arizona State’s Daniyel Ngata — from the transfer portal this winter. When asked last week what traits he prioritized in the portal, Grubb unsurprisingly said: “Whether it’s making you miss or breaking a tackle, guys that win in open space. I feel like Dillon and Daniyel both do that.

“Dillon can make you miss a little bit but is also a very, very powerful kid and breaks a lot of tackles. He did [that] in the SEC, so we’re expecting the same here. Daniyel can be more on that elusive side, good vision, looking for cut lanes and things like that. They had to fit the mold of what our backs do, but just more wins in space and 1-on-1s.”

The 6-foot, 216-pound Johnson has shown promise in that regard — with 1,198 rushing yards, 5.2 yards per carry, 149 catches, 864 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns across 35 career games at Mississippi State. But as with UW’s returning tailbacks, there’s room for improvement.

“I haven’t shown the home run ability. That’s the only thing, with all honesty, that I haven’t shown on film,” said Johnson, who has missed the last several practices with an injury. “[People think] I can’t make long runs. That was really due to playing teams that drop eight [defenders against MSU’s air raid offense].

“It’s a lot harder to break long runs if you have five guys — corners and safeties — that are not blocked at all, and you make it to the second level or third level and there’s still five people [there].”

Ngata, meanwhile, wins in different ways. The 5-9, 187-pound junior was ranked by 247Sports as a four-star recruit and the No. 4 all-purpose back in the 2020 class, but struggled to earn regular reps at Arizona State. In three seasons and 26 games, he compiled 689 rushing yards with 5.1 yards per carry and six touchdowns.

But, where Johnson bruises, Ngata bursts.

“Daniyel is a little bit more of a speed guy, where if he gets out in the open he can really hurt a defense and maybe go the distance,” Grubb said. “He’s got a little bit of that home run threat. He fits the mold a lot of our guys do in terms of catching the football and things like that. But there’s a little bit more of … if you get the ball on the outside with Daniyel you might get a decent sized hit.”

Added Ngata, on what sold him on the Huskies: “They said they’ve got guys, but they just want more. They want more guys that can do more. They saw that I’ve got a lot in my toolbox. So they said, ‘If you can do these things, you can be on the field. You can play a lot more than you did at ASU.’ Because at ASU I didn’t see the field that much.”

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Ngata’s playing time will improve — considering the competition. The Huskies entered April with a whopping eight scholarship tailbacks: juniors Johnson, Ngata and Cameron Davis, senior Richard Newton, sophomores Sam Adams II, Will Nixon and Aaron Dumas, and true freshman Tybo Rogers. In fact, Ngata and Johnson took simultaneous recruiting trips to Seattle.

Neither was deterred.

“I didn’t want a starting position to be handed to me at all,” said Ngata, who chose UW over BYU. “If I’m going to start, it’s got to be that I earned it for sure. I worked for it. I worked my tail off for it. I knew the players here, the competition here was going to push me to be great no matter what.”

And yet, if Washington hosted Oregon tomorrow, the Huskies’ starting tailback would be neither Johnson or Ngata. It would be 6-0, 206-pound junior Cameron Davis — who Grubb said “has honestly already improved since the season. He’s really kind of solidified himself as a true ‘1’ right now, which is a little bit different than last year.”

Last year, Davis solidified himself as a red zone ace — amassing 522 rushing yards with 4.9 yards per carry and 13 touchdowns (fourth in the Pac-12 and 22nd in the nation). But like Johnson, Davis is working to become a more well-rounded weapon. And come fall, it’s fair to expect Davis, Johnson and Ngata to each earn significant roles in the Husky offense.

But which other tailbacks could crack the rotation? Newton (213 rushing yards, 4.7 yards per carry, 2 TD), Adams (40, 3.1, 2) and Nixon (89, 4.2, 2) each contributed last season and could conceivably reprise rotational roles. But the wild card here is Rogers — a 5-11, 192-pound freshman who may have the maturity to emerge.

“Tybo has had a really good spring ball already,” Grubb said. “He’s shown a lot of flashes. I think he’s a guy who could potentially help us this year.

“He definitely has an edge to him. It’s one of the things I loved about recruiting him. He’s a very serious kid. You crack a joke and he’s probably going to barely smile, and I like that about him. He’s just a good, tough kid. You can kind of feel that in how he preps and plays. We’ve got a lot of optimism for Tybo.”

Grubb, likewise, has optimism for UW’s revamped running back room. He noted that “all those guys are trying hard, working hard. They’re doing a good job as a room. There’s a ton of competition in there.

“They know, typically, with the receivers we have, it’s hard to take a guy like J-Mac [Jalen McMillan] or Giles [Jackson] off the field to bring another running back in. So most of the time there’s only going to be one of them out there.”

Win in space and you’ll skip the line.