WKU Football: Next Man Up — Running Backs
Division I football teams, especially at the G5 level, can be atop the highest mountain one year and be dead last the next. Case in point —
Ed. note — This is the second in our series chronicling who the WKU football team is losing ahead of the 2019 season and who could step in to take their spot. Our first piece was titled WKU Football: Quarterback Losses and Additions Ahead of 2019 but I felt like doesn’t really encapsulate what the series is — it isn’t a look at incoming players, rather players who could see bigger roles.
Division I football teams, especially at the G5 level, can be atop the highest mountain one year and be dead last the next. Case in point — Western Kentucky.
While not losing too many players (the Tops were one of the youngest teams in college football last year, after all), 2019 might still nonetheless have a very different feel to it.
In this series, we’re going to take a look at what the Hilltoppers are losing and who is next in line to replace them in the first year of the Tyson Helton era.
This is our second installment. We have also taken a look at the quarterback situation entering 2019.
Losing
D’Andre Ferby
The redshirt senior, who in his 2015 season rushed for 650 yards, dealt with an injury in 2016 before logging 373 yards two years ago and 273 yards this past season.
In his last season with the Hilltoppers, he shared a lot of the work load with Joshua Samuel and Gino Appleberry Jr. but was the redzone go-to, getting six touchdowns. Over his career, he had 344 carries, 1,297 yards, and 20 touchdowns. He missed a few games in 2018 with an “elbow injury” causing him to miss most of the month of October.
Next Men Up
Josh Samuel
Yes the Samuel L. Jackson meme is alive for one more year. This isn’t as much of a replacement since Samuel was the work horse for the rushing game. He had the most yards, with 641, but was vultured in the redzone by Ferby, finishing the season with just one touchdown on the year. If you are one of those die hard fantasy players and have a WKU player, pick up Samuel.
Gino Appleberry Jr.
Gino was the back up for Samuel and Ferby, look for the numbers to increase with Ferby out of the picture.
Garland LaFrance
LaFrance was a speed back used for passes out of the backfield or quick outside jet sweeps. The kid is really fast.
He finished with 158 yards but failed to find the endzone in his freshman campaign. He isn’t a bulky back used for grinding out the 4th-and-1; rather, he needs to get one on one on the outside and out run the competition.
Jakari Moses
This young man was one of my favorites to watch in the 2017 season. Even got a few retweets from his family when RedOUT named him Offensive Player of the Week. Sadly, a knee injury put him on IR this past year. But in 2017, he was the spark that a stagnant rushing offense needed.
We should see some good runs from this kid, splitting the speed running game with LaFrance.
Marcelis Logan
I’m adding this young man because he is a redshirt senior who has only played in two games and had no real stats to show from it. So he may get some playing time from being the “old man”.