Who is the fastest? Who has the best hands? An update on FIU’s running back competition
There is no deeper position on the FIU football team than running back, where the Panthers go seven strong.
D’vonte Price, a 6-2, 220-pound senior, leads all active FIU running backs with 960 yards. His 6.2 yards per carry is on pace to be a school record.
Price sees himself as a speed back, but FIU running backs coach Tim Harris Jr. said his senior is capable of much more.
“His speed, at his size, stands out, and he can get out on the edge and into space,” Harris said. “But evaluating him as a coach, he is just as impressive in between the tackles.”
Price, who has waited three years to be FIU’s starting running back, is confident his patience will be rewarded.
“Coming from being a high school star, it was pretty tough,” Price said of his time on the bench. “I wasn’t OK with not playing, but I knew my time was going to come.”
Harris said he also believes that this is the year for Price.
“In the past, he had been in the shadows of older guys, and he didn’t want to talk much,” Harris said. “This year, his personality has come, and he has shown leadership. He will put his arm around the younger guys and teach them.”
Harris indicated that sophomores Lexington Joseph and Shaun Peterson appear to be next in line in the battle for carries. Maleek Williams, a transfer who rushed for 144 yards (5.3 average) with two touchdowns in two years at Arkansas, is an intriguing option. And sophomore Demarcus Townsend is looking to take a leap this year.
In addition, FIU has two true freshmen running backs in Kejon Owens and Eric Wilson.
According to Harris, here’s how they stack up in terms of certain key skills:
▪ Fastest: Price
▪ Best goal-line runner: Peterson
▪ Best blocker: Tie between Price, Peterson and Joseph
▪ Best pass-catcher: Joseph.
By the way, Owens wins in an off-the-field category.
“KJ [Owens] is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met,” Price said.
Coincidentally, both Price and Williams played in the same backfield at Charlotte High, which is near Fort Myers; and Joseph and Owens played at Miami Central.
Charlotte High is also the alma mater of former FIU cornerback Stantley Thomas-Oliver, who as a seventh-round pick of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers this past April.
“FIU is like Charlotte University 2.0,” Price joked.
Peterson (Fort Lauderdale Nova), Townsend (Naples) and Wilson (Seffner Armwood) are also from Florida.
So, with all that talent, how will FIU figure out the playing time?
“It’s a good thing to have a lot of guys who can help our team,” Harris said. “It helps the competitiveness of practice. They all have to do the little things right. We evaluate them in the meeting room, lifting weight, studying film. We try to figure out if they are team guys and if they know their assignments.
“D’vonte has been in our system four years, so things come more naturally to him than they do our freshmen. That’s true of all our veteran guys.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Ex-NFL cornerback Anthony Henry, a Cleveland Browns fourth-round pick in 2001, is Price’s cousin. But that’s not his only connection to FIU. Henry also played for FIU coach Butch Davis in Cleveland from 2001 to 2004. After 2004, both Henry and Davis moved on from Cleveland.
▪ In a New York Jets scrimmage on Wednesday, ex-FIU quarterback James Morgan threw a touchdown pass to former Miami Hurricanes receiver Braxton Berrios.