2024 Gophers Position Previews: Running Backs

September's coming soon, so it is once again time to start thinking about football. Ski-U-Blog will analyze every position group on the Gophers' roster: starters, depth, and potential future contributors. Today, we move to the running backs.

Likely Starter

The most publicized Gopher this preseason will surely be Darius Taylor. In Taylor's first three full games as a college player, he ran for 529 yards. In the opportunity he had, which was reduced by injury but still almost a full season's worth of carries, he looked like one of the best backs in the Big Ten.

Taylor is an ideal Minnesota running back. Like Mohamed Ibrahim — but 4 inches taller — he runs with extraordinary balance and bounces off hits. (This toughness is Taylor's best attribute and the one he shows off most.)

Like Rodney Smith, he is intelligent, changing speeds to navigate tight spaces, find his hole, and cut through it.

And like Shannon Brooks, he can explode into the third level after one missed tackle.

With a new quarterback and unanswered questions in the receiving corps, Taylor will be the centerpiece of Minnesota's offense. While I will always advocate for them to throw the ball more, it would be wrong to not give a talent like this the ball.

Key Backups

While fans sometimes overplay the extent, it is true that P.J. Fleck's Gophers can ride their star tailbacks a bit too hard. This year should be different. After depth crises in two of the last three seasons, Fleck brought in three veteran transfers to break up the workload Taylor might have otherwise borne.

Pop quiz: After Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer, who has the third-most career catches on the 2024 Gophers? It's former Ohio Bobcat Sieh Bangura, who two seasons ago led the MAC in touchdowns from scrimmage thanks to his utility as a runner and as a receiver.

A willing (if merely fine) blocker as well, Bangura may be the Gophers' next 3rd-and-long back.

When carrying the ball, Bangura is patient. He put on noticeable bulk between his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons and arrives to Minnesota at a listed 210 pounds. He does not throw around that weight but does not go down on first contact. He can sometimes give a shimmy but will not wow you in the open field. In other words, Bangura offers versatility and reliability but limited upside.

Marcus Major is a low-running slasher of a back. He protects the ball and is quick and smart enough to burst through cutback lanes and make a man or two miss in space, but he lacks the explosiveness to break off big runs. A player like this will always have a place in a Minnesota backfield.

A composite 4-star prospect out of high school, Major redshirted his first year due to an injury, hardly played outside of special teams the year after, and then missed the first half of his redshirt sophomore season due to academic troubles. The Oklahoma City native spent his last two years as a Sooner in a bit part, usually getting five to nine carries and occasionally more as needed. Major is not a game-changer but should be a stylistic fit.

Jaren Mangham has had a strange road. He was Colorado's second running back as a true freshman before hardly featuring during the pandemic season, at which point he left for South Florida. Upon his arrival, he had the third-most rushing touchdowns in the AAC, but the following year, with Jeff Scott on his way out, Mangham decided to preserve his eligibility and redshirt. He joined his brother, Jaden, at Michigan State, only for injury to take away half his 2023 and for MSU to fire Mel Tucker for sexual harassment. Both Manghams stuck around for Jonathan Smith's first spring camp but decided to transfer again. Jaden went to Michigan; Jaren landed in Minneapolis.

Despite it being three years, two schools, and one injury ago, I decided to evaluate Mangham based on his first season at USF because that is when he had his most carries by far. His game is what you would expect from a 6-foot-2, 235-pound running back. He has good enough vision, patience, and cutting ability to work in Minnesota's zone-heavy scheme, but with limitations. Mangham will exploit a hole but does not have the speed to take it to the house.

Mangham's role will probably be as a short-yardage specialist. His height does mean he can get stood up in those situations, but he is strong enough to push through arm tackles and keeps his legs churning. He also has never fumbled at the college level, which surely appealed to a head coach who likes to say that "the ball is the program."

Potential Rotation Options

If you'll indulge some pure speculation: The Gophers go five-deep with running backs with significant playing experience. This makes me think co-coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. might use more two-back sets in 2024. Zander Rockow, a former all-state tailback in Wisconsin who arrived to campus as a linebacker last year, converted back to the backfield over the offseason. In the past, Minnesota has used linebacker Derik LeCaptain, a tight end, or even a reserve guard as a blocker in the I-formation. Maybe the coaches decided they should make someone — namely Rockow, or even Mangham — a full-time fullback?

I am more certain what Jordan Nubin's place will be. The redshirt junior was one of last season's best stories, particularly for his 204-yard game against Michigan State. He acquitted himself far better than he should have for a walk-on. At many points, though, he looked like a walk-on. His vision and low center of gravity make Nubin well-equipped to play the Gophers' style. His relative lack of speed and merely fine power carrying the ball mean he does not break off many big runs. Do not expect Nubin to feature much this fall but look for him to be the third choice in a year.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

This is the largest running back group of Fleck's tenure — both in that it has more players and that the players themselves are bigger. A pair of walk-ons, Cortez LeGrant and Kaeden Johnson, are the only players lighter than 210 pounds. This is the first time since 2017 that more than five Gopher running backs have weighed at least 210 pounds and the first time more than two have weighed at least 220.

Offensive line coach Brian Callahan has long pursued giants up front. Nic McKissic-Luke, who used to coach fullbacks at Northern Illinois, evidently has the same preference for his backfield.

One of the 225-pounders on the team is Chris Autman-Bell's cousin, Jaydon Wright. Wright may be the only tailback in the Big Ten that took snaps at defensive end, linebacker, and even safety in high school, positions where he got to show off his motor and violence. Those reps up front meant Wright had to wear larger shoulder pads. This, combined with his preexisting bulk, made him look somewhat like a bruiser from two or three decades ago rather than someone born while LenDale White was barreling through the Pac-10.

Wright does not have Big Ten breakaway speed or a sharp turn radius, but he can accelerate quickly and shuffle through traffic. And, of course, he's real big and real mean. If he only turns into a situational power back, he will at least be fully capable of that job.

Watching Fame Ijeboi, one must figure his relative dearth of big scholarship offers is due to his competition: The private charter schools of the Philadelphia area are not known for producing football talent. (Matt Ryan and Mike McGlinchey did attend the same school, though.) His tape is nevertheless compelling. Ijeboi is an explosive runner with great balance. After a couple years behind Taylor and the more experienced backs on the roster, you can see Ijeboi heading an entertaining tandem with Wright. That all depends, however, on whether Ijeboi can make it work against better athletes.