Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 5 | May 2018

inside.hokiesports.com 17 13 Jalen Holston (5-11, 217, So.) 16 Coleman Fox (5-11, 187, r-Jr.) 24 Terius Wheatley (6-0, 193, r-Fr.) 30 Caleb Steward (5-11, 209, Fr.) 32 Steven Peoples (5-9, 221, Sr.) 33 Deshawn McClease (5-9, 190, r-Jr.) Running Backs Many people view the Spring Game as a glorified scrimmage with little to be learned, and certainly that argument could be made. But Deshawn McClease’s 49-yard touchdown run provided Tech’s coaching staff with some validation. The coaches desperately want more big plays from the running game and spent much of the spring working on ways to get those—and at least on this play, they got exactly what they wanted. McClease took a handoff from Josh Jackson, ran up the middle, cut to the left and out-ran Devon Hunter to the end zone for the score. That didn’t happen a lot a year ago when only one of Tech’s tailbacks—Coleman Fox—recorded a rush of more than 25 yards. So finding those big plays in the running game was a point of emphasis this spring. “I thought we got a lot better this spring,” Tech running backs coach Zohn Burden said. “All spring, we tried to improve our yards after contact and make plays at the second level [against linebackers and defensive backs]. We want to take those 5- to 10-yard carries and turn them into touchdowns. I thought we showed some of that in the Spring Game.” With the exception of TravonMcMillian, who transferred following the season, Tech returned its entire lineup of running backs for spring practice, includingMcClease, who led theHokies in rushing this past fall with 530 yards. Steven Peoples, Jalen Holston and Fox also returned, and they spent much of spring practice battling it out for a possible starting role. McClease started one game in 2017—the Hokies’ bowl game against Oklahoma State—and he certainly made the most of it, rushing for 124 yards on 18 carries and averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Burden wants to see more of that type of production this fall. Array of RUNNING BACKS still competing for time heading into summer workouts by Jimmy Robertson “He’s gained 10-15 pounds, and now he’s up to 190,” Burden said of McClease. “That’s the heaviest he’s been. That will allow him to be more physical and hopefully stay healthy. If he does that, I think he could have a good year.” Burden held Peoples out of much of spring practice to keep him healthy after he missed six games this past fall. As for Holston, he missed much of the offseason and the first part of spring with an injury, but he returned toward the middle of spring and received some valuable reps to further his development. “I thought he had a good spring,” Burden said of Holston. “He knows what we’re asking of him, and we need for him to keep improving on the small things, but he’s coming along. He’s trending upward.” Fox, Terius Wheatley and freshman Caleb Steward round out the group. Fox looked impressive in several early scrimmages, and he scored a touchdown in the Spring Game. Wheatley needs to get bigger and stronger, and Steward needs to get healthy. He provides the Hokies with an element that they currently lack—a bigger back with speed—so getting healthy and in top shape this summer remains critical for him. “Strength and conditioning is going to be huge for us this summer,” Burden said. “A guy like Terius Wheatley needs to put on weight, and it’s the same with Caleb and Jalen and McClease. It’s a long season, and they’re not huge guys, so that’s [strength and conditioning] going to be important.” Tech’s staff appears to be settling in with a running back-by-committee approach again unless a lead back emerges between now and the season opener Sept. 3. That approach worked fairly well a season ago when the Hokies rushed for more than 2,200 yards. Yet the coaches want more—and the good news is that, coming out of spring practice, they feel that this group is capable of giving them exactly that. DESHAWN M C CLEASE