Oregon football has had a nice little run of having a tandem running back attack where one tailback is the so-called “speed back” with the other being a “power back.”
Last season, however, the duo of Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington were basically two sides of the same coin. But according to running backs coach Carlos Locklyn, Whittington has taken it upon himself to turn into the power to Irving’s speed.
“We’ve got two of probably the top five backs in the Pac-12 here at Oregon and that’s Bucky and Noah,” he said. “Noah’s a little bit heavier this year. Last year Noah was playing around about 192 (pounds) and he’s like 203 now. So he’s a little bit bigger and like I said, Bucky might be the quickest one in the room, but Noah by far is the fastest one. So it’s good having a one-two punch with both of them, and they feed off each other.”
Having two different backs with different abilities makes it even tougher for defenses to prepare. Even though Whittington will play the power back role, it doesn’t mean he’ll be three yards and a cloud of dust. If opponents don’t watch out, Whittington will bust out for an explosion play and leave defenders in his wake.
“Well, he’s already powerful for a little dude. I think he’s got more explosiveness. I don’t think guys like hitting him a whole lot, but it’s going to help him,” Locklyn said of the junior tailback. “He dealt with some injuries last year that he played through. I think this year is going to help with that but he looks good. I think he has like seven or eight percent body fat. So like the lowest on the team. I expect for him and Bucky to have a bigger year this year and continue to feed off one another.”
The two combined for nearly 1,900 yards last season and 10 touchdowns, five each. Should Whittington and Irving actually improve on those numbers, the sky’s the limit.
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