Oftentimes the best gauge of talent is what comes out of the mouths of teammates. They are the ones who have to tackle, block and cover each other on a daily basis.

 

Therefore, whenever you hear the same name pop up over and over from the players during preseason camp, it’s worth a little closer investigation.

 

The name we’re hearing a lot this summer is Justin Crawford, last year’s junior college offensive player of the year. His list of accomplishments at Northwest Mississippi Community College is long enough to fill almost a third of a page in this year’s media guide, but sometimes accolades can be a little deceiving.

 

Not Crawford’s.

 

The 3,161 yards he produced in two seasons at Northwest are completely in line with what his new teammates at West Virginia University have seen so far in training camp.

 

He starts in fourth gear, it’s difficult to get a hand on him out in the open and he seems to have a little pizazz that some of the really good backs have. Before last Saturday’s practice, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen was asked about that name that has kept popping up during those training camp conversations - Justin Crawford.

 

Holgorsen flashed a coy smile before answering, “Pretty good - he’s pretty good.”

 

A little later, Holgorsen expanded on his brief but telling five-word analysis of Crawford.

 

“I thought we had signed a pretty good player with Crawford, and he’s been every bit as good as advertised. We’re probably, from a depth perspective, in a much better place than we were a year ago,” he said.

 

Keep in mind, last January Mountaineer fans were ready to jump off the Star City bridge when Wendell Smallwood, the 2015 Big 12 rushing champion, announced his intention to enter the NFL a year early.

 

Smallwood ended up getting picked in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Eagles and all indications are pointing to the Eagles breaking camp later this summer with Smallwood on their roster.

 

So when Holgorsen said his running backs are in a much better place, it’s certainly worth noting.

 

“Any time you lose an NFL guy and you can say you’re in a better spot because of more bodies, I think that’s pretty exciting,” the coach said.

 

What’s even more exciting is what a guy like Holgorsen can do with a guy like Crawford.

 

Think back to how Holgorsen utilized Tavon Austin, sometimes lining him up at slot receiver or out wide, sometimes bringing him in motion on that jet sweep, hot potato pass that drove Clemson coaches crazy, or, sometimes putting him in the backfield as Holgorsen once did against Oklahoma when Tavon did the best impersonation of Gale Sayers since Gale Sayers.

 

That’s not to say Crawford is going to be used the same way Austin was, but rather to point out how creative Holgorsen can be when he’s got talented football players - and it’s clearly obvious that Crawford has talent.

 

The one thing West Virginia’s offense has really lacked since Austin’s departure in 2012 is a true home-run threat coming out of the backfield. Smallwood was great for short bursts, as was Charles Sims - and Dreamius Smith sometimes had his moments out in the open - but the Mountaineers have not really had a pure running back who can legitimately score from anywhere on the football field since probably Noel Devine or Stevie Slaton.

 

That is until Crawford showed up earlier this summer.

 

“He is going to put his mark on this program, I firmly believe that as his coach,” running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider predicted. “He has set the bar so high for us with some of the stuff he can do.”

 

Despite missing last Saturday’s scrimmage, senior Rushel Shell is still the No. 1 running back on the depth chart and is likely to remain there when the season opens on Saturday, September 3 against Missouri.

 

But Crawford was brought here to play, too, and he’s going to play a lot against the Tigers.

 

A whole lot.

 

A Shell-Crawford, one-two punch in the backfield, coupled with the explosive playmakers West Virginia has assembled at wide receiver, could finally give Holgorsen the balanced diet his Mountaineer offenses have really lacked since his arrival in 2011.

 

It’s either been heavy pass or heavy run, but never quite 50-50 the way it once was for Holgorsen back in 2010 at Oklahoma State when he had Kendall Hunter and Joseph Randle in the backfield and Justin Blackmon out on the perimeter stretching defenses to their breaking points.

 

Whenever defenses started taking players out of the box to cover Blackmon, Josh Cooper and Jeremy Smith in the passing game, that’s when Holgorsen sent Hunter and Randle right up their backs.

 

Hopefully, Holgorsen will be able to do that this year with Crawford and Shell when defenses are forced to account for Shelton Gibson, Jovon Durante, Marcus Simms and Gary Jennings.

 

For his part, Seider said he is going to push his running backs to the limit to get them to perform the way he believes they are capable of performing.

 

“I don’t care what other people say, my expectation for the people in this room starts with us,” he said. “We’ve got enough talent in here to do it. I’m tired of hearing that we lost Wendell. So what. Step up and take over.

 

“Somebody step up and be the guy!”

 

Perhaps it could be Justin Crawford. We’re about two weeks away from finding out.