MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Tony Mathis Jr. is one of four talented running backs West Virginia coach Neal Brown has at his disposal this year.
 
The Cedartown (Ga.) High product, who grew up in Orlando, Florida, is in line to get plenty of carries this fall.
 
But so is Clemson transfer  Lyn-J Dixon.
 
And so is talented sophomore Justin Johnson Jr.
 
And, possibly even talented freshman Jaylen Anderson, who arrived at WVU late last fall after delaying his enrollment.
 
"We've got to find ways to get them on the field," veteran running backs coach Chad Scott admitted earlier this spring.
 
In the past, West Virginia has usually relied on one primary back to get most of the carries. It was that way the last two seasons with Leddie Brown.
 
It was that way with Justin Crawford in 2017, it was that way with Wendell Smallwood in 2015, and it was also that way going back to the pre-Big 12 days with Noel Devine, Steve Slaton, Quincy Wilson, Avon Cobourne and Amos Zereoue.
 
The Mountaineers once had a streak of eight straight 1,000-yard rushers from 1996 to 2003 and 13 out of 14 years through the 2009 season.
 
But rarely has West Virginia had enough depth to have three different running backs gain more than 500 yards in the same season. Three different players have done so six times since 1987 when you add running quarterbacks Skyler Howard, Pat White, Rasheed Marshall and Major Harris to the equation.
 
But three different running backs?
 
It almost happened in 1975 when backup tailback Dwyane Woods finished seven yards shy of reaching 500 that season. WVU also came close in 1974 when Heywood Smith ended the year with 479 yards.
 
In the modern era of WVU football, it's actually only occurred twice when Bob Gresham, Pete Wood and Eddie Williams did it in 1970, and Gresham, Williams and Jim Braxton also did it the year prior.
 
Those two backfields, by the way, are considered the deepest and most talented in school history with Braxton and Gresham playing several years in the NFL, and Williams also playing professionally in Canada.
 
Is this year's group of running backs comparable to those?
 
Probably not, at least not yet. But Scott does see lots of talent running around out there.
 
"They're all skilled and they've all got talent, they've just got to continue to learn the offense and it will continue to slow down for them," he explained.
 
Mathis is the one with whom we're most familiar. He emerged late last season with an 118-yard performance in the Kansas win and finished the year with 312 yards as Brown's primary backup, despite being slowed early in the season with an arm injury suffered during training camp.
 
Dixon displayed home-run capabilities during his four seasons at Clemson by averaging 6.5 yards per carry and scoring 13 touchdowns. His 218 college carries for the Tigers are the most of any returning Mountaineer running back.
 
Johnson, from St. Louis, got on the field last year as a true freshman and displayed considerable growth this spring with some outstanding performances in team scrimmages.
 
Anderson, West Virginia's biggest and most physical back weighing nearly 220 pounds, was once a four-star prep prospect from Perry, Ohio, who has shown this spring that he's more than capable when he's got the football in his hands.
 
Could all of them play this year? Maybe. By the way, Scott said there is no rule that says two running backs can't play at the same time in certain situations.
 
"We'll play multiple guys and the good thing about this offense is we play a lot of twin personnel," Scott said earlier this spring.
 
Of the four, Mathis is the most familiar with Mountaineer football, although this is also his first season playing in Graham Harrell's offense. When Leddie Brown was getting all of the carries in 2020-21, Mathis could have easily packed his bags and hopped into the transfer portal.
 
But he liked the coaches, he liked playing football at WVU and he likes living in Morgantown, West Virginia, a football-crazy place similar to where he once played high school football in Cedartown, Georgia.
 
What Mathis decided to do was instead of going to the coaches and asking them why he wasn't getting more playing time, he asked them what HE NEEDED TO DO to get more playing - which is rather refreshing to hear these days.
 
"He's a competitor and I think competitiveness is sometimes like a lost art today," Scott admitted. "I've always been honest and transparent with him – the good and the bad – and for him to take that and want to get better and want to keep learning and strengthen his strengths and weaknesses has been great.
 
"Even when you are transparent and tell them what they need to get better at, some of the kids in their terms say 'be real with me' – that kind of deal. Well, I was very honest with Tony and it didn't always sound good and in a lot of cases a kid would say 'nah, that's not the case, I should be this' and he didn't do that," Scott added. "All of those things he needed to improve upon he worked his butt off to do it."
 
"I'm still head-down and grinding," Mathis says.
 
Scott mentioned a eureka moment happened earlier this spring when Mathis called out a blitz protection and junior center Zach Frazier jumped in and immediately began pointing out each defender that needed attention. These two guys have been playing West Virginia football together going on three years now and so has James Gmiter and Brandon Yates. Wyatt Milum and Doug Nester are going on two with these guys.
 
"You've got him, you've got him and you've got him!" Frazier yelled out.
 
The offensive coaches standing on the sidelines just looked at each other and smiled.
 
"It was a beautiful thing to see," Scott said. "Before, guys might have been a little uncertain with the calls, 'Huh, what did he say?' But this was a big deal. That shows the trust and the chemistry that they are building to do this."
 
Of the other running backs, Scott said Johnson took a big step forward this spring and is getting to the point where he understands the offense really well.
 
Dixon really emerged about midway through the spring when he became more familiar with the offense and his new teammates.
 
Meanwhile, Anderson is still shaking off some of the rust after not playing football for a while, but he has a lot of God-given ability, according to Scott.
 
All of them are quite capable of playing this year, says Mathis.
 
"Our running back room is pretty good this year – we're pretty set," he said. "All of us are rolling and having fun."
 
Could we see a couple of 500-yard rushers in 2022? Perhaps even as many as three?
 
We'll see. Stay tuned.

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