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Can Ryan McCants carry the load?

By Jake Bertalotto

Buker broke the ice this morning: Francis is gone. Quizz is doubtful. James Rodgers is already sidelined for the Sun Bowl.

Can McCants get it done?

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The redshirt freshman from Corona, California has started two games this season. He's ran the ball 79 times for 340 yards, for an average of 4.0 yards per carry. However, his best statistical performances came in games in which they weren't needed.

Against Stanford, when McCants was slated as the #1 back, he only had 4 rushes for eleven yards. This prompted Oregon State to turn to the air, forcing Lyle Moevao to throw a season high 54 passing attempts. Keep in mind, this is before the Beavers unconverted the greatness of Jacquizz Rodgers. The Beavers lost, 28-36.

In Ryan's only other start of the year, against Oregon, he rushed 10 times for 32 yards, eleven of those yards coming on one play. Again, this forced the Beavers to turn to the air, throwing the ball 51 times in the game. The Beavers lost, and you know the score.

In other words: Ryan McCants had made two starts this season-- those two games were are only two conference losses. 

If Quizz can't go, here's what our depth chart probably looks like (according to the updated roster) for the Sun Bowl:

  1. Ryan McCants
  2. Jordan Jenkins
  3. Josh Parish
  4. Clayton York
All three behind McCants are walk-ons, so pecking order goes by last name. Jenkins is the former West Salem standout. He's 6-1, 205. Parish is from Pasadena, and he's 5-11, 208. York is 6-0, 208 from Redmond HS in Central Oregon. Will these three be McCants' backup? Are we going to burn their redshirts for the bowl game?

Is there any way we could get a guy like Victor Butler, Keaton Kristick, or Slade Norris to go both ways for a game? What about Al Afalava? It would be interesting to see what kind of a blow he could deliver on the other side of the ball.

Earlier in the year, we talked about the potential of moving McCants to the defensive side of the ball. Now, it looks like he's our last chance of having a chance to move the ball on the ground against Pitt. 

Perhaps I'm off base here, but I'm not seeing much support for Ryan McCants. Can he get this done himself?

(If there are other running backs on this team that I'm overlooking, please let me know.)

This is a fairly open ended question, so I'll hold off on a poll question for now. Sound off in the comments.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)