Florida Football: Will crowded backfield mean more production in 2021?

After finishing 96th nationally in rushing, Florida football returns plenty of depth at running back and even adds a former five-star. Will it pay off?

For the second straight season, Florida is absolutely loaded in the backfield. A year after landing former five-star running back, and Miami transfer, Lorenzo Lingard, the Gators dipped back into the transfer portal and picked up a commitment from another blue-chipper in Demarkcus Bowman who left Clemson.

This seems like a huge move for the Gators but that’s exactly what I believed about the Lingard addition last offseason. He joined a loaded backfield and it seemed like enough to give the Gators the deepest stable of running backs in the SEC.

How did Florida take advantage of this depth? Oh, you know, just by finishing 96th in the country in rushing yards per game. That almost seems impossible.

How does a backfield with Lingard, Dameon Pierce, Malik Davis and Nay’Quan Wright look so helpless on the ground? It just doesn’t make sense, but it didn’t hurt the offense too much because Kyle Trask was one of the most prolific passers in the country. The passing offense made up for the lack of ground success.

But it would have been nice to take some pressure off Trask with even a pulse in the run game.

Returning in 2021 will be Lingard, Pierce, Davis, Wright and with the addition of Bowman, this would have to be one of the most talented backfields in the entire country. But will it translate to production?

Honestly, I’m going to have to say yes because of the need. Emory Jones is likely to be the next starting quarterback but this is his first year as QB1 and he’ll need some help from the run game. He’s no Trask just yet. Dan Mullen didn’t need the run game much last year but he may rely on it more heavily this season.

Bowman and Lingard are former five-star prospects and have all the talent in the world. I’d predict a Lingard breakout season along with Bowman getting a lion’s share of the carries but Pierce and Davis are going to be the veterans of the group and they, too, could lead the backfield.

There may be too many cooks in the kitchen, but this year, Mullen will take advantage of that.