Collegiate Times

It took five games for them to do it, but for the first time this season, the Hokies finally showed the potent running game that they were expected to have on day one.

However, the fact that it was Darren Evans providing this spark ­— and not Ryan Williams — is an interesting development in the Hokies crowded backfield.

Evans’ 160-yard, two-touchdown performance isn’t shocking by any stretch of the imagination, but his ability to put up those numbers against an ACC opponent when Williams struggled against James Madison University, is something that no one would have predicted.

Williams is still out with a hamstring injury suffered against East Carolina, but his numbers this season are far from impressive.

In fact, with the depth in the backfield the Hokies have this season, Williams might be the third-best option at running back right now.

In the two and a half games he has been able to play in, Williams is averaging just three yards per carry. That includes 20 carries against a Football Championship Subdivision school, JMU and six on an absolutely dreadful ECU defense.

That average is significantly less than the 6.5 that Evans is averaging and a good deal less than David Wilson’s 5.7.

Regardless of the numbers, there is no doubt that Williams is one of the most talented running backs in the country. His record-breaking 1,655 yards a year ago is evidence of that, and he is the perfect combination of speed and power to be a great running back in the NFL someday.

The problem is that although he has those abilities, he is neither as fast as Wilson nor as powerful as Evans.

This poses an issue because the Hokies offensive line struggled this year, and the ball carrier has to either bolt through a hole right as it is closing, or break two tackles right at the line of scrimmage to go anywhere.

With Wilson, he is able to reach his top speed in almost no time and can usually reach the hole right before it closes. On the other end of the scale, Evans is the kind of back that can bull through tacklers with ease, as evidenced by his bruising 54-yard touchdown run against NC State on Saturday.

Because Williams isn’t at one of those extremes, he struggles to get past the initial line of defenders and his numbers have proven that so far.

Williams is still the best running back of the group, but sometimes the situation dictates performance more so than talent.

For example, Randy Moss has been one of the top-5 receivers in football for a decade, but in 2005, he only had 553 yards receiving and three touchdowns as a member of the Oakland Raiders.

Did he all of a sudden become a bad receiver? No, he had a terrible quarterback that couldn’t get the ball to him. The next year, he set an NFL record with 23 touchdowns because he was traded to the New England Patriots and was able to work with All-Pro quarterback Tom Brady.

Just as a receiver relies on a quarterback to get him the ball, a running back relies on his O-line to give him gaps to run through.

When given open space, or put in a position where he only needs to break one tackle, Williams is still one of the best. There have been several moments this season where he has gotten the ball in open space and broken off big runs.

The problem is those moments are few and far between because he usually is gobbled up by defenders immediately after getting the ball.

For Evans and his massive 220-pound frame, breaking through that first group of guys isn’t as difficult of a task, and that’s why he is having the better season.

As for Wilson, he isn’t the prototypical running back that Williams is, but maybe that is what the Hokies need right now. The comparisons to Bush and Harvin are perfect because they play similar styles.

Wilson, as with the two pros that he is compared to, is so dangerous in open space that coaches try to find it for him any way they can — whether it be a screen pass, toss or a punt return.

Nonetheless, with three very different backs, Tech still has one of the best backfields in college football and Williams is still the best talent at the position.

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 7 issue of the Collegiate Times.