re: 2022 Football Discussion Thread General Thoughts & Comments

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While Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis moved on to the NFL, Florida's running back room received a talent infusion over the offseason with the additions of 2021 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year running back Montrell Johnson and 2022 four-star back Trevor Etienne. The Gator running back room appeared to be among the team's strongest in the spring thanks to consistently impressive performances from junior Lorenzo Lingard and Johnson while sophomore Nay'Quan Wright, who was named to the 2022 Doak Walker Award Watch List last month, rehabbed an ankle injury and participated in a limited capacity. Etienne was a summer enrollee.

With fall camp in the rearview mirror, it is even clearer that Florida's backfield should be loaded with talent this season as all four players, Wright, Johnson, Etienne and Lingard are expected to contribute in some capacity throughout the 2022 season.

"We’ve got four backs that we have confidence in," Florida head coach Billy Napier said Wednesday. "All have character, all are very consistent. They all care. They’re all very smart and understand what to do, so (running backs) coach (Jabbar) Juluke, can’t compliment him enough. I think he's always got his group ready to go."


At Louisiana, Napier utilized a run-based scheme in which he kept the ball on the ground 57.37 percent of the time against FBS opponents, the 32nd-highest rate in the FBS last season. While he could choose to use a slightly more balanced scheme this year with the advent of starting quarterback Anthony Richardson, Florida's surplus of talented runners should allow him to stick to the ground game should he so choose.

BEST RETURNING PLAYER: NAY'QUAN WRIGHT

Wright appeared in 12 games last season and accumulated 326 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown. The 5-foot-9, 202-pounder rusher also caught 14 passes for 178 yards, including a career-long 51-yard snap against Vanderbilt on Oct. 9. A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Wright averaged 27.2 yards on the ground and 14.8 yards per reception in the 2021 campaign.

While Wright is technically a sophomore this year, he is entering his fourth season at the college level. In his career, he has rushed for 563 yards on 142 carries with three scores. He has an additional 401 receiving yards to his name and one receiving score.

"We’re be excited to get Nay’Quan back," Florida head coach Billy Napier said after Florida's spring game in April. "He’s certainly going to bring something to our team."


After he was limited in the spring due to a recovering ankle injury, Wright had a solid fall camp and seemingly put himself in a position to be his unit's No. 1 player, though it is unclear how much separation, if any, that tag will create from the rest of the unit in terms of total usage.


KEY ADDITION: MONTRELL JOHNSON

Montrell Johnson transferred to Florida after an uber-successful true freshman season in Billy Napier's offense at Louisiana in 2021. Johnson rushed for 838 yards with 12 scores on the ground throughout the campaign and exceeded 100 rushing yards twice, including a 150-yard performance against Arkansas State in which he exploded for a 99-yard carry and two of his 12 scores. Johnson's efforts propelled him to the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Award and the No. 70 overall rank among all transfers in the nation this year.

Johnson is a strong runner who operates well between the tackles, though his speed could also allow him to be successful in space and beyond the tackles, should Florida choose or need to diversify his workload.


BIGGEST CAMP RISER: TREVOR ETIENNE

Fans would have been very reasonable to assume that true freshman running back Trevor Etienne was headed for fourth-string status in his first year with the program and even a possible redshirt. The former four-star prospect joined a crowded and talented room with just a few months to impress coaches and move up the team's depth chart at his position.

But, since arriving on campus in the summer, Etienne has done exactly that. According to Napier, the freshman runner has demonstrated an excellent work ethic on and off the field and has also impressed coaches with his patience and vision out of the backfield, making him a candidate to earn meaningful reps from the jump this season. Etienne is also viewed as a candidate to return punts and kicks.

“I've been very pleased with Trevor. There’s no question we made a good decision there. Was familiar with him having evaluated him at Louisiana. The guy's 5-8 and three-quarters and he weighs 207 pounds. He’s loose, got a low center of gravity, catches the ball. I think he's got some returner value. So the big thing with him is his character, his consistency. The guy shows up and works. He’s gotten a little bit ahead of the game there because of his brother’s experience there. He’s from Jennings, Louisiana, man. The guy shows up here and it’s like he's in New York City. He is a worker. He's got a great attitude. He's got a little sense of humor. I'm like him and I think he’s got a chance to be a good player for the Gators."


KEY RETURNER: LORENZO LINGARD

While Lingard's production in four years at the college has hardly delivered on his five-star potential, the fifth-year junior appeared to take a massive step in the right direction this spring when he was routinely earning praise from Florida players and coaches due to his consistent performance.

Lingard earned first-team reps throughout the Gators' spring schedule and one source told Swamp247 that the 6-foot, 209-pound runner looked like Florida's "best offensive player in general" during the team's scrimmages. Still, the experienced running back could find himself in a situation where he is earning just a share of the running back responsibilities as the rest of his unit is so strong entering the season.

For a player who has recorded just 16 carries in two playing seasons with the Gators, Lingard hasn't sounded frustrated by his lack of opportunities, though.

Instead, he sounded motivated to figure out why he hasn't been able to get more carries and how to fix that. Lingard outlined why he picked Florida in the first place on the Gettin Swamped podcast in the spring.

"I came home with the hardship with my dad and his health," Lingard said. "I've seen him feel a lot better with me being closer to home. Florida, I just knew that it was going to be a tough school to come to. It's a lot of pressure being a Gator, what with the guys that come through here and what they do and what not. So I was like, 'Man, I'm going to go there and it's not going to be easy, but with it not being easy I'm going to be the best player that I can be and I'm going to get better every day.' And that's pretty much what happened."


BIGGEST LOSSES: DAMEON PIERCE AND MALIK DAVIS

Florida had a potent running back duo last season with Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis in the fold. After nearly evenly splitting reps, the two combined for 1,061 rushing yards, 18 rushing touchdowns and just over 5.5 yards per carry. Their success out of the Florida backfield led to professional opportunities with Pierce joining the Houston Texans after he was selected in the fourth round with the 107th overall pick while Davis signed with the Dallas Cowboys after going undrafted.

However, if there was any unit best suited to lose its most productive players, the running back room is certainly high on the list at is has the potential to make up for those absences.

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