Iowa State adopting an “all of the above” approach to replace Breece Hall at running back

Editor’s note: Fifth in a nine-part series looking at each Iowa State football position ahead of the 2022 season.

AMES — Jirehl Brock showed flashes of high-end potential. Eli Sanders and Deon Silas provided glimpses of their unique gifts, as well. Now Cartevious Norton is doing the same behind the scenes in fall camp.

But which of the aforementioned Iowa State running backs will succeed New York Jets second-round draft pick Breece Hall as the Cyclones’ primary threat out of the backfield?

The answer could be all of the above.

“I think they’ve all had a day, or even moments, where they’ve kind of popped off the film,” ISU running backs and wide receivers coach Nate Scheelhaase said. “That’s what we were excited about coming into camp, is we felt like there was going to be not only great competition every day, but just seeing those guys and what they do really, really well.

“We’ve found different ways to get them the ball in space and they’ve taken care of business, which is encouraging for us.”

Brock rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown as the Cyclones’ change-up back last season, and also caught a touchdown pass. Silas rushed for two touchdowns in limited duty and Sanders had a 19-yard catch out of the backfield as well as a 32-yard kickoff return. Sprinkle in Norton — who has impressed the team since spring ball — and ISU may have a formidable foursome to deploy at running back this season.

“We all have our different (strengths) to bring to the running back room,” said Sanders, a 6-foot, 200-pound redshirt freshman from Oceanside, Calif. “I have the speed. I catch out of the backfield.

“Everyone can block. Everyone knows we can run the ball so it’s just a group effort.”

For now, at least — and that’s been true a couple times since Matt Campbell took over the program in 2016.

That first season, 1,000-yard rusher Mike Warren returned, but future Chicago Bear David Montgomery wrested away the top tailback spot in the final four games and held it for the next two seasons. In 2019, Hall split time early with Sheldon Croney Jr. and Johnnie Lang before attaining the star status he maintained through last season.

So carries being up for grabs in the nascent stages of a season is nothing new for ISU.

“You hope that it reveals itself, but at the end of the day — even very similar to what you talked about (in 2019), there wasn’t a clear-cut favorite when we left fall camp,” Campbell said. “You were trying to find what was the right mix for (that) team through the early part of the season, so we’ll take as long as it takes.”

For good reason, given the track record with Montgomery and Hall. Norton, a 5-11, 212-pound true freshman from Waycross, Ga., is a particularly intriguing addition to that four-player mix.

“(He can) run really hard through people’s faces,” Scheelhaase said. “That’s probably the best way to describe what he’s done. … He runs hard, man. He is not afraid to run through somebody and that, I think, makes everybody excited.”

The same could be said for the four-man competition for snaps between Norton, Brock, Sanders and Silas, which could remain an “all of the above” proposition for quite some time.

“You’ve got a lot of guys that, I think, we’ve seen behind the scenes have some really, really good moments,” Scheelhaase said. “You’ve got a guy like Jirehl who’s made a ton of plays on the field, so I think there’s probably even a greater level of confidence that you’ll not only have maybe one guy that steps up to that challenge, but multiple guys.”

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