Date: 8/31
Position: Running backs
Position Coach: Earnest Hill

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Terrion Avery (10 games played, 51-180 rush, 3.5 avg, 1 TD, 13 long); Joshua Carter (7 GP, no rushing statistics recorded); John Tank Miller Jr. (5 GP, 5-24 rush, 4.8 avg, 14 long); AJ Phillips (10 GP, 11-45 rush, 4.1 avg, 11 long); Jared Wilson (11 GP, 44-142 rush, 3.2 avg, 1 TD, 13 long)

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): Tony Brown (7 GP, no statistics recorded); Carlos Davis (11 GP, 164-674 rush, 4.1 avg, 3 TD, 40 long)

Returning Redshirts/Squad Members (Yr., Hometown, Previous school): Damean Bivins (R-Fr., Pace [Fla.] HS)

Newcomers (Yr., Hometown, Previous school): Kareem Walker (Sr., Irvington, N.J., Mississippi State); Bryan Hill (Jr., Mobile, Ala., Tuskegee); Jayland Whitsett (Fr., Mobile, Ala., Southwest Mississippi CC)

Miscellaneous Notes
-Davis is not returning after accounting for 55 percent of the team's rushing yardage to be named honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference in 2020.
-Avery's 180 yards are the most among the Jaguars back at the position this fall, with more than a third of that total coming when he paced USA with 62 yards at No. 25 Louisiana.
-Wilson — who paced South on the ground the following week after posting a season-best 49 yards on just seven carries against Georgia State — leads all returning players with 323 career rushing yards.
-The sophomore totaled 108 of his 142 yards a year ago in the Jags' final three outings of the campaign.
-All of Miller Jr.'s yards last season came in the match-up with the Ragin' Cajuns.
-Phillips recorded at least one carry in six of the Jaguars' first seven contests in 2020, his first year playing the position after beginning his time at South as a linebacker.
-Carter was also a linebacker his first two seasons as a Jag before shifting to the offensive backfield, although he was injured during spring drills and will miss the upcoming year.
-A four-star recruit coming out of high school, Walker has spent time at both Michigan — where recorded 68 yards and a touchdown in the fall of 2017 — and Mississippi State prior to joining the program over the summer.
-After earning first-team all-state honors as a senior at McGill-Toolen Catholic High in Mobile, Hill spent two seasons at Tuskegee before returning to the city and joining the program prior to the start of the spring semester.
-Whitsett ran for 55 yards in his only season at the junior-college level, but was a 1,000-yard rusher twice in high school.

Earnest Hill
-On his expectations for the unit this season: "My expectation is for these guys to do what they have been coached to do, and do that to the fullest.  They need to work every day and continue to work on being better football players."
-On how competition at the position has helped the group in the preseason: "Any time you have competition, the person who is in front knows that someone is always nipping at their heels.  It's been great for us knowing that we have other guys in the room who can take that position; no matter whether they are the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4 guy, they have been working their tails off to hold that position because they know that at any time it can be taken."
-On what the group does well that will help South's offense: "I can't just name one thing, all of these guys are good at different aspects of the game.  We're going to play multiple backs.  Kareem runs the ball hard, he needs to get a little bit better at pass protection but he catches the ball.  All of these guys catch the ball well, all of them are going to run the ball hard.  They need to continue to learn the offense and keep getting better, if they can do that I think we will be ok."

Terrion Avery
-On what aspect of his game has improved the most since joining the program: "I have been trying to work on my pass blocking, but it's my ability to see the whole field pre snap to know what is going on so when the play starts I know what I'm doing."
-On what he expects to contribute to the group this fall: "I expect to get carries, catch the ball out of the backfield and block.  I want to do all the things I can to be an all-around back for this team."
-On how competition in the group has helped him develop during camp: "It helps because every day you have to come out here and go hard.  If you are a one, you have to work to try and remain a one, and if you are a two or a three you're trying to work to be a one."

Kareem Walker
-On what he has done since coming to South to earn playing time: "I would say that I have taken things seriously from summer workouts to the extra work we did every Saturday.  I've taken heed to what the other running backs, as well as my offensive linemen and coaches, have told me."
-On the strength of his game: "I think the strength of my game is just being versatile so the opponent can't key on one thing I do.  I am a fast back as well a physical one and I also can catch, I feel I fit well in the game plan with whatever the coaches try to do from week to week."
-On what the group does well that will help the Jag offense in the fall: "We all can run the ball as well as pass block — we all do a great job with that — and we can catch the ball.  We are still working on getting better at everything as much as we can."

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