EVANSTON-Like everyone else, Northwestern running backs coach Lou Ayeni was “devastated” when star running back Cam Porter went down with a season-ending injury at practice last Friday.
“I’m crushed,” said Ayeni after practice on a hot, humid Thursday on the lakefront. “He’s like a son to me. I had to back off the ledge a little bit myself.”
But that was on a personal level. On the football side of things, the coach feels confident that the other players in his backfield will be able to pick up the slack.
“But when I backed off the ledge,” he said, “I looked in the room and I was like, ‘We’re going to be alright.’”
With Porter, who was going to be Northwestern’s bell cow running back, out of the picture, Evan Hull and newcomers Andrew Clair and Anthony Tyus III will have to step up and play bigger roles.
And those three guys appear to be ready for anything that might come their way. Clair has already dubbed the group the “three-headed monster.” He thinks that the three of them are going to be difficult for opponents to deal with because each of them brings something different to the table.
“You’ve got Trey (Tyus), a power back, a big back,” said Clair, a grad transfer from Bowling Green. “You’ve got Evan, a speed guy, who can make moves. And then you’ve got me, who can do either/or.
“A lot of teams are not going to be able to stop that going back-to-back, being able to rotate. Then we’ve got the O-line up front, the Trench Cats. I feel like nothing can stop us.”
Unfortunately, losing a workhorse back is nothing new to Ayeni, who is entering his fourth year in Evanston. Star tailback Jeremy Larkin was forced to medically retire after three games in 2018, and Isaiah Bowser missed games due to injuries the last two seasons.
“Every other year, I’ve been like, uh-oh, what do we do?” said Ayeni. “But I’m not as worried this year because if you come to practice and watch these guys play, they can play…
“We’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”
Let’s take a look at each head of the Wildcats’ monster.
The speed
Hull will ascend to the starting role, at least initially. Last week, head coach Pat Fitzgerald said Hull wasn’t really a backup but “1B” to Porter’s “1A.”
The 210-pound redshirt sophomore is in his third year in the program, so he has the most experience in offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian’s system.
“He’s got some speed, some breakaway ability, and he does a nice job catching the ball,” said Ayeni. “He’s been in the system a couple years, now he’s got a chance go out there and become a lead back if he’s ready to do that. It’s gonna be on him.”
Ask Hull what skills he brings to the backfield and he answers like he runs: quickly and decisively.
“One cut and go,” he said. “Speed, catching out of the backfield, versatility, just being a playmaker, being explosive.”
Ayeni told his room after Porter’s injury that “unfortunate situations provide opportunities.” Hull has already proven that he makes the most out of the opportunities he’s given.
In 2019, Hull got a start late in the season against UMass and ran wild, rushing for 220 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman. Last year, he had another big game against Illinois, when he churned out 149 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown.
Hull, who as a high school senior finished second in Minnesota in the 100-meter dash (10.84), has had five runs of 30 or more yards in just two seasons as a Wildcat. That could give a boost to a Northwestern offense that’s always looking for more explosive plays.
“We’re excited to see what he can do,” said Ayeni. “The opportunities Evan Hull has gotten, he’s produced.”
The power
If Hull is the lightning, Tyus will be the thunder. That may seem like a big expectation for a true freshman who has yet to play a college game, but Tyus isn’t built like your typical rookie.
While he’s still listed at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds on the roster, Bajakian let slip yesterday to the media that Tyus’ weight is up to an eye-popping 230 pounds. That’s 10 more pounds than Porter, who was a punishing downhill runner himself.
The self-proclaimed A-Train is apparently carrying a full load of freight.
Ayeni is looking forward to Tyus’ future development as a Wildcat, but he knows that the youngster might get thrust into a significant role right away now that Porter is watching from the sideline. That won’t be easy. It’s big leap from Michigan high school football to the Big Ten.
“He’s a talented kid,” said Ayeni. “He’s 6-1, 230 pounds… He’s 230 with abs is what I always like to say. He’s a natural. He’s gonna be a really special player when it’s all said and done.
“I like to say he’s got a natural GPS. He just finds seams and holes. He can lower the hammer, he can make you miss, he can run around you. It’s going to be really interesting to see when he plays a game, how what we see in practice translates to the field.”
Tyus wasn’t available to talk to the media after Thursday’s practice, but he has certainly gotten Hull’s attention. While he’s “a bigger dude,” Hull says that he also has “a one-cut that is just insane.”
The experience
Clair may be a newcomer, too, but he’s also the veteran of the bunch, with four years and more than 2,200 all-purpose college yards to his credit.
Ayeni is thrilled with Clair’s addition, now more than ever. So far, he’s been most impressed by how quickly the former Falcon has picked things up.
“He’s got some experience. He knows how to play. He’s very, very coachable,” said Ayeni. “If you watched him on Day 1 to a couple weeks later, now, you can just see the growth in him.
“He’s learning the system and learning how to play. But he’s a quick learner and I think part of it is his experience and playing a lot of snaps. He’s been really fun to coach and a really good resource for guys in the room.”
Clair has 362 carries and 44 catches in his career, far more than Hull, Tyus and even Porter combined. But, at a solidly built 215 pounds, he can be much more than a third-down, change-of-pace guy.
“I feel like I bring a swagger, a finesse to the game,” said Clair. “Veteran experience. I know how to slow the game down a lot, which helps he out a whole lot, and I feel like that can help out the room. I feel like I can learn a lot of things from the guys in the room as well because I’ve never played Big Ten, so I know that they can help me in that situation.
Ayeni feels like his backfield has all the pieces it needs to succeed.
“So we’ve just got to make sure we get the right guys and the right reps and figure out when we’re gonna use them and, when we get to a game, really seeing what they can do in a game-like situation,” he said.
“I told them that unfortunate situations provide opportunities. Now when you lose a guy like Cam, who you knew was gonna play significantly, everybody’s role changes.
“You’ve got to become the master of your role. It may be becoming the starter, it may be becoming a situation guy, it may be becoming the finisher in the fourth quarter. But whatever it is, you’ve got to come to practice and take your game up a level now and understand it’s all hands on deck and we’re going to need everybody in this room to be a great football team.”
Clair, for one, is convinced that will happen.
“All of us working together, I feel like we can’t be stopped.”
