Felix “Doc” Blanchard and Glenn Davis are legendary figures in Army football. Both of them played in Army’s national championship teams of 1944 through 1946 which compiled a 3-year record of 27-0-1. Blanchard, the fullback on the team won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Trophy, and Sullivan Trophy in 1945. Davis started his career at Army West Point in 1943 as a fullback, but he switched to halfback when Blanchard arrived at the academy. Davis won the Heisman in 1946. Many football fans consider Blanchard and Davis to be the best tandem of running backs in college football history with Blanchard earning the monicker of Mr. Inside and Davis the monicker of Mr. Outside.
In his book, Heisman: After the Glory, Dave Newhouse described how the two combined to run over opponents: "While teammate and friend Doc Blanchard softened up opposing defenses on the inside, the speedy Glenn Davis would make them pay outside.”
Fast forward to 2022 and Head Coach Jeff Monken is preparing to field a modern-day version of Mr. Inside and Mr Outside. Army’s candidate for the title of Mr. Inside - 2022 is senior fullback Jakobi Buchanan. The candidate for the title of Mr. Outside - 2022 is junior slotback, Tyrell Robinson. Unlike Blanchard and Davis, neither Buchanan nor Robinson is likely to get much consideration for the Heisman, but like Blanchard and Davis they challenge opposing defenses to stack the middle against the power running of the 260-pound Buchanan whlle keeping enough defenders in reserve to protect the perimeter against the speedy Robinson.
When it comes to compiling impressive NCAA statistics, Army running backs are at a disadvantage because of the number of running backs who share the rushing load during a typical Army football season. In addition to sharing carries with 18 other running backs last year, the leading rusher on the Army team in each of the past 5 years has been the quarterback, leaving less opportunity for Buchanan and Robinson to compete for top positions on the NCAA rushing yardage lists. Most college teams feature one or two running backs who get most of the carries for their team, and they are the players who top the NCAA records.
In his plebe season, Robinson finished third on the team in rushing with 431 yards in 60 carries for a 7.1 average. Last season, Robinson finished second on the team with 602 rushing yards and an average of 8.5 yards per carry. By way of comparison, Davis had a career average of 8.2 yards per carry. Robinson had only 72 rushing attempts last season, which did not qualify him for a place on the NCAA Rushing Yards per Carry list, but he surpassed the top player on that list, Devon Archane, who averaged 7.0 per carry in 130 attempts.
Buchanan was the rushing workhorse in the Army backfield the past two seasons with a team-high 136 attempts in 2021 while finishing third in rushing yardage with 504 yards. He had 111 carries for 432 yards to finish second on the team in rushing in 2020. He has averaged a modest 4.0 yards per carry in his three years, but his main claim to fame is that he has not been stopped for a loss in three years. The 260-pound battering ram is as close as it comes to a sure thing in short yardage situations.
In a recent interview, Buchanan revealed that he has dropped a few pounds in the off season, with the goal of improving his speed once he breaks into the backfield, but we would be surprised to see him run much outside the tackles. He will be sharing the fullback load with another 255 pounder, Tyson Riley, and, most likely, 2 additional fullbacks in the rotation. Buchanan played only 246 of Army’s 884 offensive snaps last season; so we would expect his snap count and rushing numbers to increase this year; and stopping Mr Inside will be the first challenge for any opponent defense.
The coaching staff moved a couple of players from other positions to slotback for the coming season, and we’re expecting 5-6 slotbacks to share the load, with Robinson getting the lion’s share of snaps at one of the slotback positions. Robinson played 447 snaps last season, the most of any of Army running back, and we expect to see him playing at least that many again this season. In an attempt to get Robinson more carries, Brent Davis added a few counters to his playbook last season, giving the ball to Robinson running against the flow on the inside rather than taking the pitch to the outside, but his primary contribution is still likely to be on the perimeter where he can maximize his quickness.
Will Robinson have more carries this season?
That will depend on how the defense stacks the defense against the option, but the threat is always there.
P.S. Robinson is also a huge threat as a receiver out of the backfield or positioned as a flank receiver.
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