AMHERST — With less than two weeks until UMass opens its season at Florida (Sept. 3, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, 7:30 p.m.), there will be considerable competition to crack the travel roster until the plane takes off, Sept. 2.
One spot where coach Mark Whipple could have some interesting decisions is running back, where true freshmen Bilal Ally and Peyton Pickett have played well in camp.
A year ago, five running backs carried the ball at least 10 times for the Minutemen. If Whipple wants or needs to dig that deep again, he’ll be giving the ball to someone who has never carried it in college before.
UMass’ ground game will be headlined by Marquis Young, who emerged as a standout at the end of the season, and Sekai Lindsay, who showed potential before getting injured. The sophomores are assured lots of carries as long as they’re healthy.
But behind them is uncertain. Jamal Wilson graduated, and Lorenzo Woodley and Shadrach Abrokwah are no long with the program, leaving some carries available for inexperienced backs.
John Robinson-Woodget isn’t inexperienced as a player, just at running back. The senior spent the first two years of his career at linebacker and split last season between defense and fullback. He’s now a full-time fullback who will see considerable snaps as a blocker and a pass-catcher out of the backfield.
“He’d be our third right now. We’ll give him some carries,” Whipple said. “We’ll have some things for him, especially early on. He’s been catching the ball well. He’s been a leader.”
Ally is likely the leader among the freshmen.
“Bilal has done a good job out there,” Whipple said.
Ally has shown quickness and vision in camp, making the Jacksonville, Florida, native at least a candidate to travel to his home state. Ally ran for almost 3,000 yards as a high school senior (340 carries for 2,909 yards).
He’s trying to get acclimated to college play in a hurry.
“Just coming in I’m focused on the playbook. Coach stresses that every day. We just have to make sure we do our job,” Ally said. “The first few days were a little rough. But once it got going, things have been good. I feel like I can be a guy that can contribute and do my job. That’s every player’s dream, to get on that field and put in work. The young running backs, we want to get on the field and contribute to the team. That’s our main goals to get wins.”
Ally said he and Pickett have benefited from the players in front of them.
“Looking up to Marquis and Sekai is a privilege,” Ally said. “To see how hard they run, how hard they work and how well they know the protections and the O-line has helped.”
The freshmen have helped each other.
“We study every day and make sure we know our routes and our footsteps and our techniques,” Ally said.
From a distance, Pickett is easy to mistake for Lindsay. After Lindsay switched from No. 35 to No. 4, Pickett took over 35. With similar long hair, comparable builds and low to the ground running style, for anyone not close enough to see their faces through their helmets, it almost looks like there are two Lindsays on the field.
Pickett, who rushed for 1,610 yards and 16 touchdowns as a high school senior in Arlington, Texas, missed the end of practice last week with a hamstring injury.
Junior Andrew Libby will play some fullback as well. The former walk-on, who earned a scholarship during the offseason, is a fixture on special teams and has added holding on extra points and field goals to his duties. He had two carries as a freshman in 2014, but none a year ago.
WALK THROUGH/SWIM THROUGH — The Minutemen won’t play a game at Gillette Stadium until Sept. 10, when they host Boston College in a game being promoted as the Battle for the Bay State, but the team did a walk through in Foxborough, Friday.
Over the past two seasons, Whipple has built some recreational activities into the schedule as camp starts dragging on. After Gillette, the teams went to the beach in Newport, Rhode Island.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage