AMHERST — When Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams and Greg Desrosiers – who both scored touchdowns for their new teams in Week 1 – transferred away this spring, the biggest question on the UMass football roster was how the Minutemen would replace 87% of their rushing production from a year ago.

The committee that entered week one included returning third-stringer Jalen John, sophomore transfer CJ Hester and grad-transfer Brandon Campbell, who arrived in the final week of preseason practice.

In last weekend’s 28-14 loss to Eastern Michigan, John logged 14 carries for 53 yards, Hester totaled eight for 36 yards, and Campbell had just three for six yards. John started the first series, Hester appeared next and Campbell was the final running back to check into the game.

“The anticipation was, I thought we’d get a little bit better play out of those guys,” UMass head coach Don Brown said after the game. “As a group, I thought the collectivity of it was going to make each one of them better, and knowing that they could go all-out, every snap they take because there’s somebody that could come in and give them a blow.”

Quarterback Taisun Phommachanh was UMass’ leading rusher with 16 attempts for 90 yards, though he finished with 57 rushing yards because of negative yardage on sacks. Phommachanh was UMass’ most explosive runner of the day and ripped off a couple impressive runs, including a long of 33.

Brown said he was pleased with John’s performance – which accounted for more yards than he had all of last season, when he had just 10 carries for 31 yards.

“I thought Jalen John had a pretty damn good day, which is good,” Brown said. “I thought the other guys were complementary, but we’ve got a long way to go, for sure.”

Campbell, a former four-star recruit who transferred in from Houston after starting his career at USC, was heralded as a potential solution to UMass’ running back question. But on just his third carry, he was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. After the penalty, he did not return to the game.

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“You can’t do those things,” Brown said. "That’s a JV attitude and we’re not doing that.”

Campbell’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty occurred in the second quarter with UMass driving into Eastern Michigan’s redzone, down 7-0 after the Eagles notched their first points of the day on the previous drive. UMass had a first-and-10 at the Eastern Michigan 16-yard line when Campbell rushed up the middle for a yard and was called for the penalty. That flag knocked UMass out of the redzone, and after an eight-yard completion and a three-yard sack, UMass attempted a 43-yard field goal.

Jacob Lurie’s attempt went wide left.

“We didn’t help (kicker Jacob Lurie) on one of those opportunities,” Brown said on Monday. “We get the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, that backs up the whole process of the mark on the kick, it’s 15 yards deeper. And that makes what I would consider a pretty, solid, simple kick a difficult kick.”

While John and Campbell scored their first two TDs as Minutemen in the second half, Campbell was already on the bench.

So, how will UMass’ running room change heading into Week 2 against Toledo? John appears to have – for now at least – kept his spot as the de facto No. 1, though UMass has yet to define a hierarchy in their depth chart. Hester played well as a change of pace and showed the burst coaches mentioned in preseason. Campbell will look to rebound from a nightmarish debut.

Kickoff at Toledo in the Glass Bowl is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.