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SALT LAKE CITY — It's been an unexpected season for Utah's run game.
It was believed that few in the Pac-12 could compete with Utah's top to bottom depth and versatility of a running back room that featured Tavion Thomas as the lead back, veteran backups Micah Bernard and Chris Curry, and a heralded incoming freshman in Jaylon Glover that showed star potential and promise in high school.
The position group was to be a key asset of the offense en route to another run at a Pac-12 championship and potentially even more with a playoff bid. The depth was as good as it has ever been in program history.
A long can change in a couple of months.
Utah remains a contender for a Pac-12 title appearance — its fourth in five seasons — but no team with two losses in the regular season has made an appearance in the four-team playoff.
Utah's run game has not been the sole reason for the drop in expectations on the season, but it hasn't been a consistent force many thought it would be, either.
Coming off a season where Thomas rushed for over 1,000 yards and recorded an all-time program high of 21 rushing touchdowns in a season, Utah is now forced to rely on its fourth-string running back and a converted quarterback to be the leading charge in the run game.
Thomas remains an absent member of the team due to what head coach Kyle Whittingham refers to as "internal" matters, Bernard suffered an injury that has limited his minutes over the last few weeks, and Curry's season ended quickly with an ankle injury.
It's why Whittingham earlier this year said he's "very concerned" about the run game this season — and yet the season moves forward.
Utah hasn't quite bottomed out in production, but the consistency and expected output of 200 rushing yards per game has not been met outside of three games this season — three of the first four games. With four games left in the regular season, Utah's run game ranks sixth on average (189.5 yards) out of the 12 seasons Utah has been a part of the Pac-12.
Good, but not great — and certainly not the production expected with, arguably, its deepest room.
Whether ready or not, the reins now turn to Glover, who got his second start of the season last Thursday on the road against Washington State, and to former quarterback Ja'Quinden Jackson. The two remain Utah's best hope moving forward in the run game.
Whittingham said Glover is a "guy that is capable" and a back that can "carry the football 20-plus times a game."
"He's only going to get better as he continues to marinate in the program and learn all the details of what's going on — not that he doesn't know his assignments, but you just seem to pick up the little nuances that can take it to another level," Whittingham said. "But he's a guy that we have a lot of faith in."
Glover led the team Thursday with 76 yards and one touchdown on 20 attempts, but he said he's got to keep "stacking and getting better each week." It's a consistency thing for Glover who has seen limited reps in five games this season. With more opportunities comes a greater understanding of what is expected of him on the field and the ability to stack good performances.
In turn, it helps Utah get the production it needs from the future leader of the running back room.
"I just need to make more explosive plays. I want to leave my impact on the field," Glover said. "I want to come off the field knowing that I did my part, and I don't want to leave yards on the field. So being more explosive, I want to bring that to the game and I want to show that on Saturday."
For Jackson, it's about contributing in whatever way he can on the field. The former four-star quarterback played running back for a time in high school, but it's now about learning all the responsibilities that come with the position switch and executing on the field when his number is called. He finished with 43 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries on Thursday, but he knows he can do more.
"I'm very confident in what I do and what coach (Quinton Ganther) is teaching. Just everyday is a grind, and just stay focused and maintain," Jackson said. "Just keep working and just take the advice coach Q's giving; that's really it."
Offensive line coach Jim Harding said his group isn't concerned with the constant change in the backs that line up each week, but that his players need to help "be more consistent running the football."
"Obviously, each of those guys have their strengths," Harding said of the different running backs, "but at the same time, I feel if we do our job, any of them will be successful.
"As an offensive line coach you certainly want to run the ball more efficiently and have more explosive plays in the run game."
As much as the inexperienced backs are developing in the system, Harding said it's on his guys to open up the holes and get the push needed to make it easier to open up the run game.
"I think right now we're just not getting the initial push, the initial surge at the line of scrimmage on the inside, in particular," Harding said. "So we need to do a better job there — their combination blocks. We're seeing a lot of movement up front, rather than teams just playing straight up, so we've got to do a better job hitting movement and getting that initial surge."
It's a team effort.
That phrase has had more meaning over the last few weeks as Utah continues to find new team members to produce and lift Utah to the heights it hopes it can obtain for the remainder of the season.
Glover and Jackson are now the leading figures in the run game — Utah's next men up.
