2025 Football Position Review/2026 Fall Preview: Running Backs
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Clemson Needs a Running Game Renaissance
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Greetings STS, it is time to take a quick look at Clemson football’s position groups before looking ahead at a very pivotal 2026 season. The Tigers nearly reached any “worst case scenario” record projections last year, falling from a preseason top 5 ranking to a 7-6 finish. There was plenty of blame to go around for that, of course, but the offense ultimately shouldered the biggest share of the blame leading to the firing of Garrett Riley and return of Chad Morris as OC.
Running back topped most lists of question marks heading into the 2025 season because there was precious little experience and production returning. Adam Randall made the move to RB before the Texas game and was the no doubt RB1 all season long. He actually was right about where I had projected him to be in terms of production. I had this to say back in the fall:
RB1: Adam Randall: Count me aboard the Randall train and I say he holds this all season. I’ll put him in the 2021 Will Shipley range of around 150 carries for 800 yards and around 5.3 a carry.
Well, Randall finished the season with 168 carries, 814 yards, and 4.8 a carry. He also hauled in 36 catches for 254 yards. All in all it is hard to gripe about what Clemson got out of Randall. After that, though, the production fell off substantially.
RB2 ultimately became freshman Gideon Davidson and there were some positive signs down the stretch to be sure, but overall neither Davidson nor any of the other available backs came close to making the type of impact the team needed. How much of that was on the running backs and how much of that was on Riley and position coach CJ Spiller is hard to really know. Jay Haynes never returned from his ACL injury, which was followed by a hamstring issue, and David Eziomume and Keith Adams, Jr. were almost entirely used in garbage time.
Chad Morris is back as Clemson OC and promises a two back, run based offense. This fall is going to be huge for that running back room to show who he can lean on when the lights go on for real. The team’s lone offensive transfer take is electric SMU transfer Chris Johnson, Jr. who can top 22 mph on a football field and reportedly clocked a 4.24 40 recently. It appears the days of Cole Turner being the fastest guy on the team are over.
Gideon Davidson is going to get every chance to solidify the RB 1 job. Davidson certainly had some moments of showing good power through the gaps (when they were there) and some potential in the open field situations. The entire unit failed to produce much in the way of huge runs beyond 30 yards though. Randall’s long was 46 and Davidson’s was just 28, so that is an area where the addition of Chris Johnson Jr. should provide a boost.
Jay Haynes and Jarvis Green and are both returning from injuries that kept them out in 2025. Haynes in particular seemed poised to ascend to RB1 before he tore his ACL in the ACC title game vs. SMU. It is always hard to know just how a player will return from injuries like that and typically it takes 18 months to truly be clear of it. Green was more of a fallback take when he signed but flashed in the Texas game with a TD catch. You never know how certain players will either move up or fade based on coaching changes, but those two will most likely start out at RB4-5 when spring begins.
Clemson has had a lot of guys miss the spring in recent years with various “clean up” procedures, but I would hope those numbers are a lot lower this time considering the offense is changing. It will be fascinating to see how much good on good live work Swinney opts to do in the fall as a result. Clemson should have more viable depth at the position this year versus last year, especially with Johnson added, but as always health is going to be a major factor. How much Morris can motivate change in the physical nature of the Clemson offense, in particular the OL and WR blocking, is as important as the guy getting carries will be. That is why he’s back in town.
Chad Morris got very good production out of his RB 1 during his first run in Clemson. Andre Ellington ran for 1,178 yards with 11 TDs in 2011 and 1,081 yards with 8 TDs in 2012. Hot Rod McDowell followed him with 1,025 yards with 5 TDs in 2013. 2014 was a transition year for the running back room with no true veteran heir for McDowell but Wayne Gallman emerged down the stretch of his freshman year for 769 yards and 4 TDs. The vast majority of those yards from Gallman came in the final four games of that season and Chad showed he would feed him once he got established. I certainly think the days of seeing the RBs completely ignored like we saw at the end of 2024 and several times in 2025 are over. It will be up to Davidson and Johnson to take full advantage of their opportunities.
RB is down the list for concerns for me behind QB, DT, and OL, although both lead backs have yet to be the feature guy in their careers. The talent is there and both guys flashed it during the spring game. Some fans may still not be thrilled for Morris to be back, but you have to credit him for pushing Dabo to bring in Johnson from the portal. My concern at RB would be much higher otherwise considering Jay Haynes’s lengthy absences due to injury. Davidson was brought in to be a bell cow back and his time is now. Clemson will need him to be dependable and finish runs consistently to help the offense stay on schedule. The only guy I might somewhat compare to Johnson that Morris had at Clemson would have been Mike Bellamy but Bellamy obviously couldn’t stay out of trouble and washed out. One of the things I’m most looking forward to seeing is what Chad cooks up for that skill set this fall. I have much more faith that Morris will put things in to feature players than I had with Garrett Riley.
We will know pretty quickly down in Baton Rouge because Clemson isn’t bringing a QB to that game you can honestly say is ready to carry the team. Staying competitive there and perhaps even springing an upset is going to take the guys around CV and/or Tait Reynolds stepping up. The RBs are going to be a major part of that equation.