Josh Gattis offers his philosophy on running back position, rotation

Josh Gattis is entering his first season as the offensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes with a ton of depth at running backs. The room has a wide range of experience, with someone such as Henry Parrish transferring in from Ole Miss, and a true freshman in TreVonte’ Citizen potentially finding a way to contribute.

There are a few different options as to how Gattis can rotate his running backs but he’s not in a rush to figure it exactly out. He recently said he wants fall camp to continue, hoping to find out exactly which guys can contribute. Gattis doesn’t care if it’s two, three, or four guys — whoever steps up will get playing time on the field.

“Really, the philosophy is — the players dictate it,” Gattis said. “We want to try to play as many players as possible that can help us contribute to win games. If it’s two guys we feel comfortable with, then it will be two guys. If it’s four, five guys. We’re not going to hand out playing time just to hand out playing time for anyone, just to say we’re doing anything by committee.”

Miami was one of the worst rushing teams in the ACC last season, finishing third to last. Only NC State and Virginia finished below the Hurricanes. As for Gattis at Michigan, he led the Big Ten with over 230 yards per game. He is going to bring a different mindset down to Coral Gables.

Running back not only position Josh Gattis will let play out

While the question he was asked specifically mentioned running backs, Gattis was not shy about how he wanted this fall to go. He named off every other position group in his offense — save quarterback — and said he wants competition across the board. Trusting players to execute his offense seems to be a major factor for the offensive coordinator.

“Offensive line, running back, receivers, tight ends, whatsoever — we will play the best guys that help us give us a chance to win,” said Gattis. “We want competition at every position. We want as many guys to show us that we can trust them, believe in them, and they can go out and execute our offense.”

A few more weeks of camp remain, giving Gattis plenty of time to figure out his exact depth chart. A few important decisions loom before their season opener.