NCAA: Miami Hurricanes get ready, it’s time for Joseph Yearby
Is Miami Hurricanes running back Joseph Yearby getting ready to dominate?
The second that Duke Johnson put on the Miami Hurricanes jersey for the last time when he played against South Carolina in the Duck Commander Bowl was the day the Hurricanes lost one of their most prized players.
Johnson only played for three seasons in Coral Gables, but he accomplished a lot during his stint. Johnson retired as the all-time leader in rushing yards, and in all-purpose yards before his time was done. Now that Johnson is on his way to becoming an NFL star, the Hurricanes have a huge hole to fill at the running back position. Thankfully not all is lost though.
During last season one of the most exciting freshman on the Hurricanes football team was none other than Johnson’s replacement, the second string running back, Joseph Yearby.
Now that Johnson is gone to greener pastures in the NFL, the Hurricanes are going to have to use Yearby as their primary running back.
With that being said, is this the year that the Hurricanes fan base falls in love with Joe Yearby?
Duke’s Successor & The Similarities
Between Johnson and Yearby there are a lot of eery similarities.
Johnson who was a star running back at Miami-Dade County’s Norland High School was an absolute monster. When Johnson left high school he was a five-star recruit. In addition, Johnson also left high school with comparisons to the NFL’s fastest running back, Chris Johnson, after he led Norland to a 14-0 record including a state championship.
Yearby like Johnson was a Miami-Dade high school football standout. Yearby was a two-time state champion while he played at Miami Central Senior High School. The same school which produced NFL running backs, Willis McGahee, Najeh Davenport and Devonta Freeman. Furthermore, during his senior season at Central, Yearby rushed for 1,700 yards, and 19 touchdowns.
However the best season of his prep career came when he was a sophomore. Yearby destroyed the competition in Miami-Dade County as he rushed more 2,160 yards, and 24 touchdowns. For all of his accomplishments during his high school football career, Yearby was selected for the 2014 Under Armour All-American game.
New Expectations
Johnson might be gone from the Hurricanes but there isn’t any excuses, Yearby is a special running back.
During his freshman year Yearby rushed for 509 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry which were the second most rushing yards on the team. Guess who led the team in rushing? Johnson.
Additionally we can also compare Johnson’s freshman season with Yearby’s. Johnson got the football more his freshman year and had 139 carries for 947 yards, which gave him an average of 6.8 yards per carry.
It’s fun to think that if Yearby got the football more the Hurricanes might have seen a pair of 1,000 rushers on the same team. But to compare these two great running backs isn’t necessarily fair.
Now that Johnson is gone the void needs to get filled by Yearby.
It shouldn’t be too big of an adjustment because one of the philosophies of the Hurricanes head coach Al Golden is to run the football.
Coach Golden believes that to win football games teams shouldn’t let big plays happen, and they should control the clock. Because of his detailed style of football, the Hurricanes averaged 180.4 yards per game which was good enough for 50th in the nation.
Thankfully because of a pair of new running back recruits in Jordan Scarlett, and Mark Walton, each of which like Yearby and Johnson are products of South Florida and are top-10 players in the state at their position, he will have help in the backfield.
New School
The Miami Hurricanes are getting ready to enter a period where their head coach Al Golden is going to have a surplus of running backs at his disposal. While also getting these running backs, coach Golden also is going to have a sophomore quarterback in Brad Kaaya who looks as if he’s ready to claim the ACC Player of the Year award.
As for Yearby he’ll never need to run out of the shadow of Johnson, he only needs to help increase to the shadow and make it bigger for the next in line.