When it comes to running the football, only one running back, except in the case of a trick play, can touch the ball on a single play. Throughout the season, the Greyhounds have leaned on a multi-pronged and balanced approach to the ground game, dividing the workload between multiple running backs.
Between Bruno Hicks, Travis Miller and Kaden Canty, they have combined to rush for 14 touchdowns and roughly splitting the rushing yards between them through eight games. Miller leads the way with 92 carries for 486 yards, just ahead of Kaden Canty’s 44 runs for 366 yards and Bruno Hicks’ 325 yards on 68 carries.
“They push each other. They make me a better coach. I enjoy coaching them. I enjoy pushing them to the next level,” Jones County running backs coach Jaylan Thomas said. “We can work on things that a lot of high school running backs don’t get a chance to work on, just because of the advancement of them. So it’s exciting to coach them. It’s a joy to be around them.”
That depth has given the Jones County offense plenty of options, providing Thomas with multiple choices to rotate in during the course of each game. That went to another level earlier this month at McDonough, where the final two plays of overtime were carries first by Miller and Canty getting the game-winner.
“This is an awesome group that we have, man. I tell them all the time — the starting running back can change a week-in and week-out. Everybody’s good enough to play. But then we also know that team success brings individual success,” Thomas said. “So with that being said, that as long as we’re doing our part, the positive role to affect the team positively, then the individual success to come. Everybody will get their turn.”
It’s a group that’s gelled over time, some of which goes back to the county’s recreation fields and onward to the middle school level.
“Some of these guys played rec league ball together, played eighth grade ball together. So it’s not me, me, me, me. It’s us, us, us,” Thomas said. “I’m just excited about how they’re playing for each other, how they are fighting for each other, and how they are hurting for each other when someone goes down the next man steps up.”
Jones County’s running back depth hit another layer one game ago against ELCA. With Bruno Hicks out with an injury, freshman Laquan Pendleton stepped into the mix, rushing it seven times for 70 yards.
The plan was not to get Pendleton this much time as a freshman. But thanks to circumstances… “Lauqan is going to be a special player for us. With Bruno going out, it kind of forced us to get him in there sooner than we would have wanted,” Greyhounds head coach Justin Montgomery said. “He handled it well and stepped up for the moment.”
Pendleton’s showing, which included a secondhalf touchdown run, underscored one point of emphasis that Jones County focuses on as a program — building not just for the now, but for the future.
And sometimes, as was recently the case, that future can come sooner than expected.
“He ran the ball real well. All year, we’ve been giving them a next-man-up mentality. Coach Montgomery always challenges the assistant coach to be the head coach of your position. He challenges us when we come in on Sundays to make sure you are developing your young talent,” Thomas said. “We knew at some point it could come just with playing running back and the wear and tear throughout the year. We knew it could come. It’s our job as a staff and just as a running back group to make sure he was ready when his time got called, and he was ready. So, he was exciting to see him cut loose a little bit. With him also played ninth grade games this year, that kind of helped development too.”
