The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, September 20, 2018 — 8

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior running back Chris Evans suffered an injury against SMU but is expected to play against Nebraska, according to running backs coach Jay Harbaugh.

In wake of injuries, Jay Harbaugh expresses confidence in running backs

After 
the 
game 
against 
Western 
Michigan, 
junior 
running back Chris Evans said 
the running lanes created by 
Michigan’s offensive line were so 
big you could drive a car through 
them.
Against 
SMU, 
you 
could 
hardly fit a bicycle most of the 
day.
The 
Wolverines 
rushed 
the ball 41 times for 197 yards 
against the Mustangs. On paper, 
those numbers are solid. But 11 
of those carries and 109 of those 
yards came in two garbage-time 
drives, while the rest — which 
produced a measly 2.9 yards-per-
carry average — came within a 
two-possession game.
Starting running back Karan 
Higdon was fully dressed for 
Saturday’s contest, but ultimately 

sat out due to an undisclosed 
injury. Instead, it was the No. 2 
back Evans who handled ball-
carrying responsibilities, and 
he proved to be less than stellar 
compared to the ground show 
— 308 yards — from a game ago 
as he struggled in short-yardage 
situations.
After a 35-yard run late, Evans 
came up limping, grabbing his 
hamstring. Originally, Evans’ 
apparent 
injury 
cast 
doubt 
on both Higdon and Evans’ 
availability 
against 
Nebraska 
this weekend.
“Karan 
was 
a 
game-time 
decision, didn’t feel like he could 
go. Chris, we’ll see what his 
situation is exactly, whether it’s a 
strain or a cramp,” said Michigan 
coach Jim Harbaugh on Monday. 
“We’ll see (for next week).”
But on Wednesday, running 
backs 
coach 
Jay 
Harbaugh 
cleared the air and anticipates 

both to see the field.
“That’s what we expect,” Jay 
said. “Karan has practiced fully, 
and Chris has practiced fully 
for what we expect him to do. 
(Chris had) been going, it’s just 
maybe not the 
same 
amount. 
He did a little bit 
yesterday, 
and 
we’re 
building 
up as we go as 
he comes off that 
tweak.”
Even without 
the 
two 
on 
the 
field, 
Jay 
expressed 
satisfaction 
in 
the depth of his 
unit and their play on Saturday. 
That depth includes sophomore 
fullback Ben Mason, and third 
and 
fourth-string 
running 
backs Tru Wilson and O’Maury 
Samuels. 
Mason 
vultured 
a 

goal-line touchdown for the first 
score of the game, Wilson toted 
the ball 11 times for 53 yards and 
a late-game touchdown, while 
Samuels gashed an 18-yard run 
on that same drive.
Wilson 
has 
been a hot topic to 
start the season. 
The former walk-
on also had six 
carries 
for 
54 
yards against the 
Broncos, and has 
proved to be a 
viable 
backfield 
option 
in 
pass 
protection.
“He’s 
approached 
everything 
with 
pretty 
remarkable consistency, fixing 
mistakes, improving techniques, 
playing 
with 
great 
effort 
and physicality,” Jay said. “… 
Whenever you challenge him 

with something to improve on 
and an area to grow, inevitably 
you see it show up. If you do that 
over months or years, the results 
are gonna be pretty good and 
everyone’s gonna see that now.
“He’s a tough guy, got some 
wrestling background. He’s got a 
family of boys, roughhouse quite 
a bit, so certainly fearless to his 
benefit on the field.”
That hard-nosed sentiment 
was 
expressed 
again 
with 
Mason, as Jay praised his “smash 
everything attitude.”
The Wolverines have had 
success with a power-running 
style 
this 
season, 
but 
this 
approach has also been criticized 
amid sustained concern about 
the offensive line’s ability to 
open holes through the middle. 
This uncertainty has placed 
an unusually public amount of 
emphasis on the running backs’ 
pass protection abilities. With 

Mason’s desire to “bludgeon 
people and do it really fast,” 
according to Jay, his role is 
defined. As for the others, it’s an 
innate instinct that still appears 
to be a work in progress in the 
simplified offensive playbook.
“Because we do a little less 
schematically, we’re probably 
more 
proficient 
across 
the 
board,” Jay said. “There’s some 
trust there. They build rapport 
with the o-line in terms of 
understanding how a look is 
gonna be blocked up and a little 
of what to expect — ‘Okay, I see 
this defensive line in this look. I 
expect the ball to go in this place 
or that place.’ A level of trust that 
builds in that regard, because we 
have a little more consistency in 
scheme.”
In Big Ten play, the order is 
taller. But with apparent depth 
in the running back room, the 
coaching staff can rest easy.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

“He’s a tough 
guy, got some 
wrestling 
background.”

