More Links: Day 4 Photo Gallery | RB Coach Chachere Interview
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Football wrapped up its first week of fall camp on Saturday morning, with the Hilltoppers concluding their fourth consecutive day of team practice. Sophomore Joshua Samuel commented on how he and the other running backs have progressed since spring ball.
"Over the summer we just bonded as a team and got better," the Greenville, S.C., native said. "It shows out on the field every day that we've been practicing. We're just trying to keep learning the offense more and more; run plays, pass plays, protections, everything."
Like many of the WKU groups, the running backs bring a wealth of in-game experience to the 2019 campaign. Samuel's 641 yards led the Hilltoppers last year and Gino Appleberry, Jr. recorded 196 yards as a freshman in 2018. Meanwhile, Jakairi Moses ran for 268 yards as a freshman in 2017 and Quinton Baker put up 775 yards in his first two seasons on The Hill.
WKU also has KeShawn McClendon and Gaej Walker in the mix to earn their first career collegiate carries, as well as senior Marcelis Logan and incoming freshman Tre Bass.
"We all bring something different to the table and the coaches are going to do the best job possible to use each of us in every situation to create mismatches," Samuel said. "This offense opens up lanes for the running backs and [then] we can throw the ball deep to relieve the pressure off of us."
New running backs coach Garrett Chachere – who has 25 seasons of coaching experience under his belt – has seen the same thing from his group of Hilltoppers.
"We don't have a featured back, right now we can hang our hat on all of them and feel confident that if any of them are out there they will do their job and help us win," he said. "We have a lot of good backs with different talents in different areas, and we want to put the right guys on the field at the right times to accent the right things."
Chachere continued: "The great thing about our group is they know that a number of them are going to play, so they pull for each other, help each other and have each other's back. They all like each other and respect each other because they all work hard. If you see someone working hard you can respect them and know they deserve a shot just like you."
Overall, Chachere is seeing things from the WKU players and coaches that make him believe the Hilltoppers are in store for a successful fall camp.
"The energy level has been great. It's about [preparing for] the season and accomplishing our goals, so the energy has more of a palpability to it, it's intense," he said. "Everybody's ready to go, this program hasn't been where we want it to be and our job is to get it back to that level."
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