Key position battles in major college football

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana running back: If the running game comes around, ULL could be the surprise team in the Sun Belt.

Robert Walker ran for 3,897 yards and 51 TDs in his last two seasons at Mamou (La.) High (about 800 students in grades 5-12). He signed with UL in February 2009 but didn't arrive on campus until January. He impressed coaches until he tweaked his hamstring. But he's a little guy (5-7/179), and there are questions about whether he can be a feature back and get 18-20 carries a game.

Julian Shankle, who was a backup last season, was atop the depth chart after spring practice, but he lacks top-end speed.

True freshman Aaron Spikes and JC transfer Kevis Streeter also will be in the mix.

Spikes ran for more than 1,500 yards as a high school junior in Dallas, but an ankle injury wrecked his senior season and the one-time Texas Tech commitment ended up at UL.

The rest of the story

[zephyr]

I'm not sure we're going to have a position "battle" necessarily. I think, given the skill sets of the three new backs along with Shankle, I think you're going to see a drastic increase in rushing yards this year as a team but nobody will dominate the statistical category one way or another. I would suspect to see Shankle come out as the starter, especially given our opening game on the road and see a healthy infusion of the three newcomers with each showing flashes of what they can do. I would suspect we will be with the committee approach for a while and could see it for most of the season unless someone just knocks the coaching staff's socks off or injury forces a feature role. Either way, I suspect we will be much more productive in the rushing game as a team.