Kentucky has more built-in answers to absorb the loss of another starting tailback in September

A committee approach at tailback is used by most offenses throughout college football. That simply has not been the case recently at Kentucky, but that change is undeniable now. Kentucky is dealing with a significant injury in the backfield.

Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones reported on Monday that Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum has suffered a broken hand injury that will force the redshirt senior to miss 3-4 weeks. Trayanum could miss Kentucky’s first two games. With a seismic contest looming in Week 2 against South Carolina, that is suboptimal for Bush Hamdan‘s offense.

Trayanum becomes the fourth potential starting running in the SEC to get injured during fall camp, and that’s not counting South Carolina starter Rocket Sanders, who missed the Gamecocks’ first scrimmage. The injury bug is hitting running back rooms across the conference and is forcing teams to depend on depth early.

Unfortunately, depth is a huge question mark for Kentucky at tailback.

The Wildcats entered fall camp with five scholarship tailbacks. True freshman Tovani Mizell has been wearing a non-contact jersey throughout camp as he recovers from a knee injury. The loss of Trayanum means Kentucky is now down to three scholarship tailbacks. Only one has played in a college football game.

Demie Sumo-Karngbaye likely shifts into the starting lineup for the Wildcats. The former NC State transfer has 444 career rushing yards but only recorded 20 rushing attempts last season. Kentucky gets very young after that.

Jamarion Wilcox is in year two at Kentucky after rushing for 2,059 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior at Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding. Wilcox picked Kentucky over Auburn and Clemson becoming a ballyhooed recruiting win in the 2023 cycle but the buzz slowly died down in year one and did not pick up until over the weekend after a quality scrimmage.

In the 2023 recruiting cycle, Kentucky flipped Cincinnati commit Jason Patterson in November, and Florida’s prep rushing yards leader in 2022 enrolled early at Kentucky. Patterson quickly started getting reps with the first unit during spring practice and impressed during the spring game. Expectations are high for Patterson.

“It’s those younger guys who can step in and know what they’re doing with a little bit less experience that are going to be game changers for us,” Hamdan told the media last week when asked about Patterson.

Those young guys are going to get tested early. Back in 2022, Kentucky dealt with something similar when Chris Rodriguez Jr. was suspended for the first four games as new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello took over the offense. Behind a bad offensive line, the running game labored with tailbacks combining to rush for just 370 yards on 4.2 yards per rush with only one touchdown against Miami (Ohio), Florida, Youngstown State, and Northern Illinois. That was a sign of things to come as the rushing attack only reached 150 yards three times all season.

However, the structure of the offense will be different. We still aren’t sure how good Kentucky’s offensive line will be, but we know that they are much improved from 2022. We also know that quarterback run is going to be a big part of the offense. That will help supplement the run game. That could force Hamdan to call more designed QB runs for Brock Vandagriff when that South Carolina game arrives. That could also give backup quarterback Gavin Wimsatt a bigger role early as a wildcat quarterback. The Rutgers transfer rushed for 493 non-sack yards and 11 touchdowns on a 47 percent success rate.

Kentucky has more answers than it did in 2022, but a true committee approach will now be required. The last committee approach did not go well. After missing on transfer portal targets Damien Martinez (Miami) and Peny Boone (UCF) in the spring window, Kentucky’s lack of depth at tailback will now be tested in a real way.

Young players will be thrown into the fire, but most of the pressure will fall on Hamdan to push the right buttons and for Vandagriff to play well early to supplement the loss of Trayanum. But the new scheme with an emphasis on QB run should help the Wildcats tread water early.