Nimble feet and a low center of gravity.
Southern tailback Mike Franklin displayed those traits, chopping his feet over a pair of blue step-over pads and ducking under a white bar, well below the shoulders of his 6-foot-2 frame.
“A big back with quick feet, I love it,” running backs coach Joshua Covington said after a rep on Monday.
Tuesday’s preseason camp practice was no different for the position group — practice fundamentals and learn the intricacies of the Go-Go offense, a traditionally run-heavy system. While the Jaguars strive for completeness in every facet, they also understand that a bulk of their success will depend on the quality of the running back room.
“It’s huge, listen, we’ll throw the football, but our identity is going to be in running the football,” first-year coach Marshall Faulk said. “That’s the brand of football I want to play.”
Merchant said in February that the team plans to play fast, “run the air out of the ball” and take deep shots in the passing game. At Tuesday’s practice, he refrained from exposing anything unnecessarily ahead of the season opener against Alabama State on Aug. 29 in Birmingham, Alabama.
“As far as the depth goes and the scheme, I like to keep everybody on edge with that,” he said. “But yes, there’s some pretty good players in this program in the running back room, and I love them all. I really do.”
It’s expected that Trey Holly, who started his career at LSU, will once again be Southern’s lead rusher. The 5-7, 192-pound redshirt junior had 869 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns, both fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, in 11 games.
Southern has 10 tailbacks, two more than last year, and three additions who are all freshmen: Champ Davis, Macario Dade and Deondre Manisfield. Texas A&M transfer Ronnie Crosby, who participated in spring practice, is no longer with the team, Merchant said Tuesday.
The Jaguars returners are graduate student Franklin, junior Barry Remo, redshirt sophomore Jason Gabriel, sophomore Armariyan Asberry, redshirt junior Princeton Cahee and redshirt sophomore Zaccheus Cooper.
Running backs gather for a drill during Southern football practice on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. Staff photos by Javier Gallegos
While Faulk, like Merchant, doesn’t want to give away much intel publicly, he did express what he wants his rushers to work on.
“Right now, accountability, responsibility,” the Pro Football Hall of Fame tailback said. “Most running backs, we’re good running the football, catching the football, doing those things. We recruit those kind of guys. But we want to get better for one another and blocking for the quarterback. Making sure we understand those assignments because those two aspects, trust me I know this, that’s what separates guys at the next level.”
The coach entrusted with developing the right habits in the tailbacks is Covington, who worked in the tight ends room at Colorado when Faulk was the running backs coach last year.
Faulk likes that Covington has playing experience at the position at Wingate University and has a brother in DeAngelo Williams who played running back for 11 seasons in the NFL.
Faulk appreciated Covington’s willingness to step out of his comfort zone. At Colorado, instead of being a third helping hand for running backs, he studied a position he’s not as well-versed in: tight ends.
“Coaching the position you know, that’s easy,” Faulk said. “Coaching the position you didn’t play that requires skill. That showed me that he has the ability to coach. So bringing him here, putting him at his natural position he knows, he falls into that easily.”
Covington’s coaching talent was also recognized when he was selected for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Coaching Academy in May. He was one of 25 finalists picked from almost 1,000 applicants.
Southern’s secrecy in discussing its offensive plans ahead of the season has been a common theme so far through camp. What is known is Faulk has challenged Holly to take another step up in his on-field production and, more importantly, be a true leader in the locker room.
The tailbacks who had the next most opportunities were Franklin and Remo. Franklin averaged 4.1 yards per carry in the four games he played before suffering a non-contact foot injury that required surgery on Oct. 7, 2025. He’s a full participant now and is set to be the 225-pound power back Southern missed last year.
Remo had a strong final few games in 2025, ending the season with 50 rushes for 289 yards (5.8 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. The 5-9, 195-pound product from Catholic was applauded by the team last year for his blue-collar approach.
Asberry, similar to Remo, waited his turn and had a solid freshman season. The former Southern Lab star had 114 rushing yards on 29 attempts, 3.9 yards per carry.
Faulk has confidence in them as well as the less proven players. However, like the quarterback competition, Southern won’t reveal much publicly even though it has an idea of what the running back rotation will look like. The focus is improving each day and naturally developing camaraderie.
“Here’s the thing, I like the closeness between that room and what those guys have, and what they’re building,” Faulk said. “It’s a healthy competition. Like every day, they go out there, and they want to outshine one another. They’re not hoping that the other one does worse. They’re hoping that they do better.”
