Running backs provide a jolt for Hurricanes offense in rout of Miami of Ohio

The age of the air raid offense began for the Miami Hurricanes this weekend and it started on the ground.

Before Colbie Young turned a screen pass into a tone-setting 44-yard touchdown on the first drive of the game and before Tyler Van Dyke pieced together an efficient 200-yard game, the Hurricanes began their season by giving the ball to Henry Parrish Jr., who darted to his left, hit a hole and picked up a first down on the first play from scrimmage of the year.

The Hurricanes spent all preseason promising they’d be more than just the stereotype of a pass-happy, air-raid attack and proved it right away in their 38-3 rout of the Miami of Ohio RedHawks with 250 rushing yards and four different running backs contributing meaningful carries.

“It’s the way it should be,” coach Mario Cristobal said.

Parrish, as the lead running back, ran for 90 yards on carries carries and salted away the win with a fourth-quarter touchdown run to put the Hurricanes up 31-3. Mark Fletcher Jr., in his collegiate debut, ran for 76 on nine carries and scored a second-half touchdown, too. Ajay Allen, in his debut for the Hurricanes after transferring from Nebraska, added another 47 yards and fellow running back Donald Chaney Jr. logged eight carries — and scored in the fourth quarter — to round out the rotation.

Whenever the Hurricanes’ offense needed a jolt Friday in Miami Gardens, those running backs provided one.

At the end of the first half when the Hurricanes (1-0) were just trying to get a few more points to pad their halftime lead and a holding penalty knocked them off schedule, Parrish turned a would-be clock-killing carry into a 37-yard gain to set up a last-second field goal for kicker Andres Borregales. At the start of the second half when the Hurricanes were still only up 16-3, Fletcher busted the game open with a 26-yard run, untouched, down the right sideline for a touchdown.

The Hurricanes listed four running backs as co-starters — Parrish, Fletcher, Allen and Chaney — and all four touched the ball in the first half, ran for more than 30 yards and had at least one carry go for more than 15.

“[Running backs coach Tim Harris Jr.] harps on it every day. If you get your opportunity, just go in and make plays,” Parrish said. “All the guys came in and put their head down, and we just got to it.”

A year ago, only one of those four played any sort of real role for the Hurricanes. Parrish had an All-Atlantic Coast Conference debut season for the Hurricanes last year after transferring from Ole Miss, but Chaney played in only one game as he recovered from a serious preseason knee injury, Allen sat out most of his freshman year with the Cornhuskers because of an injury with an injury and Fletcher was still in high school at Plantation American Heritage, about 15 miles northwest of Hard Rock Stadium.

The Hurricanes’ new-look offense is defined largely by new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and three new position coaches, and certainly also by Van Dyke’s return to health, but also by a rejuvenated stable of running backs.

Parrish, as expected, started and did exactly what the Hurricanes have gotten used to from the former Miami Columbus star, finding creases in the defense and slipping his way through them for 10 yards per carry. Allen was next in line and had 47 yards on nine carries, with a 16-yard run in the second quarter helping set up a field goal for Borregales. Fletcher came next and was every bit as impressive as he was throughout his All-American career at American Heritage, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. Chaney was clearly fourth in the pecking order, but still had 38 yards on eight carries and a bruising 20-yard touchdown run in garbage time.

Altogether, they combined for 251 rushing yards — 8 more yards than the Hurricanes threw for in Week 1.

Cristobal can’t help but bring up some legendary names when he talks about this group of running backs. He was a national champion as a player in Coral Gables and, naturally, it makes him a historian of the program, so he thinks about some of the Hurricanes’ legendary backfields — the ones with Edgerrin James, Najeh Davenport and James Jackson, and Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore — when he looks at how deep this group is.

“When Miami’s been really good, you remember those running back rooms, right, what they were like?” Cristobal said. “I’m not saying we’re there yet, but I’m saying that type of competition — we’d benefit a lot from it and we intend to keep that competition going.”