Former FSU Star Karlos Williams Breaks Down 2023 Running Back Room

"That room is dangerous; it's multiple. It's so multiple."

Florida State's rushing attack, coached by David Johnson, finished top 10 in the country last year, according to PFF, and has garnered high expectations heading into the 2023 season. 

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"That room is dangerous; it's multiple. It's so multiple," former FSU running back Karlos Williams said after the Spring Showcase on Hear The Spear. "Just after the game, me, coach [David] Johnson, the running backs, Dexter Carter -- a Florida State great -- and James [Wilder], just sitting there talking to them, and we were just describing them. I got goosebumps, like everybody's needed in this room." 

Led by Trey Benson, who amassed 990 yards on the ground and nine touchdowns, complemented by Lawrance Toafili (457 yards, five TDs) and quarterback Jordan Travis (417 yards, seven TDs), their combined total of 1,864 yards and 21 touchdowns has drawn attention across the country. 

Redshirt freshman Rodney Hill and redshirt sophomore CJ Campbell combined for 208 yards and three touchdowns in 2022 with the latter missing most of the season due to injury. Both Campbell and Hill are expected to make a bigger impact this season along with Caziah Holmes who transferred in from Penn State but had to sit out and worked mostly with the scout team. In his last season with the Nittany Lions, he rushed for 227 yards and two scores. 

"And then CJ and Holmes are a lot like Devonta [Freeman]," Williams said. "They're shifty; they're in and out the cuts; they're hitting the power, they're hitting the inside zone; they're breaking more than one tackle, making the first man miss; they're gaining those tough yards. And then you got Hill, you got two-nine, and you don't want to let him get the edge because he's out of there."

The 2013 National Championship team which featured players like Freeman, Wilder and Willams was very similar in regards to carries split amongst its three-headed rushing attack to how the 'Noles utilized theirs in 2022. Freeman touched the ball 143 times, Williams 91 and Wilder with 81. Williams took note of the need to have multiple backs touching the ball. 

"There's no one-man show in this room. There's not going to be a Cam Akers in that room. Toafili is the most versatile," Williams said. "Like, he does everything. He's catching balls; he's laying off of people, scoring touchdowns away in Clemson. That's big. You got the home run hitter and a power back, something like James Wilder, in Benson."

The ball was actually spread out more on the 2022 team with Treshaun Ward (who transferred in the offseason) accounting for 95 of the total 342 attempts the top three traditional rushers accumulated. Benson carried it 154 times and Toafili added 93. Adding Hill's 27 and Campbell's 18, they were a running back room by committee. 

"And so, with everybody touching the ball, I would say lean on that run game. Be very, very unselfish in that room. You know what I'm saying? I mean, if everybody wants to get drafted, everybody has to touch the ball," Williams said. "If I want to get drafted and I'm a running back, I want the other guys to touch the ball because I don't need 20-plus carries anymore."

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