Louisville Utilizes Depth at Running Back during Scrimmage

Cardinals have a group of "strong" runners behind Hawkins and Hall

With Javian Hawkins and Hassan Hall being held out of Louisville football’s scrimmage Aug. 15, other running backs on the roster shared some carries to validate the Cardinals’ depth.

Maurice Berkley, Aidan Robbins, Jalen Mitchell and Tobias Little handled the reps during the scrimmage.

“They had a really good day,” Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said. “You have four guys behind the two starters that are really good.”

Berkley, a 6-foot 210-pound redshirt senior, had eight carries for 43 yards last season, contributing primarily on special teams.

Aidan Robbins, who graduated from DuPont Manual in Louisville, redshirted last season. With a 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame, Robbins is the team’s largest running.

Like Robbins, Mitchell redshirted last year after arriving to Louisville from Florida. Mitchell is another big running back at 5-foot-10, 220 pounds.

Little, a redshirt senior, had nine carries for 27 yards in 2017 as a full back. The Atlanta native is 6-foot, 242 pounds.

With plenty of size, Satterfield says the group of running backs behind Hawkins and Hall bring a different running style.

“They aren’t the speed backs like those first two guys are, but they are very powerful,” Satterfield said. “They are very strong runners, they are hard to tackle.”

When a defense starts to wear down with fatigue, Satterfield believes the running backs’ physicality can create yardage for the offense.

“You put those guys in, they are going to run through some tackles,” Satterfield said. “We feel we are in a great position with the depth we have at running back.”

Hawkins and Hall are established running backs with depth behind them.

Hawkins rushed for 1,525 yards as a redshirt freshman last season, finishing seventh in the nation in rushing yards. He broke Louisville’s program record for rushing yards by a running back in a single season.

Hall rushed for 501 yards and five touchdowns while returning kicks last season.

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