SMU football preview: Who will win Mustangs’ RB competition?

Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of position-by-position previews for the 2023 SMU football season.
The SMU Mustangs enter the 2023 season with high expectations in a new-look American Athletic Conference. A big reason for the optimism is a roster filled with returning talent and fortified by highly touted transfers.
With that in mind, this series will evaluate the roster at each position. Up next: the running backs
Running backs
Notable additions: Jaylan Knighton (Miami FL transfer), L.J. Johnson Jr. (Texas A&M transfer)
Notable subtractions: Tre Siggers (Incarnate Word transfer)
What we know: There won’t be a shortage of talented running backs at SMU’s disposal. The Mustangs now have three former top-12 running back recruits in the country after adding Miami (FL) transfer Jaylan Knighton and Texas A&M transfer L.J. Johnson Jr. to go along with former five-star Camar Wheaton, who showed flashes of that talent a year ago. Tyler Lavine is back after leading the team in rushing a year ago with 642 yards and 10 touchdowns on 142 carries. SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said recently that Lavine’s expanded role a year ago brought a toughness that helped SMU win four of the last five in the regular season before falling to BYU by one point in the New Mexico Bowl. Speaking of toughness: Lavine played through a tear in one of his patella tendons last season. He had surgery and is nearly back to where he was last year, multiple coaches have said recently.
What to WATCH: It’s a question that develops every offseason in a seemingly deep backfield: how will Lashlee and running backs coach Khenon Hall use all of SMU’s running backs? It would be naïve to think that all four running backs stay healthy for an entire season. That’s what makes depth so important.
Last year also showed the value in one running back taking the lead. With Lavine, SMU had a go-to back who was rarely stopped for less than four yards.
Related:Why Rhett Lashlee feels SMU is in position to compete for AAC success and more in 2023
If I had to guess, I’d look to Knighton to take the lead role in SMU’s backfield early on. He was with Lashlee and multiple other assistants at Miami. In 2021, with Lashlee calling plays, he led the Hurricanes with 561 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had 20 catches for 280 yards and three touchdowns. A couple of those catches showcased some explosiveness that SMU would like to harness in Dallas.
Bonus element to WATCH: how often will defensive lineman Elijah Chatman line up at fullback? Chatman did it often in spring practice. Usually, if there was a loud collision, Chatman was on the delivering end of it. He’s an all-conference defensive lineman, so SMU wouldn’t want to overdo it, but Chtaman would surely bring added physicality to a running game that wants to be more downhill this season. Besides, a short-yardage backfield of Lavine — cowboy collard and all — and Chatman would be as throwback as it gets in college football. And that would be awesome.
One word to describe the position: homeostasis.
I think SMU has the chance to have one of the most explosive offenses in college football. Quarterback Preston Stone and a deep receiving corps showed that in spring and during the spring game. SMU the last few years has shown that under both Lashlee and former head coach Sonny Dykes. There have been points, however, when the explosiveness runs cold. In those moments, I think SMU will need a more physical running game to bring it back to its standard. Back to a state of homeostasis.