Who is going to play quarterback for the Hokies in 2016? That was probably the biggest question of the spring, and it will continue to be the biggest question of the summer. I believe there are two more important questions, however: how many carries will Virginia Tech’s running backs get, and how many yards will they accumulate?

Whoever the Hokies choose to play at quarterback will be adjusting to a new offense, and all of his receiving targets will be adjusting as well. It would naturally be beneficial to be able to lean on a strong running game while Virginia Tech’s passing game makes the adjustment slowly over the course of the season.

Let me throw some numbers at you, going all the way back to 2008. The numbers are the combined stats of all running backs and fullbacks on each team.

2008: 399 carries, 1630 yards, 14 touchdowns
2009: 431 carries, 2330 yards, 27 touchdowns
2010: 403 carries, 2101 yards, 25 touchdowns
2011: 412 carries, 2139 yards, 15 touchdowns
2012: 296 carries, 1259 yards, 9 touchdowns
2013: 296 carries, 1177 yards, 13 touchdowns
2014: 366 carries, 1622 yards, 10 touchdowns
2015: 369 carries, 1748 yards, 13 touchdowns

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