Jalen Holston (RB, #13) came on strong late last season, and if this year’s team is going to be better, I think he needs to be a workhorse, do-everything back like we’ve seen from Sam Rogers and Steven Peoples. I don’t have confidence that last year’s other runners can be primary backs, and I don’t trust the more robust players behind them to have a full sense of the playbook. Holston doesn’t excel at any one thing, but he’s got a nice blend of traits that can make him a versatile player if everything comes together for him.

The first thing that jumps out about Holston is that he likes hitting people. He’s not built like a bowling ball, and he’s not just powering over people, but his game is about impact more than wiggle. This play isn’t flashy, but it shows what I’m talking about:

It’s the end of the half, and Holston’s called on to stick his nose in a mess on three straight snaps. The whole stadium is expecting a tailback run, and the play calling doesn’t disappoint. There’s a lot of flash on this play, including an unblocked defender, but I’m thinking it’s unlikely Tech calls a zone-triple with a pitch element to run out the clock (but if they did, I guess scared money don’t make money.) My feel is that this is a pseudo split-zone play, with the “optioned” end identified as a force player who has to respect the mesh and rocket action enough to give Holston a bit of room. Even with the window dressing, though, the primary rush lane is clogged. Holston trusts the play design has slowed down the end man, so he cuts right. A couple of bodies are there, but they’re slightly late and the Hokie runner drags them for a positive gain.

He doesn’t resort to dancing when he has a head of steam, either.  Here’s the long screen we looked at in the Darrisaw review:

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