By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Running back C.J. Davidson is poised to have a breakout season this year, and in doing so the former track athlete hopes to shed his “track athlete playing football” label in the process. The junior wants to be recognized as a football player that has benefited from his experience with running.

“I’m a football player now, and I’ve been a football player,” he said. “Everybody is always talking about how I came from the track and I came off the street, but I played football in high school and that’s something that I wanted to do.”

Throughout the spring and summer sessions, Clemson’s running backs have been referred to as working as a committee rather than having one go-to back. D.J. Howard and Zac Brooks then broke free from the pack in camp as they both shared first team reps, while Davidson and Wayne worked exclusively with the second and third teams.

But Brooks’ season came to a disappointing end last week when he stepped on defensive end Vic Beasley’s foot and tore a ligament in his own.

With the loss of Brooks, Howard is now the sole leader and veteran starting running back with Davidson listed as one of the primary backups, but he wants to be more than just a backup.

Davidson will be one to watch this season, as he has used his time in the off-season and fall camp to mentally and physically prepare himself to step up. He has the speed and talent, but he has grown and become more comfortable in the system. He has also developed the mentality he has to work hard to prove he is more than just a fast running back and to overcompensate with being a more aggressive and well-rounded player.

He has adopted a sort of Napoleon complex from being underestimated, and that may help him have a competitive edge this season.

“There’s so much more to it that I didn’t understand last year, and I really see what experience does and I can say that I am a lot more comfortable in the system,” Davidson said.

Not only will Davidson’s speed and aggressive mentality help at running back, he will also contribute greatly with kickoff returns. Davidson hopes to improve in that area and make the big plays that Clemson needs alongside T.J. Green this season.

It is no secret that there are doubts about the Clemson offense, but Davidson is using that as the motivation to make himself a better player. He mentioned leadership on the offense will be a crucial part of the offenses success this season.

“I feel like we have a lot to prove,” Davidson said. “That comes from people always saying what we don’t have instead of what we do have, and we have a lot. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and just capitalizing on our efforts.“