By Will Vandervort.
Before the spring even got started, Clemson already took a hit at running back when Tyshon Dye tore his Achilles heel in late February. Then, just a week before the Tigers were going to take the field in the season-opener in Athens, Ga., Zac Brooks, who was in the running to be Clemson starting running back was lost for the year with a broken foot.
It took six games before the running game recovered but true freshman Adam Choice seized control after rushing for 61 yards on 16 carries, including 41 yards on the final drive, against Louisville’s nationally ranked defense.
But in the first quarter against Boston College, while running “The Wildcat,” Choice went down with a torn ACL and was done for the season.
But as head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Chad Morris often say, “It’s next man up.”
That next guy up, in this case, is Wayne Gallman, who in the Tigers’ win over Syracuse on Oct. 25, rushed for 101 yards on 28 carries as he became the first Clemson running back this year to go over the 100-yard mark.
Gallman, who is from Loganville, Ga., carried the ball 22 times for 84 yards in the second half when the Tigers needed them most.
“I thought Wayne did a much better job than he did the week before in being able to set up his blocks,” Morris said. “Wayne is so violent in his running and so fast, everything he does is full speed.”
The 19th-ranked Tigers, who will visit Wake Forest on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, N.C., hope Gallman is the answer that will help jump start a running game that ranks 90th in the country at 140.8 yards per game.
Gallman has played in all eight games for Clemson (6-2, 5-1 ACC) to this point and started four of those. He leads the Tigers with 299 yards and only one rushing touchdown, but Morris feels the light bulb has come on for his talented freshman and he is starting to understand the offense a little more each week.
The biggest adjustment was learning to be patient in the Tigers’ zone blocking schemes.
“The average person will say that (going too fast) is a great thing, but when you are running a zone and you have to set your blocks up you have to be able to see the down linemen and be able to make the cut off the down linemen. You can’t be full speed. You have to have a feel for it,” Morris said.
Gallman struggled with that against Georgia, Florida State and North Carolina, but it started coming together for him against NC State. In the Tigers’ 41-0 victory, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound back rushed for 58 yards on 13 carries. He followed that up with a 39-yard effort against Boston College, which included a 17-yard scamper for a score – the first touchdown of his career.
Then came last week’s 101-yard performance against Syracuse – a much needed one after Choice’s injury and the fumble issues the Tigers are having with C.J. Davidson. The junior fumbled the ball inside the 10-yard line when he had a wide open path to the end zone on a third-and-short pitch play to the right side.
Davidson also fumbled the ball away inside the Florida State 20 with less than 90 seconds to play as the Tigers were setting up for a game-winning field goal. Clemson eventually lost the game in overtime, 23-17.
“I thought C.J. ran really hard,” Morris said. “We had to have a drive the other night and he did some really good things running the ball, it is just unfortunate – he walks into the end zone. He took his eye off the ball.
“He was as sick as anybody. It is just unfortunate for him in that situation. But he is going to keep providing and he will provide us a punch in there as well.”
Gallman started the second half against Syracuse and did nothing but prove he deserved to be on the field.
“I thought he did a real good job this past week of slowing down, just a little bit, and knowing when to hit it and knowing when to break it front and when to break it back door,” Morris said. “We are really intrigued about what we see in Wayne.”
The Tigers just hope they continue to see more of it.