By Will Vandervort.

When the doctors came in and informed Zac Brooks that his 2014 season was over before it even started, the Clemson running back could do nothing but laugh at the situation.

“I didn’t really know what to say,” the junior said. “I was lost for words, but I have a great support system with my family and my coaches. I just kept my head up and everything was fine.”

Brooks’ season came to a sudden end when he broke his foot just a few days before fall camp came to a close. It was a major setback, especially considering, up to that point, he had earned the right to be the Tigers’ starter in Athens, Ga. – the site of last year’s season opener.

After a long spring and summer battle with former running back D.J. Howard, Brooks worked his way to the top of the depth chart and was taking a good majority of the first-team reps when he broke his foot.

“When you put so much work in throughout a whole year and summer and then you can’t play, that is a dagger for anybody,” he said. “The injury was not as much the issue as knowing that all the hard work that I put in, it was not really going to pay off for the season that I wanted to have.”

It did not pay off for Clemson either. The Tigers did not find their true starter at running back until Wayne Gallman emerged with back-to-back 100-yard efforts against Syracuse and Wake Forest – that did not happen until games eight and nine.

Gallman finished the season with 769 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Tigers. But he was the fourth option. Clemson started the season with Howard and when he did not pan out C.J. Davidson got the job, but then Adam Choice broke through after Davidson had fumble issues, which ultimately led to Gallman taking control when Choice tore his ACL at Boston College.

With the exception of Howard, the Tigers return four running backs that have started at least one game and then there is Tyshon Dye, who rushed for 124 yards and scored two touchdowns against Georgia State last season.

When Dye was recruited to Clemson, he was brought in to be the future of the running game. Co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, who is also the running backs coach, says Dye is nearly back to being the running back they recruited before a back injury and a torn achilles derailed his first two seasons in Tigertown.

“You are starting to see what everybody was expecting to see coming out of high school – the big back that is explosive and is great out of the backfield,” Elliott said. “The big thing for him was having an opportunity to get healthy so you are seeing that.”

It’s also a big thing for Brooks, who has 365 career rushing yards and two touchdowns to go along with nine receptions for 92 yards and another touchdown.

“I just want to pick back where I left off,” Brooks said. “I had created a habit (of working) that I need to get back into, but I’m always hungry.

“I’m not quite as fast, but I will be back soon,” he continued. “I just have to keep working on my flexing. I will be alright soon.”

Brooks is confident all his hard work to get back on the field will pay off this season, from what Elliott has seen so far this spring he believes that to be the case as well.

“He is pushing,” the Clemson coach said. “You are starting to see some of the same flashes you saw right before he got hurt.”