Since he rushed for 101 yards against Syracuse on October 25, 2014, Wayne Gallman has been the guy for Clemson at running back. He went on to have two more 100-yard rushing games that season, including a career-high 191 yards against South Carolina.
In 2015, Gallman set the single-season rushing record at Clemson with 1,527 yards, while also going over the 100-yard mark a record nine times. He eclipsed the century mark five more times in 2016, while rushing for 1,133 yards and scoring 17 touchdowns in helping the Tigers win the national championship.
Overall, Gallman’s 3,429 career yards ranks fifth all-time in Clemson history, while his 34 rushing touchdowns rank third all-time. In the record 17 times he rushed for 100 or more yards in a game, the Tigers went 17-0.
What does all of this mean? It means Gallman is going to be hard to replace.
But Clemson has to replace him, nonetheless.
The Tigers return former five-star running back Tavien Feaster, Easley High School (S.C.) product C.J. Fuller and Adam Choice. Neither of the three has started a game at Clemson, and as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Tony Elliott has put it, it will be a wide open competition this spring.
Fuller finished the year as the No. 2 running back, rushing for 211 yards on 47 carries. He also caught seven passes for 62 yards and scored two touchdowns, both on wheel routes. The first came against the Gamecocks in the regular-season finale, and the other was a great over the shoulder catch against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Fuller’s ability to pass block, especially when Gallman got dinged up a couple of times played a big role on why he was the No. 2 guy at the end of the season and will probably be the reason he will begin the spring as the guy who will take the first snaps.
But none of that means he will be the starter. Fester moved up the depth chart before the end of the season as the coaches, especially Elliott, began to have more and more confidence in the freshman tailback.
Though he is the most explosive of the three, Feaster had more to learn as he was not asked to do as much in high school. However, he improved as the season went along and he got more opportunity as a result.
Feaster finished third on the team with 221 rushing yards, while averaging 6.0 yards per carry. He scored two touchdowns, including a 45-yard touchdown at Boston College.
As a freshman, Choice put himself in position to start before tearing his knee at Boston College in Game 7 of 2014. It has been a long road back for the Thomasville, Georgia native as he missed the next 21 games, including all of 2015. And though he returned in 2016, he did not seem as if he was the same runner he was before.
He averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and rushed for 158 yards. He also caught four passes for 38 more yards. After playing in each of the first seven games, Choice fell on the depth chart and played in just four games the rest of the season, all in mop up duty.
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