The battle in the backfield is heating up. All four of the running backs in line for playing time (Christian Ramirez, Jonathan Franklin, Derrick Coleman and Milton Knox) have done well in camp, but Ramirez has been hampered by that hamstring.
The injury hasn’t hurt Ramirez, but at the same time it’s given the other three guys more time and carries to impress coaches. Here’s what Rick Neuheisel expects from Ramirez in the scrimmage:
“(Ramirez) has got to play tomorrow, and he’s got to play significant,” Neuheisel said. “Significant for me is we’ve got four backs. If we get somewhere between 80-90 plays, I hope he can get somewhere around 10 plays.”
Asked if not getting as much work in has hurt him, Neuheisel said no….but….
“It hasn’t hurt him but we can’t sit here and put a blind eye to the way the other kids are running,” Neuheisel said. “I think he’s eager to get going, and hopefully, we’ll get christian rolling tomorrow night.”
The question mark with Franklin and Knox is blocking.