This off-season, RealDawg.com is looking at each position and its players and do our best to project their upcoming season.  We’re calling it our Prospectus Series.

In this series, just like any stock’s prospectus, we’ll look at the high end and the low end of expectations.

Had we done this last season on the Washington passing game we’d have been off the mark even with our best projection.  Nobody in their right mind would have projected this:

We begin the series by looking at the running back position.

Surprisingly, despite emptying out much of the running back room, the position group had a great first season under RB Coach Lee Marks.

Eneka Megwa, Caleb Berry, and Jay’Veon Sunday all transferred out without contributing.  Additionally, Aaron Dumas transferred in then out without playing a snap.

In what was a very under-the-radar acquisition, Wayne Taulapapa transferred in from Virginia.  He nearly matched his 3-year output with the Cavaliers with 1,112 yards from scrimmage and 12 total TDs.

In this RB Position Prospectus, it’s important to note his late-season productivity where he racked up as the Huskies ripped off 7 consecutive wins to close out the season.

As teams truly feared Michael Penix’s left arm, his right-hand guy Taulapapa averaged an incredible 341 rushing yards on 34 carries for an incredible 10.02 yards PER CARRY over the final 3 games of his Husky career.  Early on in the season, the DeBoer tried splitting his touches between receiving and rushing, but

This past winter Washington looked to strike gold again and signed Daniyel Ngata and Dillon Johnson.  The advantage of having both on campus is that Washington will have the ability to integrate each player much earlier than was possible with the summer addition of Wayne Taulapapa.

Gone is the “feed the hot hand RB” philosophy where one back is given the majority of the carries.  What’s taken its place or where they’re headed scheme-wise is with a player who can run, catch, and pass block, and teams are forced to “defend each and every blade of grass”.

Holdover, Cam Davis has proven himself to be a violent runner, but as we saw in Eugene, Oregon last year he can slither and power his way into the end zone on short-yardage situations.   He’s also progressing in pass protection and as a receiver.  Given that, with all of the departures from the Jimmy Lake power run game, Davis stuck around, the coaches value his upside.

Before limping off early in Spring Football, Dillon Johnson was probably generating the most buzz—especially on a national level.  He was widely regarded as one of the best pass-catching/pass-blocking backs available.  Fully healthy, the 6-0, 215-pound Mississippi State transfer will be a problem for defenses.  We’re holding off on projections on Johnson until his status is known.

Another RB transfer, Daniyel Ngata from Arizona State, is smaller than Johnson at 5-9 and 187, but he also presents different problems for defenses.

Another holdover, Sam Adams II, chose to stay home saying that there was never a thought of leaving.  His patience appears to be on the verge of paying off.

Richard Newton decided to stay on at Washington, as well.  When healthy, the senior RB was a contributor who seemed to be ready to break out.  He missed a few practices this spring.

Nebraska-transfer Will Nixon had a terrific spring and will be a contributor, as well.

Finally, there’s true freshman, Tybo Rogers.  On his first touch in spring was eye-opening.  A handoff right up the middle and he was gone.  It wasn’t his just his first step, he was a top speed in the blink of an eye.  He raised every eyebrow in the building.

For each of the players listed above, we will have a Player Prospectus.

However, after a slow start, when compared to the end of the season, once the offense truly found itself, constant production resulted.

In fact, the nation’s number 7 scoring offense, scored more TDs on the ground than through the air.

With that in mind, and the experience of Johnson and Ngata, it’s if you were buying stock in Washington’s running game, now would be the time.

At this point, a lot of people will be putting their money on the Penix-led passing attack.  Teams got a big dose of that last year and will have studied ways of stopping it so adding a couple of backs who can give teams more sectors of the field to defend expect that running backs to become more prominent.

Tomorrow, we’ll begin to look at each of the running backs.