Can Mizzou’s ground attack be effective without Josey?

Before suffering a season ending knee injury, Mizzou’s Henry Josey was on pace to be one of the top running backs in the country. Without him, the Tigers will look to the combined efforts of senior De’Vion Moore and junior Kendial Lawrence to supplement the much needed boost from the ground game. Here is an in-depth look at each back.

De’Vion Moore, 5 foot 8, 195 pounds

Moore was slated as the second string running back before suffering a high ankle sprain against Arizona State in the second game of the season that sidelined him for the next three games, allowing Josey to take his spot atop the depth chart. Like Josey, Moore relies more on quickness and elusiveness rather than size and power to pick up yardage. Though he has battled injuries, he was Mizzou’s leading rusher last year over both Josey and Lawrence, and is among the most experienced players on the Tiger offense. Thanks to his injury, Moore has had a very unimpressive season, averaging only 2.6 yards per carry. Then again, he only has 15 carries on the season. However, Moore averages almost five yards per carry for his career and rushed for eight touchdowns last season. He does not have the speed Lawrence does, so he will not take the bulk of the carries, but he is a solid number two option and is a strong receiver out of the backfield. He averages 7 yards per catch. With only two games remaining, Moore is looking forward to closing his regular season career on a high note. Against Kansas last season, Moore made the most of his limited carries by scoring two of Mizzou’s five touchdowns. Expect him to be the featured goal line back again against the Jayhawks this season. The biggest knock against Moore is his speed compared to Lawrence and Josey. Though he is certainly not slow, he is the slowest runner of the three, and does little to compensate for it with his size. Though we will likely be used in many goal line situations, he is not as effective as a grind-it-out, tough-yard back. Mizzou will still be hard pressed to run the ball inside the five.

Kendial Lawrence, 5 foot 9, 190 pounds

Lawrence entered the season as the premier back in Mizzou’s three-pronged attack, but broke his leg and was forced to miss three games. However, after Josey went down against Texas Lawrence picked up the slack in a big way, rushing for over 100 yards and a touchdown. Lawrence has the same build and running style as Josey, but his 40 yard dash time (4.4) is actually slightly better than Josey’s (4.49) which helped give him the edge in spring and early fall workouts. Lawrence showed against the Texas rushing defense, which only allowed 28 total rushing yards in the two weeks prior to facing Mizzou, that he has not lost the maneuverability that gained him his starting spot. With the quality defenses behind them, expect the Tigers to be even better in their blocking schemes, allowing amplified success for Lawrence out of the backfield. In a losing effort against the Texas Tech defense a year ago, he posted 96 yards on just 6 carries while splitting time with both Josey and Moore. As the featured back handling most of the rushing load, expect even more production from him. Like his fellow Mizzou backs, Lawrence lacks the size necessary to be effective on the goal line, as evidenced by Mizzou’s failure to score a touchdown from Texas’ one-yard line late in the game on Nov. 12. He also does not give Mizzou the receiving threat Josey did. Josey was averaging over nine yards per catch, forcing defenses to honor him on third down. Lawrence is a viable receiving threat, but only has six catches on the season, averaging six yards per catch. But that number is inflated. Remove a 20-yard catch against Texas, and he averages less than four yards per catch.