Harlem Berry and Caden Durham's blazing speed signals a potential LSU Tigers backfield resurgence.
The LSU Tigers will rely on their running back duo to step up next season, and the early returns from this offseason have been promising.
Coach Gary Scheffler of GOATA Movement shared a photograph of speed training results for the Tigers' running back room on Instagram. The two standouts, unsurprisingly, were Harlem Berry and Caden Durham.
Berry ran a blazing-fast 21.9 miles per hour, which was just at 98% of his top speed, meaning that there is still some room to go. Durham was at 101% of his top speed at 21.5, which is still very fast.
No one has doubted the talent that LSU has had in its running back room with these two. There's a reason that it was a priority to bring back both players despite an underwhelming year last year. The duo combined for fewer than 1000 rushing yards.
It's not too shocking that Lane Kiffin decided to go with his own running backs coach after the lack of production, but that wasn't the only issue. It was an overall result of multiple things going wrong on offense. The playcalling, preparation, development and offensive line help were all lacking.
As for this season, the offensive line will be a wait-and-see thing. It's going to be a room of mostly new players with Eric Wolford coming in from the Kentucky Wildcats to coach them.
Everything else, though, should be a massive improvement based on previous success. Kewan Lacy went from a three-star prospect who barely saw the field as a freshman with the Missouri Tigers to putting up 306 carries with 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns when working with the coaches that Kiffin brought over from the Ole Miss Rebels.
It will be exciting to see what they will be able to accomplish with the talents of Berry and Durham.
Berry was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, the top running back in the country. He was a full-on backup for the first half of his freshman campaign, and it led to lackluster production. He finished with 104 carries for 491 yards and two scores. He caught the ball eight times for 32 more yards.
Durham flashed as a freshman, but took a step back and looked a step slower as a sophomore. He had 111 carries for 505 yards and three scores to go with 16 catches for 91 yards last year.
Both of these players have plenty for this new LSU coaching staff to unlock.