This year's UTRGV running backs group comes into year two of spring ball with a hunger to compete and a crave for knowledge. Those characteristics are what departed graduate student Nathan Denney left behind at the position.

"He was competitive, so very competitive," redshirt freshman running back TJ Dement said. "It definitely pushed each one of us to be a lot better and compete with ourselves and with each other."

"It's really in the film room," UTRGV redshirt freshman running back Fabian Garcia added. "In the film room, he was always focused and he had questions he would ask and would be like questioning, why this why that, and then he would understand it and that's what I felt I've been doing too."

Another big factor that will benefit the ground game in 2026 is the return of 12 offensive linemen. Running backs coach Marco Regalado says that will open up more of the offensive playbook.

"Like we also in the backfield got to get a good feel of how they pull and how they do certain things and that again speaking on our timing and tempo and patience, so having a lot of those same pieces back it's been good for the guys," Regalado said.

Regalado added that the team is awaiting the arrival of two more running backs. One of them Malachi Lane who last played at LSU.

"Until August 28th whenever our first game is, we're not going to know who the guy is until then, so everyday those guys are competing and the depth chart is constantly changing," Regalado said.

Another wave of competition is something this current group already embraces.

"The running back room right now everyone is doing well and right now it's a competitive room," Garcia said.