Who's Louisville's fastest running back? A tough question – and a good problem to have

At some point during the offseason, Louisville’s running backs will have to race to finally determine who’s the fastest.

During the spring Jawhar Jordan said it was him. But during the fall, Maurice Turner and Isaac Guerendo gave the nod to Guerendo when size is factored into the equation.

“He's the heaviest out to all of us and he actually keeps up with us, me and Jawhar,” Turner said of Guerendo, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound transfer from Wisconsin.

U of L running backs coach Chris Barclay can see it. He compared Guerendo’s quickness to an 18-wheel truck on the highway “putting the pedal to the metal.”

“He's big man in a sense of it's a lot of velocity,” Barclay said. “You've got to make your mind up and be a grown man to tackle him.”

They may not know who's the fastest. But one thing is clear – Louisville's diverse group of running backs will use their speed and versatility as pass catchers to torch opposing defenses this season.

Turner may have picked Guerendo, but he could make a case for himself as well. The sophomore from Georgia has been showing off his speed for years.

Before he arrived at Louisville last year, Turner raced Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, one of the fastest players in the NFL, during a football camp. He kept up with Hill stride for stride before receiving an autographed pair of Hill’s cleats.

A year later during a recent fall camp practice, Turner found a hole in the defensive line and burst through the middle for what would’ve been a touchdown, throwing up the peace sign while running down the field.

Now, he’s set to take the next step in his progression after a freshman season that started with his name missing from the depth chart but ended with him serving as Jordan's backup during the Fenway Bowl win over Cincinnati. The pair combined for 275 rushing yards in the game.

Jordan, a redshirt junior, has developed as a mentor to Turner as the two built a bond last season. After a practice on Aug. 5, they stuck around for more than 20 minutes taking part in footwork drills.

“He teaches me a lot of things,” Turner said of Jordan, who’s been named to the Paul Hornung Award and Doak Walker Award watch lists. “I work a lot of moves, learning from Jawhar and spending time together with him and other running backs off the field. I feel like that's a big priority for us. We stretch together, get treatment together. We hang out together outside of football, just spending time with each other.”

Having speed is one thing, but being an impactful runner is another. Barclay wants each back to run with velocity through the line of scrimmage. That's where he’s seen the most growth from the group from the start of spring until now, he said recently.

“We can always gain yards, especially if you got a big back like Isaac, who's 220 (pounds),” Barclay said. “When he hits it and he's bursting, he's going to feel like he's 240 on contact. Even (Jordan) and whatever weight he is, I mean, he's bursting, it's gonna feel like 205 in there. It's critical that we can always carry good velocity through the line, make sure we're getting positive yards.”

A running back in a Jeff Brohm offense has to have the ability to make catches out of the backfield as well. And while Turner can lean on his experience playing wide receiver for Coffee (Georgia) High School in Georgia and Jordan has made positive strides over the past four months, Guerendo is still getting used to that part of the offense.

It’s much different than the offense he played under at Wisconsin, built around a nearly 50-50 split between runs and passes. In his final season with the Badgers, Guerendo had 115 yards and a touchdown on 17 receptions in addition to 385 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 64 carries.

“I think our passing game complements our run game a lot. We make plays in the pass game, it just opens up lanes,” Guerendo said. “The spring helped me a lot being able to catch several passes, probably more passes than I have in a very long time. ... It built my confidence in that area, so going into the fall, I was a lot more confident.”

Barclay laughed when asked if he'd take part in a potential footrace – after all, he set school records years ago as a running back at Wake Forest after his time at Louisville's Male High School.

He'll leave the title of fastest running back to his current players. He's just happy to have plenty of speed among the Cardinals.

“That's a neat thing is I feel like there's so many different types of backs,” Barclay said. “But they all have juice, and in this game, speed kills.”

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Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Running backs impress with speed during fall camp