By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Kendrick Harris is fully capable of turning the Solon running back duties into a one-man job.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Harris proved that last fall, rushing for a team-high 883 yards and 12 touchdowns on his way to all-district honors.

Harris is prepared to be the guy in the Solon backfield again this season but doesn’t feel the pressure of manning the spot alone.

“We have two juniors coming in (Coal) Flansburg and (Adam) Bock that are really good and Spencer (Wegmann) will carry the ball too,” Harris said. “We have a lot of guys that can be pretty dang good.”

Harris was pretty dang good himself last season in a solo role as the Spartans lead back.

He posted three 100-yard games and averaged 4.7 yards per carry while logging a team-high 189 carries.

The 189 carries for Harris last season were 12 more than everyone else on the team combined.

Harris will be the lead back but veteran coach Kevin Miller expects it to be a more balanced rushing attack behind Harris.

“I think we are going to have great depth at the running back position I really do,” Miller said. “We can use them in a variety of ways, whether they are fullbacks, I backs. slot backs. I feel like they are versatile enough athletes and they run well enough and catch the ball well enough we can utilize them in different ways.”

Flansburg and Wegmann entered camp locked in a battle with sophomore Cam Miller for the starting quarterback spot.

Whoever isn’t under center will see some time in a Spartan backfield which will feature an array of skill sets.

Flansburg and Bock are both over 210 pounds and got their feet wet at the varsity level last season.

Bock carried six times for 41 yards and Flansburg had 14 carries for 101 yards and a score.

The duo gives the Spartans plenty of pop as ball carriers or lead blockers.

“Kendrick can make a lot of plays but if he needs a breather we can give the ball to three, four or five other guys,” Spencer Wegmann said. “There are a lot of options there.”

Wegmann is a wildcard in the backfield who will be involved in the Spartan run game either as a running back or quarterback.

Together the group should help Solon improve on the 172 rushing yards it averaged per game last season.

“We can run it up the middle down people’s throats or we can run it outside,” Harris said. “We have a lot of different ways to run the ball with our players and we have great chemistry and I think we can do great things.

Solon Running Backs

The Starter: Senior Kendrick Harris has two years of varsity experience and rushed for 883 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

Key Players: Juniors Coal Flansburg and Adam Bock combined to rush 20 times for 142 yards mostly in mop-up duty last season but are expected to take on much larger roles this fall.

Statworthy: Solon averaged 5.7 yards per carry and 202 rushing yards a game in nine wins and rushed for an average of 38 yards on 1.6 per carry in two losses.

Why it’s a strength: Harris is an all-district back with two years of varsity experience and better than 1,000 career yards under his belt.

A powerful downhill runner, Harris is the smallest of three backs in the Spartan backfield with Flansburg and Bock both over 210 pounds.