Running back Cole Mueller is recovered from a broken left leg and will be part of a backfield that head coach Brock Spack features “three No. 1s.” (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
A powerful running game has been a hallmark of Brock Spack’s 15-year tenure at Illinois State.
Last season, however, a bevy of injuries – including to lead back Cole Mueller in the season opener — had the Redbirds stuck in neutral.
ISU (6-5 last season) rushed for 1,238 yards as a team, its lowest total since Spack’s first season in Normal in 2009. The Redbirds ranked 98th in rushing offense in FCS last fall and their 3.24 yards-per-carry average was the fourth-lowest output in the country.
“We’ve a good running game for awhile here but we lost our best back on the third carry of the season,” Spack said Tuesday during the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s virtual media day. “We weren’t quite as good at the backup position as we thought we were. We retooled that, and I really like where we’re at.”
Mueller, who broke his left leg in the season opener at Wisconsin last fall is now “100% and looked really good at the end of spring.” He rushed for a team-high 977 yards in 2021.
Last season’s leading rusher Wenkers Wright, who also dealt with injuries, compiled 625 yards. That was the lowest total for an ISU leading rusher since 2009.
Along with Mueller and Wright, ISU added Northern Illinois transfer Mason Blakemore, who played high school football in downstate Centralia.
“I think we’re much, much better there,” said Spack, whose team played without eight injured offensive starters at times last fall. “We think we have three No. 1s. That’s unusual.”
In two years at NIU, Blakemore had 40 carries, two of which went for touchdowns.
Spack said ISU is more likely this fall to share the load in the run game.
“It will be more of rotating backs and taking some stress off of Cole,” he said.
New additions on the offensive line, including former Stony Brook center Larry Ross, should also make a difference.
“We’ve made a lot of improvement on our offensive line, with transfers and younger guys getting better,” Spack said.
Who’s the new Jack?
Zeke Vandenburgh’s breakout season at Jack linebacker in ISU’s defense last fall led him to the Buck Buchanan Award as the best defensive player in FCS.
The new Jack in ISU’s system is “still a work in progress,” Spack said.
Senior Jalan Gaines, whose career began at NCAA Division III Dubuque University in Iowa, played the role against Indiana State last season when Vandenburgh was injured.
Spack also mentioned 6-foot-6 sophomore Zion Granville, a Texas native, as a player with potential to contribute.
“I’m not sure they’ll be Zeke Vandenburgh right away, but you never know,” he said. “Zeke wasn’t a world beat when he first started there, but he turned into one. We hope to have another one.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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