Post-Spring Review | Running Back
The Minutemen have a few new backs and at least a couple should play major roles in 2026.
There may not be a clear-cut RB1 at UMass yet, but that may not be a bad thing.
What the Minutemen do appear to have now is a deeper and more versatile running back room.
A couple of young returners in Da’Marion Alberic and Elijah Faulkner have flashed intriguing ability throughout their time in Amherst while transfer additions Jordan Washington and Justin Williams-Thomas bring experience and physical maturity.
Washington may ultimately become the most important piece of the group.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound transfer from Murray State missed the spring with an injury, but internally there’s clear excitement surrounding what he could eventually bring once he returns.
“I’m really excited about him,” Minuteman Command was told this spring. “I think he’s going to be a guy.”
As a redshirt freshman at Murray State in 2025, the Helena, Ala., native rushed for 340 yards and three touchdowns while adding 22 catches for 206 yards and another score through the air.
The expectation internally is that combination of size, physicality and pass-catching ability should translate well once he returns to the field. Exactly when that return happens remains somewhat unclear, but when Washington is back, there’s a strong belief he will give the position a serious jolt.
In the meantime, Williams-Thomas took advantage of the additional opportunities created by Washington’s absence and may have helped himself as much as anybody offensively during the spring.
The 6-foot, 210-pound veteran looked capable of handling lead-back responsibilities while bringing a steady presence to a relatively young room.
One source even compared his role to what Rocko Griffin brought to the offense a year ago.
Williams-Thomas’ path to Amherst has also been unusual. The Dallas, Ga., native began his career at Tennessee before stops at Cal and Marshall, where he rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns last season while averaging 5.6 yards per carry.
Even with all that experience, Williams-Thomas still has two years of eligibility remaining.
Among the returners, Alberic may possess the most pure explosiveness in the room.
The redshirt sophomore from Atlantic High School in Florida showed flashes throughout the spring of the same burst and acceleration that made him a coveted recruit coming out of high school.
Faulkner, meanwhile, continued showing many of the same traits that allowed him to emerge as a reliable rotational piece as a freshman in 2025.
The Pittsburgh native appeared in all 12 games last season and carried that momentum into the spring while showing toughness and consistency between the tackles.
There’s also additional young talent arriving this summer in freshmen TK Davis and Justin Lewis.
Davis rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a senior at Archbishop Carroll in Washington, D.C., while Lewis arrives from powerhouse Mater Dei after previously rushing for more than 1,300 yards as a junior at Thousand Oaks before transferring for his senior season.
Overall, this room feels like it has a higher ceiling than it did last year, especially if sources are right in what they believe Washington will bring.
We’re not sure anybody will separate themselves as a true bell cow, at least not until Washington has his say, but that isn’t nearly as important in this era of college football as it’s been in the past.
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No matter how well these RBs play, this team will never have success because the head coach is pitiful.