This is the second in a series of articles previewing the 2015 football season at Missouri S&T.  The daily stories will feature one position, or a set of positions, each weekday through August 6.  The stories will be available at 11 a.m., each day, with the exception of July 31 when it will be available following the release of the GLVC pre-season poll.

Today's story features the Miner running backs.

ROLLA, Mo. -- For much of the 2014 season, Missouri S&T had a tough time getting its running game untracked.  But on the days when the Miners were able to run the football, the offense had some of its better performances of the year as a whole.

The Miners ran for 123 yards or more in five games last year and won four of the games in which they did so, including the season finale against Lincoln when they posted a season-best 248 yards.   However, they did not win a game when the fell below that mark and averaged just 106.4 yards per game on the ground.

The top returning rusher for the Miners is Scott Hendricks (Kechi, Kan./Maize), who recorded the team's only two 100-yard performances a year ago.  Hendricks, who had both 100-yard efforts in S&T wins, ran for 370 yards at an average of 4.2 yards per carry to finish as the team's second-leading rusher behind Charles Bournes (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park), who will be redshirted for the 2015 campaign.

S&T also had two other veterans in the mix for significant playing time in Chris Kennard (Plano, Texas/Parish Episcopal), who ran for 179 yards in primarily a reserve role and Zenel Hudson (Bayshore, N.Y./Milford Academy), who suffered a season-ending injury early in the third game of the year after running for 105 in the first two weeks.  Hudson led the Miners in rushing in 2013 with 520 yards.

"Zenel is in great shape after coming off his injury last season," Fenwick said.  "We held him out of the spring a bit so he could come into fall camp healthy, but he is a strong, hard runner who can make people miss and really understands the scheme.

Another player who could figure into the equation at running back is sophomore Dalton Major (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara), who missed last season with an injury but did see playing time as a true freshman in 2014.

"Dalton was the player who really surprised us," Fenwick said.  "He looked phenomenal in the spring.  He's strong and deceptively fast and is another player who understands the scheme well.  Dalton is a very good all-around back who also catches the ball well and does a good job in protections."

DeSoto Dickson (Florissant, Mo./Trinity Catholic), who battled injury issues of his own last season, also figures to compete for a role along with incoming freshman D'Luis West (Troup, Texas/Troup), who ran for more than 1,400 yards in his senior year of high school in Troup, Texas.|

"What we have a lot of depth and a lot of different styles, so it should be interesting competition," Fenwick said.

2015 MISSOURI S&T FOOTBALL PREVIEW SERIES
July 27 – Quarterbacks
July 28 – Running Backs
July 29 – Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
July 30 – Offensive Line
July 31 – GLVC Media Day/Pre-Season Poll
August 3 – Defensive Line
August 4 – Linebackers
August 5 – Defensive Backs
August 6 – Special Teams