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As Indiana entered 2021 offseason, a big priority was retooling the running back room.

The Hoosiers had lost Tim Baldwin and Sampson James to the transfer portal throughout the season putting a lot of strain on the running back depth. Then, at the end of the season, walk-ons who had stepped up in a big way Davion Ervin-Poindexter and Chris Childers entered the transfer portal. Leading rusher Stephen Carr graduated.

That left Indiana with just two scholarship runners on the roster, both true freshmen with very little in-game experience at the college level.

So, rebuilding that running back room was extremely important for Tom Allen and the rest of the offensive staff.

"Really wanted to rebuild our running back room, and Coach McCullough has done a tremendous job with that," IU head coach Tom Allen said.

Indiana's rushing attack in 2021 was non-existent. There was a 3.4 yard per carry average and only three games where the Hoosiers had a 100-yard rusher.

A week prior to the early signing period, Indiana had just one commitment from the running back position. That was four-star back Gi'Bran Payne.

"Really, really talented football player. Tremendous burst, love the compactness of his build. I love the acceleration he shows on film," Allen said of Payne. "Needed to get more of that in our running back room, and we've done that. He's a huge part of that, huge part of our future."

Despite securing a commitment from a talented runner and offensive weapon like Payne, Allen knew he needed to combine the young talent he had on the roster with experienced players at the power-five level.

He then went out and secured two commitments from Auburn running back Shaun Shivers and North Carolina back Josh Henderson.

Over his career at Auburn, Shivers saw action in 43 games and ran for 1,020 yards and eight touchdowns. His best season came as a freshman when he totaled 371 yards.

As his career went on, he settled into a pass catching role out of the backfield. This season he had 22 catches for 163 yards and one touchdown.

"He's a talented young man," Allen said. "He played both sports and he ran track at Auburn, as well. Very, very fast football player, very, very powerful football player, and gives us something in that room, a different level of pop that we need."

It was a quick turnaround after Shivers committed as IU landed Henderson just a day after Shivers.

Henderson appeared in 23 games in his UNC career, totaling 209 rushing yards on 41 carries (5.1 yards per carry) and 10 receiving yards on three catches. As a freshman at UNC, he rushed for a career-high 98 yards on 13 carries against Mercer.

While Henderson is another weapon in the backfield, it was more than just skill that made Tom Allen excited.

"Cares about school, high academic focus, tremendous character, leadership, toughness, fight, just the things we're looking for, guys that we know well that have coached him and worked with him and know what he brings to our football team," Allen added.

Heading into signing day, Indiana knew it would be bringing in at least three talented runners.

But, it was a late addition to the class when IU landed three-star rusher Jaylin Lucas.

"Tremendously talented athlete," Allen said. "Talk about a guy that makes plays in space, he is dynamic in space. In the return game, as well, as well as just get that guy the football, whether we hand it to him, throw it to him, catch it in the special teams game.

"But really a guy that I've had some say is maybe the most dynamic player in the country out of this class. We'll see with all that. But bottom line is I just know he's a high-character guy that's going to work. He's got a real good physical base to him even though he's not a big guy. He's extremely quick and fast, so he's got short-speed quickness and long speed, which is sometimes rare to find in that position, so it's awesome."

As a junior, Lucas put up 712 rushing yards on 86 carries and 13 touchdowns. He also had 13 catches for 174 yards. His ability to be that dynamic athlete out of the backfield is something IU has been missing with recent backs.

Indiana now has a very solid group of youngsters mixed in with experienced runners at the college level. It's a running back room that should have all of the tools to succeed next season and a group that will be heavily involved in the offensive attack.

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