The NC State football running back room is in a very familiar position entering the 2018 season. For the second consecutive fall camp, the team must replace a 1,000-plus yard rusher, with Nyheim Hines heading to the NFL following a standout junior season.
The Pack has several options to fill that void, however. First among them is senior Reggie Gallaspy, a four-year player getting his first shot to be NC State’s bell cow.
“It’s the same as last year,” Gallaspy said. “Everybody in the room is grinding, doing everything they can to step up and take that position. I’m doing everything I can to do the same as well. Same thing I did last year. Pretty much just trying to grab everyone else and bring them with me so when stuff hits the fan we can get through the tough situations. And for years we can just have that tradition of running backs getting 1,000 yards.”
For three years, Gallaspy has served in a backup role for NC State. First to Matt Dayes and, last year, to Hines, who won the competition to replace Dayes as NC State’s feature back. Gallaspy, a true team player, was happy to play whatever role the Pack needed him to, and rushed for 505 yards and seven touchdowns on 117 carries in that role last year.
While he’s excited to finally have his shot at being the unquestioned starter, that doesn’t mean his role switch will change the way he prepares and works.
“I was behind those guys,” Gallaspy said. “My sophomore year of high school I was behind a good running back. He did his thing and I did my thing. It didn’t really hurt me; it didn’t really pressure me that bad. When my opportunity came I just tried to do whatever I could to help the team win. Now the tables have turned. Now it’s my turn to be the workhorse and do whatever I need to do to help the offense win. It’s the same mindset, same strain, same finish. Nothing different.”
Gallaspy’s preparedness has not gone unnoticed by the Wolfpack coaching staff. Head coach Dave Doeren thinks Gallaspy will be at his best in year four, and is confident in his senior running back to help lead the team on and off the field.
“I think this is the best place he’s been physically and mentally,” Doeren said. “Having a child a couple years ago and all the things that can put on a player’s life. Having a couple injuries. I just think he’s in a good place. He understands what’s at stake. The stakes are higher when you have a child, obviously. I’m excited about what he’s done. He’s just a senior that’s playing like a senior.”
It’s that last point Doeren made that has really grown Gallaspy’s leadership skills. His daughter will soon turn two, and Gallaspy has been able to use what he’s learned about fatherhood to help him be a better leader for the Wolfpack’s running backs.
“It’s a great thing for me,” Gallaspy said. “Being able to take the things that I learned from being a father and apply them to the field and things of that nature, trying to help the young guys in that room. I tried to say yesterday, I’m not trying to be these guys’ father or anything. I’m trying to get them another role model here on campus and things of that nature. Going home, spending time with her as well, helps take the stress off me. Being able to relax, clear my mind and being able to get back here with a clear mind.”
Gallaspy won’t be the only running back NC State relies on to replace Hines. The Wolfpack brings in a trio of young, speedy backs in true freshmen Ricky Person and Trent Pennix and redshirt freshman Nakia Robinson.
In addition to his role on the field, it will be on Gallaspy to help show these young rushers the way as they adjust to college football.
“[Gallaspy] brings three years of playing experience,” running backs coach Des Kitchings said. “Maturity. Toughness. That’s what he brings to the group. And the guys see that everyday at practice. He’s out there; he’s grinding. In every period, every drill. Finishing, whether it’s a run or a ball being thrown in the pass.”
Not even a week into fall camp, the teaching has begun for Gallaspy and the young backs, who are already starting to learn lessons from the backfield’s elder statesman.
“Reggie’s been a great role model,” Robinson said. “He observes us and he corrects us when we’re wrong. In practice right then and there when we do something wrong he corrects us on it. In film if we have questions, we ask; he’ll give us. He’s basically the dictionary to the offense in the running back room.”
While Gallaspy has helped the young running backs off the field, they’ll assist him on Saturdays. Every running back needs a backup who can come in as a “change of pace” to their style. For Gallaspy, that meant he served as the “ground and pound” between the tackles runner over the fast, creative Hines, or, as his teammates referred to it, “the thunder to Hines’ lightning’.
It will be on the freshmen runners to provide that quick, pass-catching element to the Wolfpack’s run game.
“I will fit right in,” Robinson said. “As you know, Reggie’s a bus. When he runs the ball powerfully, I can the guy to add on to that and get defenses to play different skill sets each back that comes in. Reggie’s a very powerful guy and I’m a quick, shifty guy, so I’m going to give defenses a lot of problems.”
That’s not to say Gallaspy can’t bring some of those same elements Hines brought to the field. Gallaspy no doubt brings a different style, but he also knows he’s capable of adding more elements to his game to make him a more complete runner.
“I feel like I can be a little versatile, even though I’m a bigger back,” Gallaspy said. “I still can catch the ball out of the backfield and things of that nature. I’m probably going to still try and work my way into doing routes out of the slot and stuff like that. Try to still basically do the same thing. But you know me. I’m going to try and do my thing, run between the tackles and get downhill. Run north and south, that’s just my playing style. But sometimes you’ve just got to still adjust and do other things as well.”
There’s no doubt NC State will miss Nyheim Hines this year. But as Gallaspy stated, 1,000-yard running backs are becoming somewhat of a tradition for the Wolfpack. With his talent, determination and experience, there’s no reason Gallaspy can’t join that list in 2018, and make sure the running game doesn’t miss a beat in the process.
