BUFFALO, N.Y. — Barring an injury or a spectacular performance from a backup, UB's starting running back will either be Johnathan Hawkins or Emmanuel Reed. The same backs battled for last year's starting spot, with Hawkins winning the competition and starting the first three games. A shoulder injury ended his season, and Reed took over, starting the last nine games of the year.

"It definitely hurts, but that's the game of football," says Hawkins, who says his shoulder is 100 percent healed. "It's physical. We know what we're getting ourselves into. You just have to take care as best as you can when it happens, and get back out there."

"Coach [Leipold] always says 'you never know.' Next man always up," says Reed, who totaled just seven carries before last season. "I think it was by the way that I practiced that I did expect it to happen."

Head Coach Lance Leipold says the Bulls have a good problem -- both backs bring a lot to the table.

"I think Emmanuel's got that quickness. He's a little shorter in stature, so he's got that short little burst," he says. "Make you miss in space. Johnathan's one of our more versatile running backs. We can split him out, run pass patterns with him." 

Regardless of who wins the starting job, the other back will get a lot of playing time anyway. Coach Leipold says he wants the Bulls to go running-back-by-committee this year for a number of reasons.

"Those guys take a lot of hits throughout their careers, let alone in a season. Having guys healthy and ready to go in rotation is very important. You want guys fresh late in the game, when you need whoever that is," he says.

Hawkins and Reed agree with Leipold's assessment.

"I'm totally cool with that. I'm a team player. I feel like our whole backfield are team players," says Hawkins. "We all really push each other in practice every day. We have good chemistry."

"We're all brothers. We have one goal at the end of the day - win a MAC championship," says Reed. "We're not really worried about competition."

The rest of the MAC should be worried -- if UB can complement quarterback Tyree Jackson with a consistent run game, the Bulls might run past a lot of their opponents.