Tailback Shuffle Is Taking Place

The new depth chart at tailback:

1. Junior Keith Brown.

2. True freshman DeShaun Foster.

3. Walk-on Mark Reynosa.

“And I’m 4,” Coach Bob Toledo said.

He was joking, probably. But the decision to suspend leading rusher Jermaine Lewis for at least Saturday’s game at Arizona, and maybe longer pending an investigation into a weekend fight, has suddenly turned unexpected attention on Brown and Foster. So they weren’t just imagining all those heads turning in their direction when Toledo announced the disciplinary action Tuesday.

“Who else is going to be the running back if not those two?” guard Andy Meyers said.

Exactly.

“There is a lot of weight on me, as soon as I heard about it,” said Brown, who has 37 yards in 14 carries and two games. “I felt a little bit of pressure. I’m not going to lie.”

Said Foster: “I think there’s more on Keith because he’s starting. But there’s some on me.

“I’m going to have to step it up completely. It’s like a whole different game. We [the three tailbacks] were rotating anyway, but now I’ll get more reps.”

It helps that he got 12 carries, and 77 yards, last Saturday against Washington State, one fewer than the previous two games put together. The experience gained then could turn out to be a huge factor. Foster will also continue to return punts and kickoffs, with cornerback Ryan Roques taking Lewis’ place on kickoffs. That moves comes as Toledo said he expects to have a decision one way or another by early next week, whether or not the police have filed their report, on the availability of Lewis for the Oregon game.