Last season, Rachid Ibrahim was constantly there for Chris James as James, then a freshman, battled through the typical struggles of a first season in college football.
This year, the roles for the two Pitt running backs will be somewhat reversed, as James said he is ready to help Ibrahim, a junior, as he sits out the 2015 season with an injury.
“Last year, he was in my ear when I was kind frustrated and whatnot,” James said. “He was telling me to keep on working hard. Now it’s time for us to be in his ear and just keep him up this year.”
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi announced Wednesday that Ibrahim likely will miss the entire season because of an Achilles injury in practice earlier in the week. Narduzzi said the injury occurred in a non-contact situation and was “one of those freak accidents that happens.”
“He was choked up shortly after they told him what it was and what the recovery time was,” running backs coach Andre Powell said. “That afternoon, he was in meetings and he was talking in meetings and communicating with the young kids. He’s tough, he’s a leader, and he’ll fight through it.”
Ibrahim played in all 26 games his first two years at Pitt, primarily as a third-down back and special-teams player. He had 33 carries for 263 yards last season, and added 11 catches and 73 receiving yards.
While Powell lamented losing a player with Ibrahim’s experience, he said he still felt good about the depth at running back. With Ibrahim gone, the role of backing up reigning ACC Player of the Year James Conner will fall to James, redshirt freshman Qadree Ollison and freshman Darrin Hall, who Powell confirmed will not redshirt this season.
“We thought we had quality depth before and we still feel like we have quality depth,” Powell said. “We’ve got four guys we could put in a game that can operate within our system and make plays.”
James and Ollison have been banged up with various injuries in training camp this month, but both have returned to full strength the past week.
“I’ve been able to jump right back in because, even though I was out for maybe a day or two, I was all locked in taking mental reps and whatnot,” said James, who will likely be the second back in the rotation behind Conner.
And while it might be easy to pigeon-hole the running backs as situational players — James as the change-of-pace back, Ollison as the big bruiser — Powell made it clear that all four players will have to be able to play in every situation.
“It’ll be by game plan, but all of our guys have to be able to if we’re passing the ball, if it’s a four-minute offense, if it’s short-yardage offense,” Powell said. “We’ll just play it sometimes by reps, sometimes by fatigue. If a guy gets hot, leave him in the game, all those things.”
And when one of the running backs hits a hot streak in a game, they know they’ll have Ibrahim on the sidelines, ready to congratulate them.
“We all have to take a few more reps in practice to make sure we’re game-ready and we’re in shape,” James said. “It [stinks] to see him go down, but I think the rest of the guys are ready.”
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG
First Published: August 26, 2015, 3:58 p.m.
