Nebraska assistant coaches gave their impressions of each of the 24 signees from the 2018 recruiting class at speaking engagements around the state in recent days. We're going through the different position groups one by one.

We've already been over the linebackers and defensive backs and defensive linemen. This space belongs to the running backs, with thoughts from running backs coach Ryan Held and offensive coordinator Troy Walters. (As the comments below tell you, Miles Jones could be considered just as much a wide receiver as a running back.)

GREG BELL: "It's very, very important that you have good running backs at Nebraska. That's something that has to happen. I feel very fortunate to coach the position. Frank Solich coached it for many years when we had all the great tailbacks there in the past. So to be able to coach that position, I take a lot of pride in this, just from that end. But Greg Bell, we felt, he was the No. 1 junior-college running back in the country. He could've got to Tennessee. He could've gone to a lot of different places. So getting him was big.

"But this is a guy who can present a lot of issues for the defense. He's a guy that can really run, he's got good hands, he's very natural in what he does. We're really excited about him that he's on campus right now and he fits again what we do offensively, where, we get him in space, and we need that home-run hitter that can really help us in this offense. Because when we're going fast 100 mph and we get the ball to the tailback and he makes a guy miss, it's 50 yards because the defense can't line up because they're messing around, this is a guy that brings it. He's played a lot of football already so it gives us an older guy that we're excited about. He was the No. 1 guy at the running back spot. Now he's got to come in and prove it just like everybody else."

MAURICE WASHINGTON: "When we were getting ready for the Peach Bowl, Coach (Travis) Fisher knows his head coach in Texas. They played together in the NFL, and he was like, 'You gotta check this guy out.' So we checked it out and we're like, 'Wow, this guy's fantastic.' So we were on him in December when we were getting ready for the Peach Bowl. Then we got a chance to go out and meet him. And then he was the Under Armour player of the game, scored three touchdowns against the best individuals in the country. Very talented individual right here. This was a big get for us, for Nebraska, to be able to beat a lot of schools, that was huge.

"And some schools got off him because they didn't know if he was going to make it academically. This guy's very motivated and a plan's in place for him to get that deal done. He could play corner. Arizona State wanted him at corner. And Coach Chinander and I were talking coming up, he could play both ways, and we'll just run cat coverage. You know what cat coverage is: 'Guard that cat. I got you.' So that's the kind of guy he is. Just go guard that cat. He's a guy that could play both ways. He could be a returner for us.

"He's got a great personality. When he put on the jersey (on the recruiting visit), and they run out on the field, nobody in the stands, but he was a guy you could sense, he really, really enjoyed it. He's going to love being in Memorial Stadium and making a guy miss and go 80. He just loves it. Loves to play football. I can't wait to coach him and he's a very talented young man and we're excited he chose us over a lot of schools."

MILES JONES: "Miles was originally committed to Vanderbilt. I had a guy down at UCF, Otis Anderson, he probably was this tall (listed at 5-10), he was a running back, he was a wide receiver. He was an integral part of us offensively being able to do a lot of things. We'd split him out as a wide receiver. We'd have him as a running back. He did a lot of different things, because for defense, you didn't know where he was going to line up. So Miles fits that guy. We call him the Duck R. We have names for different personnel groupings. So he's a guy that we really needed in this recruiting class because he's going to play wide receiver, but I'm also going to steal him as a running back. So he's going to give us a lot of flexibility there.

"I would expect that Miles, he's going to be a guy you're going to hear early in this offense, because he really fits our scheme and what we do. I'm excited about him because he was committed to Vanderbilt, really good academic school. He's a 3.5 or 3.6 GPA guy. Academics is very important. ... Another Florida kid. He fits a major need for us for a guy that can play both running back and wide receiver."

Troy Walters added this on Jones: "Very versatile. We're going to create mismatches. He might line up in a backfield one play, and the next play line up at receiver." Walters brought up Otis Anderson, too. "He caused nightmares for defense, and that's what Miles is going to do here."

EXTRA CREDIT: What did this staff do with Otis Anderson? He ran for 456 yards on just 58 carries and had 334 receiving yards on just 28 catches, averaging 71 all-purpose yards a gam last fall. He was a freshman.

"This system on both sides of the ball allows for guys to play early," Held said. "We're going to try to do as much as we can to create competition at each spot."

Walters believes this offense is best offensive system he's been part of as a player and a coach.

"In terms of attacking defenses," Walters said. "Our No. 1 priority is to put the stress on the defense. We do that a number of different ways with our tempo, formations, our personnel. We're trying to get athletes to create mismatches against the defense and we do that a number of different ways. The (coaches), we come together, we put a great game plan together. We all have different ideas. Every week we put in a new game plan that has different wrinkles.

"And we allow the kids to go out and play, and have fun. We want to have fun in this offense."