EUGENE -- Oregon has options in its backfield. It just wants Tony Brooks-James to be the primary one.



For the first time in his Ducks career, the 5-foot-9, 193-pound senior from Gainesville, Florida, has no one ahead of him on the depth chart. He'll play, without a doubt -- now it's just a matter of how much usage he can handle. Brooks-James has averaged 6.9 yards per carry for his career and this fall, barring injury, will blow by his previous season-high of 101 carries set in 2016.



A complementary piece in the backfield his first three seasons, Brooks-James is now expected to be an "every down back" capable of 20 carries per game, new UO running backs coach Jim Mastro said.



"We don't want to be in a situation where we're playing four and five guys a game," Mastro said Thursday. "If he can be that one guy that'd be great. He's being asked to be a leader and take a bigger role, both mentally and physically in the offense and he's done well."



After the graduation of Royce Freeman, the Pac-12 Conference's career rushing leader who averaged 236 carries per season at UO, Brooks-James anticipated a heavier workload for himself amid UO's shift to a power-based run offense out of spread and Pistol formations and prepared accordingly. One of the fastest on the UO roster, Brooks-James bulked up in the offseason by 17 pounds while keeping his body fat around 5 percent.

"There's no way in the world I would be able to take the load this year if I was at the same weight" as in 2017, he said. "I don't feel hits as much as I used to. I bounce off things more. It's definitely been an advantage more than it has been a disadvantage. Still fast -- so I kind of like it."

Said freshman Travis Dye: "He's never been that heavy. He looks good in practice, he's pounding the ball."

While he added weight to his frame, Brooks-James said he has worked equally as hard to remove stress from his mind. He now tries to be "in the moment" more often on the field by forgetting plays during which he could have improved. The place for critiques is video study after-the-fact, not an uptempo offense.



"I'm confident now" in being the workhorse of the running back room, Brooks-James said.

Considering its standing as one of college football's top rushing offenses for the past decade, Oregon's rushing output last season was a relative step back: Its average of 5.2 yards per carry was UO's lowest since 2006 and a full yard behind its average from 2013, just four years before. When running backs coach Donte Pimpleton followed Willie Taggart to Florida State in the offseason, Cristobal hired Mastro from Washington State. His credentials include helping Nevada rank in the top-three for rushing from 2008-10.

Oregon's rushing attack

2017: 5.2 yards per carry (19th-best nationally)

2016: 5.5 (15th)

2015: 5.8 (fifth)

2014: 5.4 (13th)

2013: 6.2 (fifth)

2012: 5.9 (fifth)

2011: 6.6 (first)

2010: 5.9 (fourth)

2009: 5.5 (fourth)

2008: 6.22 (first)

2007: 5.3 (ninth)

2006: 5.01 (ninth)

In Pullman, Mastro's backs were used heavily as pass-catchers in the "Air Raid" offense and combined to amass more than 1,000 receiving yards each of the past two seasons. Though the usage of UO's backs as pass-catchers will largely hinge on quarterback Justin Herbert's willingness to check down, Brooks-James said the offense now gives backs more routes out of the backfield.



"I hope Herbie is going to use us and he will because the check downs are going to be there and we've been working on our hands," Dye said.

Of UO's seven running backs, just three -- Brooks-James, senior Taj Griffin and sophomore Darrian Felix -- have played in a counting game. Mastro called himself pleased with younger options such as sophomore Noah Dahl, redshirt freshmen CJ Verdell and Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Dye, the true freshman, while cautioning that Brooks-James isn't the only back asked to do more this fall.

"We're asking them to have a football IQ that they haven't been asked to have in the past," Mastro said. "They're all playing pretty well. They're all doing some really good things. ... You're never going to go through a season unscathed, especially at that position, especially the way we're going to run the ball. You want those guys to be able to step up and perform if their number is called."

Yet even with relaxed redshirt rules allowing freshmen to play up to four games without losing a season of eligibility, the Ducks would rather not dig into their depth at running back should Brooks-James remain as productive as they believe he can be.



"You want to find a guy and then roll with him," Mastro said. "You don't want to be where you're subbing by personnel or subbing by play, you kind of tip your hand when you're doing that stuff. We don't want to do any of that."



With the exception of a 2016 season filled with injuries, Freeman was the no-doubt leader of the running backs during his four seasons. Now a rookie with the Denver Broncos, he still stays in touch with his former teammates. But the Ducks know the opportunity is now theirs, and no one understands better than Brooks-James, the front-runner to replace him.



"You can't replace Royce and I don't think we ever will be able to replace Royce," Brooks-James said. "But as far as performance-wise, I think we're doing good."



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif