Demps, Rainey bring speed to Gators’ backfield

Gainesville, Fla. — They had hoped perhaps to get something out of one of them. Maybe by the end of the season, there might even be a role for both of them.

When Florida convened for its season opener only nine weeks ago, Chris Rainey was listed fourth among four running backs. Jeffrey Demps wasn’t listed anywhere.

Saturday, Georgia will face a Florida running game transformed by a pair of freshmen who, primarily because the Gators needed deliverance, have changed the thinking around the 86th Georgia-Florida game. If Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno was the difference in this game last year, how the Bulldogs fare against Demps-Rainey may well determine this one.

“We knew that those guys were talented,” Gators running backs coach Kenny Carter said. “You always speculate on different things. If you can just get everyone else to trust them, that they’re going to do their job, then production is what it’s all about.”

Florida changed with the Sept. 27 loss to Ole Miss. Senior starting running back Kestahn Moore sustained a hamstring pull and Emmanuel Moody, the talented transfer from USC, re-aggravated a sprained ankle that has slowed him all season.

So the load was transferred the following Saturday against Arkansas and after Rainey took off on a 75-yard touchdown run that day, the Gators have played like the next break-away is just a toss-sweep away.

The numbers are dramatic. When Demps and Rainey serving as backups the first four dates, Florida’s run game was generating 153.8 yards per game with a 4.4-yards average per carry. Since Demps and Rainey became the featured backs three games ago, the two of them alone are averaging 162.3 yards and a whopping 9.4 yards a try.

Factor in the past two games came against LSU and Kentucky, both then ranked in the nation’s top 25 total defenses, and the effect is more pronounced. When Demps caught a swing pass against UK last Saturday with some room to operate, coach Urban Meyer’s next move was instinctive.

“He caught the ball,” he said, “and I just started to look for the extra-point team.”

Sixty-one yard touchdown.

They share two common traits — size and speed — yet came to Florida from different angles.

Demps (5-foot-8, 176 pounds) was the world class sprinter, whose 10.01 100-meter time while still at South Lake (Fla.) High has prompted a discussion that he is the fastest player in college football history. But the speedster needed coaching on how to cut properly, much less set up a block. Even Meyer thought he would require a year of seasoning.

Rainey (5-9, 185) was a legend in Florida prep lore, rushing for more than 7,000 yards and 90 touchdowns during a 45-game win streak at Lakeland, Fla., High School. He sprints too, running the lead leg for Florida’s 4x100 relay team, which took third in the NCAAs nationals last spring. A redshirt, he was no factor last year, separating a shoulder just four games in the 2007 season. But his pedigree, along with sub-4.4 40-yard speed of his own, kept the team in anticipation.

“We knew they were two great athletes and we definitely wanted to try to get them on the field as much as they could,” quarterback Tim Tebow said. “But this past summer, they were so young. They were still learning their positions. They had to spend time on that.”

They also spent time — at least one night — racing each other outside a dorm during camp. Rainey claims he won both 40-yarders while Demps will only concede one but the story spread. Meyer has a near fetish of building the fastest team in the country. The program claims 12 players can break a 4.4. Neither Demps nor Rainey were made available for interviews.

Could there be a way to get the two fastest on the field together?

“That was my hope,” said Carter, a newcomer to the Gator staff from Vanderbilt. “And quite frankly, that’s why I wanted to come here.”

They are still playing statistical catch-up within the SEC. Demps is the SEC No. 10 rusher at 357 yards. No. 9 is Alabama’s Mark Ingram at 420 yards, with 52 more carries. Over the first seven games, Rainey has averaged 6.8 yards every time he handles to ball compared to Demps’ all-galactic 12.1. His average touchdown run is 47 yards. Rainey’s average touchdown run is 53.5 yards.

Nice roles, if you can catch them.