The team went 6-7 last season, its final defeat coming to San Jose State in its first bowl game, the Cure Bowl in Orlando.

Coach Trent Miles’ squad returns nine starters on defense, six or seven on offense and has a depth that it hasn’t since he took over three seasons ago.

Today we will start a position group breakdown.

Running backs

Who is competing? Who isn't? There could be six seven guys getting reps in camp, a total that will have to be reduced in two weeks.

The competitors are: Redshirt juniors Kyler Neal and Kendrick Dorn, juniors Taz Bateman and Glenn Smith, redshirt freshman Demarcus Kirk and freshmen Tra Barnett, Deandre Bowman and Darius Stubbs.

Key stat: None of the current players averaged more than 36.1 yards per game last season for the Panthers, which failed to average at least 100 rushing yards for the second consecutive season. Bateman led the team in average per game, while Smith led in overall yards (356).

Who has the edge? Neal is the veteran and Bateman had a fantastic spring, making plays throughout the month of practices. Smith and Kirk are more than capable of carrying the load and I'm sure there are a lot of people rooting for Dorn, who suffered a knee injury last August. He's been working hard to return. The freshmen, led by Stubbs, are all promising.

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