Charlie Strong spent a few minutes after his team's practice on Tuesday speaking with the media about the end of fall camp.
One of the biggest areas of intrigue heading into camp was the running back position, where four players seemed to enter the summer on level ground. Both Strong and running backs coach Kenny Carter have spoken often about the difficulty to make any distinction between the quartet of ball carriers, leading many to believe the touches at the beginning of the season would be distributed evenly.
Strong said Tuesday that this will not be the case.
"It won't be a committee," Strong said. "By the time we get to the first game it's going to be one guy who's going to be the running back."
So now the focus turns to who that featured back will be 11 days from now. With sophomore Corvin Lamb sidelined because of a wrist injury, the battle is down to a trio of juniors.
Dominique Brown is the largest member of the group, as well as the team's leading returning rusher. His four touchdowns in 2011 tied with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for the high mark on the team. Jeremy Wright might have more potential as a playmaker than anyone on the team, and is out for redemption after a disappointing sophomore season plagued by injuries and fumbles. Senorise Perry has the least amount of experience of the trio, but is widely believed to have an edge in pure speed.
"Those three guys are really working," Strong said. "It's going to come down to one of those three guys to get the carries. It's going to be the offensive staff that makes that decision."
Despite these statements, my guess is that all three are still going to get touches against Kentucky. I think you'll see Dominique Brown will get the nod as the starter, and then he and Jeremy Wright receiving about the same number of carries in the first half. Whichever back has the most success in the game's first 30 minutes will be fed in the second half.
Remember that last season, Brown, Wright and Victor Anderson all had at least seven carries against Kentucky. And that was the third game of the season.