In sizing up what he expects from his backfield, Delaware running backs coach Andrew Pierce said, “We want explosive plays.”
With Marcus Yarns running and carrying the football, the Blue Hens have someone who always will be poised to detonate downfield.
The fourth-year back from Parkside High in Salisbury, Maryland, had Delaware’s longest running play last year, an 82-yard breakaway for a touchdown against Delaware State.
His 72-yard reception for a touchdown against Morgan State was Delaware’s second-longest pass play of the season.
With the 2023 opener looming next week at Stony Brook, Yarns feels even better suited to soar.
“Last year I feel I was lighter in weight, kinda slow,” Yarns said after practice Monday.
He admitted “that sounds crazy,” considering his production.
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Yarns gained 481 yards on 73 carries, a 6.6-yard average that was tops among UD backs. He caught 21 passes for 199 yards and three TDs, which also led UD backs.
The 6-foot Yarns weighed 175 pounds then. He’s up to 190 now, but feels equally light on his feet and better able to provide firepower physically.
His north-south runs may send a few would-be tacklers east and west.
“This offseason I just focused on bulking up a little bit,” Yarns said, “just getting my physical body better and just working on my explosiveness and being able to go from zero to 100 really, really fast.”
Through three weeks of preseason practice, he has noticed the difference.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I just feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in in my life.”
Yarns chose Delaware over a slew of FBS offers coming out of Parkside, where he also was an all-conference basketball and lacrosse standout. He rushed for 1,700 yards as a junior and was first-team All-State but had his senior year cut short by a knee injury that didn’t require surgery.
He was then sidelined with a broken leg as a true freshman during much of the Blue Hens’ epic 2021 spring season. Yarns saw spot duty during the 2021 fall season, even starting one game, but had just 23 carries and two receptions.
Last year, his first in new coach Ryan Carty’s up-tempo spread sets, his skills became more evident and valuable during an 8-5 season that ended in the FCS playoffs.
Yarns hopes to build off that this year, though he’ll do so from a deep backfield that also features 2022 leading rusher Kyron Cumby, fellow veteran Quincy Watson and some young talent also.
“Marcus has done a great job through the offseason in getting his body to where we would like it to be,” Pierce said. “He’s versatile. We can line him up out as a receiver. We can move him and put him in different spots. He can do a little bit of everything and that’s what we want as far as a back and being able to do those explosive things and also run between the tackles.”
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When he watches tape from last season, Yarns said he focuses on the plays that didn’t net big yardage, hoping to fine-tune his game.
“I’m looking at the plays or the reads that I misread and what I shoulda done to correct those reads,” he said, “or, ‘How can I set the defender up in a different way so that I can score way easier?’ It’s just about reading my picture, reading my blocks.”
While Carty’s offense is geared toward passing, it requires a strong complimentary ground attack and running backs who are adept at catching the football.
“Our offense is extremely versatile. In the backfield you’ve got to be able to do a little bit of everything,” said Pierce, whose 4,459 yards rushing from 2010-13 are No. 2 on Delaware’s career chart.
That includes the often-overlooked ability to provide pass protection as well.
Delaware’s pass-first approach and defenses being primed to thwart that creates opportunities for backs.
“Just being able to have space, that’s all I need,” said Yarns, who hopes to fill it with big gains this fall.
“He’s going to be a threat,” Pierce said.
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