It was a quiet offseason for University of Alabama junior running back T.J. Yeldon, at least in terms of being in the spotlight and social media. Otherwise he was all over the place.

During his third A-Day, the final scrimmage of spring practices, he tallied 95 rushing yards on 11 carries and scored a touchdown to be named the winner of the Dixie Howell Memorial Award as game MVP. He’s the only three-time winner in Crimson Tide history.

Numerous news outlets listed him as a preseason All-American and Yeldon received the second-most votes behind teammate Amari Cooper for All-SEC honors in the conference’s media voting. He was also named to the watch lists for the Maxell and Walter Camp awards for most outstanding player, and the Doak Walker Award for best running back.

Yet a lot of the attention during the spring and summer was on Alabama’s other promising running backs, Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, for a variety of reasons. While that would cause some players to be jealous, or do something to get back into the limelight, Yeldon simply kept plugging along.

“That’s his personality,” Nick Saban said. “I think he’s sort of a quiet guy who is a hard worker. He sets a really good example in terms of how he goes about his work every day, how he practices. I think the players have a tremendous amount of respect for the example that he sets, the work ethic that he has, the kind of competitor that he is, the toughness that he plays with.

“But (he’s) not a guy who does a lot of talking, and that’s okay. I think you want players to be comfortable in what’s natural for their personality, because otherwise it would only look contrived. He leads in a way that is effective for him.”

Although Yeldon was the player on Tuscaloosa billboards used to promote this season, and was prominently displayed one of the four different media guide covers – his also featured offensive lineman Arie Kouandjio, Austin Shepherd and Ryan Kelly — he didn’t represent the Crimson Tide at SEC Media Days.

That’s just not his thing. Yeldon’s not one to do a whole lot of interviews, and when he does his answers are usually short and to the point. When Alabama reached the national championship game at the end of the 2012 season he began the team’s mandatory media day session surrounded by reporters on a sideline, but ended up with a smaller group in a corner at Sun Life Stadium.

“He’s not looking for everybody to praise and just help him out,” senior tight end Brian Vogler explained about the former five-star recruit who was named the state’s 2011 Mr. Football by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

“I don’t know how to phrase it, but he’s just a guy who’s so humble about everything he’s been given. He’s not really looking for accolades. He lets his playing do the talking.”

Nevertheless, Alabama’s version of speak softly and create big carries has the in-state product from Daphne more than in the running to become the program’s all-time leading rusher.

After setting the program freshman record of 1,108 rushing yards (and tying Mark Ingram’s freshman touchdown record of 12), his 1,235 yards on 207 carries last year made him just the fifth running back in Crimson Tide history to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He joined Johnny Musso (1970-71), Bobby Humphrey (1986-87), Shaun Alexander (1998-99), and Kenneth Darby (2004-05), but was the first to do so during his first two years in the program.

Yeldon’s 2,343 yards though 2013 put him 12th on the Crimson Tide’s all-time list, but also on pace to top Alexander’s career record of 3,565 yards near the end of this season.

His 6.1 average gain per career was also the fifth among players with a minimum 200 attempts, but at that rate he’ll be second among those with at least 400 carries, trailing only Bobby Marlow’s 6.27 in 1950-52.

“It is great having a running back like that, especially as an offensive lineman,” junior center Ryan Kelly said. “To have a guy like that who can miss defenders, obviously not every play is going to be perfect but with a guy like that back there running the ball some big plays can spring up.”

While Alabama was a more-than-respectable fourth in SEC team rushing and 25th nationally by averaging 205.6 yards per game in 2013, this season’s ground game could be even more prolific as evidenced by Yeldon and Henry both having 100-yard games in the opener against West Virginia.

During his breakout performance against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, Henry tallied 100 rushing yards on just eight carries to go with a 61-yard touchdown on his first career reception. The previous season he broke the 51-year old national high school rushing record with 12,124 career yards.

Meanwhile, Drake has 144 career carries and 1,027 rushing yards, to go with 13 receptions for 174 receiving yards, and 16 total touchdowns. Last season he finished second in Crimson Tide rushing with 694 yards on 92 carries, while Henry had 35 attempts for 382 yards.

Alabama also has sophomore Altee Tenpenny and redshirt freshman Tyren Jones trying to earn bigger roles, and senior multi-purpose fullback Jalston Fowler, giving coaches numerous options with the backfield.

“Drake’s more of the speed guy,” Yeldon said. “Derrick’s power and speed. And (I’m) both power and speed too.

“We can be very dangerous. Coach just has to equal out our playing time.”

That coach, of course, is new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who can’t help but feel like a kid in candy store with playmakers on the roster like Amari Cooper, DeAndrew White, Christion Jones, O.J. Howard …

“All I’ve seen is someone that works extremely hard,” Kiffin said about Yeldon. “Doesn’t say very much, doesn’t ever ask about how you’re going to utilize me, what different plays we’re going to do, just go and score. Trains extremely hard. Watched him in the offseason workouts and during the spring and now that we’re out there practicing, that guy goes as hard as anyone on our team and just wants to be great and just wants to learn.”

While Alabama figures to remain a grind-it-out offense that strives to make the opposition want to be anywhere but on that particular football field, the running backs will likely be more involved in the passing game with Kiffin, who wants to get them the ball more in open space. A perfect example was the Florida Atlantic game, when not only did Fowler have another touchdown reception, but a quick swing pass to Drake resulted in a 39-yard catch-and-go touchdown.

In 2013 the running backs combined to make 29 receptions (a 2.2 average per game), including 20 by Yeldon, while five of Fowler’s seven catches were for short-yardage touchdowns.

“It’s a lot of just one-back stuff,” Yeldon said. “A lot of passing, equal running and passing.

“I’m very comfortable. I got used to it in the spring, and I’m still getting the hang of it. So it’s good.”