If there is one position of strength and depth for Kentucky this season, it’s running back. And the spring game only solidified that sentiment when the program’s fourth-string back — Sihiem King — may have had the best performance.

So as new Kentucky offensive coordinator and running backs coach Eddie Gran makes a return to the SEC where he previously coached at three schools over 15 years from 1995 to 2009 at Ole Miss, Auburn and Tennessee, he has multiple players who could make an NFL roster at running back. King, who was the third back in the spring game that Stanley “Boom” Williams didn’t play in, rushed nine times for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Williams was held out of spring practice because of offseason elbow surgery, but is arguably Kentucky’s best player. He’s led the team in rushing the past two seasons. But Williams has missed multiple games with injuries and has a capable backup in Jojo Kemp, who has 1,360 career rushing yards, and led the team in rushing as a freshman in 2013.

Not only does Kentucky return every back who had a carry in 2015, three had at least one memorable game. Third-string Mikel Horton, a power back, had 109 rushing yards against Tennessee, while Kemp had 78 and a touchdown against South Carolina. Kemp also had 131 yards rushing and three TDs against South Carolina in 2014 in a come-from-behind victory.

“I’m not worried about keeping them happy,” Gran told the Courier-Journal after the spring game. “They know I love them. I really do. It’s a selfless position. We’ve got one ball. I think they’re on the same page. I think they really, really love each other and they understand their time will come.”

This may be the most depth Gran has coached at one position in his career. Sure, he’s had feature backs at least as talented as Williams, but four, plus 2016 recruits Benny Snell and A.J. Rose have the potential to set the unit apart from any other Gran-coached group of running backs.

The only obvious exception would be Auburn in 2004.

Scroll the list of above-average running backs in the NFL over the past decade, and chances are Gran coached him at an SEC or ACC school. In one stretch at Ole Miss and Auburn, eight players he coached went to the NFL, including Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Rudi Johnson, Brandon Jacobs, Heath Evans, Kenny Irons, Deuce McCallister and John Avery.

McCallister was a first-round pick in 2001, after Gran had left Ole Miss for Auburn.

Brown and Williams were top 5 picks in the 2005 NFL Draft. Brown and Williams combined to help Auburn lead the SEC in scoring offense in 2004. The next season, Irons became the fifth 1,000-yard back in six years coached by Gran.

Suffice it to say, Kentucky’s running game is in good hands.

With a relatively inexperienced quarterback in Drew Barker who has shown potential yet is still green, look for a run-heavy offense, at least until Barker proves himself. Barring injuries, Williams has a chance to be the program’s first 1,000-yard back since Rafael Little in 2007, and just the fourth since 1995.