It’s a blueprint that should make every SEC team envious. It also seems to defy logic.

Step 1: Lose your 1,000-yard rusher, and essentially your lone effective backfield option.
Step 2: Get even better at the position the next season.

We’ll have to wait until at least September to confirm the accuracy of those steps for Texas A&M. But days after the Aggies completed spring practice, it’s a likely scenario.

In 2015, Tra Carson became Texas A&M’s first 1,000-yard rusher in four years — since Cyrus Gray in ’11. That’s despite playing with a toe injury that required offseason surgery.

No other running back even mustered 200 yards on the ground.

Add in transfer quarterback Trevor Knight’s solid spring and perhaps the deepest receiving corps in the country and those unfamiliar with the roster changes in College Station may surmise that Texas A&M’s backfield will get neglected this fall.

Again, we’ll have to wait until new coordinator Noel Mazzone is firing live rounds before we know for sure. But every indication is the running game is headed toward something of a revival.

One of Knight’s former Oklahoma teammates, once a five-star signee, Keith Ford left the Sooners in ’15. He’d incurred a suspension due to academic and team violations, and Samaje Perine had surpassed him on the field. Ford pointed at a lack of connection with the coaching staff as the reason he left Norman.

After sitting out last season, Ford also missed the spring game as a precaution due to injury. But the Aggies already have an idea of his skills, and he could emerge in the fall as the team’s starting ball-carrier.

“Keith Ford is a guy who’s played in some real games,” running backs coach Clarence McKinney said, according to The Battalion. “He also has top-end speed, which means every time he touches [the football] there’s a chance he’ll break one [for a touchdown].”

There’s an expectation that James White, who fought through injuries of his own last season, will emerge as an impact player as well. After a solid spring, White — listed at a stout 220 pounds — looks poised to at least double his career carries (77).

That could be enough to upgrade the team’s running game. Especially since offensive line coach Jim Turner is back in College Station, working hand-in-hand with Mazzone. That should lead to better blocking in the running game, even if you subscribe to the theory that the Aggies have seen a slow decline in talent at offensive line since the megaclass Turner helped recruit in 2010.

THE REST

Giving even more credence to our two-step plan, though, Texas A&M’s backfield goes much deeper than two players.

Trayveon Williams: The coaching staff has raved about this true freshman from Houston. We saw why in the spring game, despite his fumble. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, there’s some understanding that Williams may need to add SEC muscle before becoming an every-down contributor. But his ability in open space and as a receiver could make him an exciting situational player for the Aggies in 2016.

Kwame Etwi: Similar size is not the only thing Etwi has in common with Williams. He’s had occasional trouble with ball security early in his college career. But in 2015, as a freshman walk-on, he ran for 116 yards in a blowout victory against Ball State. He doesn’t project to get a ton of carries, but Etwi seems capable of production in case of injuries.

Kendall Bussey: A three-star member of the ’15 signing class, the New Orleans native injured his knee as a high school senior and the Aggies redshirted him last year. But he performed well enough this spring that 247Sports named him one of the five most surprising players. He’s more of a combo back than the pure power of a Carson/White and the speed of a Williams.

OUTLOOK

It won’t be a surprise if Texas A&M rolls out an all-Sooners starting backfield of Trevor Knight (QB) and Keith Ford (RB).

Even then, White looks to get enough carries to be an impact player.

With Williams, Etwi and Bussey all doing some nice things in spring practice, the decision about how to distribute carries probably will linger throughout fall and into the season.

It’s a nice problem to face, especially given the usual attrition at the running back position.

Knight averaged 5.6 yards per carry for the Sooners. His dual-threat abilities could only serve to distract linebackers and safeties from Texas A&M’s running backs.

If this group comes together, this team could feature the best running game we’ve seen from the Aggies since the program migrated to the SEC.