|
| Tyler Echeverry hasn't forgotten who came before him at Mount Union and won't forget who is coming after him, either. Mount Union athletics file photo by Ed Hall, Jr. |
By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com
SALISBURY, Md. — In September, against John Carroll, Mount Union senior running back Tyler Echeverry got a huge hole between the left tackle and was a purple blur running past the Blue Streaks on the way to a 51-yard touchdown run, helping the Purple Raiders retake the lead 25-21 in a game they went on to win 37-31.
Last month, with the team down to its second quarterback and trailing Marietta with under six minutes to play, Echeverry took a handoff from TJ DeShields going right. He made an overmatched cornerback miss at the line of scrimmage and he was gone, not touched the rest of the way as he outran everyone 51 yards to the end zone to tie the game up for Mount Union at 21 with 4:54 to play.
Over the course of this season, the speedy senior from Naples, Florida, has run for touchdowns of 51, 51, 52, 65 and 91 yards.
“He's just dynamic,” DeShields, the Mount Union quarterback, said after Saturday’s game. “He can get it done in the run game, he can run between the tackles, he can run it outside, he can stretch to the sideline, he can catch it down the field, he can catch it in the flats, and he just makes plays.”
So on Saturday, at Salisbury University in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, when Echeverry was held to 42 yards on 19 carries, and didn’t have a carry of longer than 6 yards, what did he and the Purple Raiders offense do? They threw him the ball seven times for a season-high 64 yards receiving and a touchdown — a 25-yard score that he took as a little pass in the flat behind the line of scrimmage, scooted through the tiniest of holes and made literally six Sea Gulls defenders miss as he weaved his way to the end zone.
Just another day for Echeverry, who has 1,448 rushing yards this season despite going over 16 carries just once in the first nine weeks of the season. Even with relatively few yards on Saturday, he still led the Purple Raiders with three touchdowns.
Mount Union (13-0) defeated Salisbury 38-17 and returns home to host Johns Hopkins (12-1) in the Division III football national semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 21.
“We were just trying to keep hacking at the run game,” Echeverry said after the game. “But I mean, the receivers were doing a great job getting open and there was some openings down low, in the flats and stuff. So we just kept trying to try to push it and we did a great job in the red zone running the ball, I thought, and we were able to punch it in pretty promptly.”
At Mount Union, one often hears about the next great running back, next great quarterback, next receiver, and that’s because those guys typically get copious amounts of playing time in the third and fourth quarters of games. Once upon a time that was Echeverry, who had zero carries in 2021 and just 24 in the 2022 regular season as he worked his way up the depth chart in conjunction with No. 1 running back DeAndre Parker getting dinged up in the playoffs.
“I couldn't do it without the guys who came before me in the running back room,” Echeverry said. “They did a great job of pushing us and demanding excellence out of us. So shout-out to them and we try and keep that going with the young guys in our room, trying to push them to because you never know when it's your time and a lot of things in the running back room can happen kind of quickly.”
For Echeverry, those guys were Parker, along with KJ Redmon and Lance Mitchell. “Those guys took us in like little brothers, all the running backs in the room and we're just trying to keep that going.”
Parker, who has since graduated and runs DSP Training in Crystal River, Florida, remembers those days well. “He wanted to play and we all knew he could contribute in the running back room early in his career.
“He was always asking questions making sure he was on the right page with everything. He wanted to maximize his opportunity when his number was called and he did just that.”
“Just getting a dynamic football player the football, it really helps,” said DeShields, who became the starting quarterback when Noah Beaudrie was injured in the Marietta game in Week 10. “And I told him after the game, the offense isn’t what it is unless he’s on the field, and I really do believe that he pushes this offense to another level.”
“We always want the younger class to be better than we were to continue setting the bar and standard higher,” Parker said. “It’s no surprise to me he’s having the type of year he’s having and there’s nobody more deserving than him with the work he’s put in.”
Last year, Echeverry split carries and had just 94 for 602 yards. But his leadership was no less evident even if the backfield opportunities were shared pretty evenly, and his teammates recognized that coming into 2024.
“You heard all these guys say awesome things about him,” said Purple Raiders coach Geoff Dartt. “He got voted a captain, right? As did Rossy (Moore). I think that's the ultimate thing a team can vote you as, and both of those guys have gotten many individual awards, but it's never about them.
“It's always about the team.”