The last time we saw Illinois State on the football field, James Robinson’s immense talent was on full display.

The second-leading rusher in ISU history was plowing through defenses on his way to 601 yards in three FCS playoff games.

“James is obviously a great player and very tough,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said in an interview with Prairie State Pigskin. “We really rode him through the playoffs pretty hard. He’ll be hard to replace.”

With Robinson off to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, the question is who’s next to step into the spotlight for ISU?

With the 2020 season opener in Champaign against Illinois a mere 12 weeks away (fingers crossed), the Redbirds are not lacking for talented candidates, according to Spack and running backs coach Khenon Hall.

But one player won’t replace Robinson this season. Instead, Spack said ISU will rely on a group approach.

“It will probably be done by committee,” he said. “We probably have five, six backs that are going to be really good players.”

As a whole, the group will look slightly different than Robinson in one aspect.

“We’ll probably be faster there,” Spack said. “James was very explosive, and we’ve got a couple of guys that have explosive power.”

Let’s take a look at several of the candidates for the Redibirds:

Proctor moves to leading man role

If the ISU backfield is a committee, there’s no doubt that 5-foot-8, 185-pound senior Jeff Proctor is in the chairman’s seat.

“He’s going to be the bell cow,” Hall told Prairie State Pigskin.

Proctor, who was the No. 2 back behind Robinson last season, is now seven months removed from a season-ending knee injury he suffered in November against Missouri State.

Last season, his first at ISU after transferring from the junior college ranks, Proctor ran for 4.2 yards a carry as the team’s second-leading rusher (112 carries, 472 yards). His shifty style was a nice compliment to Robinson.

Proctor ran for 70 or more yards in three games, including a season-high 85 yards against Indiana State.

Here are five other potential candidates:

Kevin Brown, Sophomore, 5-8, 170

Brown, who hails from East St. Louis, had 22 carries last season as a redshirt freshman, with eight of those carries coming in a playoff win against Southeast Missouri. He gained 30 yards in that game while giving Robinson a breather.

The biggest game of his career though, was when he scored two touchdowns and rushed for 41 yards in the 2018 season finale against Youngstown State.

“He’s a confident runner,” senior offensive guard Gabe Megginson said. “That guy came in against Youngstown and he was running like he’d been there for years.”

Pha’Leak Brown, Redshirt freshman, 5-10, 200

While Proctor and Brown are smaller, quicker backs, Pha’leak Brown adds a different dimension.

“Pha’leak is a bigger back,” Spack said. “We’ve got other guys who are more scatback kind of guys.”

A South Carolina native, Brown rushed for 30 touchdowns and more than 1,500 yards as a high school senior.

“He reminds me of a younger James Robinson,” Megginson said. “He’ll put on some moves. He’s a little more shifty.”

Cole Mueller, Redshirt freshman, 6-0, 190

As a scout team player last season, Mueller intrigued coaches and teammates with his speed and quickness. Hall went as far as calling Mueller “a young shining star.”

“Cole is a guy we’re really curious about because he’s got really good straight-line speed and he’s a bigger back,” Spack said.

As a high school senior in Wentzville, Mo., west of St. Louis, Mueller ran for 85 touchdowns in three years as a starter, including a state-record eight TDs in a game as a junior.

“He’s so quick,” Megginson said. “He just takes the ball, and nobody knows where he’s going.”

Melvin Pettis, Junior, 5-8, 175

When Megginson sees Pettis, who played high school play at Warren Township in Gurnee, he sees toughness.

“Melvin is gritty,” Megginson said. “He’ll bang around for a couple, five or six yards.”

Pettis began his career at NAIA St. Ambrose in Iowa. He played in nine games there in 2017, rushing 55 times for one touchdown and a 3.3 yards per carry average.

Nigel White, Redshirt freshman, 5-9, 165

The lightest back on the ISU roster, White played in two games last season as a redshirt, carrying the ball once.

Playing at Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, White rushed for 13 touchdowns over his final two seasons in high school.

“Nigel is special as well,” Hall said.

As a whole, the group offers different options for the ISU offense.

“We’ve got different types of guys, different body types,” Hall said. “We’ve got guys who do different things (well). We’ve got a well-round backfield. They lack game experience, but practice and film helps those guys to continue to develop.”