The premise of the story today is that West Virginia feels really good about who and what it has at running back. The Mountaineers once loved to use two-back sets, but you really need three running backs to pull that off, and the Mountaineers didn’t have that last season, But with Rushel Shell, Kennedy McKoy and Justin Crawford — and depending how the next few days go, possibly also Martell Pettaway — WVU threatens to use more two-back sets this season.

We thought Wendell Smallwood leaving early might hamstring the running game, but Dana Holgorsen rather likes what he sees, even if he did see it coming.

“With Kennedy’s development through spring, we knew we had something with him,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We know what Russ can do. I thought we had signed a pretty good player with Crawford, and he’s been every bit as good as advertised.

“We’re probably, from a depth perspective, in a much better place than we were a year ago. Any time you lose an NFL guy and say you’re in a better spot because of more bodies, I think that’s pretty exciting.”

But let’s do what’s en vogue. Let’s discuss Crawford and let’s do so with a talking point not new to these parts.

Is he fast?

This is an important question, because how often in the past have coaches moaned about not breaking big plays and not pulling away from defenders and not scoring on long runs? Frequently.

Crawford is 5-foot-11 and 198-pound, and the noisiest play from the Aug. 13 scrimmage was when Crawford ran over fellow junior college transfer Toyous Avery.

“He hits the hole like Wendell, but he plays with a forward lean that’s so natural,” running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “He’ got that little bow leg like Marshawn Lynch between the tackles. He gets skinny, but the first guy better really wrap him up, because arm tackles aren’t going to take him down.

“He’s got that natural leg drive. You try to coach that. You try to do drills and have then run through the gauntlet. He’s already got it, and it’s so natural.”

That’s encouraging. He breaks tackles. It can lead to long runs. It’s something Seider brags about a lot, as well as the way Crawford makes cuts that remind him of Noel Devine’s. Combined, this is why Crawford scored so much in camp … as well as in junior college.

But that doesn’t answer our question. Is he fast?

“I haven’t seen anybody catch him,” Seider said.

We’ve been over this, but when you look at his recruiting film, it’s impressive, but he’s not running away from people. I mentioned this to Seider, and he nodded, as though this wasn’t exactly new but that it wasn’t exactly difficult to explain, either.

You see, Crawford rushed for more than 3,100 yards and scored 30 touchdowns in two seasons at Northwest Mississippi Community College and ranked No. 6 and No. 11 nationally in yards per attempt. Crawford’s junior college is in the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges. It’s the biggest and considered by many to be the best at that level.

The defenders are fast. They’re elite. They fill Power 5 rosters.

“It’s the South,” Seider said. “Any time you’re in the South, it’s no different than being in the SEC. It’s the same type of player out there. They get Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana kids. That level of competition, it’s like why you go recruit Florida for skill guys. It’s the speed of the game. It’s totally different.

“That’s not being biased. That’s based on facts. It’s proven. Those kids are on a whole other level, and that’s who he played against.”

In 469 junior college carries, Crawford had 11 runs of 50 yards or longer — based on his averages, that’s one every other game. Nine of those runs were touchdowns.

WVU’s running backs had four the past two seasons and just one was a touchdown.

“I think our guys are pretty fast,” Seider said. “Ask Mike Joseph. This is the fastest team we’ve had in a while. The kid’s explosive. How explosive is he? I don’t know. I don’t have a hand timer on him. I know he hits the hole fast. We thought Wendell was slow. We found out he was pretty fast.”