At all levels of football, balancing carries between two or more running backs has become a popular approach.Recognizing the burden placed on a runner asked to carry the ball every time and the upside of keeping players fresh, coaching staffs have recently tended to split the workload in the running game. Oftentimes, those two-back systems feature a pair of ball carriers with differing skill sets. Numerous duos have been branded as “thunder and lightning”, boasting a power back and speed back.So far this season, UK has tried its hand at a two-back system with sophomore Raymond Sanders and freshman Josh Clemons. Sanders and Clemons are coming off of a dominant second-half effort that propelled the Wildcats to a 27-13 victory. Sanders offered this appraisal of the duo.”He’s bigger than me,” Sanders said of his mate in the backfield. “He runs strong and he’s a big guy that’s hard to tackle. I’m shiftier and I can make guys miss. He’s more ‘I’m going to run through a tackle,’ but he has great speed as you could see on Saturday.”Afterward, Sanders applied the old “thunder and lightning” moniker to the pair of Georgia natives.  “We’re a thunder and lightning package where the thunder has a lot more speed than those other thunder guys I see,” Sanders said. “It’s going to be a great duo going into the future.”Sanders calls Clemons the “thunder” half of the duo, though he is not your typical power back. The nickname belies the speed Clemons’ displayed in the 87-yard jaunt against Central Michigan that Sanders referenced. Sanders said that the two had been waiting six quarters for one of them to break off a big run with plenty of trash-talking preceding it. That friendly back-and-forth is something that Sanders and Clemons use to motivate one another.”It helps us to go out and play hard,” Sanders said. “I know it motivates him and it keeps him going. He comes to me and says ‘what are you going to do on this play? How many guys are you going to make miss?’ It keeps us going and I’m going to keep talking trash to him and make sure he keeps working hard because that’s what drives him and I feel like I’m making him become better.”Sanders, in spite of being just a sophomore, has taken up the mantle of leader among a group of inexperienced backs. He is only a year removed from his first season playing in the SEC, so there’s a lot of guidance he can offer to Clemons.”We talk a lot,” Sanders said. “I’m always on him. He’s always asking questions and I’m quick to answer them. It’s a good thing that we have and hopefully we can keep growing.”Running backs coach Steve Pardue has been primarily responsible for molding Sanders and Clemons this season. In his first year at UK, Pardue is happy to be coaching them.”We’ve got a lot of youth in there,” Pardue said. “Raymond, it seems like he’s been around a long time but he’s just a sophomore. It’s a young group but they keep me on my toes.”Pardue has been happy with the progression of his youngsters, but he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that mistakes come with the territory.”We’re not where we want to be but I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Pardue said. “We’re playing with a lot of young guys and with that you’re going to have some mistakes. If you’re playing freshmen, you better accept they’re freshmen.”Sanders and Clemons are the only two backs that have seen the field so far this season, but they were a part of an intense competition in fall camp that involved as many as six backs.  Sophomore Jonathan George, freshman Marcus Caffey, redshirt freshman Brandon Gainer and junior CoShik Williams have yet to play, but Pardue said that Sanders and Clemons aren’t the only backs he believes can contribute, which is important as UK prepares for play in the grueling Southeastern Conference.”I feel like we’ve got more than that,” Pardue said. “They’re the two that are playing right now but you better have four, five or six because you never know.”Heading into a game against rival Louisville, any one of those players could hear their numbers called under certain circumstances. Three of UK’s six runners are freshmen and will suit up against the Cardinals for the first time. In light of that, what advice would Sanders offer to any of them when they step out on the field?”‘Just keep doing what you’re doing,'” Sanders said. “‘Run hard, make it hard for the other guys to tackle you and make sure you’re understanding the blitz pickups.'”Each of them would do well to remember those words, but there’s one thing above all else that Sanders would want them to remember.”‘Just go out there and have fun.'”