The LSU football team’s running back and wide receiver corps have a lot to gain in 2010 despite the loss of influential players like Brandon LaFell, Charles Scott, Keiland Williams and Trindon Holliday.Running backs coach Frank Wilson and wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Billy Gonzales are two new faces who took the field with the team on the first day of spring practice Monday, and players say a unity already exists among the new leaders and their protégés.Sophomore Russell Shepard, who is making the transition to full-time wide receiver this spring, said Gonzales is a big asset in helping him become acclimated with the complexities of the position.”Coach Gonzales brings a lot of things the ’07 and ’08 Florida teams did with Percy Harvin — moving here and there, getting in the backfield and getting in at quarterback with quarterback sweeps,” Shepard said.Shepard said he “idolizes” Harvin, who won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings.”[Gonzales] puts the pressure on me,” Shepard said. “He tells me things Percy was able to do at a young age and that I’ll be able to do if I keep working hard and keep growing. He challenges me to be that great player.”Senior wide receiver Terrance Toliver said Gonzales will be a valuable coach to work with young receivers like Shepard and sophomore Rueben Randle.”He wants everybody to work hard and go full-speed in every drill,” Toliver said. “I’m pretty much one of the only seasoned guys, but we’ve got a lot of talent with Rueben and Russell. They’re going to be ready this year.”Senior running back Richard Murphy’s relationship with Wilson goes back further than LSU.Murphy said Wilson played a major part in recruiting him from Rayville High School in Rayville when Wilson was running backs coach and special teams assistant at Ole Miss.”When I found out another coach was coming and it was him, I felt more relaxed because I felt he wasn’t worried about what I know,” Murphy said. “He’s a calm, collected but hard coach. Everybody is growing more and building chemistry with him.”Murphy said Wilson is not wasting any time breaking in new players, such as redshirt freshman running back Michael Ford, an alumnus of Leesville High School.”Coach was telling Michael Ford today, ‘Don’t run not to make mistakes,'” Murphy said. “If you’re going to make a mistake, make a mistake going 100 miles an hour.”Meanwhile, Murphy is in his final season at LSU, and he said he and Wilson are in tune with each other’s passionate, hard-working football styles.”I feel like he knows I’m going to work hard, Murphy said. “And it’s my last year, so I’m going to be the guy they want me to be.” LSU coach Les Miles agreed Gonzales and Wilson mesh well with the team’s offensive mindset.”It’s fun to watch Billy and Frank coach,” Miles said. “Both guys seem to get along well with the players. They come in remarkably informed and ready to coach.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]