Throughout the organized team activities and minicamp in the spring, it would have been hard to distinguish one Ravens running back from another if not for their jersey numbers.

The clarity Ravens coach John Harbaugh will need to determine who will play bigger roles this season remains elusive after Thursday night's preseason opener.

But that's a good sign. Every running back who played contributed to the Ravens' 22-19 victory over the reigning NFC champion Carolina Panthers at M&T?Bank Stadium.

From rookie Kenneth Dixon picking up 19 yards on his first carry and a team-high 44 yards on nine attempts to former Towson University and Northwestern High star Terrance West's two short touchdown runs to Buck Allen's 19-yard catch-and-run touchdown, the depth at running back was apparent.

Stephen Houston, who last played football at Indiana in 2013 and joined the Ravens a week into training camp while on vacation from his job as a strength coach for the men's basketball team in Bloomington, also had a couple of impressive runs late in the game.

The only question mark seemed to be where this leaves Justin Forsett, the team's leading rusher the past two seasons. Forsett was among the veterans given the night off by Harbaugh as he tried to see what the younger players could do in game conditions.

“It's definitely a competition, but there's no animosity on the team at all,” Dixon said. “When I came out, Buck would tell me something or Terrance would show me something, and it's good. I feel like we are all in competition, but we're all together and that's just how it's got to be.”

Said West: “This is one of the strongest teams I've been on as a unit. When I came here last year near the end of the year, it wasn't too good. We were losing, but not one person pointed fingers. It's a tight group of guys in that locker room.”

If there is a common thread running through these running backs, it's that they all want a chance to show they deserve to play — or, in the case of West and Allen, stay — in the NFL.

After a frustrating year in which he was traded by the Cleveland Browns to Tennessee right before the 2015 season and then waived by the Titans before landing in his hometown in November, West knows what he must do to remain with the Ravens.

“I am just trying to come out here and work hard and show these guys that they can depend on me,” West said Thursday.

As he has done through training camp, West ran with a combination of speed and power against the Panthers.

His two touchdowns, though unofficial, were his first since he scored against the Ravens in the final week of his rookie season in 2014, when he rushed for a team-high 673 yards on 171 carries with the Browns, who drafted West, 5 feet 10, 225 pounds, in the third round.

“He was dynamic,” Harbaugh said of West's performance against the Panthers. “He made a really good run early and made three or four guys miss and created some yards on his own. Really, all of the backs that played, played well.”

West's first touchdown came in the first quarter when he leaped over the top on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 after he was stopped on third down from the same spot. His second came on a 2-yarder in the third quarter when he started left, then sharply reversed field and outraced former Towson teammate Ryan Delaire to the pylon.

“On that play, I saw they overloaded to the left. I was peeking to the left, and I saw my old teammate and I said, ‘If he comes flat, I'm going to outrun him,'?” West said. “He came down flat and slow, so I outran him and cut him back.”

Asked whether he spoke with Delaire after the game, West said, “Yeah, I saw him after the game. He was like, ‘Man, you got me.' But we have been in situations like that before at Towson.”

While West is starting to resemble the player who led the Tigers to the Football Championship Subdivision title game as a junior, Dixon is showing he might have been a steal as a fourth-round pick after a record-setting career at Louisiana Tech.

The 19-yard run on his first carry was partly the result of a huge hole fellow rookie Ronnie Stanley helped open, but the rest of the yardage Dixon picked up was largely the result of his talent and determination, particularly on a 12-yard gain on which it appeared the Panthers had stopped him after 4.

Though Allen gained just 6?yards on six carries, he came away happy about his 19-yard touchdown catch from Ryan Mallett that gave the Ravens the lead for good after they trailed 10-0 early. He provided a different dimension from a group that is sometimes hard to separate.

“We're all competing,” Allen said Thursday. “At the same time, we're all going to push each other and make each other better.”

don.markus@baltsun.com

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