That will be or already is the new reality in football for most 1A and a good portion of 2A schools (i.e. a serious lack of depth) because most kids just dont want to put in the time or work to play nowadays. 1A schools dont have a lot of depth to begin with but it will be even more exacerbated now and moving forward.
FTR there was definitely a way that Murphy could've had a deep backfield again this year but the Vining's obviously headed back to Georgia (Gavin Vining was a solid back and would have been good depth as a 10th grader this year) and there was a potential in conference transfer, along with an out of state transfer, that didnt happen or at the very least are extremely doubtful to happen at this point. That in addition to 1-2 backs already walking the halls at Murphy that would be real contributors but can't be bothered to play anymore apparently.