SAN ANTONIO -- It was with a profound and personal sense of loss, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones conceded over the weekend, that he stood on the sideline during the initial practice of training camp and didn't see the familiar No. 22 lined up at tailback.

That feeling of emptiness, though, figures to escalate even further if the Cowboys don't find a viable tailback, one able to at least approximate the 975 yards that Emmitt Smith posted during a 2002 season in which he had the second-lowest rushing total of his Hall of Fame career.

Dallas doesn't lack for candidates to step into those mighty big boots the NFL's career rushing leader left behind. But at this early juncture of the preseason, it doesn't appear that coach Bill Parcells is overly enamored with any of them, or that he is prepared to pencil in anyone as even the conditional starter.

	“	To say I can be Emmitt, well, that's crazy. But there sure have been a lot of questions about that. Then again, when Emmitt came here, he probably was asked if he could be as good as Tony Dorsett or Herschel Walker. So it goes with the territory. ”
		— Troy Hambrick, Cowboys RB

"None of them is Emmitt Smith," Parcells deadpanned after the first practice.

And, of course, none of them figures to be, either. But from among a roster of candidates that includes Troy Hambrick, Michael Wiley and Aveion Cason, someone has to emerge as at least a serviceable tailback, and no one has yet stepped into the breach. Hambrick has been touted as the heir apparent, but didn't endear himself to Parcells during the offseason when he was overweight, or over the weekend when he didn't run hard enough to suit the new head coach.

On the meaty part of his upper arm, Hambrick, a fourth-year veteran, sports a dark tattoo that reads: "Game over." Ironically, the game should be just beginning for Hambrick, who has carried 198 times for 924 yards and three touchdowns in three seasons, but who will not simply be handed the starting spot just because he served as Smith's caddy for the last couple years.

"To say I can be Emmitt, well, that's crazy," Hambrick said. "But there sure have been a lot of questions about that. Then again, when Emmitt came here, he probably was asked if he could be as good as Tony Dorsett or Herschel Walker. So it goes with the territory."

Indeed, the Dallas rushing annals represent a kind of "Who's Who" of legendary runners dating back to the franchise's inception. The underrated Don Perkins led the Cowboys in rushing seven of eight seasons. Dorsett had a stretch of 10 seasons in which he was the team's top tailback. Smith's skein lasted 13 years. Essentially, this is a team that never had to resort to a committee approach at the position.

That could well change in 2003.

While it is anathema to his personal preferences, Parcells has acknowledged that he may have to split the carries more than he would like. That is a major concession, because The Tuna clearly understands the significance of the tailback position, not only to his team, but to the opposition as well.

Parcells emphasized Saturday that the tailback often sets the tone for aggressiveness, and that enemy defenses often perceive an offense based on how they view the toughness of the player lined up there. If a tailback runs soft, Parcells related, a defense senses that and views it as a sign of weakness.

"If a tailback dips his toe in the water, and it's colder than he thought and he pulls it back out, a defense likes that," Parcells said. "If you're on defense, you like those toe-dippers."

The Cowboys coach didn't suggest he's got a tailback depth chart filled with toe-dippers, but did make it clear someone needs to put their best foot forward in camp. Parcells is fond of establishing game tempo with the running attack, using his tailback to set a pace, and that won't change.

Tailback is a key position for the Cowboys, for sure, and the void left by the departure of Smith is hardly an easy one to fill.

"But it is an opportunity," said Wiley, "and a chance to make the position your own. One of us is going to run out there on opening day. I'm sure the coaches would like to find out pretty quickly who that's going to be and not play a lot of tailback roulette."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.