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The RB log-jam

dio

Admin
Club Member
Junta Member
So, how does our RB situation pan out next year? We're loaded with young talent, and they all can't take handoffs at the same time.

I can't even make a guess as to how camp shakes out.

R. Stewart showed he is the real deal, but does he hold down the starting role with a healthy (and hopefully in-shape) D. Scott? Does Polk show up and make fools of all of us?

Can the young guys get blocking down? Or do we continue to toss Sumler (who played pretty well down the stretch) into the gameplan?

And my final question - At what point, if any, do the coaches put R. Stewart on PR/KR. I know the conventional wisdom is that you don't put your numero uno RB back there, but with Scott, Polk, and Sumler, does that put Hawk at ease enough to have R. Stewart returning kicks? That would be a sight to see I think.
 
I actually like Smith returning kicks, but I would like to see the PR job opened up. Smith struggles with punt returns, and we need to reduce the wear and tear on him next year. Wouldn't mind Lockridge getting a shot.
 
During fall camp apparently Speedy was great returning punts and kicks. However, he routinely coughed up the ball and could not catch punts. The number one job of a punt returner is to catch the ball. I would be suprised to see him in either roll.

In addition, I think we saw exactly what Rodney Stewart is, a great change of pace back. I don't think he can be a feature back for an entire season.
 
it will be interesting.

you've got:

lockridge
moyd
sumler
polk
stewart
scott

let's presume, altho i am not sure we will be so lucky, that all are healthy and still here at the start of 09 fall camp. i think after spring we may lose some guys, but, for the sake of argument...

lock and speedy are coming off injury and that will probably set them back in spring ball. lockridge probably ends up moved--- maybe wr. speedy stays at tb.

moyd, i think he's going to be challenged to make noise in this group, but if he goes full pop in spring it may help him.

polk was the best back in 7 on 7s and he'll be a contender in spring ball. he's got speed, too.

scott, if he's just dinged up and not hurt and requiring surgery or rehab, probably has the best chance to really establish himself this spring and into the fall. he's a bit in the doghouse, i think, but i have no inside info... just a gut feeling.

sumler really came on at the end of the season and he is the most experienced and he does everything right. he isn't a gamebreaker, maybe, but i think he'll be hard to keep off the field.

a guess at a post spring depth chart:

1. sumler
2. scott/polk in a dead heat
3. stewart
4. lockridge
5. moyd
 
During fall camp apparently Speedy was great returning punts and kicks. However, he routinely coughed up the ball and could not catch punts. The number one job of a punt returner is to catch the ball. I would be suprised to see him in either roll.

In addition, I think we saw exactly what Rodney Stewart is, a great change of pace back. I don't think he can be a feature back for an entire season.

Didn't he return kicks in HS?

I don't think we can say that he is unable to improve his catching ability. Also, I thought I heard somewhere that this set of coaches won't put true-freshman back to return kicks..... but I may just be making that up :lol:
 
Lockridge was healthy at the end of the year, so there will be no setback this spring. He's 5'6" tall, just like speedy. They might play him in the slot, as he can make guys miss in the open field. I just don't see room for him at RB. Moyd is in the same situation, but he's a Senior to be....

Polk has shown in practice that he will be a force. Great reports on him....

Hawk on the press conference said his ideal situation is 3 RB's that all stay fresh. Even at that, we have at least 4. Speedy and Scott have to be complete backs (meaning pass protection).

Scott can catch the ball, as can Sumler.

If Hawk wants 3 RB's, then he's got that plus insurance against an injury.

But we got to use these backs! This is probably our deepest position on the team. We got to run the ball down some freakin' throats!
 
Kick returning doesn't require great hands. It requires great flat-out speed.

Punt returning requires the ability to catch the ball, which is more difficult than most think, especially with a defender bearing down on you at full speed. Few guys can do this.... The ones who can catch the ball and provide short bursts of acceleration and quickness, can be good. It's the hardest position to fill on the team.

I think J-Fly is faster than Rodney and he can catch it good enough to return kicks.
I think his job is secure there, given he's one of the best in the country.

J-Fly caught punts pretty well, unfortunately, he had difficulty letting the ones go that were inside the 10! He makes me nervous though on every one!

At least Cantrell won't be catching Kickoffs next year as an up-man! What was that at NU?
 
This position pisses me off the most. We have so much talent back there and our main running attack is running from the freaking shotgun. Line up in a power formation, put Scott back there at tailback, let Sumler be the Fullback and move Speedy around as a wideout and RB. Keep them on the field at the same time and any one of the three could get the ball. As soon as we start seeing 8 in the box, hit Smith or Speedy deep.

Or we could keep running from the shotgun...
 
I don't think we can really know much about how the RBs will be used until we know more about the QB situation. How we use the QB will probably determine a lot of how we utilize the backs. Seems to me that if you have Speedy and Scott back there with Hansen as a full threat QB, you could do a lot of things. But, if we decide to go to more of an I formation with Cody at QB, then maybe you do Sumler at FB, Scott and Polk as the primary back, with Speedy coming in to do a number of things.

Who knows. I'd rather have an over abundance of talent than an under abundance like we seemed to have at WR this year. It will mean the coaches need to be more creative and be careful with egos and feelings, but at the end of the day, whoever goes in should be able to get the job done.
 
Well it's 4 AM and I just forced myself to register a couple of days ago for this site, I suppose I'll throw my two cents in here on this. I'm hoping that the coaches move toward a run based spread shotgun type of deal. Something like what Oklahoma State or Oregon runs, and on that note am I the only one that was extremely impressed how Oregon lost like 5 QBs on their roster due to injury? They just kept plugging guys in and didn't miss a beat. They had a great running attack with at least two rbs whose names escape me. I would love to see us plug in Hansen there next year and go ahead with a ton of misdirection option stuff as well as plenty of bubble screens and other plays designed to get our backs in open space. I kind of get the impression this is what Helfrich wants to do, at least I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, he just hasn't been able to implement it with Hawkins at qb. Hopefully this changes next year and we can see a steady rotation of Polk, Scott and Stewart. Having all three of them on the field at the same time would not be out of the question too. Hell what do I really know I just loved how Oregon plugged in the equivalent to Kyle Black of our team and ran over Oregon State who certainly didn't look like a physically soft team against USC earlier this year.
 
With all the talented RB's, I am pretty sure we'll pass more than 50 % of the time....
 
With the plethera of running backs that we have in the system I can see Hawk moving more to an I formation. Hawk is a smart guy and I believe he will do the right thing. Kinda of hard last year to implement running out of the I in spring practice when your returning back was Sumler and not knowing how the incoming freshman were going to turn out in fall practice.

Heading into this spring with the stable of backs I'm praying that we line up and play smashmouth football. It is pretty easy to pencil in Scott, Speedy, Sumler and Polk at tailback with Jake Beherns at fullback with Sumler moving to that position if needed.

Hawk has to find a way to get Lock on the field. Boy I wish we could find a way to stretch him to 6' tall and make a receiver out of him. The guy is a playmaker.

I'm looking at this spring as a very pivotable time in Hawks reign here. He finally has some young talent returning at the skill position so I want to see how he is going to get it all on the field.
 
My guess:
1. A healthy and faster Darrell Scott
2. Rodney Stewart
3. Demetrius Sumler on passing downs
4. Ray Polk
5. Brian Lockridge
 
In 2001, we had four running backs that could all do the job (well, marqueesha was in the dog house most of the year, but still). I see no reason why we can't spread 15 carries per game among 3 different backs.
 
In 2001, we had four running backs that could all do the job (well, marqueesha was in the dog house most of the year, but still). I see no reason why we can't spread 15 carries per game among 3 different backs.

Hopefully we see a running game similar to that year.
 
Does anyone fear that Stewart, Polk, or Scott would ever transfer for lack of playing time if they all end up being very good backs? I hope in that case they all would embrace the competition and step up their game, which I think they all have that attitude. Just curious on others thoughts.
 
Does anyone fear that Stewart, Polk, or Scott would ever transfer for lack of playing time if they all end up being very good backs? I hope in that case they all would embrace the competition and step up their game, which I think they all have that attitude. Just curious on others thoughts.

I would hope they would be smart enough to realize that you can still be a top national running back right beside your teammates. Even if not "premier", look what happened with Arkansas' backs this past year. Their two HBs are playing in the NFL and their FB (yeah fullback) is a starting running back in the league too. Multisuccess can happen.
 
Look at USC. They are absolutely loaded with ***** / **** backs. I think one game this year they had something like 5 different RB's score TD's and four of them *****?

You can manage having multiple talented backs on a team and still keep them happy. Have a run happy offense. Split guys out wide. Share carries. Put guys back for returns.

Run the damn ball 50+ times a game. It's clear to me that the strength - talent wise - on this team is RB. The QB situation and WR situation are tenuous at best. I'd love to see a run-oriented offense next year.
 
POWER-I, Triple-Option offense.

At least that's what I run in NCAA Football on XBOX :lol:
 
POWER-I, Triple-Option offense.

At least that's what I run in NCAA Football on XBOX :lol:
wow, that really works now? Usually the comp defense (onheisman anyways) perfectly reads every play. Every now and then the zone read works correctly, but the only option play I get to work is the standard power or speed option... The triple rarely works since the defense penetrates to quickly and that play is slow to develop :(
 
Does anyone fear that Stewart, Polk, or Scott would ever transfer for lack of playing time if they all end up being very good backs? I hope in that case they all would embrace the competition and step up their game, which I think they all have that attitude. Just curious on others thoughts.

If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!
 
wow, that really works now? Usually the comp defense (onheisman anyways) perfectly reads every play. Every now and then the zone read works correctly, but the only option play I get to work is the standard power or speed option... The triple rarely works since the defense penetrates to quickly and that play is slow to develop :(

I used it in last years game. Usually I run the option quite a bit before moving anything outside. I also toss in a ton of play action roll out to the TE or scramble.

I usually put the 3 RB's back there as well.... pretty dang fun
 
Does anyone fear that Stewart, Polk, or Scott would ever transfer for lack of playing time if they all end up being very good backs? I hope in that case they all would embrace the competition and step up their game, which I think they all have that attitude. Just curious on others thoughts.

If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!
 
If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!

If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!

Ok, we get it.
 
Just for further clarification:
If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!
 
If I were them, I'd be happy proving myself, getting better, getting ready for THE LEAGUE. No reason to carry it 30 times per game in college.... Split the duty!!!!
 
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