Post spring game RB depth chart

[Red Five]

I already expressed I like Taylor as the #1 back, but again, I am surprised that so many people think Newby is the clear cut #1 guy. Based on a few good spring game runs? I think the kid can be the best back on the team, but I'm not convinced he is yet. Cross even out played him last year based on numbers.

Cross: 75 carries, 384 yards, 5.1 YPC, Long 62 yards, 5 TDS

Newby: 67 carries, 297 yards, 4.4 YPC, Long 43 yards, 5 TDs

The question is who plays this year

Based on the offense this coaching staff traditionally likes to run- Newby is the better fit

Didn't the staff (Langsdorf, Davis??) give some interviews the week before the spring game all but anointing Newby the starter?

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Unlike quarterbacks, it doesn't screw up the team's rhythm or shake anyone's confidence when you rotate running backs.

Good players with different styles competing for carries is a nice problem to have.

Still....by November I think you want one or two guys establishing themselves.

Just like in the business world, committees get old fast.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Unlike quarterbacks, it doesn't screw up the team's rhythm or shake anyone's confidence when you rotate running backs.

Good players with different styles competing for carries is a nice problem to have.

Still....by November I think you want one or two guys establishing themselves.

Just like in the business world, committees get old fast.

Ever heard of the Avengers?

 

[The Dude]

Even of one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I hope our strategy isn't to run him ragged by November like the previous staff.

Gimme the committee approach either way.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Unlike quarterbacks, it doesn't screw up the team's rhythm or shake anyone's confidence when you rotate running backs.

Good players with different styles competing for carries is a nice problem to have.

Still....by November I think you want one or two guys establishing themselves.

Just like in the business world, committees get old fast.

Ever heard of the Avengers?

Those guys who waste a lot of time and energy waiting for Hulk to get mad?

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Oh but it has

Anyone can read the Oregon site, the fishducks site- you would find a lot of what Oregon does has morphed over time

I realize this may be something new for those that think Chip Kelley coached at USC

BTW we wont be a zone read team

Over time we will be a zone team- there is a difference in how the backside DE is accounted for

Nothing in Kelleys Nike Coach of the year notes discounted what I said about zone runners

Note that Oregon has had small shifty backs- because they run a ton of zone

Imani wouldn't see the field for them in their scheme

What I learned about zone didn't come from a single article I downloaded 10 minutes prior to my post

As I said before LOTs of High SChool teams wont run zone- because they don't have kids who can run it

You can have a great kid, good speed, power, even good in HS who never gets how to run zone, it happens

Same goes even for some big time programs. I heard Saban talk a couple of years ago about a year they ran a bunch of gap stuff because they didn't have a consistent zone runner.

You know what???

You have some very good information that I would love to read more about on this site. But, you come off as condescending and acting like you know more than anyone else.

How are you supposed to convey the information you have (that other people don't) without acting like you know more than anyone else?

When, in fact, you do know more?

And the people arguing with you are equally condescending, convinced their anecdotal observations are pure football gold?

Geez, I'm more condescending than jmfb and I don't know squat.

Let's not chase him away quite yet.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Unlike quarterbacks, it doesn't screw up the team's rhythm or shake anyone's confidence when you rotate running backs.

Good players with different styles competing for carries is a nice problem to have.

Still....by November I think you want one or two guys establishing themselves.

Just like in the business world, committees get old fast.

Ever heard of the Avengers?

Those guys who waste a lot of time and energy waiting for Hulk to get mad?

Yes Imani is hulk.
Imani no like when others carry his ball. Imani ISO Smash

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Do you really want Imani to go all Loki on Newby's a$$?

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Do you really want Imani to go all Loki on Newby's a$$?

Imani take what Imani want

 

[jmfb]

This is an example of a play Imani would run very well- on off tackle Toss ISO play:

Not really a Power Play, they aren't kicking out the End Man on line of scrimmage with the FB- they are fanning him out with the TE and leading up with the playside G and FB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsCsW-PeEEo

Downhill, no quick read, no jump cuts bending it back, running to a preset hole- little ambiguity

Riley hasn't run a lot of that kind of stuff lately and he's not real heavy on 2 back sets

 

[Enhance]

Oh but it has

Anyone can read the Oregon site, the fishducks site- you would find a lot of what Oregon does has morphed over time

I realize this may be something new for those that think Chip Kelley coached at USC

BTW we wont be a zone read team

Over time we will be a zone team- there is a difference in how the backside DE is accounted for

Nothing in Kelleys Nike Coach of the year notes discounted what I said about zone runners

Note that Oregon has had small shifty backs- because they run a ton of zone

Imani wouldn't see the field for them in their scheme

What I learned about zone didn't come from a single article I downloaded 10 minutes prior to my post

As I said before LOTs of High SChool teams wont run zone- because they don't have kids who can run it

You can have a great kid, good speed, power, even good in HS who never gets how to run zone, it happens

Same goes even for some big time programs. I heard Saban talk a couple of years ago about a year they ran a bunch of gap stuff because they didn't have a consistent zone runner.

You know what???

You have some very good information that I would love to read more about on this site. But, you come off as condescending and acting like you know more than anyone else.

How are you supposed to convey the information you have (that other people don't) without acting like you know more than anyone else?

When, in fact, you do know more?

And the people arguing with you are equally condescending, convinced their anecdotal observations are pure football gold?

Geez, I'm more condescending than jmfb and I don't know squat.

Let's not chase him away quite yet.

 

[Enhance]

Even of one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I hope our strategy isn't to run him ragged by November like the previous staff.

Gimme the committee approach either way.

A guy like Ameer Abdullah needed touches though. I believe that if you have a guy who is clearly above the rest, as Abdullah was, he needs to be getting about 20-25 touches a game. Plus, you could easily make the argument that this team was so deficient in some areas that without Abdullah we had a chance of losing more games than we did.

This year, unless someone truly emerges in fall camp, I could see 15-20 being the most any one guy gets.

 

[The Dude]

Even of one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I hope our strategy isn't to run him ragged by November like the previous staff.

Gimme the committee approach either way.

A guy like Ameer Abdullah needed touches though. I believe that if you have a guy who is clearly above the rest, as Abdullah was, he needs to be getting about 20-25 touches a game. Plus, you could easily make the argument that this team was so deficient in some areas that without Abdullah we had a chance of losing more games than we did.
This year, unless someone truly emerges in fall camp, I could see 15-20 being the most any one guy gets.

.
He averaged 23 carries per game the 1st month, 22 the 2nd month, then 14 in November.

I would have preferred to have him relatively fresh and healthy against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.

You can't tell me there weren't more carries to be had for Cross and Newby in the first 2 months. Just not good roster management.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Even of one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I hope our strategy isn't to run him ragged by November like the previous staff.

Gimme the committee approach either way.

A guy like Ameer Abdullah needed touches though. I believe that if you have a guy who is clearly above the rest, as Abdullah was, he needs to be getting about 20-25 touches a game. Plus, you could easily make the argument that this team was so deficient in some areas that without Abdullah we had a chance of losing more games than we did.
This year, unless someone truly emerges in fall camp, I could see 15-20 being the most any one guy gets.

.
He averaged 23 carries per game the 1st month, 22 the 2nd month, then 14 in November.

I would have preferred to have him relatively fresh and healthy against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.

You can't tell me there weren't more carries to be had for Cross and Newby in the first 2 months. Just not good roster management.

Should have been flipped.

 

[Red Five]

Even of one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I hope our strategy isn't to run him ragged by November like the previous staff.

Gimme the committee approach either way.

A guy like Ameer Abdullah needed touches though. I believe that if you have a guy who is clearly above the rest, as Abdullah was, he needs to be getting about 20-25 touches a game. Plus, you could easily make the argument that this team was so deficient in some areas that without Abdullah we had a chance of losing more games than we did.
This year, unless someone truly emerges in fall camp, I could see 15-20 being the most any one guy gets.

.
He averaged 23 carries per game the 1st month, 22 the 2nd month, then 14 in November.

I would have preferred to have him relatively fresh and healthy against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.

You can't tell me there weren't more carries to be had for Cross and Newby in the first 2 months. Just not good roster management.

Sure, he only got 14 carries in November. But that stat is a little misstated sInce he got hurt on a fluke play early on against Purdue.