2021 Fall Camp Notes - Running Backs

Nebraska55fan said:
Stepp has little to no chance of making it through a season. Look at his history in High School and college. 

I would have thought one thing we've learned under Frost is players are who they are. If they are problem children or consistently hurt in their past- they are going to be that in their future. 

Stepp isn't the answer and Cam Jurgens in spite of his freakish athleticism and progress at the position- will most likely not make it through the entire season. Hopefully we have a competent backup- not a 5'10" Pelini type. 
Click to expand...
People can and do change for the better.  Several success stories through the years of guys with a troubled youth who turned it around and became great players/men.

There are also a pile of players who overcame past injuries to go on and have successful careers through the NFL.

Why do you think Cam won't make it through the season?  

 
It's possible that Marvin Scott could really break out and develop some shiftyness to be an "every down, do-it-all back." But as a combination of body type and also with how good his high school tape looked to me I've kind of assumed that Morrison would eventually be our guy. 

Is it just me or is basically nobody talking about him?

In my opinion the two big-bodied guys we have are unlikely to push us where we need to be at running back. Johnson, while supposedly being one of the top 5 fastest players on the team, hasn't shown a ton of natural RB ability in my opinion. Some might say he hasn't seen enough touches as a Husker to make that judgment and that might be fair but that's just what I've seen.

I'll be honest, I see a large running back room with no clear RB1 that sticks out as being someone who launches our offense into the tier it needs to be in right now. Obviously I want to be proven wrong on 8/28.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hilltop said:
People can and do change for the better.  Several success stories through the years of guys with a troubled youth who turned it around and became great players/men.

There are also a pile of players who overcame past injuries to go on and have successful careers through the NFL.

Why do you think Cam won't make it through the season?  
Click to expand...


That would be awesome. For the 10 guys who come back and play there are hundreds who never get back close to their previous level of play.  Please name these players who have overcome chronic injuries or chronic difficult behavior issues during the Frost era. 

Cam is a freak athlete- great kid. But he was injured pretty much every year of his High School career at Beatrice. And that continued here at Nebraska

2017

https://huskers.com/news/2017/12/20/211690411.aspx

 2018

https://hailvarsity.com/football/nebraska-te-cam-jurgens-out-a-month-with-a-foot-injury/

2019

https://omaha.com/sports/college/huskers/teams/football/game-changer-cam-jurgens-is-back-and-healthy-may-start-at-center-against-south-alabama/article_ef549cc9-fd55-5311-a491-d18a67968027.html

2020

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/football/huskers-without-starting-center-cam-jurgens-against-northwestern/article_662254a3-ead2-507b-9c1d-57e825e22bce.html

When you are at where we are at right now- yes you have to take a few risks, but the expectation levels need to be extremely low. Stepp- NO CHANCE he makes it through 2021 season. Jurgens I sure hope he can- but history isn't on his side. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Undone said:
In my opinion the two big-bodied guys we have are unlikely to push us where we need to be at running back. Johnson, while supposedly being one of the top 5 fastest players on the team, hasn't shown a ton of natural RB ability in my opinion. Some might say he hasn't seen enough touches as a Husker to make that judgment and that might be fair but that's just what I've seen.
Click to expand...
Shocked Johnson is still on the team. Tiny - with poor field vision- his great speed let him run wild over weak HS competition. He consistently gets brought down with one armed- arm tackles. The RB room has a lot of potential- Johnson isnt one of them. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The ongoing theme of the Frost years has been the inability to develop/ trust RBs and seriously makes me question Helds ability to recognize/ develop talent. Its not like we have recruited slouches either. We have a ton of high school talent in the room that were heavily recruited. I don't know if held can't pick a number one out of fear of hurting the other guys or what the deal is, but lack of RB production or a star rb is completely on him. I mean even Ozogbos year, they literally tried every other back before landing on the guy who was clearly the best out of the gate. And this tryout wasn't done in practice, this was done in games. How many times have we seen an rb have a breakout game then disappear? Held need to learn to pick a guy and stick with him until someone else PROVES they are better week in week out. This musical chairs thing only hinders development of every back in the room. 

 
Undone said:
Sorry, what about Jurgens now? I think he's likely to make it through the season injury-wise...just needs to 100% clear up the bad snaps.
Click to expand...
 I said chronic injury and behavior issues. In less than 3 minutes I found 4 links on Jurgens being injured in 4 different years- it's right there in the post. He was consistently injured even during HS- I saw him play a number of times in different HS years- always coming out or not playing due to injuries. It is what it is- I HOPE he can make it through an entire season. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
@Born N Bled Red: Interesting thoughts there. I guess what I saw in 2018 was that Frost & Held made it an open competition each week, and Ozigbo emerged as the best combination of hardest worker/best best blocker/best runner, and once he had earned the #1 spot he got into a groove and was frankly pretty awesome.

I think we also have to keep coming back to how bad we miss Maurice Washington. Not directed at anybody in particular but this board loves to claim a guy wasn't that good after he leaves the team; people talked and talked about how Washington shied away from contact and from running inside. And there was some evidence to back that up, but it's undeniable how damn talented he was. If he stayed on the team and was a hard-working, disciplined guy he'd be the #1 back and our situation heading into this year would be drastically different IMO.

There could be something to the theory that Held & Frost need to stick with a guy, let him have all the reps, and then let that be the thing that develops that back quickly. But on the flip side, IMO there's a massive talent gap between a guy like Washington and then basically every other back we have on the roster right now.

And that surely has to factor into the conversation in a significant way.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Then I also think there's another factor to the equation that can't be dismissed either: If your offensive line is dominant and blowing open huge holes, your need for an Ameer Abdullah that can make something out of nothing goes down.

I expect run blocking to get back to that decent level that we were at in 2018 or possibly even a bit higher this year - that would also help a lot as well.

 
Undone said:
@Born N Bled Red: Interesting thoughts there. I guess what I saw in 2018 was that Frost & Held made it an open competition each week, and Ozigbo emerged as the best combination of hardest worker/best best blocker/best runner, and once he had earned the #1 spot he got into a groove and was frankly pretty awesome.

I think we also have to keep coming back to how bad we miss Maurice Washington. Not directed at anybody in particular but this board loves to claim a guy wasn't that good after he leaves the team; people talked and talked about how Washington shied away from contact and running inside. And there was some evidence to back that up, but it's undeniable how damn talented he was. If he stayed on the team and was a hard-working, disciplined guy he'd be the #1 back and our situation heading into this year would be drastically different IMO.

There could be something to the theory that Held & Frost need to stick with a guy, let him have all the reps, and then let that be the thing that develops that back quickly. But on the flip side, IMO there's a massive talent gap between a guy like Washington and then basically every other back we have on the roster right now.

And that surely has to factor into the conversation in a significant way.
Click to expand...


I'm not one that poo poos Washington's departure he was a damn fine talent, but Held never let him take the rock and run with it either. He maybe got what? 7 carries a game? 

A guy like Morrison (given his pedigree) should be able to be the number 1 back, get 20 carries a game and sprinkle in a no 2 for another 10 per game. Having 5 guys line up at runningback during a game is the equivalent of participation ribbons and costs in production during games and development of the true no 1 and backup. Guys can't get into a "groove" on 7 carries one week 2 the next 15 the week after and 4 after that. It messes with them mentally. When was the last time you saw Wisconsin line up without and obvious no 1 and 2 back? 

 
Undone said:
I think we also have to keep coming back to how bad we miss Maurice Washington.  If he stayed on the team and was a hard-working, disciplined guy he'd be the #1 back and our situation heading into this year would be drastically different IMO.

 IMO there's a massive talent gap between a guy like Washington and then basically every other back we have on the roster right now.
Click to expand...


Washington was an incredible talent but he could never be an every down back in the BIG. He would never have the size, durability and mental makeup to be a BIG consistent RB. 

My next door neighbor knows him well- they work at UPS together. The kid wouldn't even eat at the training table- was a Canes kiddie chicken fingers guy. Wouldn't go to class, always late to meetings, didn't like to lift etc etc 

Kid was so good, taking a chance on him made sense. BUT expectations needed to be very low- chance of him finishing a productive career here at NU were very slim.  ALL the transfers in HS, -struggling with grades, the revenge porn thing AND now- according to my next door neighbor the kid just has no desire to ever play football again. EVEN for his HS coach Deon Sanders at no rules Jackson State. Thats saying something. My guess is even Neon Deon isn't interested in touching him.  What a waste of talent- we should have walked away earlier- his conduct was detrimental to the team. 

 
Born N Bled Red said:
I'm not one that poo poos Washington's departure he was a damn fine talent, but Held never let him take the rock and run with it either. He maybe got what? 7 carries a game? 

A guy like Morrison (given his pedigree) should be able to be the number 1 back, get 20 carries a game and sprinkle in a no 2 for another 10 per game. Having 5 guys line up at runningback during a game is the equivalent of participation ribbons and costs in production during games and development of the true no 1 and backup. Guys can't get into a "groove" on 7 carries one week 2 the next 15 the week after and 4 after that. It messes with them mentally. When was the last time you saw Wisconsin line up without and obvious no 1 and 2 back? 
Click to expand...


+1, good post.

I think part of what might have happened in the abbreviated season Washington had in 2019 before he left the team was that he maybe hadn't been eating his steak & eggs at the training table and hadn't gained enough weight. It's possible they limited his reps because physically he wasn't quite where you'd want an "every down" B1G guy to be at. That might have changed had he stayed on the team but is of course water under the bridge now.

I agree on Morrison, and it is concerning to me (one way or the other) if they can't turn a kid like him into a guy that can really significantly help this offense. He's 6'0", built pretty much perfectly to be the well-rounded guy that is durable enough to take the hits but also tall enough to be a receiver...seems like the full package. And again, IMO his high school tape was pretty great.

*Edit: @Nebraska55fan I think we posted the same ideas about Washington's weight gain at the same time

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Can we stop talking about Mo Washington.  Even if he didn't have behavioral problems he still would have been a what if guy.  He would take himself out after running a couple of plays acting like he was hurt.  He was always hurt after a fumble or negative play.  Losers limp personified 

 
Back
Top