Is Wandale the best duck-r, wingback, since..

Scarlet

Scarlet

Active member
Bobby Newcombe, Irving Fryar, or Johnny Rodgers?  That's pretty rare air but he's definitely approaching their level especially considering his surrounding cast is not yet championship level. 

I can remember maybe one fumble and maybe a dropped pass.  The kid loves contact, has wiggle, and is always clutch.  We're blessed to have him and as time flies by enjoy his game while he's here.  

Is there anyone who played that position that I forgot and overlooked who is better?

 
He maybe loves contact too much. They've added mass to his frame but he's not really big enough to keep banging heads with Safeties. 

We get someone (Betts? Manning?) who can legit stretch the field and they can stop focusing on Wan'Dale, he's going to find more open spaces and then look out.

Right now opponents are keying on him and he doesn't have room to break anything. I can't wait to see him get into space. 

 
knapplc said:
He maybe loves contact too much. They've added mass to his frame but he's not really big enough to keep banging heads with Safeties. 

We get someone (Betts? Manning?) who can legit stretch the field and they can stop focusing on Wan'Dale, he's going to find more open spaces and then look out.

Right now opponents are keying on him and he doesn't have room to break anything. I can't wait to see him get into space. 
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I agree. If we could infuse a little of his toughness and love for contact into Betts he will also have a great future.  It may be that Betts is still getting used to game speed and needs another year in the weight room but to me it looks like he is taking the hits more than delivering them.  I actually worry about him getting injured moreso than Wandale because of that.

 
knapplc said:
He maybe loves contact too much. They've added mass to his frame but he's not really big enough to keep banging heads with Safeties. 

We get someone (Betts? Manning?) who can legit stretch the field and they can stop focusing on Wan'Dale, he's going to find more open spaces and then look out.

Right now opponents are keying on him and he doesn't have room to break anything. I can't wait to see him get into space. 
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Exactly!  He, like Spielman, but more versatile, will thrive when teams don't get to over commit to him.    

 
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RedDenver said:
Newcombe sure but Wandale isn't in the company of Fryar or Rodgers.
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Fryer and Rogers were absolutely on a different level, but if Newcomb would have stayed focused on a returner/receiver he could have been.  You could make the argument that Rogers was one of the best wingbacks/returners ever!  

 
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Cdog923 said:
Look, I enjoy Wandale, but let's pump the brakes a bit before comparing him to one of the best athletes in program history, a #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, and a Heisman Trophy winner, can we? 
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That's kind of where the words "since" and "approaching" come in.   :)

Do you have anyone better since Newcombe?

 
@Huskers93-97 You may remember Newcombe having much better top end speed, but Newcombe ran 4.54 at the Combine.  That is OK but not blazing fast by any means.  I don't think that would be significantly faster than Wan'Dale.  Maybe not any at all.

 
I am a believer of game speed though too. Some guys just got it- they may test worse than some guys but they pull away and dont get caught. Then guys who test great get caught in games. 

Christian McCaffery- 4.49 that is basically a 4.5

 
Wan'Dale is about as shifty as Ameer was in open space. His "Shake n' Bake" is at a really high level.

He gets up to speed in about 2-3 steps. That's why getting the ball to him in space is so big - he gets up to top speed really quickly and can make the first guy miss about as well as anybody in the program in the last 20 years.

 
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@Huskers93-97 I mean ... you're trying to play it off as if 4.49 is somehow slow (actually 4.48 per the link to follow).  Over the last 33 years, there is only about one RB per year that runs under 4.40 and half of those are lighter backs.  There are only about three per year that run 4.40-4.47 again many being lighter.  So McCaffrey would have been about the 5th faster RB in the entire Combine in an average year over that time with only a couple heavier backs being faster.  He was the sixth-fastest back in his draft class - none of the faster backs were drafted before the fourth round and two were undrafted.

He is a very fast RB.

 
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