Mikale Wilbon

Minnesota_husker said:
Question for you, and I want you to try and be honest even if it hurts your argument.

Did you really WANT Ozigbo to be special because of his work ethic and toughness?

Or 

Did you think he WAS going to be special and he was just in a bad offense?

If it is the last one, do you think without the S&C program in place he could have succeeded like he did in this offense?

My whole point with the above is that I dont think many questioned his toughness or work ethic, I just didnt think one year of a S&C program would suddenly make him elusive like it did. Maybe having more open holes was a big part but his ability grew and I just didnt think it was possible for a guy to grow that much from his JR to SR year...maybe Fresh to Soph but not year 3. 
Click to expand...
We saw flashes for 3 years.  People can give all the credit world to 6 months of fitness, but it’s more than that.  It be ignorant to say S&C didn’t benefit Ozigbo, but contributing the majority of his success to a few months of training is disingenuous.

He played in offense with two QBs that allowed Defenses to stack the box.  The offense get a legitimate threat at QB and the pressure is relieved.  And some much improved coaching.  The O Line went from horrid to acceptable.  Ozigbo goes from donkey (not my words) to third team all conference 1000 yard rusher.

It was always there and some of us saw that.  The leadership and QB changes definitely helped.

You don’t suck because the organization you work for does.  Sometimes youre a product of a broken system.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gobiggergoredder said:
We saw flashes for 3 years.  People can give all the credit world to 6 months of fitness, but it’s more than that.  It be ignorant to say S&C didn’t benefit Ozigbo, but contributing the majority of his success to a few months of training is disingenuous.

He played in offense with two QBs that allowed Defenses to stack the box.  The offense get a legitimate threat at QB and the pressure is relieved.  And some much improved coaching.  The O Line went from horrid to acceptable.  Ozigbo goes from donkey (not my words) to third team all conference 1000 yard rusher.

It was always there and some of us saw that.  The leadership and QB changes definitely helped.

You don’t suck because the organization you work for does.  Sometimes youre a product of a broken system.
Click to expand...
Money.

 
gobiggergoredder said:
We saw flashes for 3 years.  People can give all the credit world to 6 months of fitness, but it’s more than that.  It be ignorant to say S&C didn’t benefit Ozigbo, but contributing the majority of his success to a few months of training is disingenuous.

He played in offense with two QBs that allowed Defenses to stack the box.  The offense get a legitimate threat at QB and the pressure is relieved.  And some much improved coaching.  The O Line went from horrid to acceptable.  Ozigbo goes from donkey (not my words) to third team all conference 1000 yard rusher.

It was always there and some of us saw that.  The leadership and QB changes definitely helped.

You don’t suck because the organization you work for does.  Sometimes youre a product of a broken system.
Click to expand...
it would be wrong to say Riley was a coach............he f#&%ed up the talent that he had while he was here....nice guy, but clueless, needs to work for a NPO.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gobiggergoredder said:
We saw flashes for 3 years.  People can give all the credit world to 6 months of fitness, but it’s more than that.  It be ignorant to say S&C didn’t benefit Ozigbo, but contributing the majority of his success to a few months of training is disingenuous.

He played in offense with two QBs that allowed Defenses to stack the box.  The offense get a legitimate threat at QB and the pressure is relieved.  And some much improved coaching.  The O Line went from horrid to acceptable.  Ozigbo goes from donkey (not my words) to third team all conference 1000 yard rusher.

It was always there and some of us saw that.  The leadership and QB changes definitely helped.

You don’t suck because the organization you work for does.  Sometimes youre a product of a broken system.
Click to expand...


All that is true.  But he was consistently out-performed by other backs on the same team in the same system getting the same coaching.  So either all those other backs were also significantly better than they looked and deserve to be playing in the NFL or Ozigbo made significant improvements over the past year.

Frost didn't see it when he was watching film.  I realize you want to give yourself a lot of credit but the vast majority of everyone else says he was a completely different back than what he was before.  

 
Mavric said:
All that is true.  But he was consistently out-performed by other backs on the same team in the same system getting the same coaching.  So either all those other backs were also significantly better than they looked and deserve to be playing in the NFL or Ozigbo made significant improvements over the past year.

Frost didn't see it when he was watching film.  I realize you want to give yourself a lot of credit but the vast majority of everyone else says he was a completely different back than what he was before.  
Click to expand...
***Im tapping out***

hopefully he can take Duval to the NFL cause he’s likely done without him. 

Bradley played last year and didn’t at all this year.  Frost must had made him worse.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Honestly I always thought Wilbon was average but got more love because he looked faster by comparison.  He had a low ceiling.

 
Mavric said:
All that is true.  But he was consistently out-performed by other backs on the same team in the same system getting the same coaching.  So either all those other backs were also significantly better than they looked and deserve to be playing in the NFL or Ozigbo made significant improvements over the past year.

Frost didn't see it when he was watching film.  I realize you want to give yourself a lot of credit but the vast majority of everyone else says he was a completely different back than what he was before.  
Click to expand...
Aside from Bryant in two games, who consistently outperformed him? Terrell Newby when he was a senior?

gobiggergoredder said:
***Im tapping out***

hopefully he can take Duval to the NFL cause he’s likely done without him. 

Bradley played last year and didn’t at all this year.  Frost must had made him worse.
Click to expand...
It's frustrating I know. 

 
I thought any of our guys could potentially take a big step forward just by getting away from The Mike Riley Experience, but I thought Wilbon was the most likely to improve. Obviously that's not quite how it happened.

As for whether Ozigbo was really as good early on as he was last year, here's some YPC stats:

2015: Team 4.7, Ozigbo 5.5

2016: Team 4.2, Ozigbo 4.2

2017: Team 3.5, Ozigbo 3.8

2018: Team 5.4, Ozigbo 7.0

So no, Ozigbo was never anywhere near a 7.0 YPC kind of back prior to 2018, and his 3.2 YPC improvement from 2017 to 2018 was much bigger than the 1.9 YPC improvement of the team as a whole. Ozigbo was probably the biggest beneficiary of a new coaching staff since Suh.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Devine had a great sr year.  He took advantage of a great off season with duval and a great offensive system to run the football.  Cant really compare what other backs did under another system bc that has no bearing on this year.  Bryant would have been a beast if healthy this year.  Newby would have fit this system very well.  

Seems like the old regime couldnt figure out what they wanted ozigbo to do with his body.  Did he need to cut weight and get faster or put weight on and be a thumper.  I think once frost was hired, devine knew what he had to work on to be effective in this offense.  He cut bad weight and got faster.  Hats off to the kid for staying the course and seizing his opportunity.  For someone to say i told you he was better than so and so from a couple years ago, bc he played well this year is not completely accurate.  Too many variables invovled.  I think we all can agree he was great this year

 
Mavric said:
All that is true.  But he was consistently out-performed by other backs on the same team in the same system getting the same coaching.  So either all those other backs were also significantly better than they looked and deserve to be playing in the NFL or Ozigbo made significant improvements over the past year.

Frost didn't see it when he was watching film.  I realize you want to give yourself a lot of credit but the vast majority of everyone else says he was a completely different back than what he was before.  
Click to expand...
/thread

 
Vince R. said:
He played very well against Wisconsin. 

Correction, it was not against the meat of our schedule but that Wiscy game sticks out to me. Reason one, their defense was pretty salty. Reason two, the bright lights were on and performed well. From that loss on, the whole team (staff included) quit. 

I gave a shoutout to Devine earlier, and I know we can all say that we are very proud of him. I think he would've been an all american had he played behind wisconsins oline. That is not a guy you want to see at the second level, and he proved it. 
Click to expand...


I honestly really don't care what he did under Riley. I was very clear on how he performed under Riley. Frost saw it, even Ozigbo himself saw it. The great thing about college athletics is you get 4 or 5 years. It wasn't that long ago that players routinely didn't develop until later, but now so many think if they're not all world day one then it's time too quit. I hope he gets everything he deserves.

Whomever gets him won't look at his first three years, it's not worth watching, and isn't really representative, anyhow.

 
I thought his first few years he was just another Cross type back. A thumper. Something happened this last year, that has to have something to do with the new staff. Scheme, S&C, attitude, but what ever it was, it was the biggest turn around I have seen, that I can remember. I'm going to say all three. You just don't do what he did, in one year, the way he did it, without buying in completely to the new staff.

GBR!!!

 
Vince R. said:
Aside from Bryant in two games, who consistently outperformed him? Terrell Newby when he was a senior?
Click to expand...
Newby and Cross were better players Zig's freshman year. Zig had a better YPC which is great in a vacuum but not in context. Newby outperformed him in his sophomore year and Bryant was undoubtedly the #1 back in 2017 before he got injured.

I guess I don't understand what's so blasphemous about saying all this or why it causes such an uproar. Zig was a pretty average player prior to 2018 and wasn't as good as other players in his acceleration, speed, pass pro, cuts, vision and overall performance. That stats prove it, the tape proves it. He worked his butt off, got an opportunity and made the most of it.

@huskered17 I like what you said at the end there in regards to your comment about his buying into the staff - do you remember the look on his face, his demeanor and the things he said when Frost's hiring was announced and local media got reaction from players? He looked ecstatic, thrilled at the opportunity. It was almost like he knew something we didn't even though at the time, admittedly, I was speculating he'd be far down the depth chart come the season.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top