The Running Back Room

Can't understate how big this is. Plenty of time to get in here and learn the system. He should be competing for #1. He hasn't proven anything here yet so I'm not giving him the job, but his presence should raise the competition. This will make all of our backs better.

 
The type of shape he has to be in to compete day 1 is no joke. Hope he’s been in some type of program. 

It’ll take time but I’m glad it looks like he’s going to get here. 

Bodies are key for this group and he adds a good one, but until he passes summer conditioning and gets through fall camp, I’ll keep breathing. Hopefully he’s in good shape and can grasp the plays and pace. 

 
This is good news given Mo's woes continue with no end in sight...
Agreed. I think there's an argument to be made that Mills' arrival, assuming he can pick up where he left off from his Georgia Tech days, was more critical than Mo's return. It's possible guys like Rahmir and Wandale could fill Mo's void a bit if it comes down to it, but it feels like Mills was the piece that would be harder to make up for.

I feel good knowing they're halfway to their best case scenario in the RB room, though. We didn't feel super comfortable about either Dedrick or Mo a few weeks ago.

 
My understanding of the Mills situation is they’ve know for the entire semester (so at least since January) that he would need to take classes this semester to increase his GPA.

Then a journalist decided to tweet a couple weeks ago (perhapa because he’d just found out) what the coaches have always known, just to make people panic and think it’s a new thing and get more clicks. That’s how it has looked ever since whatever journalist it was made that post. 

I imagine it wasn’t even that hard for him, especially if he had a couple Fs, ‘cause replacing an F with a C would be a huge boost to the GPA. Or a D with a B. 

 
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Then a journalist decided to tweet a couple weeks ago (perhapa because he’d just found out) what the coaches have always known, just to make people panic and think it’s a new thing and get more clicks. That’s how it has looked ever since whatever journalist it was made that post. 
Sipple actually talked about that in the Husker Extra podcast last week. It was his article that called out Dedrick and his GPA situation and he admitted he felt sort of uncomfortable about it all after a conversation with Mo Barry.

Apparently, Sipple was interviewing Barry after that Dedrick/GPA article and Barry brought it up at one point during their conversation. Barry wasn't upset at Sipple but was upset at Dedrick's coach. He felt the coach shouldn't have gone into that detail (which I agree with). Barry also pointed out that he was incredibly embarrassed coming out of high school because it was public knowledge that he didn't have the grades to get into some universities. Essentially, 'it's one thing to have your toughness called into question, but your intelligence is something else.'

Sipple said it was a sobering conversation and made him rethink how he would cover that kind of stuff in the future.

 
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Sipple actually talked about that in the Husker Extra podcast last week. It was his article that called out Dedrick and his GPA situation and he admitted he felt sort of uncomfortable about it all after a conversation with Mo Barry.

Apparently, Sipple was interviewing Barry after that Dedrick/GPA article and Barry brought it up at one point during their conversation. Barry wasn't upset at Sipple but was upset at Dedrick's coach. He felt the coach shouldn't have gone into that detail (which I agree with). Barry also pointed out that he was incredibly embarrassed coming out of high school because it was public knowledge that he didn't have the grades to get into some universities. Essentially, 'it's one thing to have your toughness called into question, but your intelligence is something else.'

Sipple said it was a sobering conversation and made him rethink how he would cover that kind of stuff in the future.

 
When grades become an issue for a player's eligibility it's logical that their grades will be reported on and become public.  Some embarrassment for the player isn't all bad as Barry admitted- it motivated him to do better in school.

 
When grades become an issue for a player's eligibility it's logical that their grades will be reported on and become public.  Some embarrassment for the player isn't all bad as Barry admitted- it motivated him to do better in school.


I think the embarrassment of not getting into certain schools was enough motivation for him. A somewhat ambiguous "grade concerns" is different than stating a GPA the athlete is below - nobody specifically reported the thresholds Barry didn't meet. There's enough embarrassment in the first example, even if there are good reasons for whatever issues like transferring schools.

It's fair to report on potential issues but there's no need to get that specific, and really weird for it to come from the JUCO coach. There's no reason for him to be commenting on admission requirements for a college he doesn't work for, and really no reason for him to comment on a former player's grades at all.

 
When grades become an issue for a player's eligibility it's logical that their grades will be reported on and become public.  Some embarrassment for the player isn't all bad as Barry admitted- it motivated him to do better in school.
I guess...but the grades can't be reported by anyone other than the player.  So...it is really all what the player wants to say or not say.

 
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