Husker RBs

[artguy68]

The good news is that seems to suddenly be a strength. With the exception of Bell's early fumble, I believe we have a real nice trio running the ball.

To me, Bell is a throwback Husker runner like we had with Ahman Green or Leodis Flowers. Washington is dangerous and shifty, unpredictable and wild. Ozigbo to me was the most solid, even if his stats were not as great. I felt most confident when the ball was in his hands.

I can see all three continuing in this way for awhile, without one emerging as a clear favorite. Agree?

 

[Harry Caray]

I want to see Miles Jones. I feel like he has the potential to be the biggest "home run" threat of them all.

 

[TFrazier_rivals269992]

The good news is that seems to suddenly be a strength. With the exception of Bell's early fumble, I believe we have a real nice trio running the ball.

To me, Bell is a throwback Husker runner like we had with Ahman Green or Leodis Flowers. Washington is dangerous and shifty, unpredictable and wild. Ozigbo to me was the most solid, even if his stats were not as great. I felt most confident when the ball was in his hands.

I can see all three continuing in this way for awhile, without one emerging as a clear favorite. Agree?

Bell had a nice game but he doesn’t have the same type of speed as Green or even Flowers.

 

[Redscarlet]

Bell had a nice game but he doesn’t have the same type of speed as Green or even Flowers.

Especially Green.

 

[msjgroup]

I want to see Miles Jones. I feel like he has the potential to be the biggest "home run" threat of them all.

I agree that Miles Jones is the unknown homerum hitter. He’s had a few issues (a minor fall camp injury and then something with his eye that kept him out of practice last week). Maurice Washington is a bit too wild and unpredictable to me. A good athlete but a running back has to have a bit more of a plan.

 

[TruHusker]

As noted, Bell lacks the break away speed and if you get past the second level in the clear, eventually you need to turn some of those into points. Bell showed me some of the same I saw in the spring game that I didn't like. Since he doesn't have the speed, the pursuit catches up with him and he starts to back up, move sideways and find ways to get the D to over pursue. Eventually you have take what you can get and move the sticks forward rather than expose yourself to injury and fumbles. Washington, I have to say, did not impress me overall but I realize he is a true frosh. Yes, he has some nice quicks but he was using way too many moves going sideways, spin moves, hoping to get an angle, that works in HS and sometimes in college but he has got to get more straight ahead running and make the move when needed and keep going forward. Stick the foot and go. I also didn't like the way he was carrying the ball, he is a fumble waiting to happen. Ozigbo has a nice night overall and he can catch the ball. Dependable but he is not going to be the home run hitter in this O though he will have his day.

 

[kaz36_rivals189319]

I want to see Miles Jones. I feel like he has the potential to be the biggest "home run" threat of them all.

Sounds like Jones missed practice all week due to illness. Pink eye if I heard correctly.

 

[msjgroup]

Sounds like Jones missed practice all week due to illness. Pink eye if I heard correctly.

I think it was more serious than pink eye but I saw it reported somewhere else that he came back to practice late last week but Coach Frost has a rule about not missing a certain number of practices.

 

[kaz36_rivals189319]

I think it was more serious than pink eye but I saw it reported somewhere else that he came back to practice late last week but Coach Frost has a rule about not missing a certain number of practices.

Ah, gotcha. I saw where someone had said that and took it as gospel.

As far as Bell's top end speed, I think he is just fine. Is he Adrian Killins fast? No, but I think he's fast enough. Also, I would have to go back and look, but I believe it was Davion Taylor who caught Bell on the long run. He finished 6th in the 100 at the PAC 12 championships last year. Not too many people are going to out run him.

 

[Pennsyhusker_rivals246774]

Bell is a solid back. He and Ozigbo give us a nice one-two punch. You don't necessarily need a back to have homerun threat ability in order to be effective. Does the name Rex Burkhead ring a bell?
We have other weapons who are home run threats. A healthy AM being chief among them.

But I concur with those hoping to see Miles Jones. If he emerges I think we should redshirt Washington.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

Bell is a solid back. He and Ozigbo give us a nice one-two punch. You don't necessarily need a back to have homerun threat ability in order to be effective. Does the name Rex Burkhead ring a bell?
We have other weapons who are home run threats. A healthy AM being chief among them.

But I concur with those hoping to see Miles Jones. If he emerges I think we should redshirt Washington.

You can move the chains with speed like theirs, but for Frost's offense to really open things up, they need a guy who can go all the way. That changes the entire way the defense plays and can be attacked

 

[Pennsyhusker_rivals246774]

You can move the chains with speed like theirs, but for Frost's offense to really open things up, they need a guy who can go all the way. That changes the entire way the defense plays and can be attacked

Obviously, a home run threat at RB is better than a non homerun threat. And yes, Frost's offense is predicated on speed. I am just saying the guys we have are good backs, despite their lack of break away speed, and we can win with them, as Saturday showed. That loss happened despite the production of our running backs, not because of it.

 

[Hoosker Du]

Ah, gotcha. I saw where someone had said that and took it as gospel.

As far as Bell's top end speed, I think he is just fine. Is he Adrian Killins fast? No, but I think he's fast enough. Also, I would have to go back and look, but I believe it was Davion Taylor who caught Bell on the long run. He finished 6th in the 100 at the PAC 12 championships last year. Not too many people are going to out run him.

Not to mention that Bell sort of stumbled while going through the line on his other long carry, and it gave the a DBs the chance to catch up to him.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

Obviously, a home run threat at RB is better than a non homerun threat. And yes, Frost's offense is predicated on speed. I am just saying the guys we have are good backs, despite their lack of break away speed, and we can win with them, as Saturday showed. That loss happened despite the production of our running backs, not because of it.

No doubt, that was a game we should have won and it wasn't the backs that cost us the game. But to reach the level we all want to reach, we need those guys

 

[Hoosker Du]

You can move the chains with speed like theirs, but for Frost's offense to really open things up, they need a guy who can go all the way. That changes the entire way the defense plays and can be attacked

Having a homerun threat vs an average speed back isn't going to change the way a defense plays. They don't want to give up either 50 yards or 80 yards on a run.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

Having a homerun threat vs an average speed back isn't going to change the way a defense plays. They don't want to give up either 50 yards or 80 yards on a run.

Ask Frost or Chip Kelly about that. That is what they need for their offense to be at an elite level. At least we saw realistic speed from CO's safeties and LB's, but against the best teams we'll see even better speed back there, making it even harder to go from sideline to sideline. Adding a guy with Calvin Jones speed (not even Green type speed) forces those LB's and safeties to make more difficult decisions in both the running and passing game.

 

[Pennsyhusker_rivals246774]

Ask Frost or Chip Kelly about that. That is what they need for their offense to be at an elite level. At least we saw realistic speed from CO's safeties and LB's, but against the best teams we'll see even better speed back there, making it even harder to go from sideline to sideline. Adding a guy with Calvin Jones speed (not even Green type speed) forces those LB's and safeties to make more difficult decisions in both the running and passing game.

True. But similar stretching of the defense can be achieved by running the duck r guy, running the QB, jet sweeps, and quick passes to the flat.

Once again.... I am not saying I don't care about speed at the RB position. I do. That is why I too would like to see what Miles Jones can do. But Ziggy and Bell are very good backs. And ziggy has excellent pass catching skills as well

 

[Hoosker Du]

Ask Frost or Chip Kelly about that. That is what they need for their offense to be at an elite level. At least we saw realistic speed from CO's safeties and LB's, but against the best teams we'll see even better speed back there, making it even harder to go from sideline to sideline. Adding a guy with Calvin Jones speed (not even Green type speed) forces those LB's and safeties to make more difficult decisions in both the running and passing game.

What I'm saying is that the front 7 are aligned to maintain the integrity of the entire front 7, not just specific positions. If LBs are aligned differently, the front 3 or 4 have to be aligned to ensure all gaps are covered.

DBs positioning may be altered based on the ability of the front 7 to stop the run, but the speed of the RB isn't what causes the changes. The ability of the QB to run better or pass better or the speed of the WRs may also alter the DBs, but front 7s have to maintain their gap integrity, and that means they aren't going to split the LBs wide or narrow without altering the alignment of the front 3 or 4. Or vice versa.

 

[ExxHusker]

Are the electronic 10 and 40 times available to the public? In TO’s day they were. Just wondering who our fastest players really are. To me Mike Williams seemed a step faster than anyone I noticed Saturday.

 

[dand84]

I thought a number of players I thought would be fast got caught from behind. Some other players I thought were a lot faster on Saturday than I remember. I really liked Zig. Especially that rugby scrum play where they pushed the pile. We were running roughshod right up the middle on CU most of the game.

Washington was like AM, they both played like true freshmen with moments of brilliance. I give Maurice a pass as he has been on campus, what, a month? No S&C, first college game, etc. Give him a year to work on some things and I think he is going to be really good.

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

Sounds like Greg Bell has been hurt, and that is maybe what is hurting his speed a bit.

 

[oldjar07]

Sounds like Greg Bell has been hurt, and that is maybe what is hurting his speed a bit.

That makes sense.

 

[Suhrreal]

Sounds like Greg Bell has been hurt, and that is maybe what is hurting his speed a bit.

That sucks and actually Tre Bryant came to mind Saturday watching him try to hop into another gear in the open field. Just didn't seem like he could do it.

 

[TarheelHuskerFan_rivals]

This feels like that running back group when we had Marlon Lucky, Brandon Jackson, Kenny Wilson etc... So much talent

 

[Bobs Polska Kielbasa]

That sucks and actually Tre Bryant came to mind Saturday watching him try to hop into another gear in the open field. Just didn't seem like he could do it.

Watching Bell did make me think of Bryant. Both of them were really good in tight spaces. However, just like yesterday, there were times in previous years when Bryant would break out and you expected another gear and it just wasn't there.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

What I'm saying is that the front 7 are aligned to maintain the integrity of the entire front 7, not just specific positions. If LBs are aligned differently, the front 3 or 4 have to be aligned to ensure all gaps are covered.

DBs positioning may be altered based on the ability of the front 7 to stop the run, but the speed of the RB isn't what causes the changes. The ability of the QB to run better or pass better or the speed of the WRs may also alter the DBs, but front 7s have to maintain their gap integrity, and that means they aren't going to split the LBs wide or narrow without altering the alignment of the front 3 or 4. Or vice versa.

I'm more concerned with what it does to the safeties. If they go 2 high, we should always be able to run the ball against them, and get consistent yardage.

If they shift a safety into the box, that is where the offense shines - the QB makes the right read so that we block 5 with our 5 and read the 6th man in the box with our QB to take them out. Beyond that, our motion and different options out of the sets screw with the traditional gap control as well, so that they create additional gaps for them to cover . that they can't cover where we'll be

IMO, the more ability we have to house a mistake by the safety, the less likely they are to be aggressive up front.

 

[NikkiSixx_rivals269993]

Sounds like Greg Bell has been hurt, and that is maybe what is hurting his speed a bit.

he was 8 yards a pop, and if injured, he didn't let it keep him off the field

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

he was 8 yards a pop, and if injured, he didn't let it keep him off the field

Agreed. On Sharp and Benning, they just talked about that he normally would have possibly house called at least one of those where he broke away. He does have good vision though.

 

[kaz36_rivals189319]

Ah, gotcha. I saw where someone had said that and took it as gospel.

As far as Bell's top end speed, I think he is just fine. Is he Adrian Killins fast? No, but I think he's fast enough. Also, I would have to go back and look, but I believe it was Davion Taylor who caught Bell on the long run. He finished 6th in the 100 at the PAC 12 championships last year. Not too many people are going to out run him.

I was wrong. It wasn't Taylor who caught him. It was Delrick Abrams Jr. No idea how fast he is.

 

[SoFL Husker]

Sounds like Jones missed practice all week due to illness. Pink eye if I heard correctly.

Pink eye from the Brown eye?

 

[SoFL Husker]

Bell is a solid back. He and Ozigbo give us a nice one-two punch. You don't necessarily need a back to have homerun threat ability in order to be effective. Does the name Rex Burkhead ring a bell?
We have other weapons who are home run threats. A healthy AM being chief among them.

But I concur with those hoping to see Miles Jones. If he emerges I think we should redshirt Washington.

I want to redshirt Washington the most, but it aint happening. That kid can play. GBR

 

[c2o]

Bell is fast.
Even faster than me.

 

[kaz36_rivals189319]

Pink eye from the Brown eye?

 

[msjgroup]

I want to redshirt Washington the most, but it aint happening. That kid can play. GBR

Why do you want to redshirt Washington?

 

[SoFL Husker]

Why do you want to redshirt Washington?

I thought he would be too small for the Big10. He came in light.

Now, he's added a few pounds, and plays like a Mexican jumping bean.

 

[msjgroup]

I thought he would be too small for the Big10. He came in light.

Now, he's added a few pounds, and plays like a Mexican jumping bean.

I think he’s grossly overrated but time will tell.

 

[msjgroup]

Pink eye from the Brown eye?

Brown eye? I missed the punch line.

 

[kaz36_rivals189319]

I think he’s grossly overrated but time will tell.

He was a 3 star. Most would say he was underrated.

 

[c2o]

Brown eye? I missed the punch line.

Brown eye is the punch line.

 

[msjgroup]

He was a 3 star. Most would say he was underrated.

Ok maybe over-hyped is a better word. I think he’s good but not great, at least not yet.