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Do you guys think our RBs are legit?

BeaverPoke

BeaverPoke

Well-known member
I just read another article about DC wanting to have the fastest offense in the country this season in terms of getting plays off.
We have a stud QB, and one of the best WR cores in the MWC. So I am wondering if our RBs are going to be legit like the QB and WRs.

Do you think they are talented enough to compete and make some plays even if the O-line isn't great?

Or does it ALL fall on the O-Line?

I think the RBs could be really good, in terms of production, but I don't see them busting off huge running plays like Oregon does for 60 yard TDs.

If our O-Line is even just average, are the RBs good enough to do damage or will we have to rely on Smith for everything?
How big was it having Wick and May play as true freshman?
 
It all begins with the oline? really? :deadhorse1:

Back to my question...if the oline is average, are our RBs talented enough to be considered good?
 
BeaverPoke said:
It all begins with the oline? really? :deadhorse1:

Back to my question...if the oline is average, are our RBs talented enough to be considered good?
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No....as of now I think its fair to say Wyoming has one of the worst RB stable in the MWC. Far cry from the Moore's, Weldon's, etc. of recent years. Losing Alvester hurt.
 
J-Rod said:
BeaverPoke said:
It all begins with the oline? really? :deadhorse1:

Back to my question...if the oline is average, are our RBs talented enough to be considered good?
Click to expand...
No....as of now I think its fair to say Wyoming has one of the worst RB stable in the MWC. Far cry from the Moore's, Weldon's, etc. of recent years. Losing Alvester hurt.
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I disagree. I think we've got a lot of talent in Wick, May, and Miller. Miller is a surprisingly good bruiser for his size, and May and Wick showed some great flashes last season. With all that being said, we are VERY untested at running back. Miller is the only vet with much playing time, but he can't carry the load. Very curious to see how Stover develops.
 
legit to what degree? could they start for run-balanced team? I don't think they would.

do they fit our system... sure, all together they do. running back by committee works when you have a high octane offense; fresh legs.

having one running back next to a shotgun qb isn't this most efficient way to run the football, especially with the gaps that our oline should be taking to run the spread.

but what ive seen over the past two seasons is weird. it doesn't look like a spread to me....

sometimes coach c uses unbalanced lines... putting two tackles on one side and the eligible tightend next to the guard on the other side (not very often though). our gaps have been suspect on the line. its like we understand that we should be balanced and run some.... but our alignments and packages don't provide interior blocking strength, and sometimes we don't spread our wideouts enough pre snap to loosen the box. I hate having our only running option being the read-option

smith is a hell of a running back though.

maybe the addition of goose krill will help improve our running game.

honestly I think that's the key... if krill can block and catch; in the long run it will demand that defense's allocate their outside linebacker to focus krill, which will create some pockets.

and running trips to one side doesn't necessarily loosen the box either when the defense just rotates safeties and corners. we need krill to run routes from the line.
 
It's still to early in their careers to know what kind of RB Wick and May will be. We need to see what they will build in to. We had great tandem backs with Moore and Seldon. But nobody even knew who Devin Moore was his first year on campus. His first year: 26-123-0. No one gave him a second thought, cause Seldon was busting out 800 + yards. His second year is when Moore started to make noise: 80-574-3. From then on we knew who Moore was.

Or this may go the other way. We may have tandem backs like Armah and Scott (who only played two years together). Who were mediocre throughout their careers. Armah started with promise: 149-515-0. But his numbers stayed consistantly the same every year. Derek Armah is one of our 2,000+ yard backs in history, do I consider him a good back? No. Scott became a RB in 2000, his jr year. he amassed 111-651-5. Not bad. Senior year: 111-550-3 About just as consistent as Armah.

So far Wick: 92-350-4, May: 77-374-1. I could see it going either way still. That's when you just hope you have a player that learns how to breakout, like Moore, or Christopherson.
 
Our RBs aren't legit. If Miller was a legit RB, there wouldn't have been any question in the coaches eyes what position he should be playing. He's a tough kid though, don't get me wrong.

D-Mo had more talent than Wick, Miller, and May combined. Seldon wasn't far behind. Wick & May could get there, but like someone already said, they haven't been tested.

I could be wrong, I'm no expert but it seems like spread offenses can still have decent run games with mediocre line play just based on play calling and timing alone. If the goal is to spread the defense out, less importance is placed on the line of scrimmage and draws and such could be successful? Of course, we would have to have RBs capable of making people miss in open space.....you can call me an idiot if I'm wrong.

Smith could very well be our best RB, but we have to avoid letting him run too often. He has to last 2 years without another head injury or his career could be jeopardized.
 
Beav, If our O line is even average, I think we have the running backs to have an above average ground game, especially if the other team's D is focusing on the receivers. I broke it down last season with May. All we need do is give him the ball on a consistent basis, and not use this flavor of the week RB we used last season. And we have to make Smith a running option solely on broken plays. We can't afford to get him killed by calling his number. Another conclusion and whether he plays or not won't be in the hands of him or the coach.
 
I think we have a good set of running backs. If our passing game is deadly - and we force the defense to defend the quarterback - it should balance out the game enough to ensure our running backs can get some distance.

I think this year is going to be very interesting - very unique.
 
I think they're definitely legit. I think Miller is a better slot then a RB though. He doesn't have break away speed like May or Wick. Miller got hawked up in the UNLV game on that long run. He had 10 yards on the Guy and got caught. That can't happen at the D1 level unless your 240 lbs. From what I saw our backs were young ( true freshmen ) last year and did a decent job. Wick and May never lost a fumble on any of their runs last year and were always ready when their names were called. In all honesty though our line stunk. CAL-POLY kicked the crap out of line last year. I remember all the goal line runs when our boys were getting pushed in the backfield. Sometimes it took several attempts to get a Td. That game basically exposed the lack of push by our line. This year our line may even be worse. In the Spring game our O line got their butts kicked by the 2's. I am very, very happy that we didn't lose May or Wick from transfering out of Laramie. A running back by committee doesn't always work unless you have unselfish players. For that I'm grateful, we need more team orientated players. Now for this year I hope DC actually uses his backs more consistently. Last year we run the shit outta the ball against the Sheep then abandon the run game against New Mexico, UNLV and Fresno. Some of that was the due to the weak secondary of NM and UNLV, but still be somewhat balanced. For those that doubt our backs understand that they " were True Freshmen " . Of course they are going to make bad reads, they've been learning on the job and adjusting to the speed of D1 football. I think we are lucky to have those 2 get all those reps last year. Experience is everything in big games. Lets hope our O line is legit this year as we already know our backs can produce when the blocking is adequate.
 
Offensive line will again be offensive. So it is up to the coaching to configure the playbook to compensate for this using the talent that they have in the way that uses that talent. This is probably not in the way the coaches would like it to be, but trying to force players to do something they are incapable of just doesn't work. Just my observation.
 
The Increased tempo should help the line as we should be the most conditioned line in the conference. This should help hide some of the deficiencies by wearing out the d giving the backs some more room to run. This is of course we are not in 2-9 and 3-8 every series.
 
mrtnt3x said:
The Increased tempo should help the line as we should be the most conditioned line in the conference. This should help hide some of the deficiencies by wearing out the d giving the backs some more room to run. This is of course we are not in 2-9 and 3-8 every series.
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So you think that by having such a fast tempo we don't really give the D-lines we play enough time to show how bad our O-line is?
 
BeaverPoke said:
mrtnt3x said:
The Increased tempo should help the line as we should be the most conditioned line in the conference. This should help hide some of the deficiencies by wearing out the d giving the backs some more room to run. This is of course we are not in 2-9 and 3-8 every series.
Click to expand...

So you think that by having such a fast tempo we don't really give the D-lines we play enough time to show how bad our O-line is?
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I am saying that our conditioning should be better then the opponents and should be able to get them on their heels a little bit. Again we cannot be in 2nd and 3rd and long and getting predictable or relying on oh shit right or oh shit left by Smith.
 
I actually think our line might suprise us this year. Our guards are returning and I really like the two juco tackles we have. Good size and very athletic. Time will tell how they pan out but i am optomistic about them. The one question mark is at center(I know that is a big ?) hopefully the juco center coming in the fall works out. If not it could be rough.
 
TSpoke said:
I actually think our line might suprise us this year. Our guards are returning and I really like the two juco tackles we have. Good size and very athletic. Time will tell how they pan out but i am optomistic about them. The one question mark is at center(I know that is a big ?) hopefully the juco center coming in the fall works out. If not it could be rough.
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Agree.

FWIW...

JC XFER Walker Madden is a badass. Finally, a tackle with size AND attitude!
 
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