RB Recruiting

[ellitor 33,092]

21 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Going to be a Truitt type player. AU needs more TRUE RB's. The JUCO kid is also a slot back. IMO anyways. 

6'2, 200 lbs seems pretty big for a slot back.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

The feeling I've been getting is we dont really care if Octavious stays in this class but i think that would be a mistake. I hope we dont let Matthews go to Kansas. He looks like a good sized kickoff return man and I can see the slot receiver position fitting him well. He has good speed and good vision making quick cuts to get defenders out of position. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, AU80cruiser said:

The feeling I've been getting is we dont really care if Octavious stays in this class but i think that would be a mistake. I hope we dont let Matthews go to Kansas. He looks like a good sized kickoff return man and I can see the slot receiver position fitting him well. He has good speed and good vision making quick cuts to get defenders out of position. 

If it's literally between us and Kansas, that concerns me. I can't imagine a legitimate SEC quality player who would want to play at Kansas.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

6'2, 200 lbs seems pretty big for a slot back.

He isn't that big. 

[TitanTiger 20,479]

20 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

IMO, Gus did not give Roc a far chance. After Roc transferred to Jacksonville State, he turned into the RB I had hoped he would be while at Auburn. I Gus for Roc's downfall.

That's just crazy talk.  Roc got every opportunity to win this job outright.  He was clearly the most explosive of the backs we had and they tried to make him the main guy.  But he didn't do well between the tackles and wasn't consistent on the edges either.  And his biggest obstacle wasn't on the field or with the coaches but between his own ears.  The attitude.

Being great against FCS competition is nice, but it doesn't show that he'd have done the same thing against SEC defenses even with all the opportunities in the world.

[AUinfusion 390]

It would be nice if we could have these types of conversations without the typical bromides of "trust the coaches", "stars don't count", "we recruited him, so he must be our top choice", ect.

Yes, stars matter. If you have 5 RBs that were top ten guys, and I have 3RBs that were top 30 guys, and converted WR and an athlete, there is a very, very good chance that you have a more talented RB corps than I do.

I do trust the coaches, but the coaches sign the best class *that they can*. If the coaches think a lower ranked kid is the best fit, I trust them (especially Horton). If the coaches have to fall back to their fourth pick, that's not a "trust the coaches" scenario, that's a "we didn't get our top choices" scenario.

I think KP is special (and will make the NFL), but I'm not sure yet that he is a 30-carry-per-game back. We'll see, but that's not the vibe I got watching him last season. I know, saying that, that here is a lot about his health and conditioning that I don't know. Also, I'm not a talent evaluator by trade or hobby.

KJ has the heart of a lion, but I don't see his "standout" talent space. He seems more of a combination of really good in multiple areas, without a defining "feature". He got ankle tackled a LOT later in the season, and his "go to" move seems to be trying to jump over people. I'll wait and see how he matures into the position next year. Hoping for him to become the stand out that his effort very clearly deserves.

I don't know much about the other guys, but I didn't really see them as game changing RBs when they had the opportunity to play (Truitt looked the best to me, and it sounds like he is going back to WR?). 

When I say I would like to see us land a true stud RB, I'm talking about a top ten, very unlikely to miss, type guy that can round out the RB corps. I'm 100% behind the guys we have, I'm just not seeing us keeping up with a collection of other schools at that position and it felt odd to me. Not a judgement, just an observation.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

42 minutes ago, AUinfusion said:

Yes, stars matter. If you have 5 RBs that were top ten guys, and I have 3RBs that were top 30 guys, and converted WR and an athlete, there is a very, very good chance that you have a more talented RB corps than I do.

Or, the 5* guy could be Roc and the 3* guy could be Peyton, and the 3* guy could be the next in Horton's line of 1000 yard backs and playing in the NFL now, while the 5* guy transferred to a lesser school. I honestly think Horton knows more about rating backs than anyone who works at the 4 major ratings sites.

[BornAU76 398]

2 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

That's just crazy talk.  Roc got every opportunity to win this job outright.  He was clearly the most explosive of the backs we had and they tried to make him the main guy.  But he didn't do well between the tackles and wasn't consistent on the edges either.  And his biggest obstacle wasn't on the field or with the coaches but between his own ears.  The attitude.

Being great against FCS competition is nice, but it doesn't show that he'd have done the same thing against SEC defenses even with all the opportunities in the world.

Roc couldn't stop hitting the O button (spin move) and kept coughing up the ball.  That doesn't fly in the SEC. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

47 minutes ago, BornAU76 said:

Roc couldn't stop hitting the O button (spin move) and kept coughing up the ball.  That doesn't fly in the SEC. 

And it didn't help that he couldn't last an entire game without getting hurt.