24/7: Holland coming back

[aujeff11 6,243]

25 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

I'm also not going to ignore that we're getting our asses handed in RB recruiting.

We are not getting our asses handed to us, we are just not getting the recruits that the real RBU should get. First, let’s not forget that Jovon and Roc failed us, and Alaric didn’t qualify last year. We have been getting recruits and we have Asa Martin coming in this year. 

25 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

We're a power run team that doesn't seem to recruit "power" backs.

I think this is the issue; we don’t have enough and we don’t recruit enough horses. We can recruit change of pace backs all day long but we are not going to be able to depend on them when push comes to shove if they don’t have most of the tools of the trade which include: pass blocking, ball security, toughness, and athletic ability. It’s not all about height and weight though. Even Shivers can be the horse if he continues to muscle up. His height is comparable to Maurice Jones Drew and Ray Rice. If he gets to 190 or so at his height, he would be fine at taking hits because he is so low. 

 

[aucom96 1,618]

9 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

And we have also always had good depth with our running backs.  Last year people seem to forget heading into the year we lost Peyton Barber, Roc Thomas, and Jovon Robinson.  Once Johnson went down, Tim Horton was able to get Pettway ready in time for the whole season, having to convert him from HB.  Fast forward to this year, we had our two starting running backs injured.  We were then able to go to Kam Martin who held his own in the run game.  Not many schools can function after their first two running backs get injured.  It is unrealistic to expect the 4th and 5th string running backs to be able to perform like your star running back did.

Good depth at running back does not equal Kerryon Johnson sitting in the game clutching his ribs and unable to do anything much more than attempt to block. We have a hodgepodge of scatbacks and power backs for an offense that primarily equals bashing into the middle of the line out of the shotgun 30-40 times a game. We don't recruit for that and we continually see the results with the repetitive injury problems we run into at the position. 

[tbone1430 1,346]

So back to the topic at hand, do we have confirmation that Jeff Holland is coming back for next year? 

[WDEKC 187]

2 minutes ago, aucom96 said:

Good depth at running back does not equal Kerryon Johnson sitting in the game clutching his ribs and unable to do anything much more than attempt to block. We have a hodgepodge of scatbacks and power backs for an offense that primarily equals bashing into the middle of the line out of the shotgun 30-40 times a game. We don't recruit for that and we continually see the results with the repetitive injury problems we run into at the position. 

repetitive injury problems?? It's really only been an issue the last 2 years and I think it has more to do with the 2 players in question than our depth (or lack there of according to some posters). Both of those guys seem like they've been rather injury prone their entire careers and really Johnson just had his least injury riddled season in a year he had by far his most carries. Before those 2, we have had very little injury problems from the RB position and this hasn't really been much of a topic.

[leglessdan 1,934]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

We are not getting our asses handed to us, we are just not getting the recruits that the real RBU should get. First, let’s not forget that Jovon and Roc failed us, and Alaric didn’t qualify last year. We have been getting recruits and we have Asa Martin coming in this year. 

I think this is the issue; we don’t have enough and we don’t recruit enough horses. We can recruit change of pace backs all day long but we are not going to be able to depend on them when push comes to shove if they don’t have most of the tools of the trade which include: pass blocking, ball security, toughness, and athletic ability. It’s not all about height and weight though. Even Shivers can be the horse if he continues to muscle up. His height is comparable to Maurice Jones Drew and Ray Rice. If he gets to 190 or so at his height, he would be fine at taking hits because he is so low. 

 

We agree on this. Horses....We're not recruiting or missing on them. Whatever the case is, we don't have them. We seem to be getting specspecHypotheticali alty backs or projects. Hypothetical.....but just imagine what this offense could do with the stable of backs bammer has currently.  We have to start winning those recruiting battles. 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,297]

@TitanTiger can you clean this thread up? 

[AUwent 3,748]

Regardless, we’d better start recruiting some backs. We need to either sign another RB or convince KJ to stay.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

Would it be possible to start a new thread to exhaust the argument of KJ’s amount of carries 

AND maybe start a new thread to discuss underclassmen and their decision to stay at AU or go to the NFL?

Some would prefer to continue the discussion about KJ’s usage, which is cool. They should have a place to do that. 

Others want info on who is staying/going. The 2 topics should be separate.  Just a thought.....

[Tiger 8,823]

At what point is it the coaches job to see with their eyes that a ~70% KJ is ineffective and that a 90-95% Kam Martin is a better option? Let's even take Kam Martin out of the equation. At what point do you see that your starter is ineffective due to injury and decide to make a change? SECCG with KJ and Sean White/UGA a few years ago seems to be bad decision making on the coaches. It's not even about the injury at a certain point it becomes how ineffective a player is. This is why the "the kid should've told the coaches he wasn't feeling healthy enough to go" holds no weight with me. If KJ was completely healthy and playing like he was in the SECCG it would've warranted him being pulled for another option -- the fact that he was injured only makes it even more obvious to do so IMO. OK and since I brought up Sean White and UGA -- I understand we had a QB that the staff didn't want touching the ball behind SW at the time -- but Kam Martin has shown to be one of the more electric players we have when he touches the rock so I think we can already say that Kam Martin > Jeremy Johnson at their respective positions.  

I have no idea what Gus is going to do if KJ and KP leave because apparently we don't have a RB good enough to get carries and pass protect next year. 5 wide all day, baby!!!!

 

 

Edit: Also, whoever trusts the coaches because of "what they see in practice" is fooling themselves because Kam Pettway was sitting under their noses and they had no idea he could be an SEC leading rusher. They wanted him to split time with Chandler Cox as an H-Back. They also can't seem to identify which Olineman are the best. Gus may be working elsewhere right now had there not been injuries to force his hand to put the best players, at certain positions, on the field. No this doesn't mean Message Board Joe Schmoe has better insight but let's not act like these coaches are infallible in their assessments of what they have on the roster.

[AUwent 3,748]

Alright, I feel I should apologize for running this thread off course as well.

[Tiger 8,823]

2 hours ago, WDEKC said:

repetitive injury problems?? It's really only been an issue the last 2 years and I think it has more to do with the 2 players in question than our depth (or lack there of according to some posters). Both of those guys seem like they've been rather injury prone their entire careers and really Johnson just had his least injury riddled season in a year he had by far his most carries. Before those 2, we have had very little injury problems from the RB position and this hasn't really been much of a topic.

You must have forgotten our entire backfield was injured in 2015. Like, in the first game.....Peyton Barber was #4 on the depth chart to start the year.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

1 hour ago, leglessdan said:

We agree on this. Horses....We're not recruiting or missing on them. Whatever the case is, we don't have them. We seem to be getting specspecHypotheticali alty backs or projects. Hypothetical.....but just imagine what this offense could do with the stable of backs bammer has currently.  We have to start winning those recruiting battles. 

Sure hate to burst your bubble but correct me if I’m wrong. Last year a lot of you were saying KJ was a bust because Gus ran KP for 1200 plus yards. It was all about losing Roc the five star or JR the 5 star. Yet I doubt many knowledgeable folks would trade KJ for either one of them now. I sure would not. I also wouldn’t trade him for uga or uat’s back either. Whether you like it or not it is the way Gus runs his team. Whoever the hot back is he will ride him till he falls down. The other three backs that we saw are all probably really good backs. They just don’t get a chance to show it. As far as Recruiting this year, I personally would trade Asa for any other back out there. He just got the Gatoraid player of the year from Alabama. Maybe one of these days you’ll understand the ranking are mostly a joke. They are done by lazy writers just to get hits. I can promise you coaches never look at those ranking or have any faith in them. I for one always worry about the ones we get not the ones we don’t .

[LKEEL75 2,566]

@RunInRed @TitanTiger Can someone lock this thread?  The last 3 pages have nothing to do with Holland or even the D side of the ball.