2019 4* RB Derrian Brown

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

Many think we need the Henry, fournette, or Chubb type back for our O.  I think the ideal back for our O is more in line with the KMart type. A one cut back that has the speed to take it to the house everytime. 

I get what you are saying but we are a run first downhill power team and I am not sure that recruiting 5'-9" 185 lb backs across the board is the recipe for success.  As a medium, I would love to have at least 1 bigger back at all times to use to share the workload.  Chubb/Sony.  The spread is more prevalent now in the SEC but it is still a game that is won by physicality.  I hate them and hate using them as an example but UGA has the RB thing figured out and the talent train that UGA has now and in the past 6-8 years is off the charts.  They are pulling in guys every year that are studs playing behind studs.  Zamir White 6' 210 ,  D'Andre Swift 5-9  215,  Elijah Holyfield 5-11 215, Sony 5-11  212,  Nic Chubb 5-10 228, Todd Gurley 6-1 232.  These guys are chewing up yards and TD's while also being bigger more durable players outside of freakish leg breaks.

[bigbird 60,367]

13 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

I get what you are saying but we are a run first downhill power team and I am not sure that recruiting 5'-9" 185 lb backs across the board is the recipe for success.  As a medium, I would love to have at least 1 bigger back at all times to use to share the workload.  Chubb/Sony.  The spread is more prevalent now in the SEC but it is still a game that is won by physicality.  I hate them and hate using them as an example but UGA has the RB thing figured out and the talent train that UGA has now and in the past 6-8 years is off the charts.  They are pulling in guys every year that are studs playing behind studs.  Zamir White 6' 210 ,  D'Andre Swift 5-9  215,  Elijah Holyfield 5-11 215, Sony 5-11  212,  Nic Chubb 5-10 228, Todd Gurley 6-1 232.  These guys are chewing up yards and TD's while also being bigger more durable players outside of freakish leg breaks.

Which is great for their O. My contention is that for OUR O, a back like Kenny Irons or Brad Lester is a better fit.

[mustache eagle 2,388]

Line me up a big ole pile of Kenny Ironseseseses ... and I’d be oh so happy!

[McLoofus 35,182]

26 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Which is great for their O. My contention is that for OUR O, a back like Kenny Irons or Brad Lester is a better fit.

 

11 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

Line me up a big ole pile of Kenny Ironseseseses ... and I’d be oh so happy!

Oh hell yeah.

I see that in some of these guys we're going after. But damn, we have got to reel one in. 

[bigbird 60,367]

5 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

 

Oh hell yeah.

I see that in some of these guys we're going after. But damn, we have got to reel one in. 

Tye seems to be in that mold to me.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Tye seems to be in that mold to me.

I am so curious what the deal is with that guy's recruitment. 

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

I am so curious what the deal is with that guy's recruitment. 

Maybe his blocking lol.  Had to do it.

[toddc 13,194]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

Plus, if you go to AU, you will be injured. Do you really want to risk your career?

That’s a very myopic view of the injury situation! Every team has injuries to rbs...see fournette, gurly, etc... I don’t think it’s fair to say Auburn is going to get you injured if you come here and play running back.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

1 minute ago, toddc said:

That’s a very myopic view of the injury situation! Every team has injuries to rbs...see fournette, gurly, etc... I don’t think it’s fair to say Auburn is going to get you injured if you come here and play running back.

You are 100% correct but that is what coaches will tell recruits about Auburn.

[bigbird 60,367]

2 minutes ago, toddc said:

That’s a very myopic view of the injury situation! Every team has injuries to rbs...see fournette, gurly, etc... I don’t think it’s fair to say Auburn is going to get you injured if you come here and play running back.

When was the last season we had a running back healthy the entire season?

[McLoofus 35,182]

Just now, toddc said:

That’s a very myopic view of the injury situation! Every team has injuries to rbs...see fournette, gurly, etc... I don’t think it’s fair to say Auburn is going to get you injured if you come here and play running back.

Except we've had multiple RBs get injured every single season. 

Also, I'm not sure that Bird is being literal as much as he's echoing a negative recruiting pitch that other schools can use. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate. Other coaches also tell recruits that Auburn is a crappy town, for example. 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

9 minutes ago, bigbird said:

When was the last season we had a running back healthy the entire season?

No disrespect, but when was the last season that any team in the SEC had RB1 in every game for the full game?  Every year most of the major teams lose their RB for a game or 2 due to nicks and dings.  This is a rough league for any RB.  I understand what you are saying that it seems to happen to us and it is easy to blame Gus for "running them in the ground", but was Fornette run in the ground?  How about Gurley, Michel, Chubb?  Even the great UAturds have lost guys for a game or 2 due to injuries.  I get that KJ had more carries than anyone.  I get why a lot of people question why there was no other RB in there, but unless I am mistaking nobody on this forum was in the meeting rooms, so none of us really know what was going on as to why other guys didn't play.

[bigbird 60,367]

26 minutes ago, LKEEL75 said:

No disrespect, but when was the last season that any team in the SEC had RB1 in every game for the full game?  Every year most of the major teams lose their RB for a game or 2 due to nicks and dings.  This is a rough league for any RB.  I understand what you are saying that it seems to happen to us and it is easy to blame Gus for "running them in the ground", but was Fornette run in the ground?  How about Gurley, Michel, Chubb?  Even the great UAturds have lost guys for a game or 2 due to injuries.  I get that KJ had more carries than anyone.  I get why a lot of people question why there was no other RB in there, but unless I am mistaking nobody on this forum was in the meeting rooms, so none of us really know what was going on as to why other guys didn't play.

No offense taken.  I don't really know about other schools, but if a coach tells a RB prospect "AU hasn't had a back make it through the season healthy in 8 years", then it's going to resonate.

[ellitor 33,062]

13 minutes ago, bigbird said:

No offense taken.  I don't really know about other schools, but if a coach tells a RB prospect "AU hasn't had a back make it through the season healthy in 8 years", then it's going to resonate.

1 thing that annoys me is when Gus was asked today about having a RB by committee & spreading the carries more all he did was be prideful on the whatever year streak we have with a 1000 yard rusher and that it would continue. I'd rather have 3 700-800 healthy & prepared yard rushers than 1 beat up 1000 yard rusher. That man can be so annoyingly stubborn sometimes.

[WDavE 332]

Off topic a little...

 

I would have really liked to watch Caddy in this offense...

[ellitor 33,062]

1 minute ago, WDavE said:

Off topic a little...

 

I would have really liked to watch Caddy in this offense...

Caddy & Ronnie in this O with proper carry distribution would have been deadly.

[CR 2,427]

17 minutes ago, ellitor said:

1 thing that annoys me is when Gus was asked today about having a RB by committee & spreading the carries more all he did was be prideful on the whatever year streak we have with a 1000 yard rusher and that it would continue. I'd rather have 3 700-800 healthy & prepared yard rushers than 1 beat up 1000 yard rusher. That man can be so annoyingly stubborn sometimes.

Gus is stuck in a time warp. Pro scouts don't care about 1000 yd seasons, they want a healthy, explosive back with a minimum amount of hits on him. And for all that say it doesn't matter what scouts say, basically everyone AU recruits wants to make it to the NFL. It matters.

[Beaker 2,457]

3 minutes ago, CR said:

Gus is stuck in a time warp. Pro scouts don't care about 1000 yd seasons, they want a healthy, explosive back with a minimum amount of hits on him. And for all that say it doesn't matter what scouts say, basically everyone AU recruits wants to make it to the NFL. It matters.

Smartest or most insightful thing I have read on this forum in a while.  

Maybe with a new contract, Gus will experiment a little with RB rotations.  It's crazy the way we don't manage RBs and look ahead regarding backs/injuries/stamina/health/etc.   Other schools really use that against us in recruiting.   It's apparent

[LakeBum 187]

Wow, how long are you guys going to keep beating on that dead horse??   26 backs each had over 230 carries last year.   3 of them were QBs.  How many teams have a 2, 3 or 4  5* running backs on the team besides UA and UG?   They are the exception to the rule.  They have to share carries or those guys would be transferring to somewhere where they can get on the field. Any coach is going to play a 5* RB, even if they have to rotate them.  Most teams don't have them.  Auburn had two really good RBs last year.  One decided to take the year off and the other got hurt on a freak play in the last game of the season.   I am hoping we see the Worm turn this year and we can keep our RBs healthy and ready to play.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, LakeBum said:

Wow, how long are you guys going to keep beating on that dead horse?? 

As long as you would like to keep debating it. 

Quote

 26 backs each had over 230 carries last year.   3 of them were QBs.  

How many RBs- since sacks and scrambles count towards QB rushes in CFB- had over 240 carries? 19. 250? 16. 260? 13. 270? 9. So yes, out of 130 FBS teams, 9 RBs had 280 or more carries like KJ did. The powerhouses they played for are:

Colorado
Florida Atlantic
Boston College
Wisconsin
Navy
San Diego State
Tulsa
Northwestern
Auburn
Hawaii

Of those teams, Florida Atlantic, Auburn and Wisconsin are the only 3 in the top 30 in the nation in total offense. Only 2 more in the top 50. Without looking, I would venture a guess that Auburn is the only one to have finished in the top 20 in recruiting in each of the last 4 years. In other words, there are only a handful of teams that run RB1 as much as we do, and FAU and Wisconsin are the only other ones who know what a forward pass is, and none of them are the SEC, and at least a few of them probably only run one guy because they only have one guy.

Guys carrying the ball that many times are on their way out no matter how upsetting that is. Gus needs to get with the times. Even Tuberville was more of an offensive visionary than Gus has been these last few years. Franklin might've been the wrong guy, but Tubs at least knew he needed to move forward. 

Depth has been a problem but Gus has made it worse. He needs to recruit better and let the guys play. 

[WDavE 332]

The only times that I have gotten upset over not substituting our RB's is when they were not 100 percent and yet we played them over our number two or when you could tell they were dog tired and we left them in.

 

I have a very hard time believing even last year that KJ at 75 percent was better then our second or third options. 

[bigbird 60,367]

2 minutes ago, WDavE said:

The only times that I have gotten upset over not substituting our RB's is when they were not 100 percent and yet we played them over our number two or when you could tell they were dog tired and we left them in.

 

I have a very hard time believing even last year that KJ at 75 percent was better then our second or third options. 

Or when we have already put a game away.

[ellitor 33,062]

41 minutes ago, LakeBum said:

26 backs each had over 230 carries last year. 

1. Total season carries is not the issue. 2. In a 12 or 13 game season that's less than 20 carries a game. That's not a lot. The issue is Gus gets comfortable with 1 RB per season most of the time, so much so that RB1 gets nearly all the carries versus our toughest teams. RB1 should be getting the most but RB2 & 3 should be ready & get some carries in big games to keep RB1 fresh. I hate to say it for like the 5th time this week alone but even KJ said last week it was crazy the workload Gus gave him last year.

49 minutes ago, LakeBum said:

3 of them were QBs.  How many teams have a 2, 3 or 4  5* running backs on the team besides UA and UG?

You don't have to have 5* guys to distribute carries enough to keep RB1 fresh in big games.

53 minutes ago, LakeBum said:

They have to share carries or those guys would be transferring to somewhere where they can get on the field

It's a benefit but it's not why they are distributing carries. They do it to keep their primary backs fresh for big games.

 

26 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

As long as you would like to keep debating it. 

How many RBs- since sacks and scrambles count towards QB rushes in CFB- had over 240 carries? 19. 250? 16. 260? 13. 270? 9. So yes, out of 130 FBS teams, 9 RBs had 280 or more carries like KJ did. The powerhouses they played for are:

Colorado
Florida Atlantic
Boston College
Wisconsin
Navy
San Diego State
Tulsa
Northwestern
Auburn
Hawaii

Of those teams, Florida Atlantic, Auburn and Wisconsin are the only 3 in the top 30 in the nation in total offense. Only 2 more in the top 50. Without looking, I would venture a guess that Auburn is the only one to have finished in the top 20 in recruiting in each of the last 4 years. In other words, there are only a handful of teams that run RB1 as much as we do, and FAU and Wisconsin are the only other ones who know what a forward pass is, and none of them are the SEC, and at least a few of them probably only run one guy because they only have one guy.

Guys carrying the ball that many times are on their way out no matter how upsetting that is. Gus needs to get with the times. Even Tuberville was more of an offensive visionary than Gus has been these last few years. Franklin might've been the wrong guy, but Tubs at least knew he needed to move forward. 

Depth has been a problem but Gus has made it worse. He needs to recruit better and let the guys play. 

Another thing is that many carries & the toll vs SEC Ds is dramatically different than  the teams those other schools played.

On Franklin we will never truly know if he was a mistake since the rest of the O assistants refused to coach Franklin ball to their positions forcing him to do all the positional work to go along with his OC duties.

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, ellitor said:

1. Total season carries is not the issue.

Agreed. I forgot to mention that KJ only played 12 games. He went for 24 carries per. That only left about 11 carries a game for the rest of the RBs to split among themselves. RB1 should not have more than twice the carries of all other RBs combined in most games. 

Quote

Another thing is that many carries & the toll vs SEC Ds is dramatically different than  the teams those other schools played.

On Franklin we will never truly know if he was a mistake since the rest of the O assistants refused to coach Franklin ball to their positions forcing him to do all the positional work to go along with his OC duties.

Yeah, that's why I mentioned that the other teams aren't in the SEC and why I said "might" in regards to Franklin, but I'm flattered you ready that whole long post of mine, E! 

[The Plainsman 948]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

1 thing that annoys me is when Gus was asked today about having a RB by committee & spreading the carries more all he did was be prideful on the whatever year streak we have with a 1000 yard rusher and that it would continue. I'd rather have 3 700-800 healthy & prepared yard rushers than 1 beat up 1000 yard rusher. That man can be so annoyingly stubborn sometimes.

Premier backs do not want to only have 700 yrd a year.   Atleast if I am a 5 star guy,. I want the dang rock,. Let me get my 1000+ yrd two years in a row and get drafted.