RBU Auburn University

[toddc 13,194]

It’s a long article so I didn’t copy it. It’s a good article on AU running backs! I know we have had this debate before, but it’s worth your time to peruse through it! The article is from an outsider from Sports Illustrated!

https://sec.news/2L6hlEn

[johnnyAU 3,630]

There was a time when we were RBU.  

[WVR 818]

They left off the two bama killers; Stacy Danley and Tre Smith.

[AUsince72 11,084]

Just now, WVR said:

They left off the two bama killers; Stacy Danley and Tre Smith.

Been thinking of Tre Smith with all this "Kam Martin is too small" stuff...

Danley / Joseph didn't put up huge numbers but they ate bammers lunch.

[WVR 818]

6 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

Been thinking of Tre Smith with all this "Kam Martin is too small" stuff...

Danley / Joseph didn't put up huge numbers but they ate bammers lunch.

James Joseph was a good one too. I think he was coaching at Samford if I am not mistaken. He and Danley were two of my favorites.

[The Plainsman 948]

Joseph and Danley were ok.  Always flashed but never over achieved.  

[augolf1716 21,103]

3 hours ago, The Plainsman said:

Joseph and Danley were ok.  Always flashed but never over achieved.  

One thing you can say about Stacy he was one tough player after this hit he came back into the game a few plays later

 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

As far as picking two behind Bo as the article asks... 

Number one is an easy one for me... Stephen Davis. Davis could of won the Heisman had Bowden actually let him run the ball for an entire game. If memory serves me Bowden would let him run loose for about half a game every game, and he still became one of the best we have ever had. He also went on to become a pro bowler and led the league in rushing a few years.

Number two is a bit tougher. We have Cadillac... He is our second all time  leading rusher behind Bo. He put on a clinic or two in his time. Then we have Ronnie Brown... Either could of been better had they not shared the backfield... We have Tre Mason. His season in 2013 was one to remember. What he did to finish off the 2013 season was simply incredible. 300+ yards in the SEC Championship game was just sick.. However for my own personal number two I will have to go with Rudi Johnson. Had Rudi played more than 1 season with us, he would of been one of our all time greats. Even with just a single season, he had a top 5 rushing season ever. The excitement he brought to the table was unparalleled. So yeah, Rudi would be my number two. 

On a side note, 1993 was the first year I really started paying attention to college football. I mean I was in 8th grade that year.  So I didn't see people like Lionel James, Tucker Frederickson, or Brent Fullwood... I dont remotely remember Bo playing for Auburn for that matter. I was a real youngster during those days. First thing I remember about Bo was him making his major league debut for the Royals. I was raised in a bama family but even they made a big deal about Bo. And of course there was Tecmo Bowl...

But yeah Stephen Davis and Rudi Johnson would be my two.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

23 hours ago, johnnyAU said:

There was a time when we were RBU.  

Yep, and that time is referred to as “forever” or “always”.

AU IS RBU!

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

2 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

Yep, and that time is referred to as “forever” or “always”.

AU IS RBU!

Hard to say that when Bama and UGA keep lining up 5* RBs every season... And we haven't signed a 5* RB since Dyer in 2010. I mean Roc was a 5* on a service or two, but wasn't a 5* all the way around like Dyer was. 

Yes we always have a 1k yard rusher going on a decade straight, but that is very much helped by our scheme and offensive style. We are achieving this with 3* and 4* backs. 

Hard to believe but it's getting close to a decade since we have signed a 5* RB. Which is even harder to believe since we always have a 1000 yard rusher... 

But RBU doesn't have to work with 3* and 4* RBs. This is why I feel we don't really deserve that title anymore. "RBU," should be having their pick of the RBs in each  class. Until we get back to having the best backs in the nation on our roster and having our RBs taken in the first round, we aren't exactly RBU anymore. 

As far as having that title "forever" or "always....." At one point Army was the best team in college football. They won national championships and had Heisman winners. They were THE big swinging.... richards... of college football. They thought they would hold that distinction "forever" and "always" but they didn't. Nothing is "forever" or "always." Especially in something as fluid as college football.

[milehighfan 1,240]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:07 PM, augolf1716 said:

One thing you can say about Stacy he was one tough player after this hit he came back into the game a few plays later

 

Man, I remember that hit. I'm sure Danley does too.

[AUsince72 11,084]

3 hours ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Hard to say that when Bama and UGA keep lining up 5* RBs every season... And we haven't signed a 5* RB since Dyer in 2010. I mean Roc was a 5* on a service or two, but wasn't a 5* all the way around like Dyer was. 

Yes we always have a 1k yard rusher going on a decade straight, but that is very much helped by our scheme and offensive style. We are achieving this with 3* and 4* backs. 

Hard to believe but it's getting close to a decade since we have signed a 5* RB. Which is even harder to believe since we always have a 1000 yard rusher... 

But RBU doesn't have to work with 3* and 4* RBs. This is why I feel we don't really deserve that title anymore. "RBU," should be having their pick of the RBs in each  class. Until we get back to having the best backs in the nation on our roster and having our RBs taken in the first round, we aren't exactly RBU anymore. 

As far as having that title "forever" or "always....." At one point Army was the best team in college football. They won national championships and had Heisman winners. They were THE big swinging.... richards... of college football. They thought they would hold that distinction "forever" and "always" but they didn't. Nothing is "forever" or "always." Especially in something as fluid as college football.

I'm not knocking your opinion since we all have one but I'm unsure of your reasoning here.  I don't think the moniker RBU or LBU (as Penn St used to be known) etc is referring to recruiting.  That would be a whole different name, like HSRBRU.

I believe the determination is made after the players have actually performed and moved on, followed by another and another and so forth.  Recruiting stars have never played into such lists.  When Auburn WAS "officially" RBU, do you suppose every one of their RB's were 5* recruits?  Hypothetically, if a school had five 5* RB's sign with them every year but none of them panned out, would they be RBU?

[gr82be 14,423]

On 5/17/2018 at 9:17 PM, AUsince72 said:

Been thinking of Tre Smith with all this "Kam Martin is too small" stuff...

Danley / Joseph didn't put up huge numbers but they ate bammers lunch.

I don't know if Danley was just better as the season went on or he just saved the best for last but he was always a beast for Amen Corner. I loved watching him play. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

8 hours ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Hard to say that when Bama and UGA keep lining up 5* RBs every season... And we haven't signed a 5* RB since Dyer in 2010. I mean Roc was a 5* on a service or two, but wasn't a 5* all the way around like Dyer was. 

Yes we always have a 1k yard rusher going on a decade straight, but that is very much helped by our scheme and offensive style. We are achieving this with 3* and 4* backs. 

Hard to believe but it's getting close to a decade since we have signed a 5* RB. Which is even harder to believe since we always have a 1000 yard rusher... 

But RBU doesn't have to work with 3* and 4* RBs. This is why I feel we don't really deserve that title anymore. "RBU," should be having their pick of the RBs in each  class. Until we get back to having the best backs in the nation on our roster and having our RBs taken in the first round, we aren't exactly RBU anymore. 

As far as having that title "forever" or "always....." At one point Army was the best team in college football. They won national championships and had Heisman winners. They were THE big swinging.... richards... of college football. They thought they would hold that distinction "forever" and "always" but they didn't. Nothing is "forever" or "always." Especially in something as fluid as college football.

I understand. ATM bama and uga are killing it in recruiting.  I guess we should all define our criteria for “RBU”.  For me, the stars beside a kid’s name in HS doesn’t mean much.  I look at production in college.  Colleges putting RBs in the league should be a factor as well.  In the last 10 years, west vance u has put more in the league and they’ve had several productive backs, but I would argue we’ve been right there with them in terms of production with our string of 1,000 yard RBs.  If you go back further to the mid/late 70’s til now I don’t think anyone has as strong of an argument for RBU as AU.  

The difference between us and teams like the academies is that they’ve been completely irrelevant for decades.  We’ve had very productive RBs get drafted recently as well as historically.  KJ, Tre, and CAP are evidence the “used to” tag doesn’t apply to us.  

Just my thoughts. I realize there is no objective standard for these kind of things and I have O&B glasses, but I do think our argument is as strong or stronger than anyone’s.  

[johnnyAU 3,630]

We've done extremely well with average to pretty darn good RB's in the last 10 years or so. We just haven't had that elite guy, at least not for very long. Maybe Dyer or perhaps Jovon could have become that guy, who knows?  KJ evolved into a much bigger impact player than I imagined from the start.  Best of luck to him at the next level. Fantastic college player. 

The other thing is how they fare at the next level. We have a few in the league, but not as many as some, and none as starters I don't believe.  We have CAP, Barber, Grant and now KJ right?

10 years ago, I thought we were RBU.  It'd be tough for me to put them ahead of LSU, Bama, UGA (just in our own league) in recent times though. 

 

 

[kd4au 1,145]

17 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

One thing you can say about Stacy he was one tough player after this hit he came back into the game a few plays later

And he got up an ran off the field if I'm not mistaken.

[AUsince72 11,084]

58 minutes ago, kd4au said:

And he got up an ran off the field if I'm not mistaken.

There's a great story somewhere, I'd have to Google it, but I remember an interview with Coach Dye about that situation and when he realized Danley just had the wind knocked out of him, he "made" him run off the field to not let them see him down.

Also, that hit and tOSU players' reaction has been credited with leading to Auburn's subsequent 28 unanswered point beatdown of the Buckeyes.

[augolf1716 21,103]

34 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

There's a great story somewhere, I'd have to Google it, but I remember an interview with Coach Dye about that situation and when he realized Danley just had the wind knocked out of him, he "made" him run off the field to not let them see him down.

Also, that hit and tOSU players' reaction has been credited with leading to Auburn's subsequent 28 unanswered point beatdown of the Buckeyes.

This is true

[aubiefifty 16,755]

On 5/17/2018 at 9:12 PM, WVR said:

They left off the two bama killers; Stacy Danley and Tre Smith.

i always thought stacy was underrated. i still remember him getting hurt against osu and i believe the qb was herbie? anyway osu was disrespecting auburn and coach dye ran out to check on stacy. and he told him that when he got up to run off the field like he was not hurt!. stacy did just that and he slowed down enough to point to the osu players like he would be back. and he was and we whipped them all over the field. god i loved that kid so much in that moment. and i cannot remember if the hit was dirty or osu was playing dirty or just playing hard. but as a personal opinion i think auburn earned herbie's respect for life in that game.  good times!

[aubiefifty 16,755]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:04 AM, milehighfan said:

Man, I remember that hit. I'm sure Dailey does too.

well so much for reading the whole thread before one posts dang it!   lol

[Gowebb11 9,314]

20 hours ago, AUsince72 said:

There's a great story somewhere, I'd have to Google it, but I remember an interview with Coach Dye about that situation and when he realized Danley just had the wind knocked out of him, he "made" him run off the field to not let them see him down.

Also, that hit and tOSU players' reaction has been credited with leading to Auburn's subsequent 28 unanswered point beatdown of the Buckeyes.

Dye’s running backs were special. He had guys like Tim Jessie and Collis Campbell who never started a game and yet played pro football briefly. Kyle Collins had some starts as a walk-on and of course he always had great fullbacks like Tommie Agee, Reggie Ware, and Kevin McCleod. 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

I'd much rather be known as the team that won a lot of football national championships insteed of RBU.

[bigbird 60,494]

3 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

I'd much rather be known as the team that won a lot of football national championships insteed of RBU.

Oh don't worry, that's definitely not what you're known for...

[kevon67 2,368]

11 hours ago, bigbird said:

Oh don't worry, that's definitely not what you're known for...

........and he's held that championship since the AUEagle days?

[Beaker 2,457]

Fullwood...definitely would have won the Heisman if he had not been in Bo's shadow or heck, if Bo hadn't won it the year prior.  8+ yds per carry?  in the SEC, during the era of run oriented defenses? 

To me, you can see how he had adopted so many of Bo's attributes (changing speeds, worked on balance, pivoting on a foot while swinging hips to regain balance...so impressive).  

 

 That is insane.