# of Running Backs?

[kkolumbo 8]

Do we now place an emphasis on signing two elite backs instead of one, now that Aycock is gone?

[Josh99045 0]

I think we were going to sign two, no matter what.

[WDE01 0]

H*LL yes!!! We're an injury away from being in the position that we were in @ LB last year if we don't.....

[BurtonJ20 61]

At least Anthony Gulley has some experience at the RB position too.  I am sure he would be willing to make the change to his HS position if asked.

[El_Cid2001 0]

If we weren't already, we certainly are now! 

[Mayonegg 0]

H*LL yes!!! We're an injury away from being in the position that we were in @ LB last year if we don't.....

No we're not; use some common sense people:

Aycock didn't even play last year and we replace Tate with Dyer...thus we're at the exact same position depth wise that we were last year, and I dont remember anyone crying about RB depth last year.  We have 3 runningbacks who will get carries (Fannin, McCalebb, Dyer) and if need be Eric Smith can run the ball.

[Holland's Fro 0]

H*LL yes!!! We're an injury away from being in the position that we were in @ LB last year if we don't.....

No we're not; use some common sense people:

Aycock didn't even play last year and we replace Tate with Dyer...thus we're at the exact same position depth wise that we were last year, and I dont remember anyone crying about RB depth last year.  We have 3 runningbacks who will get carries (Fannin, McCalebb, Dyer) and if need be Eric Smith can run the ball.

Thank you. This is not that big of a deal guys. What did we lose production-wise from Aycock? Nothing. We have 3 possible RBs returning (Fannin, McCalebb, Smith) and another newcomer (Dyer). Gulley-Morgan can play RB if need be, so can Stallworth and Phillips. I didnt expect Aycock to be THAT big of a factor anyways, because Smith is a better H-Back than him, he doesnt have the speed to be a change of pace back, and Fannin/Dyer is a better primary combo than Fannin/Aycock. Auburn will be fine

[WDE01 0]

wow,.... Dyer may or may not adjust.... I hope he does, just like all of you, but I've seen it happen before, where a stud didn''t pan out. What does that leave us with? Fannin of course, who is a SR., OMac, who we all pretty much agree is not an every down SEC back, Eric Smith, who is an Hback and not a RB. What else? If Fannin goes down (God forbid), and Dyer doesn't produce like we're hoping he will, we won't be in a good position. I hope Dyer is the man, but I also hope we put an emphasis on signing RBs in this class..... IMO it's a must.

[Mayonegg 0]

We're actually at a better position than we were last year if you consider that Fannin wasn't even a RB last year.  It was basically Tate/McCalebb running the ball; this year we'll have 3 guys instead of 2.

[Mayonegg 0]

wow,.... Dyer may or may not adjust.... I hope he does, just like all of you, but I've seen it happen before, where a stud didn''t pan out. What does that leave us with? Fannin of course, who is a SR., OMac, who we all pretty much agree is not an every down SEC back, Eric Smith, who is an Hback and not a RB. What else? If Fannin goes down (God forbid), and Dyer doesn't produce like we're hoping he will, we won't be in a good position. I hope Dyer is the man, but I also hope we put an emphasis on signing RBs in this class..... IMO it's a must.

If you go by "What if's" then every position is in "dire situation".

Yeah, if Fannin blows out his knee and Dyer turns out to be a complete bust we may be in trouble.  The same can be said for a lot of other positions.  Dyer is a physically built 5-star RB going into an offense that produces easy results...if he's not ready to produce then we simply signed the wrong back.  Runningback is by far the easiest position to transition to from HS.

[Holland's Fro 0]

wow,.... Dyer may or may not adjust.... I hope he does, just like all of you, but I've seen it happen before, where a stud didn''t pan out. What does that leave us with? Fannin of course, who is a SR., OMac, who we all pretty much agree is not an every down SEC back, Eric Smith, who is an Hback and not a RB. What else? If Fannin goes down (God forbid), and Dyer doesn't produce like we're hoping he will, we won't be in a good position. I hope Dyer is the man, but I also hope we put an emphasis on signing RBs in this class..... IMO it's a must.

I'm just gonna throw this out there: I have 10x more faith in Dyer adjusting and becoming a solid back than I ever had in Aycock. If Fannin were to go down, I'm much happier seeing Dyer play rather than Aycock. Just sayin

[WarAmericanEagle 0]

I think we need to sign two now without a doubt. I look for this class to have many top skill players.

[WDE01 0]

wow,.... Dyer may or may not adjust.... I hope he does, just like all of you, but I've seen it happen before, where a stud didn''t pan out. What does that leave us with? Fannin of course, who is a SR., OMac, who we all pretty much agree is not an every down SEC back, Eric Smith, who is an Hback and not a RB. What else? If Fannin goes down (God forbid), and Dyer doesn't produce like we're hoping he will, we won't be in a good position. I hope Dyer is the man, but I also hope we put an emphasis on signing RBs in this class..... IMO it's a must.

I'm just gonna throw this out there: I have 10x more faith in Dyer adjusting and becoming a solid back than I ever had in Aycock. If Fannin were to go down, I'm much happier seeing Dyer play rather than Aycock. Just sayin

I agree with this 110%. All Im saying is that I hope we put a little more emphasis now on recruiting the RB pos. Mr Crowell, come on down, and be in the rotation from day 1,,,,,

[collector527 0]

I think this will help us in recruiting but I do not see this hurting us much. It does suck but Donte has not seen the field so his production is only assumed. Also talent wise I would give the edge to Dyer. PLus we have Fannin, Omac, Eric, Ladarius Phillips and consider the guys who run reverses. So the running game should still be fine. We need to concentrate on being healthy and it should not even be a problem.

[Holland's Fro 0]

wow,.... Dyer may or may not adjust.... I hope he does, just like all of you, but I've seen it happen before, where a stud didn''t pan out. What does that leave us with? Fannin of course, who is a SR., OMac, who we all pretty much agree is not an every down SEC back, Eric Smith, who is an Hback and not a RB. What else? If Fannin goes down (God forbid), and Dyer doesn't produce like we're hoping he will, we won't be in a good position. I hope Dyer is the man, but I also hope we put an emphasis on signing RBs in this class..... IMO it's a must.

I'm just gonna throw this out there: I have 10x more faith in Dyer adjusting and becoming a solid back than I ever had in Aycock. If Fannin were to go down, I'm much happier seeing Dyer play rather than Aycock. Just sayin

I agree with this 110%. All Im saying is that I hope we put a little more emphasis now on recruiting the RB pos. Mr Crowell, come on down, and be in the rotation from day 1,,,,,

If we are able to sign Crowell and Blakely, I think we'd all forget about this pretty quick 

[Rabern57 0]

I just hope they didn't dismiss Aycock because they didn't see potential. Just so we could get someone else this year. We are not guaranteed to get some one good. 

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

I just hope they didn't dismiss Aycock because they didn't see potential. Just so we could get someone else this year. We are not guaranteed to get some one good. 

I guarantee this is not the case.  Aycock showed tremendous potential during practice and many players and coaches were raving about him.  Also, expect Justin Albert to be back in some capacity.  'Not sure what kind of look he'll get but he's a good athlete.

[AULock 0]

I just hope they didn't dismiss Aycock because they didn't see potential. Just so we could get someone else this year. We are not guaranteed to get some one good. 

I guarantee this is not the case.  Aycock showed tremendous potential during practice and many players and coaches were raving about him.  Also, expect Justin Albert to be back in some capacity.  'Not sure what kind of look he'll get but he's a good athlete.

Wasn't he released from the team last year?  For what reason?

[The Defiant 133]

I think losting Donte was bad bad bad for business, but you have to give Chizik credit for being a true disciplinarian.  I think we could be in trouble at the running back position this year you may all think that injury problems won't be a factor this, that or the other.....I'm here to tell you we play in the SEC boys running back is a position where you are always getting nailed and the probability of getting hurt at that position is much greater.  I'm going to list who can play running back and boy is it a short list, we have Fannin, we have Onerrio McCaleb who played Injured and was ineffective near the end of the year, Eric Smith is an H Back, Ladarius Perkins, and now Michael Dyer.  Perkins may come in out of shape, Eric Smith has to play H Back...I know we can use tight ends but him at H back is money.  I agree one injury and we are really close to being like the linebacker corps.  I hate to bust your rays of sunshine but losing Ayecock is probably going to end up hurting us but I hope it won't.  Just imagine if someone gets hurt in 2 adays, not even on the field I mean are you going to put orange no contact jerseys on them? Nope cause that effects the other positions.  I just hope and pray nobody gets hurt in pre-season practice.

[Jonesy 1]

I think losting Donte was bad bad bad for business, but you have to give Chizik credit for being a true disciplinarian.  I think we could be in trouble at the running back position this year you may all think that injury problems won't be a factor this, that or the other.....I'm here to tell you we play in the SEC boys running back is a position where you are always getting nailed and the probability of getting hurt at that position is much greater.  I'm going to list who can play running back and boy is it a short list, we have Fannin, we have Onerrio McCaleb who played Injured and was ineffective near the end of the year, Eric Smith is an H Back, Ladarius Perkins, and now Michael Dyer.  Perkins may come in out of shape, Eric Smith has to play H Back...I know we can use tight ends but him at H back is money.  I agree one injury and we are really close to being like the linebacker corps.  I hate to bust your rays of sunshine but losing Ayecock is probably going to end up hurting us but I hope it won't.  Just imagine if someone gets hurt in 2 adays, not even on the field I mean are you going to put orange no contact jerseys on them? Nope cause that effects the other positions.  I just hope and pray nobody gets hurt in pre-season practice.

First off, who the heck is Ladarius Perkins? Why did you slaughter every running back's name? 

The only way aycock leaving hurts us this year is if Eric Smith, Michael Dyer, and Mario Fannin get hurt. I hate to burst your bubble, but that isn't probable.

In that case we would rely on Onterrio McCalebb and Anthony Gulley-Morgan. That's a ridiculous scenario though.

[Mikey 16,777]

I saw Ladarious Phillips play in HS. He has a chance to help us at DT after a redshirt year. No way should anyone think he'll be part of the solution at RB.

Sorry, but me and a bunch of other people that are familiar with his HS team are all of this same opinion.

[Josh99045 0]

What do you think JS? Will Phillips see playing time at RB or is he destined for DT?

Personally, I would just like to see him on the field. Wherever we need him is where he should be.

[Jonesy 1]

I saw Ladarious Phillips play in HS. He has a chance to help us at DT after a redshirt year. No way should anyone think he'll be part of the solution at RB.

Sorry, but me and a bunch of other people that are familiar with his HS team are all of this same opinion.

I didn't see his team play besides the 20 minute film I watched on him and I would completely agree. I don't see him being a running back on this team unless Gus has a set of plays that calls for a 270lb running back. As of right now, nobody knows where he will play so it's sorta hard to try to shut down that discussion.

What do you think JS? Will Phillips see playing time at RB or is he destined for DT.

Personally, I would just like to see him on the field. Wherever we need him is where he should be.

I would imagine he would redshirt this year and then join the defensive line rotation.

[aubie571 0]

H*LL yes!!! We're an injury away from being in the position that we were in @ LB last year if we don't.....

No we're not; use some common sense people:

Aycock didn't even play last year and we replace Tate with Dyer...thus we're at the exact same position depth wise that we were last year, and I dont remember anyone crying about RB depth last year.  We have 3 runningbacks who will get carries (Fannin, McCalebb, Dyer) and if need be Eric Smith can run the ball.

Use common sense about who is going to replace Mario at the the h-back postion. We had Eric Smith to handle a few reps at rb last year but now he moves to h-back. You can't spin losing Adcock does not hurt...it does.

[TigerProwl24 0]

Look, we all know Dyer is fully capable of playing right away and now with Aycock leaving, Dyer is certain to be in the rotation next fall and won't have to compete with Aycock to do it. Now Dyer has a clear cut path to playing time. Aycock leaving hardly affects us at all. Aycock would've played second fiddle to Dyer anyway. I liked Aycock and I thought he had a lot of potential but he is not in any shape, form, or fashion the RB Dyer is. As far as recruiting goes, nothing changed there either. We will take two outstanding RBs for sure, possibly a third depending on who it is.