Scrimmage
- Thread starter Hurricanetown1
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Our offense has been so predictable it wouldn't have mattered for Thomas. If he was in the game you knew it was a run...but that's fine. I just know what he could do with the ball in his hands and he could grind out yards, he could hit the hole hard and pick up a quick 5-6 yards, and he could get to the edge quicker than the 2 scat backs.
Brooks is a very complete back but he's also small meaning he is probably prone to injury. Wilkerson is a big bodied kid WHO is also a very complete back (IMO). If Monty ever put the wheel route in the arsenal, Wilkerson is the guy who needs to be running it right now.
Great...we all think that. We have seen Monty's reluctance to play younger players in lieu of older players even if the older players haven't produced. The only exception I can think of is Keenen Johnson stepping in as the 4th WR in 2016. I think it was the Houston game as the 1st time he was the #1 4-WR. But even though our WRs didn't produce last year, we saw little of Josh Stewart, no Santana. Stewart was productive in the few reps he did get last year and is one of those guys that fights for the ball. Point is, there are guys who probably can play, like Wilkerson, who won't get much work simply because Monty sets lineups seemingly because he feels he owes it to the older guys.
At the RB position we’re stacked, so I do t think the seniority thing is as big of an issue there. The good news is with those younger backs the future is bright if we can bring in the kids to block for them and the qb and receiving Corp can develop into a real threat and bring back balance to the offense.
I understand we're stacked and extremely talented with Brooks and Taylor at RB1 and RB1A. But they aren't terribly great at moving the pile on 3rd and 1 and the defense and all 20k+ in the stadium know you're running the ball. Thomas was big enough to get that leverage. I think Wilkerson can do that as well, but Monty has never been that coach to add a 3rd back to the mix for special situations. This is why the play calling is as predictable as we've all been hollering for the last 2 years. There's no change in personnel, no change in formations, no crazy personnel packages to get the defense thinking and trying to get them to guess. In essence Monty's approach is the Herman Boone (Remember the Titans) approach to offense...works like novocaine, give it time, it will eventually work. I don't know about you but if I went to a dentist and it took the novocaine 3 years to finally work, I'm looking for a new dentist.
I don't know if this is true. In Monty's year 1 (where Dane threw for a ton of yards) You had Langer + Brewer.... but you also saw Ramadi Warren get 71 touches for 475 yards. That's not chump change for a young kid.
In year 3, you saw Brewer + Brooks get most of the carries, but you still saw Corey Taylor get 34... and that's on a team where we saw Chad President running the ball a ton too.
I think Monty will use a 3rd back if he knows one of the starters has durability issues. (Brewer was that guy at one time) Wilkerson could see a lot of PT this year... I think a lot will depend on the O-line and our ability to pass. If we can keep the offense humming like we used to then Monty will need to sub in and out running backs. If we stall and rarely convert 3rds into 1sts... then Wilkerson might be a year away.
I understand where posters are coming from. Flanders wouldn’t have gotten a carry if Brewer hadn’t gotten hurt and ended up #1 back his senior year. It seems someone has to get hurt for a backup to get a chance.
I think Flanders was always in the plan that season after Warren was ineligible.
I had the opportunity to see Wilkerson quite a bit in HS and I assure you that you are correct with regard to his ability to move a pile. He played both ways and had ankle issues during a great deal of that time. He was always a man among boys then and the way his body has developed while on campus I fully expect that he’s going to be able to light it up when give the opportunity.
If you don't have personnel that can take care of running the base plays, why would you try and add in a bunch of fancy/trick stuff?
That's likely the reason the offense was so vanilla the last couple years. Our QBs were young and couldn't handle all the stuff Dane could in '16. It drove me crazy at times also watching the O, but I try to remember to put things in perspective rather than just saying the coach stinks.
I think people forget these are 18-22 year old human beings who are learning a lot, not robots that you just replace year in and year out.
That's likely the reason the offense was so vanilla the last couple years. Our QBs were young and couldn't handle all the stuff Dane could in '16. It drove me crazy at times also watching the O, but I try to remember to put things in perspective rather than just saying the coach stinks.
I think people forget these are 18-22 year old human beings who are learning a lot, not robots that you just replace year in and year out.
Watched the OU vs Tulsa game on youtube and again witnessed Dane shred OU's secondary , Key Garrett abused Zac Sanchez and made him like it . Even though TU lost by 14 they moved the ball at will . Loved that receiving corp of Garrett, Keevan Lucas and my favorite Josh Atkinson . Too bad we can't keep them forever but man were they potent .
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