A.J. Dillon: The One That Got Away

Submitted by Logan88 on

So, did anyone (besides Magnus) notice that A.J. Dillon totally killed it this year as a true freshman at Boston College?

  • 1432 yards rushing
  • 13 rushing TD
  • 5.3 ypc
  • ACC Rookie of the Year
  • 1st Team All ACC

Obviously, UM's current group of RB's were good but, man, it would have been nice to have the next great RB on the roster for the future.

Can anyone recall what prompted him to decommit?

Qmatic

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:12 PM ^

The thought that we were in the running for Najee Harris.

This whole Shea Patterson pipe dream seems pretty similar to the Najee situation

chad

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^

I feel like even if Shea comes, the NCAA rules him ineligible this year and possibly have a QB transfer out. That leaves us with Peters and no backup and Shea as a backup in '19 & '20 (no way he beats out Peters if Peters starts all of '18). Not sure it's really worth it.

Elwood

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^

Wear and tear on RBs is a legit concern if they go on to the NFL. Plus, if he’s interested in playing for conference championships, Michigan has a better shot to do so (on paper) than BC.

Still good to see him do well though. It’s a plus for Michigan’s RB scouting. I think he was a non-descript three star when he committed to us.

Maynard

December 4th, 2017 at 12:25 AM ^

It's not too early for that conclusion. He wanted to be a RB and Harbaugh wanted him to play LB here. He chose RB and had a hell of a year. He may or may not have been a starter at Michigan but it would have been at a different position than he wanted. Now, next year he will be returning as one of the top RBs to watch.

I understand the need to justify a different conclusion for your team but.....

Not that complicated.

riverrat

December 4th, 2017 at 9:52 AM ^

Agreed on the wear-and-tear comment. I don't know if Ty Wheatley's attitudes towards running back by committee (RBs only have so many carries/hits to the body, don't burn them all in college) was the mode with running back coaches before Wheatley, but in my mind it's nigh on criminal to run someone as many times as BC did,,,he averaged almost 30 carries a game over the last six games...

And I'm glad for him too, but hope he gets a chance to make money in the pros...

BlueWolverine02

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^

we mentioned playing LB. He was my favorite RB commit last year, pretty bummed when he left. I'd go as far as to say I wasn't all that worried about getting Harris when we still had Dillon in the fold.

jsquigg

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^

Those are the numbers you get when there's not a RB by committee system.  I would bet a dollar Higdon and Evans combined have better numbers.

befuggled

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:26 PM ^

273 carries for 1590 yards (5.8 yards per carry) and 17 touchdowns.

If you add in Ty Isaac's stats you get 361 carries for 2138 yards (5.9 yards per carry) and 19 touchdowns. While obviously you can go too far with this sort of thing (few running backs in this day and age are going to get 361 carries), that's still more than half a yard more per carry.