A.J. Dillon: The One That Got Away
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?
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:54 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:00 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 9:51 PM ^
If Patterson can somehow get a waiver and play next season, then I can see taking him. But, if he has to sit out a year and can't play until 2018 when Peters is a RS junior and has almost a year and a half of playing time, McCaffrey is a RS sophomore and probably has some garbage time experience, and Milton is a RS freshman, I don't see how Patterson fits in. Do we really think he's that much better than the other QBs on our roster that we'd risk the upheavel? I'd say no thanks unless he can play next season.
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:09 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:14 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:14 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:06 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:11 PM ^
... the other was that the staff was being honest.
Dillon wanted to be a feature back as soon as possible. We couldn't guarantee him that, nor should we have.
I take it to be a sign of the staff's good eye for talent that they offered him in the first place, since he was an under the radar three-star player when he committed to us.
December 4th, 2017 at 12:34 AM ^
Should not have let Reese walk. Reese along with Bush would be a potent combo.
December 4th, 2017 at 2:05 AM ^
Some people here talk about David Reese like he's Ray Lewis. He's a good LB but it's not like he's an All American. If he's better than McCray, it's not by much.
December 4th, 2017 at 7:37 AM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:02 PM ^
I want to reiterate that I am very happy with the production UM got from Higdon/Evans/Isaac. I was not making the point that UM needed Dillon this season but that it would have been nice to have a (now) proven RB on the roster for the future.
This was not an attempt to "call out" UM's staff for a recruiting "blunder" nor to disparage UM's current RB group. I guess I should have made that clear in the OP.
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 12:38 AM ^
HAHA. No. He would not have struggled to get 750 as a feature back in the Big Ten. The ACC is weak but Dillon is legit. If anything, he is an Alabama type back and would make sense in that system at 6' 240.
December 3rd, 2017 at 11:40 PM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 12:12 AM ^
They also have a great offensive line perennially and churn out Heisman trophy winning NFL caliber running backs, but the recruits don’t seem to be scared of the RB by committee there.
December 4th, 2017 at 12:27 AM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 12:45 AM ^
If they are watching, they can see UM actually handles their RBs pretty damn good. If they're rolling, they will get the opportunities, dependent on how they're looking. Things do even out. Right after Harbaugh stated Evans wasn't experiencing the luck of Higdon as to blocking, certain things happening, etc., things turned around almost immediately and the next game both could have picked up 200 and basically the rest of the year they were pretty much even.
Any RB that goes to one of the top level schools, i.e., Bama, FSU, Clemson, they are aware they will rotate frequently not only to stay fresh but to keep all the players engaged. This is an extremely important part of the chemistry factor in cfb and any team that is actually able to give their RBs more quality touches, the better off they will be in the long run.
December 4th, 2017 at 2:36 AM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 9:12 AM ^
Ehh...
1st round NFL picks last 5 years:
Fournette (19.9 carries per game in years as a starter)
McCaffrey (23.6 carries per game in years as a starter)
Elliot (20.0 carries per game in years as a starter)
Gurley (17.0 carries per game in years as a starter)
Gordon (20.3 carries per game in years as a starter)
Karan Higdon - 12.3 carries per game
December 4th, 2017 at 12:00 AM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 12:43 AM ^
I remember seeing Biakabatuka get garbage time carries behind Wheatley as a Sophomore thinking man he was really special, and eventually he was.
Big time programs have depth at that position, so we made the right call recruiting more RBs beyond Dillon. Dillon didn’t like that we were pursuing 3 RBs in the class.
USC has several players that good at RB behind Ronald Jones like Carr. Stanford has Scarlett behind Love. Even Kareem Walker might have 1k yards as a feature back on another roster.
December 4th, 2017 at 3:37 AM ^
Not sure who he racked up his numbers against but he didn't do squat against ND, Clemson or VT.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:02 AM ^
December 4th, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^
I think there's some confusion in this thread about how football works.
Numerous people have said he wouldn't do this against Big Ten defenses, he didn't do well against the ranked teams BC played, etc. But that's not the point.
There are 11 players on the field, and BC is at a disadvantage in talent when it comes to OL, QB, WR, etc. against the Big Ten in aggregate. Dillon didn't do well in losses to the ranked Notre Dame, Clemson, and Virginia Tech, but his QB this year had a passing efficiency rating of 103.53 (a.k.a. not good), averaged 5.3 yards/attempt, and threw 11 TDs with 9 INTs. BC doesn't have a Brandon Peters or Ben Bredeson or Mason Cole or Donovan Peoples-Jones to take the pressure off of Dillon.
Dillon put up 272 yards against Louisville and 196 yards against North Carolina State, who are #52 and #28 in rushing defense, respectively. That's not great, but it's not bottom-of-the-barrel, either. Give him a Big Ten-quality offense around him, and he probably would have been just fine.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
I remember his statement about decommiting being to the effect of "doing what's best for me", which is totally fine by me, but I think he's from the Boston area too, so maybe staying closer to home works better for him for a reason we never got to hear. It seemed like he had been on excellent terms with Michigan, so I tend to assume that it was for a practical reason. I could be missing part of the story though.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^
But I'm happy to know that UM is finding undiscovered gems in the NE.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:44 AM ^
I live in Boston, get to see BC highlights and even went to Fenway to see them play UMASS. Dillon was in a great situation there. Local kid, good offense for his skills and most important, immediate PT. Took advantage of the situation and became a beast. Yes, would've looked good in Maize and Blue, but we'd probably be talking about him in terms of next year's depth instead of comparing the #'s he put up.
December 4th, 2017 at 12:13 PM ^