Derrick Green compared with Brionte Dunn

Scout's Chris Balas has a great article (free) on Michigan Assistant Coach Jeff Meyer over at the Wolverine. LINK: http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1481920

I've gotten away from posting too many links, but given the accusations made by Indiana Coach Tom Crean, this is particularly relevant. Balas takes the high road in his article, as does Meyer in his actions. However, reading between the lines, this reflects poorly on Sampson, Indiana, and Crean, and not on Meyer.

Im no expert, but in my opinion Green does a better job finding/hitting wholes and can break tackles better than Dunn. You'll see Dunn cut to the outside more often than not, where as Green can do it all.... both players I think are even when it comes to receiving.

With the type of running game we want and Oline we've recruited, Green fits in better than Dunn.

What's the old saying?  "Any port 5 Star running back in a storm?"

My personal observations are that they are both very different backs within the same mold. That is to say that they are both power backs, but ones that go about their business in contrasting styles. 

Derrick Green- His style is to do everything while going forward and at as close to full pace as possible. He doesn't waste much time in the back field, finds his hole fast and explodes through it. Once on the second level he's going to do a little shimmy or stutterstep that he can do without slowing down and plow through whatever is left in his way. By the time he's at the second level he's usualy at like 75-90% of his speed (which is pretty fast). As a result, lots of tacklers are only gonna put partial hits on him and most opponents tried to hit him low and have his momentum work against him. With his style you see lots of 10-15 yarders with a couple longer ones mixed in as well as a few times when he gets stuffed at the line when he picks the wrong hole or doesn't get the cance to get up to speed. 

Brionte Dunn- Dunn is a little more patient and not nearly as explosive. He seems to bide his time in the back field a bit more, and more often than Green he will decide to try to go around the edge or take the play somewhere else than it was intended. His vision might be a bit better than Green's.  He doesn't gash into the second level like Green, but he seems to wiggle out of more LB tackle attempts. He is taller and less compact than Green, which makes him kind of look like he's clumsily, hobbling down the field, but he does have some speed. It seems like as opposed to Green it takes him forever to get up to his open field pace, so it only shows up on his highlight reel when he's already past all the defenders. His length allows him to keep tacklers away with a very solid stiff arm.

My personal opinion is that I would take Green, Dunn racks up some big runs and breaks some tackles, but it's kind of like Thomas Rawls. Is he going to be able break real tackle attempts from college players? Is he gonna be able to turn those 5 yarders into 10 when people are actually playing with good form? Personally I think if Dunn has a good line he could make some decent yardage, but I don't think he will ever be a back that will do it on his own without a ton of help. On the other hand, I think Green's runs of 10-15 on most plays will dial back to 3-8 in college, but his style seems like it will always at least be decently effective. I think his burst is elite level and that he does enough in terms of little moves that he will have success in the B1G.

double post

Dunn won't have the offensive line Green will have.. . .

The Game won't feature these two guys.  Hall will be OSU's featured back...just saying.  And, there's no gurantee Green will be ours.  By the end of the year I'd expect to see Fitz being our primary ball carrier.  I guess it's an interesting comparision because we recruited both guys and they are similar sized guys, but I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here.

for starting a thread about football.  I can't take rehashing yesterday's basketball any more, and thinking about the Wisconsin and Penn State games (which I must after yesterday) makes me sick.  This is much better.

Green is a pure downhill runner.  He has the speed to get outside occasionally, but mostly he's going to run between the tackles, run through an arm tackle, and then run over a safety.

Dunn is more of a slasher.  He's not extremely fast, but he's large with pretty good speed who will accelerate through creases with some power.  He's kind of like an Eddie George-type player, but I don't think he'll be as successful at Ohio State as if he were playing somewhere else (such as Michigan).  His game just doesn't fit what Meyer tried to do at Florida, which is what I'm basing my projection on.

Smith is a bit of a combination of the two.  He will slash and he will run downhill, but he's not particularly fast and he's not particularly big.  His best attribute is his running attitude.  If the OL can keep him clean to the second or third level, then smaller guys might have a hard time tackling him head-on.  But big plays are only going to happen if he runs straight through a safety, not by outrunning people.

I don't recall Dunn being ranked the No. 1 running back in the country. So that should settle it right there.

Besides, I can't really see Dunn doing much in Meyer's offense when he just brought in Zeke Elliott, who bares a striking facial resemblence to Terrelle Pryor... hmm...