Gorgeous Al says Blake's 50-Yard Run was "Barry Sanders-esque"
In this < 5 min clip, Sam & Al break down Blake's amazing 50-yard scamper that did look a lot like one of Barry's classics. Dude was surrounded by 4 Hoosiers, sticks his left foot in the ground, and boom he was off to the races. It didn't look like his knee was down at the 1 in real time and I wished they would have reviewed it because I think he was in. Like Al said, he deserved it.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:06 PM ^
I want to see Barry show up this weekend.
Go Blue!
October 13th, 2022 at 6:17 PM ^
There will likely never be another Barry Sanders, but I'm happy a close facsimile plays for Michigan.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:20 PM ^
It was amazing, but nothing will touch the De'veon Smith "Teleport Run" against...BYU??
Corum juked in a phone booth. Smith disappeared in a pile of bodies and reappeared halfway to the endzone, with an all-time Beast Mode shaking off of a defender.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:28 PM ^
That was a great run, and shocking at the time, but Smith's run was actually blocked far better. There was a crease there and Smith almost went down off the butt of one of his blockers. He put his and down and no one but him was in the hole so he just sprinted out of it. Great finish on his part to get in the end zone.
Corum's was the better run, IMO and required a higher level of talent. Hope we get something like either one from Blake or DE this Saturday.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:29 PM ^
Y'know, I've watched that clip of De'Veon twenty times or more and I'm still mystified how it happens.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:56 PM ^
The two views from the back and front of the play between 0:30 - 0:45 show that he was alone in the hole. No one really had a chance to tackle him as the OL had hats on hats and the 2nd level lost him.
October 13th, 2022 at 6:25 PM ^
How did Fred Jackson describe it?
October 13th, 2022 at 6:29 PM ^
Like Barry Sanders but with more moves and elusiveness.
October 13th, 2022 at 7:36 PM ^
Like sex, but better
October 14th, 2022 at 12:30 AM ^
You may not be doing it right…
October 13th, 2022 at 6:28 PM ^
I love listening to Gorgeous Borges and Sam—they're a great combo of unvarnished Michigan enthusiasm and informed, humorous football analysis.
October 13th, 2022 at 7:31 PM ^
Yep. That is a always a fun listen. Al always says Go Blue at the end. My appreciation for him grew in the last couple of years.
October 14th, 2022 at 12:41 PM ^
He’s a bigger man than I am. An organization that fires me is not one that I go out and support.
(Maybe Brandon and Hoke’s firings healed the wounds)
October 13th, 2022 at 6:46 PM ^
Tall cotton there, but it was a heckuva beautiful run by an amazing running back that should be invited to the Heisman ceremony.
October 13th, 2022 at 7:02 PM ^
That was amaizing: all those unblocked players around him and - WHOOP - he was gone!
Refs -6 for robbing him of a TD.
October 13th, 2022 at 8:39 PM ^
Blake was in.
JT was short.
Trey's block was clean.
October 13th, 2022 at 9:41 PM ^
Don’t forget….
- the strip sack TD taken off the board with no video evidence
- Junior Hemingway was in vs Iowa (underrated)
October 13th, 2022 at 11:14 PM ^
Charles White didn't even have the ball, and they called it a touchdown.
October 14th, 2022 at 7:34 AM ^
He lost it on the 2. TWO yards from the EZ is when he fumbled. He ran for two yards before crossing the line without the ball.
October 14th, 2022 at 4:11 AM ^
This needs to be an mgoblog t-shirt.
October 14th, 2022 at 8:20 AM ^
Agreed. If the second and third had been moot, like the first . . . .
October 13th, 2022 at 7:05 PM ^
Definitely one for the highlight reel. Wish he had been given the touchdown.
October 13th, 2022 at 7:11 PM ^
True i thought in real time and in replays he was in but im very hlad he got to punch it in from the 1 anyway
October 13th, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
B1G refs strike again. He was in. But because the refs just sorta made things up as they went along...I guess he wasn't in...
October 13th, 2022 at 7:47 PM ^
Just want to put everyone on notice. Anyone referring to Al Borges as "gorgeous" gets automatically upvoted by me.
October 13th, 2022 at 8:09 PM ^
In the pros, the closest thing I've seen to Barry, was Warrick Dunn, and there still was a wide gap, OBVIOUSLY. And the closest to Dunn is Austin Ekeler, and it's interesting they were all the same size.. Blake is the same size as these guys, and the low center of gravity is a big advantage. Blake will definitely play on Sundays.
October 13th, 2022 at 10:21 PM ^
Barry had the shoulder swivel that just froze defenders, and he could use that shoulder movement to swim through tight creases. He also could initiate contact such that defenders couldn’t make a clean tackle, then just burst off of them seemingly at full speed in one step. Corum doesn’t have the same shiftiness or the improvisation to just spin defenders around in circles, but his cuts and burst are special and fun to watch
October 14th, 2022 at 7:53 AM ^
I love Blake, but Barry was, simply stated, more elusive (read: crazy, ankle-breaking jump cuts) with more top end speed.
That said, if Blake is channeling the football aura of Barry, I'm all for it and need to see more of it.
October 14th, 2022 at 8:34 AM ^
Barry was so good that he caused injury to many defenders without contact. There was a Bear defender that broke his ankle by merely reacting to a Barry juke.
October 13th, 2022 at 10:26 PM ^
Blake is not Barry but dang if he doesn’t remind me of him the way he runs.
He does not have have quite the quickness, stop and start, and quick burst but Blake is more powerful.
We have a really special back to watch this year. He is looking like a potential 1st rounder.
I will always be pissed that Barry had to play for Wayne Fontes. What a waste.
October 14th, 2022 at 8:35 AM ^
What a waste? You should thank Wayne for drafting him... He was solely responsible for it. Another coach would have passed on a tiny RB so high in draft.
October 14th, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
This right here, the buzz was who's going to draft Mandrich us or Green Bay.
Thank God the packers chose poorly.
I'll never forget Ol Wayne on the golf cart with a big cigar telling the press "Well boys, I know who I'm taking."
October 14th, 2022 at 10:28 AM ^
Props for drafting although that seemed like a no brained.
90% of Barry’s runs were slow developing draw plays 7 years deep in the backfield. The plays were so telegraphed that typically Barry was dealing with tacklers at 3-5 yards. Wayne wanted to give Barry and vision space to work but the absurd predictability of it often caused three yard loss plays until Barry would bust out.
If he had played for a legitimate NFL coach with a legitimate offensive coordinator his career would have been even more.
October 13th, 2022 at 10:43 PM ^
Even if a running back is just "Occasionally Barry Esque" . . . that would pretty much make that person the second greatest running back of all time. I am being dramatic, yes, but not really that dramatic depending on how frequent "occasionally Barry" data is measured.
Is Blake's top end speed actually a little bit faster, quite possibly, which is great.
But Barry could juke someone out of a phone booth 20 times a game all day long. The whole country would watch him on Sunday.
Just to be mentioned having a run that reminds someone of Barry deserves a trophy of some kind. Greatest athlete I have ever seen run with a ball of any kind.
Blake is still improving however.
October 14th, 2022 at 12:37 AM ^
Greatest athlete I have ever seen run with a ball of any kind.
I assume you mean in person because…
October 13th, 2022 at 11:54 PM ^
Corum is The Chosen 1. If Corum gets 150+ and two scores against a top ten team then he’ll be solidly in the Heisman talk and more importantly…Michigan will win.
October 14th, 2022 at 8:17 PM ^
Someone pointed out on twitter or somewhere the other day the stats of the last two running backs to win the Heisman (Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry) compared to Corum through 6 games. Blake is ahead in every category. If he continues on this pace and we keep winning he better be at least a finalist.
Fun fact that seems totally fake; Alabama has 4 Heismans and Mark Ingram was their first.
October 14th, 2022 at 12:26 AM ^
I love Blake Corum, but....only one person ever ran like Barry Sanders.
October 14th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^
Al's strategy for Saturday..... Use the passing game to set up the running game.....
Is this the game JJ puts his name in the Heisman conversation? Or is this the game that despite the run defense he's facing, Blake continues to build his case for a trip to NY?
Go Blue
October 14th, 2022 at 8:44 PM ^
This is Blake’s year for the Heisman consideration. I’m hoping next year is JJ’s year. If so that would mean we’re pretty good again.
October 14th, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
He’s right. There’s a famous Barry run (against the Pats?) where he has a db twisting every which way because he kept threatening to break left or right. The end of Blake’s run reminded me of that. Not a prefect one for one comparison, but it was evocative