A History of #1 Tailbacks (via touchthebanner)
Magnus has a nice rundown of the #1 tailback recruits (as per rivals) since 2002. He concludes that Derrick Green is most likely to fit the Beanie Wells mold. I'll take that!
January 27th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 4:03 PM ^
I think Gorgeous can find a way to get them both on the field
January 27th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
January 28th, 2013 at 1:14 PM ^
I think it's important to judge running backs by the guys he's juking, outrunning, trucking, etc. There are a lot of FBS athletes who could be outstanding high school running backs against poor/mediocre competition. You could toss Jake Ryan out there for a small school and I bet he would gain a lot of yards at running back, but that doesn't mean he could play running back at Michigan.
January 27th, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
January 28th, 2013 at 4:37 AM ^
Olandis Gary belongs in the Hall of Fame!
January 27th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
Magnus,
I generally like your unbiased evaluations.
I've always liked Green (though I don't have any of your experience to evaluate talent) and I couldn't help but notice that you were consistantly unimpressed by Green and never hesitated to state it over the last year.
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2012/05/mini-scouting-report-derrick…
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2012/08/scouting-report-derrick-gree…
Your new post suggests he's the next Beenie Wells...though it's a comparison of top rivals RBs and not necessarily your own opinion. So what's changed? Were you wrong? Has he just shown that much more potential in his second year? Or do you still think he doesn't add much different from Smith?
January 27th, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
I've mentioned elsewhere (in other threads) and on my commitment post that I think Green has improved significantly since his junior year. He got taken down WAY too easily in his junior year, and he also rarely broke big runs. He just got yards in chunks. That changed during his senior season, when he started to break more tackles and actually showed some breakaway ability. He was 268 lbs. as a freshman, and I think he's been getting in better and better shape since that time. Not only does he have additional experience, but I just think the "fat kid" in him has been whittled away.
As for the post that's linked at the top of this thread, it's more of a comparison to the other #1 rated backs. I was just trying to find the closest comparison within that short list of guys, and Wells seems to be the best fit.
January 27th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^
No Heisman!
January 27th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
Yeah, I guess I should have put an asterisk next to that one...
January 27th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
The talent is there. It's up to the coaches to mold these kids into Big 10 Champs!
January 27th, 2013 at 8:30 PM ^
While the average there is 429 carries, 2,442 yards, and 22 TD...if you also take out the two who transferred (since, let's be honest, if Green transfers for some reason most of us won't care about his career numbers other than to grot our teeth) the numbers are even better. They go up to 500 carries, 2,893 yards, and 27 TD.
I think the comparisons to Beanie Wells are spot on. The two are closer in size out of high school than anyone else on that list. Wells had a one inch and eight pound advantage. The next closest in terms of size would be Stewart, who was 2 inches shorter but 4 lbs heavier.
Oddly enough, if you look at Stewart's career numbers and the new averages I posted, they are almost exactly the same.
Stewart - 516 carries, 2891 yds, 27 TD
New ave - 500 carries, 2893 yds, 27 TD
And there you have it.
January 28th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
If Green stays at Michigan for only three years, that would be about 964 yards per season. Depending on how quickly Toussaint recovers, Green could be a three-year starter. That 2,893-yard threshold shouldn't be too difficult to surpass *if* he gets a lot of playing time as a freshman.