Mike Hart in RR's Offense

Submitted by gremlin on
I think he would suck. Too slow. Which is why we didn't offer Hill. Epinions?

msoccer10

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 PM ^

Hart would be great in this offense because it would allow him to get into the secondary and break ankles. Hart was a stud at making people miss. His problem wasn't that he was slow, it was that he was injury prone. Speed may be an issue for him in the pros, but people said Barry Sanders was small and slow too. (I know Hart isn't Barry, but I think he is closer to Barry that Hill is to Hart) Good luck to Hill. I hope he is great but no one will convince me that he could be as good as Hart or that Hart couldn't succeed in any offense.

dmccoy

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:23 PM ^

Sanders returned kicks full-time his sophomore year when he played behind Thurman Thomas. Sanders wore #21 in college, not 20. And Sanders was much more explosive than Hart. Neither had long speed, but nobody was as quick as Sanders in short-area acceleration. I love Hart, but his running style was nothing like Barry Sanders.

evenyoubrutus

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^

Hart can break open-field, one-defender tackles very well. That would have been huge in this offense. Besides, Minor is slow(ish) and look at what he's capable of.

Double Nickel BG

July 2nd, 2009 at 4:00 PM ^

combine results for RBs. This is college players who have played for 3 or 4 years and were asked to be timed/tried out at the combine after they have had months to prepare to run the 40 and work out. Name Time Peerman, Cedric 4.45 Johnson, Ian 4.46 Sheets, Kory 4.47 Brown, Andre 4.49 Brown, Donald 4.51 Williams, Javarris 4.52 Goodson, Mike 4.54 Scott, Bernard 4.56 Coffee, Glen 4.58 Lucky, Marlon 4.59 Wells, Beanie 4.59 Davis, James 4.60 Fiammetta, Tony 4.60 Ringer, Javon 4.60 Moreno, Knowshon 4.62 Greene, Shonn 4.65 Ogbonnaya, Chris 4.65 Jennings, Rashad 4.67 Kimble, Anthony 4.68 Ore, Branden 4.69 Southerland, Brannan 4.69 Johnson, Jeremiah 4.71 Sutton, Tyrell 4.75 Bell, Kahlil 4.78 Johnson, Quinn 4.78 Johnson, Gartrell 4.81 Mailei, Marcus 4.97 So by no means is he slow for a college RB. If anything hes aboverage.

Double Nickel BG

July 2nd, 2009 at 4:34 PM ^

ill trust guys that are paid millions to evalute times/performances that will be lead to athletes getting 10 million dollars a year. The combine is one place where you will find non fake 40s. Just sayin.

jmblue

July 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 PM ^

You are making the mistake of assuming that Minor's reported 40 time is as legit as those. Basically, you should add between 0.1 and 0.2 seconds to a player's college 40 time to predict his future NFL Combine time.

PhillipFulmersPants

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^

at the college level. He was a great college football player. Now he wouldn't have ripped off 70-yeard Steve Slaton TDs, but he would done all the things we saw him do for 4 years under Carr: namely rack up yards, hang on to the football, be serviceable as a pass catcher, block like a Mofo, and make defenders look silly from time to time.

Refoveo

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 PM ^

I would still take Mike Hart as long as keeps breaking tackles and never fumbles. If RR could guarantee Hill would be Mike Hart-like in that regard, then he probably would have offered.

markusr2007

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 PM ^

not blazing fast, but powerful and elusive. The answer is yes. Rodriguez would have recruited him to play tailback or slot. The best thing about Mike Hart that nobody talks enough about was his yardage gained after the first and even second hit. I don't know that I have ever seen a back quite like Hart in this regard from any conference. The second thing is that Hart could get hit or be tackled by 2 or 3 guys, and still drive his legs while his body was horizontal with the turf for about 3 to 5 yards length. WTF? I could never grasp the physics of how he did that, other than he was one strong mother.

jabberwock

July 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^

1. He wasn't the fastest, but he had great vision, could break tackles and was a royal pain in the ass for defenders to get down. 2. He had a few injuries, but 4 years playing and the all time rushing record sure as hell speaks for his durability. 3. After all the fumbles last year, RR probably would have given ALL his backs for 1 Mike Hart. (at least in the ND game). 4. Unquestionable leadership and motivation. (if you think that wasn't at least part of the problem last year then you've never played on a team). If RR has repeated one thing in almost every interview I've ever heard; it's that he wants players that LOVE football. I think it (rightfully) means more to him than any fucking 40 time. p.s. what Philfulmerpants said: # 5 blocking like a mofo

MichFan1997

July 2nd, 2009 at 3:27 PM ^

newspapers and rivals/scout are notoriously inaccurate on all 40 times. There is a reason that this site refers to ALL 40 times as FAKE. You'll have to trust the scouts take on breakaway and acceleration speed more than FAKE 40 times.

Spartyon19962001

July 2nd, 2009 at 3:54 PM ^

recruiting sites are a joke. Especially since they are subscription sites, so you are probably right about the FAKE numbers. I think the coach knows what type of talent he wants, and could careless about the stars associated with them.

MichFan1997

July 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 PM ^

I wouldn't say they are complete jokes. I mean, coaches are right and wrong about players frequently too. There is a general correlation between recruiting rankings and player success, however. Yeah yeah, I know...MIKE HART WAS THREE STARZ!! Generally, the higher ranking player will be better. The evaluations usually give you a fairly good idea of what the player will be like. Find out about their speed from that, not fabricated times. And no, we're not saying Hill's time is fake because he's going to State. We say that about ALL 40 times, for the record.

Leviathan

July 2nd, 2009 at 4:13 PM ^

He might be fast, but he's not legitimate 4.35 fast. Times at camps tend to run ~.2-.3 seconds faster than they actually are, so he's probably running closer to a 4.6 (still very fast btw). The NFL combine gets all that special electronic shit so they're as accurate as it gets.

bigbluefan95

July 2nd, 2009 at 1:25 PM ^

i would definitely take hart and so would rich rod because of his vision durability and break tackle ability. Mike hart also has the leadership that we needed last year. Mike Hart best moments(no specific order) -guaranteeing a win against ND -scoring for td after he landed on his back on a NW players back -calling MSU little brother and getting them pissed -rarely ever fumbling baby!

ScoobyBlue

July 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 PM ^

They didn't offer Hill for a reason. They were able to see him many times and didn't pull the trigger, even though they gave out a bunch of offers. As for the Hart comparison, they may have similarities, but Hill will have a tough time coming even close to Hart. Hart might not be a perfect fit for the spread, but RROD would love a back that was so productive and dependable.