Running backs - unpopular opinion
This opinion may be unpopular, but I'm interested to see where the board stands.
I think Tru Wilson should pass Chris Evans on the depth chart.
Tru is much better in pass pro, and to me, looks quicker right now. Has Evans bulked up too much?
As a positive side note, it's great to see Ambry (finally) getting snaps on O. If only he was used at ND...
September 16th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
This is a hawt take.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:47 AM ^
Thread jack! Hey, does anyone know what happened to Higdon yesterday? Was he banged up, or just getting a rest?
September 16th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
Dinged up, Harbaugh said it was a game time decision, and Higdon said he didn't feel ready to go.
He warmed up so he will probably play next week. I'm more concerned with Evans hamstring, I hope it was just a cramp.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
Thanks, dawg
September 16th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
No problemo, anything for my clown from downtown, fam!
September 16th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Anyone understand why people are using "fam" so much for these days, esp with people on the internet they don't even know?
September 16th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
It's 2018 version of dude/bro etc
September 16th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Anything is better than that lame ass and overused 'bro' moniker.
September 16th, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
We went to clown school together and learned how to juggle flaming chainsaws. We went on a successful juggling duet in Vegas for over two decades. I have every right to call him "fam".
September 16th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
You're State alums?
September 16th, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^
State wishes they had such a prestigious curriculum. We started the school in our tree house.
September 16th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
Higdon is the only back that I have seen produce in a way that seems somewhat "special". Evans seems like a solid starter, but not a real difference maker. I don't think you lose anything going with Wilson over Evans.
September 16th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
Evans has no power and is slow as f#ck.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
Higdon needs to want to block.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^
Shouldn’t Tru have to play against a few teams and, perhaps, catch some passes before people forget how Evans has taken over as our lead back in games no one else seems ready for (FSU two years ago; Minnesota last year).
Evans has shift, hands, vision, and deceptive speed. Tru Wilson need not be anointed after a solidly impressive game. I liked his blocking, but he also got a hold call.
I’d love to see the team thoroughly dominate Nebraska, not only to see some young guys show their skills, but to see Frost deservedly wimper away.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:30 PM ^
I went with my little brother after the game to get player's autographs. Karan was there and he stated he would be playing next week. Sounds like nothing too serious.
September 16th, 2018 at 10:55 PM ^
Hey Ive been up for a few games with my daughter and she would love see the players..She absolutely loves the volleyball team after seeing them in person and getting a ball autographed..where do you go to try to get autographs after the games if you dont mind me asking
September 17th, 2018 at 5:40 AM ^
No problem! About thirty minutes after the conclusion of the game, head towards the east exits and right where Crisler and the Stadium conjoin is where the players come out. My little brother was able to meet basically the whole team including Gary, Winovich, Patterson, Higdon and many more.
September 16th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
the OP's title should change to "Running Backs--Wrong Opinion."
September 16th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Seeing AJ Dillon dominating as a workhorse RB at BC is making me a little salty. He would have been a difference maker in Harbaugh's offense.
I still don't understand to this day why the coaching staff thought he could only be a LB...
September 16th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
Dillon is so good. Frickin Najee Harris. And he was NEVER going to come anyway.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
Hindsight = 20/20.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Dillon's alright. I haven't seen anything with our OL play to suggest he would've done better than our guys last year.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
Exactly who is he dominating? Holy Cross?
September 16th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/gamelog/_/id/4239934/year/2017/aj-dillon
FWIW.
Dude's good. Definitely a misfire by the staff.
September 16th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
I looked at the stats and I have to agree with the poster above. There is nothing there that suggest he would have been any better than the backs we have. Games against anyone with a pulse were ok. Against tomato cans he went crazy which Higdon and Evans have both shown the ability to do.
Against better teams he struggled. Our O-Line has not always helped our backs out. Everyone on this site were praising both last year when they were running for 200 and 150 in the same game. With an O-Line that provides running lanes consistently, stats would look a lot different.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
Did you mean to say LB or FB? I could be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure there was some debate about whether the coaches wanted him to play fullback rather than running back, and ultimately I thought he went to BC because their thin depth chart would allow for almost immediate playing time (which is what happened). I don't remember our staff insisting that he come slated to play linebacker.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
You are misremembering.
https://mgoblog.com/content/exit-aj-dillon
Watching an offensive player agree to play at Boston College is always a sad thing, but per Sam Webb they sold him on the opportunity to definitely play running back and Michigan said they said "90%" with a chance of linebacker
September 16th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
Thanks for looking that up.
Though, to be fair, it doesn't really confirm the OP's point: namely that the coaches only wanted him as a LB. The quote from Sam said that they thought it most likely that he'd play running back here with only a 10% chance of playing LB. So, as I said, he didn't leave because they insisted on him playing LB.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Are we sure Dillon is that good? Or does he just have a better line and get the ball 35 times a game?
September 16th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
Well, the fact that he's playing at Boston College suggests that a lot of coaching staffs misjudged him. It happens.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Can't blame the coaches, all the posters said he was a 3 star and sucked. Don't we want them to listen to us?
September 16th, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^
Sure I can blame the coaches. There's 6-7 million reasons to blame JJH. He gets paid millions to make the right decisions - posters on blog do not.
September 16th, 2018 at 2:55 PM ^
Not sure if you're kidding. But, I don't think any amount of money income will result in a decision maker making the right decision every time. Making wrong decisions on occasion is part of being a leader. The key thing is try to fix them and not do the same thing again.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
I'm sure he is good, but I would guess that he has a solid OL.
September 16th, 2018 at 1:13 PM ^
A difference maker? Doubt it..
He's slow and with our awful line play he would get tackled in the backfield as much as deveon Smith did.
He looks better for BC because they actually have an oline
September 16th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
Ya that was a whiff.
But BC is a good private school. His parents were into academics and being closer to home. UM had the academics, but BC is pretty high up there as well...AND it was local.
I drive through campus every once in a while. Not gonna lie, pretty impressive.
Still sucks.
September 16th, 2018 at 3:55 PM ^
Dillon at LB would've taken us from an over abundance of talent at lb's to an over over abundance, whereas at RB he would've been a critically important contributor. Additionally the offense needed a fuck ton more help than the D. Therefore, in keeping with so many other inexplicable decisions and actions taken, the program insisted with great insistence that it would be the linebacker way or the highway. We showed him!
I guess more is more but less is not less.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Hmmmmmm...
This take seems kinda Snowflakey.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Evans has done nothing to deserve to get passed up. Wilson has looked very good but Evans has that shiftiness to make people miss in tight spaces. That will be incredibly valuable against the better defenses on our schedule.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:54 AM ^
This. And Evans can't help it if he isn't being used properly in the offense.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
No Evans is simply better. It’s like you can’t even remember back to last week when he was juking guys all over the field and was our best running back.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Right. While I do think that Evans looked a bit slow yesterday, the explanation can't be that he "bulked up too much in the off-season" since he looked just fine against WMU.
Not only was SMU selling out against the run when Evans was in, they were far better tacklers than WMU. While our backs were great against WMU, it was hard not to notice that Western's tacklers were almost staggeringly inept in space and their linebackers were often out of position. Evans was able to juke and shed tackles against WMU, and then he was less successful against a more fundamentally sound run defense.
September 16th, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
Evans is a bad pass pro back. He's clearly better than Wilson in every other way. The only reason he struggled so much yesterday was our play calling. As Seth said in his preview, SMU jumps at run at the first sight. With Evans in we were very predictably running the ball up the gut on any non passing down. Even when the OL blocked well, SMU was sending 7/8 to our 5/6 blockers so there wasn't much room.
Wilson started gaining yards because the play calling opened up. When he was in SMU expected pass, meaning the run was more open. Also most of his yards were in the 2nd half when we had shown that SMU needed to respect our passing game.
Evans is the #2 back. It's the same story as last year when he bad stats early but it wasn't reallyhis fault.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
He is definitely not better than Wilson at breaking tackles. Wilson's out there looking like Mike Hart sometimes.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
He even looks like Hart in the face a little bit. He makes nice jump cuts and rolls forward like Hart used to do
September 16th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
are we watching the same game? Go watch the every snaps while waiting for the UFR charts.
spoiler - you are wrong.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
Evans is not a home run hitter but he can get doubles when he gets to the second level. And he is pretty good at finding a small crease for a few yards when others would run into the back of their lineman.
September 16th, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^
He would have a nice triple yesterday, or possibly even HR, if he hadn’t pulled up lame. Damn.