OT: Thomas Rawls vs. Lions

Submitted by CoverZero on

Thomas Rawls is getting a lot of pub this week, as he may get the bulk of the carries vs. Detroit on Monday night.  Its not hard to find an profile article on the web.  Here are a couple:

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/rookie-thomas-rawls-physical-running-style-a-good-fit-in-seahawks-offense/

Asked why things didn’t work at Michigan, Rawls said, “Things happen. I don’t regret it. I grew up a Michigan fan and loved my time there, but I moved on from it.”

http://www.seahawks.com/news/2015/10/02/seahawks-%E2%80%9Creally-fired-up%E2%80%9D-about-rookie-rb-thomas-rawls

Too bad the OL and offensive coaching and talent development at Michigan was so poor, when Rawls wore wings.  He would thrive in the new Harbaugh system.  If he starts on Monday, the over on 100+ yds vs. the spongy Lions D, at home with The 12s behind him looks promising.

Bluemandew

October 4th, 2015 at 6:52 AM ^

Best of luck to him. I hope he has a long successful pro career. But as far as his time at Michigan goes hindsight is 20-20. Fitz was putting up some pretty serious numbers of his own at that time. I don't recall many people even here on the board calling for Rawls to start over Fitz.

GoBlueInNYC

October 4th, 2015 at 8:10 AM ^

This narrative that Rawls never got a shot is just simply wrong. He got playing time, he just didn't play very well. His UM career consisted of being another "power back" who couldn't run through DBs' arm tackles.

HimJarbaugh

October 4th, 2015 at 9:03 AM ^

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Rawls probably should have redshirted but even without it he was on a decent trajectory with 242 yards in 2012. Even with minimal improvement he is still probably better than Derrick Green and Deveon Smith in 2013. With Drake out that still would have been 3 experienced backs (Fitz, Rawls, Hayes) but instead the coaches split the carries between Fitz and two true freshmen.

I do remember a lot of the Rawls runs where he went down easy or picked the wrong hole. I certainly would not have predicted he would catch on elsewhere.

bronxblue

October 4th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^

They gave him a shot, but it didn't work out.  Nobody knows what happened with that staff when it came to running backs; guys like Rawls, Fitz, and Cox having success elsewhere definitely point to UM's player development issues, but at no point during their time at UM did Cox or Rawls look like a feature back against anyone except the baby seals or Purdue.  So it wasn't like there were diamonds on that bench that everyone saw.

MaximusBlue

October 4th, 2015 at 8:28 AM ^

Forgot the Lions are at Seattle on Monday night with the L.O.B back together. I'm going to say a prayer for Stafford and his health coming out of that game. Hope the Lions don't embarrass themselves again. Rough start to say the least.