Hopkins and Houma as Hester

Submitted by JeepinBen on

No, not this one 

This one

Much has been made of the fact that we once again have a 3-Deep of fullbacks – including 2 on scholarship. They’ve been discussed often as ‘fullbackian fullbacks who fullback in fullbackian ways’ or something similar, but I think that Borges has more plans for these guys than just being a “classic” Michigan fullback. To break it down simply, there are 2 schools of fullbacks: The 6’ 240lb linebacker-meeters like this guy

- great fullback name or greatest fullback name?

and the West-Coast Fullback.

Now the 1st type of fullback has one job and one job only – lead blocker. Out of the I he hits the hole before the running back and takes out the first defender he sees.

This type of fullback often drove many including the fearless leader Brian and myself to anger when we would line up in an I, the fullback would shuffle-shuffle-shuffle one direction and totally tell the defense where the run was going.

 

(14 seconds in. It worked, but it was Purdue)

I don’t believe that’s what we’ll be getting with Borges. I believe that Borges will be asking a lot more of his fullbacks, he actually already has. In the same vein, Hopkins is a converted RB who has handled the ball a lot and Houma is a triple-option FB who rushed for a ton of yards in high school. Also I think the best corollary to what we’ll see from our fullbacks in the future (Hopkins and Houma) is how Jacob Hester has been used, both at LSU and on the Chargers.

We’ve seen that Borges treats the fullback as a receiver (5:58 of the clip below. Thanks to SC Wolverine for finding it)

We saw often that Borges isn’t afraid to line up in a heavy I, split out the tailback, and hand it to the fullback on a dive. Sometimes with great, sometimes with terrible – THEN GREAT – results.

(See 4:59. Hell, just watch it all again in all its glory)

Doing this like 5 times in goal line situations of course lead to easy rollout Denard TDs on a fake dive as well.

Jacob Hester is listed (now, as a 5year pro) at 5'11”  235#. The new weights from B1G media days list Hopkins at 235# and Houma at 221#. Looking at some clips of Hester Highlights from the Chargers we see a couple of designed fullback pass plays:

Let’s hope we get a lot of those TDs from Hopkins and Houma going forward. 

Comments

BursleysFinest

August 1st, 2012 at 10:03 PM ^

I think you're right on, there's no point in giving out scholarships at FB and recruiting people like Houma UNLESS you're gong to give them the ball a couple of times...o/w it seems you could just grab the running back who put on too much weight or a linebacker type who's not working out on D

HipsterCat

August 1st, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^

In madden I always pick hester as my fullback when ever  I do a fantasy draft mostly because play action passes to the fullback almost always work and hester is usually able to get a solid 7-10 yards. If hopkins can catch consistently then he could be a very effective portion of the offense and really help keep the defense honest.

DonAZ

August 1st, 2012 at 10:41 PM ^

I've got a good feeling about Houma.  I can't put my finger on it ... just a good vibe.

Borges is a crafty fart ... he's got something up his sleeve.  This ain't 70's power football.

Brightside

August 2nd, 2012 at 9:36 AM ^

Best way to create space and time for Denard, which is when he is most deadly, is to spread the ball and force the D to cover everyone...

We have gotten away from using the TE and FB as receivers, though when we have gone to them they are almost always open...

There are plays that will be virtually unstopable using TE and FB because of the threat Denard brings...

I am very optimistic and excited to see what Mr. Borges does now that he really knows what he has and the team knows what he wants.

Go Blue!

TatuajeVI

August 5th, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^

Thanks for this, great read. Also, I've probably seen highlights of the UTLs game, and everytime my hearts starts racing. What an amazing game. Still have it saved on my DVR!