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Bob_Loblaw

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Northern Illinois used their fullbacks in kind of unique way. They are pretty much another TE who is lined up in the backfield. They never run the ball, but they do catch some passes. Pretty much an H-Back. I am curious to see who we consider for this spot.

The candidates:

Ed Cotton: Probably the leading candidate. He was the backup FB last season. I am not sure how comfortable he is receiving, but he looked ok blocking last year. He was young and he will probably improve in that area as he gets larger.

Tiree Eure: I think he could make a lot of sense. He is a pretty talented player and if he could switch between FB and the 2nd TE (on 2 TE sets) it would be extremely helpful because it would be nice to be able to get this guy on the field more. He has really good hands and he seemed to be a decent blocker as well.

Other guys...
Maybe Ryan Grant?
Lamonte Edwards doesn't seem like a fit because their FBs got zero carries last year and that would seem like kind of a waste of his talents. I still say LB (or maybe DE), but that debate isn't really here nor there.
 

How close did you watch the Gophers use of Hoese? They had him in the I, they had him offset in the gap between guard and tackle, the had him in stutter motion on a wham block. That is exactly what Northen Illinois does, only they did it better.

Ed Cotten played pretty well when Hoese went down, and I think with Eric Klein in Weight room we will see more explosive runners.
 

Too bad Weber is gone, many people think he would have excelled at this role. /rolleyes
 


Eure is 6'7. I don't see him as a good fit for a FB role in the traditional sense. Cotton will probably fill the role, with an existing player shifting positions, or a JUCO recruit helping out.
 


husker70 said:
How close did you watch the Gophers use of Hoese? They had him in the I, they had him offset in the gap between guard and tackle, the had him in stutter motion on a wham block. That is exactly what Northen Illinois does, only they did it better.

Ed Cotten played pretty well when Hoese went down, and I think with Eric Klein in Weight room we will see more explosive runners.
Click to expand...

I understand that, but with taking the idea of running the football off the table it is more likely that we will use a more traditional TE in that H-Back role. More often than not, you will see quite a few H-Backs who are traditional TEs rather than traditional FBs.

A lot of the routes the Northern Illinois FBs ran last year weren't what you would consider just safety checkdowns that our FBs routinely ran. I am not sure a lot of typical FBs would feel comfortable running posts and making plays on the ball in the air.
 

tpbeight said:
Eure is 6'7. I don't see him as a good fit for a FB role in the traditional sense. Cotton will probably fill the role, with an existing player shifting positions, or a JUCO recruit helping out.
Click to expand...

It's not a FB in the traditional sense. Cotton is still probably the better fit, but our FB next season will play a lot like a TE.
 

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