Going on Year Four Without a Running Back.

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Governor Sibley

Governor Sibley

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WTF?

This looks to be the fourth year in a row we have nobody to carry the mail.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

We play in the Big 10. Jeesh!
 


I think it is a little early to just write off Bennett. He started off last year very nicely, and if he picks up where he left off he should be in for a good year.

Not to mention Whaley is supposed to be pretty electric.
 

I would not give up yet

If Bennet stays healthy, he'll be a good running back. Whaley is recovering from turf toe and will probably start practing next week. If these two stay healthy we'll be fine at running back. Eskridge will be there once again if everyone gets injured.

If Bennett and Whaley stay healthy, I think our running game will be above average.
 

Settle down Studster. We will be fine at RB this year. Why don't you let the team get through some practices and see the first couple games.
 


No doubt we don't have the "stud" RB's in our stable

but they will look a hell of a lot better if we get improved play from our offensive line. I wasn't overly impressed with how the first team ran the ball in the scrimmage but I'll reserve judgement till after at least 3 games. If we can have a modicum of success against Cal's defense then I'll feel better. By default the running game can only get better as we ditched the spread. Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life nor is handing off the ball the 5 yards deep in the backfield on 3rd down and 2.
 

We're an injury or two away from last year's running game. We needed at least two more big, strong, fast backs and don't have them. That's why I think it will be a struggle to win six.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
We're an injury or two away from last year's running game. We needed at least two more big, strong, fast backs and don't have them. That's why I think it will be a struggle to win six.
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I don't think that's true. It's not the NFL, players actually make significant progress year to year. All the kids are a year older, a year bigger, a year stronger and a year more experienced. Our offensive attack should be more diverse as we have more weapons at reciever and we utilize a FB now that we did not before. But the biggest difference is that our O Line is improved.

So no, we are not a couple of injuries away from a repeat of last year. It would take significantly more bad luck than that to get us back to that situation.
 

Eskeridge is Thomas without the straightline speed

straight ahead runner, very little cutback ability and he goes down easily when hit.Eskeridge is not a number one back. Coaches have some sort of loyalty thing with him though. Would be nice to be proved wrong but I just don't see him hit any holes with authority and he seems to get tackled way to easy.
Not sure why Thomas is in the coaching doghouse so much. He still has the speed
but does not hit the hole with the authority and decisiveness he once did.
From all accounts and what he looked in the spring game Whaley is a dynamic runner but he is small and runs violentley so he get's injured easy. Buckner is not really a seasoned back.
Shady has been out hurt. Leaves you with Bennet to do the job. Bennet has the tools
strength, a touch of breakaway speed and the ability to make guy's miss. If they can keep him healthy and even find ways to get Hoess the ball on passes and some carries we could be alright in the backfield. The key is to keep Bennett
 




I agree on Bennett

I do agree that Bennett is the key. We need him to stay healthy. Bennett is a guy who is a good runner but a very good pass catching running back.

I think the concern they have with Whaley is dealing with his size. Being small he may be injury prone and have a hard time blocking the blitzing linebackers. He probably is the best pure runner we have, so hopefully he'll stay healthy.

I think the coaches like Eskridge because he carried the load last year and filled in admirably. I do agree that he lacks that quickness that is need to get through the holes or running around the outside. I know people get upset on these Gopher sites when you don't say something positive about a player because the player is trying hard and they are not professionals. I'm not saying Eskridge is bad but I think Bennetts and Whaleys speed is needed at running back. I do think if Eskridge keeps putting on weight and muscle that by next year he might be a very good running back. I just think Eskridge needs another year to develope.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
We're an injury or two away from last year's running game. We needed at least two more big, strong, fast backs and don't have them. That's why I think it will be a struggle to win six.
Click to expand...


Dear GPG, please prepare to be accused of not being a Gopher fan by fellow GH posters.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
We're an injury or two away from last year's running game. We needed at least two more big, strong, fast backs and don't have them. That's why I think it will be a struggle to win six.
Click to expand...

We will struggle if our OL doesn't produce, not due to a lack of a quality RB(s). Plain and simple. MB3, TT and Maroney would have had a tough time getting yards behind the last two versions of Brewster's OL. Stommes, Wills and Carufel lack PT but must be better than the 07 incumbents now mired in the two deep. The OL is just one of many ??? with this squad.

Said that, I don't look for great things from our running game this Fall as I believe our OL is a year away from being a quality OL.

Brewster has yet to show the ability to bring in a top RB in his first two classes thus far. No bell-ringer with the 2010 verbals to date unless Edwards rises to the top. Lipscomb may have been the guy but we all know how that risk ended but was THE only RB is the 08 class.

More importantly, Mason's RB recruiting sucked air as the best he could do his last three years, other than Bennett, was Sherrer, Callender and oft injured Thomas. It hurts to have no veteran and seasoned JR & Sr. RB's on the field. But that is better than the crappy job of recruiting OL's. The OL performance severly hampered us mainly due to poor 2005 OL recruiting (Hudson, Seekinger, Tavale) and 2004 (none) by Mason. DeGeest did end up at tackle eventually.

The absence of Jr. & Sr. in the OL and at RB is often overlooked in our failures the past two seasons. Thanks to the Grinster.
 



Bayfieldgopher said:
We will struggle if our OL doesn't proudce, not due to a lack of a quality RB(s). Plain and simple. MB3, TT and Maroney would have had a tough time getting yards behind the last two versions of Brewster's OL. Stommes, Wills and Carufel lack PT but must be better than the 07 incumbents now mired in the two deep. The OL is just one of many ??? with this squad.

Said that, I don't look for great things from our running game this Fall as I believe our OL is a year away from being a quality OL.

Brewster has yet to show the ability to bring in a top RB in his first two classes and, thus far, that may be the case with the 2010 verbals to date. Lipscomb may have been the guy but we all know how that risk ended.

More importantly, Mason's RB recruiting sucked air as the best he could do his last three years, other than Bennett, was Sherrer, Callender and oft injured Thomas. It hurts to have no veteran and seasoned JR & Sr. RB's on the field. But that is better than the crappy job of recruiting OL's. The OL performance severly hampered us mainly due to poor 2005 OL recruiting (Hudson, Seekinger, Tavale) and 2004 (none) by Mason. DeGeest did end up at tackle eventually.

The absence of Jr. & Sr. in the OL and at RB is often overlooked in our failures the past two seasons. Thanks to the Grinster.
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Bayfield is spot on with this. My concern is more to do with our Oline being effective. If we go from the worst to 7th best line in the Big Ten that will make a huge difference. Always want some stud rbacks but all of them need a hole to run through.
 

Not being a huge recruitnik (nor a GH lurker until Brewster got hired) I had no idea that our OL/RB classes had fallen off that much at the end of Mason's time here.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
We will struggle if our OL doesn't produce, not due to a lack of a quality RB(s). Plain and simple. MB3, TT and Maroney would have had a tough time getting yards behind the last two versions of Brewster's OL. Stommes, Wills and Carufel lack PT but must be better than the 07 incumbents now mired in the two deep. The OL is just one of many ??? with this squad.

Said that, I don't look for great things from our running game this Fall as I believe our OL is a year away from being a quality OL.

Brewster has yet to show the ability to bring in a top RB in his first two classes thus far. No bell-ringer with the 2010 verbals to date unless Edwards rises to the top. Lipscomb may have been the guy but we all know how that risk ended but was THE only RB is the 08 class.

More importantly, Mason's RB recruiting sucked air as the best he could do his last three years, other than Bennett, was Sherrer, Callender and oft injured Thomas. It hurts to have no veteran and seasoned JR & Sr. RB's on the field. But that is better than the crappy job of recruiting OL's. The OL performance severly hampered us mainly due to poor 2005 OL recruiting (Hudson, Seekinger, Tavale) and 2004 (none) by Mason. DeGeest did end up at tackle eventually.

The absence of Jr. & Sr. in the OL and at RB is often overlooked in our failures the past two seasons. Thanks to the Grinster.
Click to expand...

And don't forget that MBIII received a late offer from the Gophs (after the prep bowl his senior year) and was supposedly going to be a DBack. It wasn't as though they recognized his talent before anyone else; he was under the radar, they didn't have squat for committments, and then threw him an offer. Basically, they were lucky.
 

One more thing as I am finger pointing.

Brewster did not learn from Mason's track record as he failed to bring in a single OL recruit in 2008. That may not be as significant nor hamper our OL depth but time will tell. I know he focused on upgrading the D with that class and we had Bunders, Orton, Davis, and Wynn in 07 but I find it strange to see a class without at least one OL.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
straight ahead runner, very little cutback ability and he goes down easily when hit.Eskeridge is not a number one back. Coaches have some sort of loyalty thing with him though. Would be nice to be proved wrong but I just don't see him hit any holes with authority and he seems to get tackled way to easy.
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I agree, Eskeridge is not a college running back. He doesn't so much cut as he does lean. He has terrible feet. When he hits a pile up he goes down instead of keeping his feet moving.

It is a shame that he is anywhere near the top of the depth chart on offense when his size and speed would make a GREAT strong safety.

Watch the RBs running through the logs (or whatever they are called), and tell me that Eskeridge has the feet of a RB (he's third in line).
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cAg1Xy9aKM0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cAg1Xy9aKM0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Who knows, perhaps Brewster and the coaches have an elaborate plan to to keep this years team under wraps. Not playing Whaley in the scrimmage and STARTING Eskeridge ensures that the Gopher's run game would be anemic. My guess is Whaley is the starter for Syracuse, with Bennett getting most of the touches and Eskeridge is in the defensive secondary.

If I was a coach (I don't even play one on TV) and I had a live scrimmage, I would certainly use some kind of bait and switch to keep the other team guessing.
 

Keep in mind that Bennett is good catching the ball out of the backfield, and has gotten praise for his blocking. He isn't a world beater but I think, if he stays healthy, he will be a fine RB in an offense that should thrive on the passing game.

I agree with others, it really comes down to the O-Line.
 

An observation....
I was up watching UMD practice a few days ago. They have a running back, Isaac Odim, who's from Rochester. Very explosive and strong. On last year's national championship team he rushed for 1600 yards and 26 touchdowns. I realize he had some serious trouble with the law a few years ago, but how did UMD get him and the Gophers did not? He's clearly above the D2 level. Watching him up close he's at least an equal to any Gopher back. Anyone know if the legal thing is why he got away? Or did we just miss him?
 

Here is an article.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/36089539.html?elr=KArksUUUU

Apparently he didn't have high D-1 offers- he was going to attend Yale. Reading between the lines and reading the comments it sounds like he was convicted of a milder version of the same stuff Dom Jones was- having sex with drunk girls. He may have also took pictures.

No way do the Gophers touch a guy with that background.

PS I suspect Duluth would welcome any Gopher running back who wanted to play there.
 

My biggest fear

is that, much like in 2007 when we were a spread team that couldn't run the spread, we will be a power running team that can't run the ball. I hope I'm incorrect.
 

balds said:
is that, much like in 2007 when we were a spread team that couldn't run the spread, we will be a power running team that can't run the ball. I hope I'm incorrect.
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As so many have said before, it all comes down to the O-Line.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
One more thing as I am finger pointing.

Brewster did not learn from Mason's track record as he failed to bring in a single OL recruit in 2008. That may not be as significant nor hamper our OL depth but time will tell. I know he focused on upgrading the D with that class and we had Bunders, Orton, Davis, and Wynn in 07 but I find it strange to see a class without at least one OL.
Click to expand...

Grayden was in that class but ended up going JUCO.
 

Everything posted so far only proves my point.

Our awful o-line last year was nicely complimented by a shoddy collection of running backs. At least in that one respect, they formed a cohesive unit.

I hope Bennet is good. Otherwise...blurg.
 

Studwell, I think you are selling Amir Pinnix and Duane Bennett a little short with this statement.
In my opinion, both would have been 1,000 yard rushers (well Pinnix anyway) had it not been for injuries.
Mark my words... we will have a 1,000 yard rusher in 2009.
 

Go Gophers Rah said:
Studwell, I think you are selling Amir Pinnix and Duane Bennett a little short with this statement.
In my opinion, both would have been 1,000 yard rushers (well Pinnix anyway) had it not been for injuries.
Mark my words... we will have a 1,000 yard rusher in 2009.
Click to expand...

I intentionally include AP's last year in the list. He was a solid #2 guy, I'll grant.

We are possibly looking at four years without a real #1.

Do I think Bennet will be a legitimate B10 starting back this year? No, I do not. I'd be thrilled to be wrong. Eskridge and Whaley are not the answer--at least not yet. The former had no business being on the field last year.

(I do not judge Jay Thomas in this. Poor kid.)
 

I'm convinced Eskridge should be moved to safety. He has decent speed and is now about 190 lbs. Next year he could be 5'11" 200lbs which is decent safety size. He may or may not be good there but he's not a big time RB
 

Combination

I think that Whaley and Benentt could make a pretty good combination if they stay healthy. I don't think there was some secret plan to keep Whaley out of the scrimmage like some have suggested here. I hear Whaley has Turf toe and is getting close to coming back and will probably be back next week.

I do think our running game depends on the health of Whaley and Bennett. I'm thankful for Eskridge and he filled in Admirably last year but I'd like to see Bennett and Whaely be given a shot this year if they are healthy.
 

One thing that has also been sorely missed besides the offensive line is competition for carries. It has seemed as if we have been struggling to find anyone healthy enough to carry the pig. I think that changes this year, and I think that makes a difference.
 

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