Kevin Whaley....

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Bob_Loblaw

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I think Kevin Whaley is an underappreciated member of this football team's future. I was looking at Kevin's stats and they actually compare pretty favorably to Brandon Wegher.

Wegher has more yards and TDs, but he has a significant lower ypc and ran behind a much better OL, and had the benefit of playing with a decent QB. I'm not saying that I fully expect Whaley to be better than Wegher, but the kid actually ran ok behind a pretty shotty Oline.

So my question is....does everyone else feel like Whaley is the clear cut #1 next season and for years to come?
 

I like Whaley. If he gets a little stronger, runs a little smarter, and the O-line gets a little better, he could put up some very good numbers. I think the difference between he and Iowa's Wegher (who I also like as a player) is that Whaley has more breakaway speed. Whaley's fun to watch when he gets to the second level of the defense.

I don't know if Whaley can be a true power back, but he's stronger than he looks right now and if he puts on a bit more upper body strength, who knows. He reminds a bit (I said a bit) of Marion Barber III.
 

Whaley is a 3rd down back on a good team. He's small & quick but has no power. He runs like a little man. Get him in space and he'll do a great job.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
So my question is....does everyone else feel like Whaley is the clear cut #1 next season and for years to come?
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He certainly looks like the best back we had this season, for whatever that's worth. Besides adding a little muscle and running with more power, I'd like to see him keep the football off the ground for a few games in a row before ceding half the offense to him.
 

There were times when are RB's were one step away from a long gainer. I hope we can see that happen at least once against ISU and see what kind of jets Whaley has.
 


I thought Whaley progressed as the season went on as far as reading his blocks. It looked like initially he tried to run immediately to the outside. As he got more carriers he started to trust the blocking in front of him.

He needs to get a lot stronger in his core so he can explode through the whole without arms/bodies slowing him down.
 

Whaley can be a 100 yard (per game) type of rusher with a solid line. Without the line, he becomes very average, very quickly.
 

Why did we not run more screens with him this year. It just seems like it would make sense especially since we had a hard time blocking to begin with. It just seems that if we ran more screens with Whaley, we would allow him to be in the open space a little easier, plus it might have helped Weber get more into rythm especially early in games.
 

Duluth, I don't think we ran many screens with Whaley because our O-Line is so atrocious that teams never had to blitz against us. It's almost impossible to run a screen when teams don't have to blitz.
 



DuluthGopher said:
Why did we not run more screens with him this year. It just seems like it would make sense especially since we had a hard time blocking to begin with. It just seems that if we ran more screens with Whaley, we would allow him to be in the open space a little easier, plus it might have helped Weber get more into rythm especially early in games.
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I have no idea why we abandoned our screen game. Maybe we were facing more disciplined defenses?
 

Whaley is the lesser evil right now, but he's not a good Big Ten back. He's too small.
 

Whaley needs space to shine. He's quick and can deal with an open field tackler. What he can't do is bully his way through traffic. Put him on a team that can actually create a hole (space) and get him to the second level often he'll be quite dynamic.
 

magpie said:
Whaley is the lesser evil right now, but he's not a good Big Ten back. He's too small.
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No, he's just not a 20+ carry a game type guy. He's a good compliment to a bigger, stronger back. He's got a ton of speed and you can't teach that. Just needs to get stronger, and get better at reading the blocks.
 



Our best hope for rb next year is Bennett. He seems to block well and catch the ball well. Hopefully next year he adds speed and strength and runs well.
 

magpie said:
Whaley is the lesser evil right now, but he's not a good Big Ten back. He's too small.
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See, that is always the impression I have gotten from a lot of Gopher fans, I guess I just think more of Whaley. The kid was a freshman running behind a terrible offensive line and behind a putrid QB.

I think Whaley is going to be a better RB than most of this board thinks.
 

Winnipegopher said:
Our best hope for rb next year is Bennett. He seems to block well and catch the ball well. Hopefully next year he adds speed and strength and runs well.
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I like Bennet's balance and ability to keep his momentum going forward. However, he is a sophomore in college. Players at this stage in their development can become stronger but almost certainly will not become any faster. Whaley is the best of what the Gophers have, but I believe on a good team he is a change of pace/3rd down type back.

I am personally upset that Huff decommitted. He is exactly the weapon the Gophers needed. There is now a huge void at RB. I understand that he is a Texas kid and that TCU is a solid football team, but it just seems to me he would have a lot more upside here, and many more opportunities to play against elite competition.

Listen elite RBs of the class of 2010, you can go to Minnesota and immediately become the man for a program with huge upside.
 

I am no expert but my hope is that Bennett gains speed lost because of his injury.
 

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