Sori Marin and Wiley

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I still think Cam was born to play safety, but he definitely had a few nice runs.
 


MSM is super instinctive. You can see how he diagnosis the play quickly and moves to the right spot. Problem is that he is somewhat limited athletically and because of that he ends up not being in the right place, or the right angle and misses the play. If he could get more speed he could be really good. You saw it today with Gordon on a couple of plays today...he just flies around because he has the athleticism.
 



I listened to the game on radio as I was outside hanging christmas lights (in Arizona) and just watched the 20 minute highlight video on youtube. I was thinking during the radio broadcast, Wiley has real potential at RB with good vision, size, and athleticism as a Freshman RB and the highlight video confirmed that. Sori-Marin was all over the field, you don't make 18 tackles without being an animal out there, and had a great game. Cheers to both of them!
 





Wiley in the open field is super fun. As a runner he's improving week to week. He's bulked up a ton since the spring. He should always be a 1 cut and get up the field type of guy. When he learns to lower his pad level he could be awesome. Currently averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Potts also had some burst. Both just freshman.
 


btowngopher said:
They catch a lot of flack on here, so it was nice to see them both having nice games today.
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Does Wiley catch a lot of flack on here? Hmm, not so sure on that one. I just think he's not well suited as a running back, based on his body type and running style.

His stat line for this game: 7carries 81yd 11.6yd/carry

That is nice ... but also keep in mind that 61 yards came on that one big run. That leaves 6 carries 20 yards 3.333yd/carry for the rest of them. Hey, it was a great carry. Shoulda scored, just not quite fast enough. I'd have to rewatch that play, but I'm not sure that he himself did something to make the play happen (like make a guy miss or run through a tackle). If he did, then hat's off. I think it was just a very well executed play by the blockers and a poorly executed defense.


Sori-Marin got blocked or was out of place/took a bad angle in a few times I noticed. Again, 18 tackles is a nice stat line.

If they're not scoring every time they touch the ball, that means someone has to be making tackles. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have MSM making those tackles than Nubin. That should mean, on paper, they were getting fewer yards per carry.

I still maintain he is just too slow, and will not be the MLB of the future here. I could easily be wrong, we will see.
 

Cam does have an unorthodox lanky style, but... i have also seen him a few times, be able to take one long legged step through a hole that other backs might have to wait for or cut twice to get into.

He'll be a great mix of styles with Ky Thomas next year.
 



WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
Cam does have an unorthodox lanky style, but... i have also seen him a few times, be able to take one long legged step through a hole that other backs might have to wait for or cut twice to get into.

He'll be a great mix of styles with Ky Thomas next year.
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You think Mo is going pro? I think he comes back. A pair in Mo and Potts and a spare in Wiley. Ky Thomas had shoulder surgery early in the season but should come back strong by fall camp. As we've seen in the big ten you will play at least 4 RB's. Next year Mo should never get more than 30 carries. He was overworked vs Illinois, Maryland, and Purdue.
 

GoldenRowpher said:
You think Mo is going pro? I think he comes back. A pair in Mo and Potts and a spare in Wiley. Ky Thomas had shoulder surgery early in the season but should come back strong by fall camp. As we've seen in the big ten you will play at least 4 RB's. Next year Mo should never get more than 30 carries. He was overworked vs Illinois, Maryland, and Purdue.
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Good catch, I just meant 'post Mo' not necessarily next year as written.
 

GoldenRowpher said:
You think Mo is going pro? I think he comes back. A pair in Mo and Potts and a spare in Wiley. Ky Thomas had shoulder surgery early in the season but should come back strong by fall camp. As we've seen in the big ten you will play at least 4 RB's. Next year Mo should never get more than 30 carries. He was overworked vs Illinois, Maryland, and Purdue.
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Bolded: ah, first time I'd heard that. Thanks for the update. It's too bad we have to resort to an internet message board to get news about the players.

My worthless opinion: Mo won't be any more valuable to the NFL with another year at Minnesota. Just liable to get hurt. He and his family need to do what is best for them, whichever decision that is.
 

btowngopher said:
They catch a lot of flack on here, so it was nice to see them both having nice games today.
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At one point in the game yesterday the two back sets with Wiley and Potts in the game at the same time was the most effective offense on the field for us .. up to that time. They'd been keying on Mo big time, and that offensive set really spread the Huskers D.

Those two backs are pretty quick into the hole too, when they are decisive.
 
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It was great to see those two and many of the other younger players step up!
On that long run Wiley found a very small crease, turned his pads a bit sideways and then accelerated. He is fast, but maybe didn't see the guy via scoreboard getting ready to dive or else he could have maybe high stepped for a few strides.
Nice game by MSM!
 

MplsGopher said:
Does Wiley catch a lot of flack on here? Hmm, not so sure on that one. I just think he's not well suited as a running back, based on his body type and running style.

His stat line for this game: 7carries 81yd 11.6yd/carry

That is nice ... but also keep in mind that 61 yards came on that one big run. That leaves 6 carries 20 yards 3.333yd/carry for the rest of them. Hey, it was a great carry. Shoulda scored, just not quite fast enough. I'd have to rewatch that play, but I'm not sure that he himself did something to make the play happen (like make a guy miss or run through a tackle). If he did, then hat's off. I think it was just a very well executed play by the blockers and a poorly executed defense.


Sori-Marin got blocked or was out of place/took a bad angle in a few times I noticed. Again, 18 tackles is a nice stat line.

If they're not scoring every time they touch the ball, that means someone has to be making tackles. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have MSM making those tackles than Nubin. That should mean, on paper, they were getting fewer yards per carry.

I still maintain he is just too slow, and will not be the MLB of the future here. I could easily be wrong, we will see.
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I see a lot of posts writing Wiley off. Why would you take off his big run? He was averaging 4.9 ypc before the game. MSM got blocked a few times? Come on man, you’re going to knock a linebacker for getting blocked at times?? Why was MSM making so many tackles compared to Gordon? He will be a senior next year, I think he remains the starter, but we’ll see.
 

MSM had his best game as a Gopher. He took MUCH better angles on edge plays and made the tackle at 5 or 6 yards along the sidelines multiple times as opposed to earlier in the year when he'd try to make the tackle at 2 or 3 yards and get outrun.

The defense as a whole was so much better in the run game yesterday. The edge players kept that outside arm free and did an excellent job forcing runners to help. Aside from the very long run, LB's found their fits and didn't overrun stretch plays as they had been doing all season. Young guys Carter and Cheney (along with old guy Schad) were so disruptive on DL. It was fun to watch the improvement.
 

btowngopher said:
I see a lot of posts writing Wiley off. Why would you take off his big run? He was averaging 4.9 ypc before the game. MSM got blocked a few times? Come on man, you’re going to knock a linebacker for getting blocked at times?? Why was MSM making so many tackles compared to Gordon? He will be a senior next year, I think he remains the starter, but we’ll see.
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I'm not taking away Wiley's big run.

No LB is going to be perfect, sure. Maybe I'm being too harsh. As I pointed out, just because a particularly player is getting a lot of tackles doesn't mean the defense is doing well. IE, a safety. But obviously you usually want your LBs with the most tackles.
 

With the presumptive talent behind him it might actually make sense for Mo to look into going pro, pending how many carries he foresees the younger guys getting next year. He practices with them every day, i'm sure he has a pretty good scope of how things might expect to play out. I'm not sure it helps him to stay next year and get half the amount of carries if that's a possibility. He's the sort of back who needs a lot of carries to get going and wear down the other team.
 

GoldenRowpher said:
You think Mo is going pro? I think he comes back. A pair in Mo and Potts and a spare in Wiley. Ky Thomas had shoulder surgery early in the season but should come back strong by fall camp. As we've seen in the big ten you will play at least 4 RB's. Next year Mo should never get more than 30 carries. He was overworked vs Illinois, Maryland, and Purdue.
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Overworked. You can’t make this shiite up.
 

MplsGopher said:
Does Wiley catch a lot of flack on here? Hmm, not so sure on that one. I just think he's not well suited as a running back, based on his body type and running style.

His stat line for this game: 7carries 81yd 11.6yd/carry

That is nice ... but also keep in mind that 61 yards came on that one big run. That leaves 6 carries 20 yards 3.333yd/carry for the rest of them. Hey, it was a great carry. Shoulda scored, just not quite fast enough. I'd have to rewatch that play, but I'm not sure that he himself did something to make the play happen (like make a guy miss or run through a tackle). If he did, then hat's off. I think it was just a very well executed play by the blockers and a poorly executed defense.


Sori-Marin got blocked or was out of place/took a bad angle in a few times I noticed. Again, 18 tackles is a nice stat line.

If they're not scoring every time they touch the ball, that means someone has to be making tackles. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have MSM making those tackles than Nubin. That should mean, on paper, they were getting fewer yards per carry.

I still maintain he is just too slow, and will not be the MLB of the future here. I could easily be wrong, we will see.
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I’ve given him flack before, but because of his kick returning. Not his fault for being thrown back there, but he is a sub-par kick returner. As a RB, he is way too upright. I will give him credit, as he already looks better now than he did at the beginning of the year.
 

highwayman said:
Overworked. You can’t make this shiite up.
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41 carries against Maryland and 30 carries the next week against Illinois. Thats just silly and I think they have the depth to avoid that going forward. 71 carries over 8 quarters is way too much. I would consider that overworked! Almost like a baseball pitcher throwing 150 pitches and asking him to start another game 3 days later.
 

Vandy said:
At one point in the game yesterday the two back sets with Wiley and Potts in the game at the same time was the most effective offense on the field for us .. up to that time. They'd been keying on Mo big time, and that offensive set really spread the Huskers D.

Those two backs are pretty quick into the hole too, when they are decisive.
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I am a fan of mixing up personnel at RB (assuming basic competence), and using some different backfield sets, because it makes us less predictable and gives defenses more to diagnose quickly. Also a fan of putting a stud back like Mo on a bit of a pitch count (if possible given the dynamics of the game) so that he can be relatively fresh and act as a “closer” in the latter stages of the 4th Q. Kind of happened that way against Nebraska, though probably more by circumstance than design.
 



Sori-Marin is the man. Love listening to announcers try to say Mariano Sori-Marin over and over.

He played great against Nebraska. Probably the only time I've ever thought he played well.
 

Definitely a big improvement since game 1. Lots of room to improve, but had a solid game against NE
 

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