Would you welcome back Cam Wiley?

Donate To GopherHole
Chico Gopher said:
Has anybody actually pulled their name out of the portal and rejoined their old team? that would be a complete shock if he was even considering that.
Click to expand...
Yes, in the off season, I don’t know if it has happened mid season, or if that is even allowed.
 

Gopher028 said:
I would say listening and adapting to coaching.
AP was 6'2" and didn't have an issue lowering his pad level, quite contrarily.
Click to expand...
LeCaptain is 6’2”. Watch the film of his touchdown run, how he lowers his pads for contact before breaking free of a tackle. He does it naturally. Not sure this can be taught. It might be instinct as much as learned.

I like Cam. He is an athlete. He looks good running in the open field ( if he can get there). He can catch a ball. He will be good somewhere else, in a scheme more suited to his strengths.

Problem: If he came back, he would, after Ky and Bucko have each racked up consecutive 100 yard games, still be no. 3 on the depth chart (with LeCaptain looming as a prior choice in certain situations?), which Cam might not wish to accept at this point in his career. It’s tough.
 

Gopher028 said:
I would say listening and adapting to coaching.
AP was 6'2" and didn't have an issue lowering his pad level, quite contrarily.
Click to expand...
Do you actually have a source that says he wasn’t listening to coaching? Wiley has plenty of plays where he lowers his pad level. He isn’t built like Peterson though. Wiley is built more like a wr.
 

So long as they can do pass-pro at a high level, why do we need much more than splitting the carries roughly 50/50 between Bucko and Ky??

If they're both gassed for some reason, I trust The Captain to come in to pass-pro or even take a handoff, and give them a blow.
 

btowngopher said:
Do you actually have a source that says he wasn’t listening to coaching?
Click to expand...
Isn't it obvious from just watching him, that he either consciously was choosing not to do it and/or reverting back to his high-school tendencies of running straight up-and-down with high pads?
 


MplsGopher said:
Isn't it obvious from just watching him, that he either consciously was choosing not to do it and/or reverting back to his high-school tendencies of running straight up-and-down with high pads?
Click to expand...
“He had an issue with coaching”. Makes it sound like he isn’t trying, or his attitude is wrong. Anyway, I still think the hate in this kid went way too far considering he hasn’t even carried it fifty times in his career. Of which he did average a respectable ypc and has pass catching abilities. He would be a very useful player if Irving or Thomas went down. People must really hate the upright running thing regardless of whether it produces any yards. Bryce doesn’t get nearly the hate, but he hasn’t exactly been a monster producer with 3 times the sample size.
 

btowngopher said:
“He had an issue with coaching”. Makes it sound like he isn’t trying, or his attitude is wrong. Anyway, I still think the hate in this kid went way too far considering he hasn’t even carried it fifty times in his career. Of which he did average a respectable ypc and has pass catching abilities. He would be a very useful player if Irving or Thomas went down. People must really hate the upright running thing regardless of whether it produces any yards. Bryce doesn’t get nearly the hate, but he hasn’t exactly been a monster producer with 3 times the sample size.
Click to expand...
Speaking for myself, I didn't "hate" Cam any more than any other guy where it was clear he wasn't going to make it in the Big Ten at that position.
 

btowngopher said:
“He had an issue with coaching”. Makes it sound like he isn’t trying, or his attitude is wrong. Anyway, I still think the hate in this kid went way too far considering he hasn’t even carried it fifty times in his career. Of which he did average a respectable ypc and has pass catching abilities. He would be a very useful player if Irving or Thomas went down. People must really hate the upright running thing regardless of whether it produces any yards. Bryce doesn’t get nearly the hate, but he hasn’t exactly been a monster producer with 3 times the sample size.
Click to expand...
Running upright produces fewer yards -- runner is easier to tackle, isn't leaning forward -- and produces more fumbles. Upright runner can't protect the ball with his body as well.
 

MplsGopher said:
Speaking for myself, I didn't "hate" Cam any more than any other guy where it was clear he wasn't going to make it in the Big Ten at that position.
Click to expand...
So you 'hate' all guys when it's clear they won't make in it the Big Ten?

That's an aggressive take but you do you, man.
 



The sky is not falling people. You need to relax.

This is a college football team with a very large roster. Many of these athletes have experience running the ball in high school either as a RB or as WR who also took snaps at RB.

Wiley isn’t coming back. He left his team mid season. You can’t do that.
 

MplsGopher said:
Speaking for myself, I didn't "hate" Cam any more than any other guy where it was clear he wasn't going to make it in the Big Ten at that position.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by “make it”? He can hack it as a backup big10 rb. Not every player is going to be above average, doesn’t mean they can’t be useful or important to a teams success.
 

Dakota2 said:
Running upright produces fewer yards -- runner is easier to tackle, isn't leaning forward -- and produces more fumbles. Upright runner can't protect the ball with his body as well.
Click to expand...
Look I’m not arguing he’s some great rb, but he averaged 4.7 per carry, I don’t recall him having fumbling issues in his limited work, and we have 2 scholarship rbs healthy. I’ll take a running back that runs too upright at times over a rb that doesn’t and still produces less. Or over no rbs which is what we may be faced with. But regardless, I don’t think he comes back or is asked to. Not even sure what the ncaa rules are on it.
 

btowngopher said:
What do you mean by “make it”? He can hack it as a backup big10 rb. Not every player is going to be above average, doesn’t mean they can’t be useful or important to a teams success.
Click to expand...
Agree. He’s a big 10 caliber player. Just as a backup.
 



paulser21 said:
The sky is not falling people. You need to relax.

This is a college football team with a very large roster. Many of these athletes have experience running the ball in high school either as a RB or as WR who also took snaps at RB.

Wiley isn’t coming back. He left his team mid season. You can’t do that.
Click to expand...
True, I do think it is very likely Irving and Thomas make it through the season healthy. We don’t know the severity of Bryce’s injury yet. If anyone other than those three needs to take major reps though I’d be a bit worried.
 

btowngopher said:
True, I do think it is very likely Irving and Thomas make it through the season healthy. We don’t know the severity of Bryce’s injury yet. If anyone other than those three needs to take major reps though I’d be a bit worried.
Click to expand...
Oops missed it. Bryce done for the year.
 

btowngopher said:
True, I do think it is very likely Irving and Thomas make it through the season healthy. We don’t know the severity of Bryce’s injury yet. If anyone other than those three needs to take major reps though I’d be a bit worried.
Click to expand...
Out for the season.
 

Wiley will be an insurance policy.

I don't know all the details whether he can or cannot rejoin the team
 

Oh gosh, we do have an RB carnage. There has to be other players on the roster that on a pinch can be a serviceable RB.
 

I’m just going to throw this out there…

We have a player on our roster that played QB in high school. He ran for 11 touchdowns his senior year.

Can I introduce you to possible gopher running back KO KIEFT!!!
 

Mid season transferring can leave teams in terrible situations. For instance if your backup quarterbacks decide to leave mid year. Having to sign on for a season at a time isn’t too much to ask. Instant gratification is the way of the world I guess.
 

I don't see the stuff behind the scenes but not playing is hard. I've been both a star on teams and also a benchwarmer and it's very frustrating to sit. Especially when you may have been a star the year before. When you see your time clock ticking away and your chance dying.

I get it. As long as he was just frustrated about PT and it didn't go overboard I would have him back. It should make a competitor mad to not play. Gophers need him.
 

btowngopher said:
Yes, in the off season, I don’t know if it has happened mid season, or if that is even allowed.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I should have been more clear. I was indeed referring to an in-season situation. I'd still be shocked if either side was considering him being back on the team again this season.
 

LaCaptain showed more in the couple carries last game than Cam has in his young career. Maybe he will change but Cam runs very soft
 

I would. In this transfer portal era, it feels dumb to be over-sensitive about it. If he wants to come back and can help the team, let him.
 



noamfromm said:
In the clips provided he runs through almost no contact. He shows he's a phenomenal athlete and displays good hands -- but not that he is a physical running back who uses good pad level
Click to expand...
And LaCaptain showed he is a physical runner who uses good pad level, but isn’t a phenomenal athlete and hasn’t displayed good hands. So how has he shown more than Wiley?
 

btowngopher said:
And LaCaptain showed he is a physical runner who uses good pad level, but isn’t a phenomenal athlete and hasn’t displayed good hands. So how has he shown more than Wiley?
Click to expand...
I wasn't making the LeCaptain has shown more than Wiley point -- I just was commenting that the evidence provided for Wiley didn't really show him being a great running back. It was him catching a pass out of the backfield and running through wide open lanes.

To make the case for LeCaptain > Wiley is hard because of the sample size we are dealing with for DL35 -- but Wiley's sample size is large enough to say that he is not a good inside zone running back (which is our bread and butter). He didn't run through contact well because of his poor technique and his vision never improved (kudos to Bryce Williams for finally developing that aspect of his game this year -- which I doubted).

As compared to Wiley, Mo isn't a phenomenal athlete but was able to use his vision and physical running style to be first team all Big Ten. The skills that Wiley has were never able to be harnessed because of his limitations. If all LeCaptain can do is break tackles and find the hole he will have provided more to this team than Wiley.
 


Yeah, we need a C.J. Ham type, runs low, protects the ball, in 4 games this year has 5 carries for 3 total yards.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom