Top 10 Overrated RB's in College Football

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I'm going to disagree with you here. Alabama is going to have sent 4 O-linemen to the first round of the draft in the last 3 years. I don't think you can say the same for Toby Gerhart, Ryan Matthews from Fresno St, Donald Buckram at UTEP, or Quizz Rodgers.

I think I wasn't very clear in what I was trying to say. I wasn't saying that Alabama was way above average at o-line last season, because they were. They have a very good o-line program there and probably always will because that's an important cog in their offense.

What I was saying is that in any RB's case, the o-line has to be at least average to slightly above average in order for the RB to showcase their skill. If defenders are just allowed to blast through the o-line, the RB can dice, slice, and run as fast as he wants, he's probably going to get dropped in the backfield or for a short gain.

Sure Ingram isn't the flashiest of runners, but he's great at making quick decisions and blasting through the hole. He's a tough runner and had a solid year. Should he have won the Heisman? Probably not, but the award is a joke anyway, so I'm not sure why everyone made such a big deal about him winning it. Everyone knows it goes to a player on the best team receiving the most hype at that given time. That's what the award is about now, and that's what it has been about since 1995. End of story.

Good point about the Heisman. Very true.

I think we disagree on Ingram's body of work though. When I watch film of Ingram, I don't see a skill set that is overly impressive. I mean, if you watch film of him, he will run straight up the middle of the defense untouched for 10-15 yards. Or, the play fake is developed so well that he just goes untouched on the perimeter. He isn't the type of back that's going to juke a couple of guys or impress you with speed, because his offensive line is good enough to the point of where the doesn't have to do that.

I think he's a good player, don't get me wrong. And we agree that he more than likely should not have gotten the Heisman, and that's more or less my point. I believe he is extremely overrated because his athleticism just does not impress me.

Trent Richardson will be a better runningback when it is all said and done.

 

[Enhance]

I'm sorry to all you Helu lovers out there, but I agree with the guy. Not for his opinions about the line play, but Roy's inconsistencies and constant injuries make for him to labeled "over-rated". With out any true definition of the word it is hard to explain exactly, but Roy will never be the back some of you think he will be, he is no Brandon Jackson. He just doesn't have the BEASTMODE factor.

:facepalm:

You're right, Helu actually rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season. I agree that he might not be an all-time great, but he is definitely better than Brandon Jackson.

Statistically speaking, you are incorrect, and a little off base. There is evidence to suggest that Brandon Jackson is equal to if not better than Helu, even if it's in a couple of ways.

First of all, Brandon Jackson did in fact rush for over 1,000 yards in a season (2006), but net losses took him 11 yards short of this accomplishment and he had to settle for 989. In said season, Jackson had 188 carries (32 less than Helu) and a 5.3 ypc avg. (compared to Helu's 5.2). He did have two fewer touchdowns then Helu, however.

But there are a couple of intangibles here as to why I would give Jackson a slight edge.

1) He had proven skills breaking runs to the outside or keeping them inside between the tackles. Helu, thus far, has shown he is a much better perimeter guy than he is a power guy.

2) Injuries never plagued Jackson. He remained relatively healthy through his entire college career and was very reliable. Helu has been unable to make it through an entire season without being hampered by some sort of issue.

3) Jackson is on an NFL roster. Not to say making an NFL roster equates to college talent, because I do not believe such a thing. However, he obviously had all of the physical tools to take himself to the next level. This may be a personal feeling, but I don't see Helu having an easy go at an NFL team because of his injuries and inability to be consistently effective between the tackles.

 

[In the Deed the Glory]

I'm sorry to all you Helu lovers out there, but I agree with the guy. Not for his opinions about the line play, but Roy's inconsistencies and constant injuries make for him to labeled "over-rated". With out any true definition of the word it is hard to explain exactly, but Roy will never be the back some of you think he will be, he is no Brandon Jackson. He just doesn't have the BEASTMODE factor.

:facepalm:

You're right, Helu actually rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season. I agree that he might not be an all-time great, but he is definitely better than Brandon Jackson.

Statistically speaking, you are incorrect, and a little off base. There is evidence to suggest that Brandon Jackson is equal to if not better than Helu, even if it's in a couple of ways.

First of all, Brandon Jackson did in fact rush for over 1,000 yards in a season (2006), but net losses took him 11 yards short of this accomplishment and he had to settle for 989. In said season, Jackson had 188 carries (32 less than Helu) and a 5.3 ypc avg. (compared to Helu's 5.2). He did have two fewer touchdowns then Helu, however.

But there are a couple of intangibles here as to why I would give Jackson a slight edge.

1) He had proven skills breaking runs to the outside or keeping them inside between the tackles. Helu, thus far, has shown he is a much better perimeter guy than he is a power guy.

2) Injuries never plagued Jackson. He remained relatively healthy through his entire college career and was very reliable. Helu has been unable to make it through an entire season without being hampered by some sort of issue.

3) Jackson is on an NFL roster. Not to say making an NFL roster equates to college talent, because I do not believe such a thing. However, he obviously had all of the physical tools to take himself to the next level. This may be a personal feeling, but I don't see Helu having an easy go at an NFL team because of his injuries and inability to be consistently effective between the tackles.

Ok.....I don't want to get into a pissing match here, but you're telling me that a guy with less yards, less carries, relatively the same ypc, and less touchdowns is better? On top of that, you say that Helu doesn't run between the tackles and Jackson did and did so more effectively. I would point to the relative strength of the offensive line that year compared to last, the determination to pound the rock that the team as a whole adopted under the current running game coordinator for the New York Jets, and the fact that there were far more options at RB at the time.

I would like to just point out that if a guy has less carries than another who had to basically miss 3 1/2 games, you cannot make an intelligent observation about his durability. Think about your reasoning for a second: He's more durable because he was never injured (which is untrue, he was unbelievably injury prone when he first arrived at NU, the main reason he didn't see the field in anyway but special teams.) Wouldn't it stand to reason that B-Jax was never injured because he was on the field far less often, took much less of a pounding because we had Cody Glenn, and carried the ball less times. 32 carries is almost 3 a game and Helu missed 3 1/2 games.

I'm not a Helu lover, or a B-Jax hater. I just like to be objective. Helu hurt his shoulder, played through it with a terribly injured offensive line in front of him and still torched Oklahoma, again. He had no backup for half of the year when Burkhead was raw/injured. Jackson had Marlon Lucky and Cody Glenn. I'm a Packer fan and love B-Jax, but lets not make him more than he was.

 

[Enhance]

I'm sorry to all you Helu lovers out there, but I agree with the guy. Not for his opinions about the line play, but Roy's inconsistencies and constant injuries make for him to labeled "over-rated". With out any true definition of the word it is hard to explain exactly, but Roy will never be the back some of you think he will be, he is no Brandon Jackson. He just doesn't have the BEASTMODE factor.

:facepalm:

You're right, Helu actually rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season. I agree that he might not be an all-time great, but he is definitely better than Brandon Jackson.

Statistically speaking, you are incorrect, and a little off base. There is evidence to suggest that Brandon Jackson is equal to if not better than Helu, even if it's in a couple of ways.

First of all, Brandon Jackson did in fact rush for over 1,000 yards in a season (2006), but net losses took him 11 yards short of this accomplishment and he had to settle for 989. In said season, Jackson had 188 carries (32 less than Helu) and a 5.3 ypc avg. (compared to Helu's 5.2). He did have two fewer touchdowns then Helu, however.

But there are a couple of intangibles here as to why I would give Jackson a slight edge.

1) He had proven skills breaking runs to the outside or keeping them inside between the tackles. Helu, thus far, has shown he is a much better perimeter guy than he is a power guy.

2) Injuries never plagued Jackson. He remained relatively healthy through his entire college career and was very reliable. Helu has been unable to make it through an entire season without being hampered by some sort of issue.

3) Jackson is on an NFL roster. Not to say making an NFL roster equates to college talent, because I do not believe such a thing. However, he obviously had all of the physical tools to take himself to the next level. This may be a personal feeling, but I don't see Helu having an easy go at an NFL team because of his injuries and inability to be consistently effective between the tackles.

Ok.....I don't want to get into a pissing match here, but you're telling me that a guy with less yards, less carries, relatively the same ypc, and less touchdowns is better? On top of that, you say that Helu doesn't run between the tackles and Jackson did and did so more effectively. I would point to the relative strength of the offensive line that year compared to last, the determination to pound the rock that the team as a whole adopted under the current running game coordinator for the New York Jets, and the fact that there were far more options at RB at the time.

I would like to just point out that if a guy has less carries than another who had to basically miss 3 1/2 games, you cannot make an intelligent observation about his durability. Think about your reasoning for a second: He's more durable because he was never injured (which is untrue, he was unbelievably injury prone when he first arrived at NU, the main reason he didn't see the field in anyway but special teams.) Wouldn't it stand to reason that B-Jax was never injured because he was on the field far less often, took much less of a pounding because we had Cody Glenn, and carried the ball less times. 32 carries is almost 3 a game and Helu missed 3 1/2 games.

I'm not a Helu lover, or a B-Jax hater. I just like to be objective. Helu hurt his shoulder, played through it with a terribly injured offensive line in front of him and still torched Oklahoma, again. He had no backup for half of the year when Burkhead was raw/injured. Jackson had Marlon Lucky and Cody Glenn. I'm a Packer fan and love B-Jax, but lets not make him more than he was.

Yes, I do think B-Jax was better, if you throw in the consideration that Helu was the number one back for most of the season and Jackson had to put up with competition from guys like Lucky and Wilson all season. After Burkhead went down, Helu was the only viable back with experienced game time. Everybody else had to play catch up, thus he was able to work his stats. The 2006 backfield stayed much, much healthier collectively. I would understand your argument about Helu having to miss those games, if it wasn't for the fact that Jackson had to miss a ton of PT thanks to all of the competition he had to face. We all know BC played favorites, and Lucky was no exception.

Second of all, B-Jax impressed me slightly more with his film. Have you ever seen anything from Helu that is as good as B-Jax's run against Texas in 2006? Helu can break big gainers, but I've never seen him do anything like that.

Lastly, I think the two things that can't really be ignored are that 1) B-Jax had to fend off Lucky and Wilson, while after Castille got dismissed Helu was the obvious guy with little to no real competition and 2) even though I don't like to use this as an argument, B-Jax is on an NFL roster. Usually in the NFL, running backs carry over from their college level production and abilities, unlike quarterbacks. I think by the time the 2011 NFL draft comes around, you will be surprised at how few looks Helu gets because of his injury problems and the fact that he has been limited in two straight bowl games because of knee problems. Even if Helu has a 1200 yard season with 10 touchdowns, he more than likely will not be drafted. If he does, it will be late-late rounds and it may not even be to play running back. He'll probably have a special teams role similar to Cory Ross, if anything. But, that's just my opinion.

Again, this is just my opinion. If I had to take Helu or B-Jax into battle, I'm taking B-Jax. I liked his vision, power, and elusiveness much more than Helu's. Each to his own.