Marlon Lucky

[I Bleed RED]

He is an above average back and he is a good runner for our team. He will never live up to the hype b/c ist's already year 3 and he hasn't shown any sign of it. And yes you need to look at yds per rush to determine how explosive a back is.

[junior4949]

I think it's pretty much an unfair comparison between Lucky and some of the great backs of Husker Past. It's about the same kind of argument of comparing Frazier to Keller. Considering they ran a completely different offense, I don't think you can really compare them.

 

Lucky is a good all around back. He doesn't run as well between the tackles as Ahman and LP, but he does catch and do a lot of other things that they didn't. I guess we'll never know at the college level whether Ahman and LP could block or catch as well as Lucky because they didn't do it. They never had that chance. Is Lucky going to abuse the defense with his running? Probably not. Is he going to abuse them with catching out of the backfield? He definitely could.

 

I'm not going to make any excuses for him. 40% or more of his yards came in one game against Nevada. I will say though that there is no way in Hell his OL is nearly as good as some of the backs you guys are comparing him to. He's more of a finnesse type RB rather than a bruiser like Castille is. I believe we have the best chance to win games with him in the backfield than any other back on the team right now. With Lucky's speed, he'd have as good of numbers as any other back to play at NU if he had the lanes to run through that some of the earlier mentioned backs had. I say we give him another year. He's made a lot of progress from what I've seen from last year to this year. Next year, who knows? He might just not be quite as tentative at the line and blow through a sliver of a sceme. The only knock against him this year is that he doesn't hit the hole hard. I believe it's because he's trying to be patient waiting for a hole to develop. Being a RB is kind of like the old "Gambler" song; sometimes you got to know when to hold them and sometimes you gotta know when to fold them. I believe by next year he'll have figured this whole thing out. I still say he's the best chance we got back there. Castille runs like a 4.7 40. He'll get his couple of yards per carry, but he's not going to bust anything long.

[huskerstag]

Lucky isn't supposed to be a bruiser who plows ahead whether there's a hole or not. Part of running behind a zone blocking scheme is that you have to be patient and look for a crease or a cut-back. If the play call is a straight up ISO or dive Lucky hits the hole as hard as anyone.

 

It appears that Callahan wants a two back system where one player is more finesse and patience and the other is a bruiser. Lucky is the finesse, don't bag on him because he isn't the bruiser.

 

IMHO, when you look at the total contribution of Lucky to the offense it's on par with what someone should expect from a top tier recruit. He blocks, catches and runs the ball well and began playing a major role in the offense his second year on the team. I'm not saying he's a superstar, but how many 5* players turn out that way? But people don't look at his total contribution, they look at the box score for his rushing yards and use buzz words like "goes down too easy". For whatever reason people expect him to break 5 tackles and run for 50 yards every carry. No one does that.

 

I think part of the reason that he's not tearing up opponents like Darren McFadden or Steve Slaton is because he's not the team's identity. Arkansas structures their entire offense around McFadden. WV structures their offense around getting Slaton and White out in space. For those two teams, their entire MO is to get thier marquee players the ball as much as possible.

 

Nebraska's system is about balance. It's not about a feature running back, or even smashmouth football. Regardless of who the RB is, he's not the focal point of the offense, so of course his numbers won't be spectacular. For whatever reason it's easy for people to see this when it comes to quarterbacks, but with running backs they're blind.

[Overland Park Husker]

Lucky isn't supposed to be a bruiser who plows ahead whether there's a hole or not. Part of running behind a zone blocking scheme is that you have to be patient and look for a crease or a cut-back. If the play call is a straight up ISO or dive Lucky hits the hole as hard as anyone.

 

It appears that Callahan wants a two back system where one player is more finesse and patience and the other is a bruiser. Lucky is the finesse, don't bag on him because he isn't the bruiser.

 

IMHO, when you look at the total contribution of Lucky to the offense it's on par with what someone should expect from a top tier recruit. He blocks, catches and runs the ball well and began playing a major role in the offense his second year on the team. I'm not saying he's a superstar, but how many 5* players turn out that way? But people don't look at his total contribution, they look at the box score for his rushing yards and use buzz words like "goes down too easy". For whatever reason people expect him to break 5 tackles and run for 50 yards every carry. No one does that.

 

I think part of the reason that he's not tearing up opponents like Darren McFadden or Steve Slaton is because he's not the team's identity. Arkansas structures their entire offense around McFadden. WV structures their offense around getting Slaton and White out in space. For those two teams, their entire MO is to get thier marquee players the ball as much as possible.

 

Nebraska's system is about balance. It's not about a feature running back, or even smashmouth football. Regardless of who the RB is, he's not the focal point of the offense, so of course his numbers won't be spectacular. For whatever reason it's easy for people to see this when it comes to quarterbacks, but with running backs they're blind.

What I want to know from people on this board is, what does Lucky have to do to make you people like him? He does everything he's asked and does it well. He rarely turns the ball over, hardly ever drops a pass and picks up the blocking assignments perfectly.

[Hunter94]

He is an above average back and he is a good runner for our team. He will never live up to the hype b/c ist's already year 3 and he hasn't shown any sign of it. And yes you need to look at yds per rush to determine how explosive a back is.

 

 

 

[SkerMin8r]

...you need to look at yds per rush to determine how explosive a back is...

 

5.2 y/c in 2006

5.2 y/c 2007 (to this point)

 

I'll take it...

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Lucky is a good back. I'll agree with BRI that he does go to the ground to quickly after initial contact. He does much better when he is in space.

 

Also consider that he is playing behind an average line. How elusive can he be if the opposing D is getting in the backfield so often?

[indianahusker]

Doug DuBose blew out his knee. That's why he wasn't able to play his senior year. Look it up. It wasn't drugs.

Keith Jones as a junior was the #1 I back that year. Wasn't very good as a junior, but learned a lot, and was pretty darn good his senior year (the next year).

P.S. Marlon is good. He's getting nothin' but better. I predict he'll be a first day selection to the NFL after his senior year.

Cally isn't calling running plays to the strength of the OLine. However, it may be because he doesn't believe Lucky to be a good enough runner between the tackles. I believe he can develop that, though.

[timberghost]

We got spoiled with all the great backs and lines year after year. Now it's trying to be a passing offense. What great back wants to come to a school where his ability to do his thing is turned down to 1 run every 4-6 plays?

[REDSTEEL]

We got spoiled with all the great backs and lines year after year. Now it's trying to be a passing offense. What great back wants to come to a school where his ability to do his thing is turned down to 1 run every 4-6 plays?

 

Yep and the bad thing is were not even getting the great receivers or tightends now.

[HuskerKing130]

But its okay b/c we have the greatest coach of all time

[REDSTEEL]

But its okay b/c we have the greatest coach of all time

 

you forgot to say sitting in the Sky box watching the game

[Hunter94]

This season, Marlon Lucky leads the conference with 113 yards a game. Take away the career-high 233 he had against Nevada, and his average is 83. Take away Lucky's longest run in each of the past four games, and his per-carry average slips from 5.2 to 3.1.

 

The tough yards, to be sure, have not come easily.

 

Since the Nevada game, the Huskers have converted on just five of 11 third-down situations where they've needed 1 or 2 yards and have elected to run.

 

Lucky, the featured back, has gotten the call nine times on third-and-short and has converted only five times.

 

 

 

ok, so why in the hell aren't we running Castille or Glenn on 3rd and short, when we know Lucky goes down easily?

i will tell you why, because cally is hoping Lucky can pop through when they stack the line and get a long gainer. so far that strategy isn't working.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

He's got the talent to be much better, but you can only do so much when your line can't run block. He has the physical attributes to get it done he just needs to improve his toughness and vision and those are hard things to improve on.

[I Bleed RED]

Simply put Lucky is an average RB with super hype.

 

He is not living up to the expectations that were set for him. He was outplayed by Jackson last year and there are 78 running backs with a better average. The Nevada game set him up b/c he has been very average since then. He does have the yds per game but we only use 1 running back pretty much. He has the 10th most rushes in the NATION so that might explain a lot.

 

He is 13th in the Nation also for total rushing yards so that is a good stat even if it is mis-leading.