Braylon Heard Transferring...

[skersfan]

Semper Fi my friend.

 

Thanks account, I have been taking my aggressive attitude out on the mountains around here. I know my ideas are different than some on some things and the same on others. Bo has done some terrific stuff no question. I love the work he does to get the kids to realize what an educational opportunity they have been given, insures they attend class. Keep their noses clean.

 

I loved the fact that he had them ready to play Georgia, no matter the outcome. But a spade is spade to me. Lots of things I do not like, but I try to post exactly like I feel. Most on here are only worried about wins and losses. Not so much for me. I want to win just like everyone else, but how we do it is more important to me.

 

I have been happy with the recruiting this year, and back to topic. I really could care less of this kid leaves. If he does not want to be here, go now. Do not waste our time and effort until after the spring game. I personally think he would be an idiot to leave. Nothing but up for the future. He knows how hard it is for a freshman to play here. He has been through it. Bo making packages for him shows Bo knows his talent and will use it. Just a dumb move, but kids are kids.

 

Oh well off to do a night ride.

[blessed2bahusker]

No matter how you shake it though, I think Heard just wants to be the primary back at some point and has little confidence that it will happen with Ameer ahead of him. I'm guessing if Ameer was a senior Heard would be much less antsy to leave. I think most backs could buy into the logic of that article, and even embrace it, but all want to at least be the number one guy at some point. It's too bad because who knows whats going to happen. Maybe Ameer tears it up this year and decides to go pro. Maybe he gets hurt and Heard becomes the number one guy. It has really worked out well for Bama having their back-ups at RB at least a couple years behind the starter. I'm not so sure Richardson, Lacy or Yeldon would have been willing to take a back-up role if their counterparts were in the same class as them.

I would put money on Ameer getting hurt at some point this year. Helu had the shoulder, Burkhead the foot, then the knee. Abdulla was wore out by seasons end. Rex similar the prior year. Lucky was out toward the end of his senior season with turf toe. Jackson was injurred plenty, shoulder then a hand. It's almost a given when you're expected to carry the ball 300 times a season.

Good point.

Cmon guys. Rex's injury on his 3rd or 4th carry of the year had nothing to do with his 300 carries the year before. Based on how he looked on his first TD run against Southern Miss, he was as fresh and shaped up as he had ever been. Yes, Abdullah could get hurt. It's a high probability of injury position. I just dont agree that it'll have anything to do with his workload of a full year prior (or as little as 8 months if youre technical about it).

KC can correct me if I wrong but I don't necessarily think he was saying we have had those injuries due to high volume of carries, just that the RB position by nature takes a lot of bumps and bruises and it is difficult to get through a season unscathed. Yeah, there are a lot of exceptions to that, but I would guess most teams have the same issue. Point was there was a good shot at Heard getting a chance to shoulder the load at some point this year. History kind of shows that is the way it has been here for a while.

[HuskerShark]

He is a special competitor. I don't think this article would change his position at all, he wants the ball everytime, like Rex....

That's the point - they all want the ball more. Nothing special about it. They (and the staff) need to worry more about quality over quantity. Yards per carry, over yards per game. And it will become an even bigger issue for backs as teams continue to increase the offensive tempo.

 

I'd rather we do what it takes to win games, not get cute.

[walksalone]

I'm sure glad Scott Frost and Zac Taylor left their original schools for "greener pastures".

 

Yes I know they both left after coaching changes but the fact is they both left their original schools.

Oh, oh!! And Sam Kel...f#*k. Nevermind.

 

Be careful, he may sue you for using his name on a message board...

[kchusker_chris]

No matter how you shake it though, I think Heard just wants to be the primary back at some point and has little confidence that it will happen with Ameer ahead of him. I'm guessing if Ameer was a senior Heard would be much less antsy to leave. I think most backs could buy into the logic of that article, and even embrace it, but all want to at least be the number one guy at some point. It's too bad because who knows whats going to happen. Maybe Ameer tears it up this year and decides to go pro. Maybe he gets hurt and Heard becomes the number one guy. It has really worked out well for Bama having their back-ups at RB at least a couple years behind the starter. I'm not so sure Richardson, Lacy or Yeldon would have been willing to take a back-up role if their counterparts were in the same class as them.

I would put money on Ameer getting hurt at some point this year. Helu had the shoulder, Burkhead the foot, then the knee. Abdulla was wore out by seasons end. Rex similar the prior year. Lucky was out toward the end of his senior season with turf toe. Jackson was injurred plenty, shoulder then a hand. It's almost a given when you're expected to carry the ball 300 times a season.

Good point.

Cmon guys. Rex's injury on his 3rd or 4th carry of the year had nothing to do with his 300 carries the year before. Based on how he looked on his first TD run against Southern Miss, he was as fresh and shaped up as he had ever been. Yes, Abdullah could get hurt. It's a high probability of injury position. I just dont agree that it'll have anything to do with his workload of a full year prior (or as little as 8 months if youre technical about it).

KC can correct me if I wrong but I don't necessarily think he was saying we have had those injuries due to high volume of carries, just that the RB position by nature takes a lot of bumps and bruises and it is difficult to get through a season unscathed. Yeah, there are a lot of exceptions to that, but I would guess most teams have the same issue. Point was there was a good shot at Heard getting a chance to shoulder the load at some point this year. History kind of shows that is the way it has been here for a while.

Yeah this. Not necessarily saying his 230ish carries from this year increases his chances of injury next...just saying if he's going to be asked to carry the ball 300 times this season (which is certainly possible now) that increases his likelihood of getting injured. - more carries, more hits, more risk, etc.

[Count 'Bility]

 

KC can correct me if I wrong but I don't necessarily think he was saying we have had those injuries due to high volume of carries, just that the RB position by nature takes a lot of bumps and bruises and it is difficult to get through a season unscathed. Yeah, there are a lot of exceptions to that, but I would guess most teams have the same issue. Point was there was a good shot at Heard getting a chance to shoulder the load at some point this year. History kind of shows that is the way it has been here for a while.

Yeah this. Not necessarily saying his 230ish carries from this year increases his chances of injury next...just saying if he's going to be asked to carry the ball 300 times this season (which is certainly possible now) that increases his likelihood of getting injured. - more carries, more hits, more risk, etc.

Yeah, i dont know why i made that point. I thought at first that's what yous was insinuating, but by the end of my comment, I was agreeing with you.

[MichiganDad3]

I always thought Heard would have been a better DB than a RB. I think he can be a starter at a really low profile D1 school or the D2 schools, but I never thought he was more than a number 2 or 3 guy at the big time places. If he wants to play pro, he needs to play D.

 

While I do think his pro potential is better at DB than RB, he is a number 1 RB at a big name school. Guy was an elite running back. Vision was spectacular with great burst. If AG ran North/south like Heard, he'd win a heisman.

5'10" and a buck 80 with straight ahead speed ain't good enough. He lacks a bit on cutting and picking up yards after contact.

Are you freaking kidding me? Heard will be a stud no matter who he plays for. IMO, he was better than Ameer but had hamstring issues last year.

I remember anther running back that ran like you said Heard ran. Does Eric Dickerson ring a bell? Arguably the best rb of all time. At least top 3.

 

Agree, Heard is very good and should have had more carries. When Rozier was a sophomore he had 151 carries, the starter (Roger Craig) had 173. AA had 226 carries last year, Heard only had 52. That is a disgrace for a player with one of the best ypc in Husker history.

 

Burkhead, Rex 6.9 ypc

 

Heard, Braylon 6.7 ypc

Mike Rozier Sophomore year 6.2ypc

Lawrence Philips Sophomore year 6.0 ypc

 

Ahman Green Sophomore year 5.9 ypc

 

Abdullah, Ameer 5.0 ypc

Cross, Imani 5.9 ypc

Marrow, Mike 3.0 ypc

[B.B. Hemingway]

I always thought Heard would have been a better DB than a RB. I think he can be a starter at a really low profile D1 school or the D2 schools, but I never thought he was more than a number 2 or 3 guy at the big time places. If he wants to play pro, he needs to play D.

 

While I do think his pro potential is better at DB than RB, he is a number 1 RB at a big name school. Guy was an elite running back. Vision was spectacular with great burst. If AG ran North/south like Heard, he'd win a heisman.

5'10" and a buck 80 with straight ahead speed ain't good enough. He lacks a bit on cutting and picking up yards after contact.

Are you freaking kidding me? Heard will be a stud no matter who he plays for. IMO, he was better than Ameer but had hamstring issues last year.

I remember anther running back that ran like you said Heard ran. Does Eric Dickerson ring a bell? Arguably the best rb of all time. At least top 3.

 

Agree, Heard is very good and should have had more carries. When Rozier was a sophomore he had 151 carries, the starter (Roger Craig) had 173. AA had 226 carries last year, Heard only had 52. That is a disgrace for a player with one of the best ypc in Husker history.

 

Burkhead, Rex 6.9 ypc

 

Heard, Braylon 6.7 ypc

Mike Rozier Sophomore year 6.2ypc

Lawrence Philips Sophomore year 6.0 ypc

 

Ahman Green Sophomore year 5.9 ypc

 

Abdullah, Ameer 5.0 ypc

Cross, Imani 5.9 ypc

Marrow, Mike 3.0 ypc

 

 

Yeah, but Rozier, was Rozier!!

 

 

[MichiganDad3]

Let's see Bama has used dual back for several years and won 3 MNC's in 4 years. Wisky uses tandem backs as does UGA. If we recruit multiple kids, we need to start using multiple kids. That, IMO, would alleviate kids going else where. This staff fails to try and give more than the #1 guy a shot at playing time until the #1 guy gets hurt.........

 

I admire Heard for working so hard to get here, switching to DB and back and THEN playing last year even though initial reports were he was done for the season with injury, but still played IIRC. Best of luck to him.

 

We do, and we have the entire Bo era.... This past season we used 4 different RB's about as well as you can use four guys.... Rarely (if ever) do teams split the carries between 3+ backs evenly, and that is why Heard missed on some carries. When you have backs like Rex, and Ameer where do you use a Heard? It is hard too take talent like that (Rex/Ameer) off of the field! This was going too be his year, so if he is leaving for playing time, then it just doesn't make sense.... We are deep at the position, and I've seen some people on Twitter (Sipple and Harvey) point out that they think Newby might have been the backup anyways....Good luck too him, and GBR!

 

You call what we did splitting carries? 20+ for Abdullah and a few scraps for the other two isn't splitting carries

 

Abdullah--- 226 carries

Burkhead--- 98

Cross ---- 55

Heard -----52

 

And don't forget, we have a talented running QB

 

Martinez --- 195 carries

 

So, yes, that is pretty good balance when splitting carries between 5 players like we did. 5 players over 50 carries? That is splitting carries!!

 

You can't have four #1 running backs..... Your best back gets the most carries, and with Burkhead out, Ameer was out best option....

 

Actually that is poor balance. The 1995 stats below show real balance. Six backs had more carries than Heard this year. The columns are name, attempts Yards per carry.

 

 

Green, A. 141 7.7

Frazier, T. 97 6.2

Phillips, L. 71 7.7

Childs, C. 55 7.8

Benning, D. 63 6.5

Makovicka, Je. 63 5.9

Sims, J. 30 9.0

[MichiganDad3]

I am just a reader, but had to respond. Heard is a good back, but had trouble blocking in the pro set. This is the main reason he did not see any more carries.

 

That doesn't make any sense. I could see why that would mean he wouldn't be asked to block as much, but he was obviously a tremendous asset as a ball carrier. Why not use that to help the team? Seemed preferable to wearing down Abdullah.

You can't just bring him in on running plays...that is a dead give-a-way to defenses. You have to be an all-around back to play major minutes!

 

I saw AA whif on many blocks. I also find it hard to believe that Heard is any worse at pass blocking than Rodriguez .

[MichiganDad3]

JJ I do think there's middle ground and room for criticism for this staff. This staff has a history of riding starters and rarely, rarely, rarely going to the backups. They find guys they trust and don't give the backups much time at all. On the one hand, it's not wrong for players to have to earn coaches' trust. On the other, it's something that left us with a very green and untested secondary in 2011 after all the other guys graduated. And here, I think it's fair to say it was strange that after Rex went down, Ameer became the absolute feature back without Heard complementing him to the same degree Ameer complemented Rex.

 

I think this staff has shown it's very reluctant to give its bench players time and that's a fair criticism in the roster management area.

This. Add to the areas of concern: safety in 2013. Center this year, DE, etc... I will be so bold as to say this staff has done a horrible job developing depth. If you are starter you play and if you are not you come in when the starter gets injured. Folks are kidding themselves thinking we are developing the back ups. Quite a few teams have used two RB's to great success this year. Bama, UGA and Wisky to name, but 3. Hell Wisky used 3 against us and all 3 got more than 100 yrds. Previously mentioned was the fact that although we played 4 guys this year at RB. The carries were not even close to be equal. Rex went out and they rode AA all year with little relief from Head who avg 7 yards per touch.

 

And sometimes you don't get to come in when the starter gets hurt. In 2011 we played a hurt center half the year and Crick played several games hurt.

[MichiganDad3]

 

Yeah, but Rozier, was Rozier!!

 

 

 

Maybe Heard is better than Rozier. As a sophomore Heard has more yards per carry behind a much worse offensive line.

[sd'sker]

the ypc for heard is so misleading. just stahp!

[Blackshirts007]

We will all realize he will not be as big a loss as we think. Hell if rex doesn't get injured, he wouldn't have even got half of those carries. Sure i wish he wasn't leaving and he would have been a solid backup but Newby and Taylor are studs. I wouldn't be surprised if Newby pushes Ameer for split carries. I think we redshirt Taylor. Ameer and Newby with Cross for short yard situations is scary.

[MLB 51]

Best of luck to him. What ever he decides to do.