Jump to content


2021 Spring Notes - Running Back


Recommended Posts

@Decoy73 How about we put it this way: Ozigbo's rushing yards doubled in 2018 under Held. In 2017, he was Nebraska's leading rusher... with just 516 yards. :( Let's not forget just how truly pathetic Riley's rushing offense was.

 

 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

22 minutes ago, Toe said:

@Decoy73 How about we put it this way: Ozigbo's rushing yards doubled in 2018 under Held. In 2017, he was Nebraska's leading rusher... with just 516 yards. :( Let's not forget just how truly pathetic Riley's rushing offense was.

 

 

That’s beside the point I was trying to make.  We all know Riley’s rushing O sucked.  But in 2018 Ozigbo was our best back when the current staff arrived  on campus.  Not buried in the depth chart, as was insinuated by @uberism .  Held may be good at developing players and he may not be.  This will be the season he can show us.    And I hope he and his RB room shines.  Then we all can put this debate about his coaching ability to bed.   Because we know he can recruit. 

 

  • Plus1 1
  • Fire 1
Link to comment

It will be by Committee.

 

Ervin/Stepp  When Stepp gets hurt again, Ervin getting more carries.

Scott/Yant (Yant looked good running the ball, needs to get in better shape) .

Morrison

Jewitt

 

Tompkins out- ALWAYS hurt- Will be gone or just sit and graduate.

 

Johnson- too small, cant break arm tackles. Not enough wiggle for his great straight ahead speed to matter. Will transfer.

 

It's been so frustrating, with all the injuries in this group. But If we have a committee of Ervin, Scott, Yant and Morrison and a reasonably improved Oline along with our better receiving corps, this group could end up doing much better than last season. 

 

 

 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment
8 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

It will be by Committee.

 

Ervin/Stepp  When Stepp gets hurt again, Ervin getting more carries.

Scott/Yant (Yant looked good running the ball, needs to get in better shape) .

Morrison

Jewitt

 

Tompkins out- ALWAYS hurt- Will be gone or just sit and graduate.

 

Johnson- too small, cant break arm tackles. Not enough wiggle for his great straight ahead speed to matter. Will transfer.

 

If we have a committee of Ervin, Scott, Yant and Morrison and a reasonably improved Oline along with our better receiving corps, this group could end up doing much better than last season. 

 

 

I think it could definitely play out that way, but also wouldn't be shocked if somebody took the job and the majority of the carries. There will be a rotation no matter what, but could see a guy separate and take 50-60%. In any case I'm glad there's an actual competition this year - last year there wasn't, it was all dictated by health. I think we'll see the talent shine through a lot more this year. 

 

I do think people are being a little quick to anoint Ervin over Scott/Morrison, but there is a lot to like with him. 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

Ervin was better than I thought. He read the zone blocking landmarks well, was patient and got north- south in a hurry. Wish it would have been full contact that first half to see more.  Good field vision for a Freshman. Then he was able to get the edge with better speed than I thought he had. Pleasantly surprised. He stays healthy he may be a good one. 

Link to comment

1 hour ago, Decoy73 said:

That’s beside the point I was trying to make.  We all know Riley’s rushing O sucked.  But in 2018 Ozigbo was our best back when the current staff arrived  on campus.  Not buried in the depth chart, as was insinuated by @uberism .  Held may be good at developing players and he may not be.  This will be the season he can show us.    And I hope he and his RB room shines.  Then we all can put this debate about his coaching ability to bed.   Because we know he can recruit. 

 

 

Eh, depending on how you want to semantic "when [they] arrived on campus", he was the third or fourth best back we had.  Because of injuries and head cases, he ended up getting the job and (literally) running with it.  And kudos to him for taking advantage of the opportunity.  But he was most definitely not our most talented back.

  • Plus1 2
Link to comment
2 hours ago, Decoy73 said:

That’s beside the point I was trying to make.  We all know Riley’s rushing O sucked.  But in 2018 Ozigbo was our best back when the current staff arrived  on campus.  Not buried in the depth chart, as was insinuated by @uberism .  Held may be good at developing players and he may not be.  This will be the season he can show us.    And I hope he and his RB room shines.  Then we all can put this debate about his coaching ability to bed.   Because we know he can recruit. 

 

 

Ozigbo wasn't the defacto back until game 4, Purdue that year when he stole the job due to Washington's injury. I truly believe games 1- 3 that year the depth chart was Bell- Washington- Ozigbo. Touches in games 1-3 pretty much bear that out. Ozigbo got the start at Purdue and never looked back, but to say he was the *best back* at the start of the season isn't the way the coaches saw it. 

  • Plus1 2
Link to comment
1 hour ago, Mavric said:

 

Eh, depending on how you want to semantic "when [they] arrived on campus", he was the third or fourth best back we had.  Because of injuries and head cases, he ended up getting the job and (literally) running with it.  And kudos to him for taking advantage of the opportunity.  But he was most definitely not our most talented back.

The staff arrived the first week in January, 2018.  Shortly after their Peach Bowl win.  There's not really too many ways to semantic that.  

 

So you are apparently disagreeing that Ozigbo was the best back we had at that time, even though he led the team in rushing and all the other RB's in receiving in 2017.  Then, who were the two or three RB's you stated were most definitely more talented or better than Ozigbo?

 

Here's a 2017 preview for reference

https://www.cornnation.com/2017/2/16/14600224/2017-nebraska-spring-football-preview-running-backs

 

The first 2018 depth chart went like this:

1.  Greg Bell or Devine Ozigbo

2.  Maurice Washington or Miles Jones

 

 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Decoy73 said:

in 2018 Ozigbo was our best back when the current staff arrived  on campus. 

 

Who the hell cares?! Woohoo, he was the best 500 yard RB on the team! The best smelling turd out of five turds is still a turd, you know?

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
12 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Ozigbo wasn't the defacto back until game 4, Purdue that year when he stole the job due to Washington's injury. I truly believe games 1- 3 that year the depth chart was Bell- Washington- Ozigbo. Touches in games 1-3 pretty much bear that out. Ozigbo got the start at Purdue and never looked back, but to say he was the *best back* at the start of the season isn't the way the coaches saw it. 

When did I say Ozigbo was the best back at the start of the season?  I said "when the coaches arrived" he was.  

 

@uberism stated:

"When Held arrived he took Ozigbo from deep in the running back depth chart to a 1,000 yard rusher and he made it onto an NFl roster. A bad coach isn't going to be able to do that. "

 

Do you agree that Ozigbo was deep in the running back depth chart?

He was listed with Bell as co-number 1 for the Akron game.

 

 

Link to comment

5 minutes ago, Toe said:

 

Who the hell cares?! Woohoo, he was the best 500 yard RB on the team! The best smelling turd out of five turds is still a turd, you know?

Wow!  Some good contribution to the thread, here.  Did you even read the previous posts?

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
9 minutes ago, Decoy73 said:

The staff arrived the first week in January, 2018.  Shortly after their Peach Bowl win.  There's not really too many ways to semantic that.  

 

So you are apparently disagreeing that Ozigbo was the best back we had at that time, even though he led the team in rushing and all the other RB's in receiving in 2017.  Then, who were the two or three RB's you stated were most definitely more talented or better than Ozigbo?

 

Here's a 2017 preview for reference

https://www.cornnation.com/2017/2/16/14600224/2017-nebraska-spring-football-preview-running-backs

 

The first 2018 depth chart went like this:

1.  Greg Bell or Devine Ozigbo

2.  Maurice Washington or Miles Jones

 

You can semantic it as when they actually set foot on campus or what they had to work with when they got to the first game.  Bell and Washington didn't show up until the summer so they weren't here when the staff first got to campus but they were here to play in the first game.  So I would go with who they had to work with when they actually had to play a game.  I didn't know if that's what you were going with or not.

 

Washington may have been listed as #2 but he had missed most of the summer, showed up underweight and wasn't expected to be eligible.  So him being behind a senior on the initial depth chart doesn't really mean much.

 

Ozibgo got one more carry against Colorado than Bell did but Bell out-yarded him by 44.  Washington had the same yards-per carry as Oz.

In the second game against Troy, Washington and Bell both got 14 carries to Oz's 9.  Washington got 92 yards, Bell got 64, Oz go 25.  Washington also had three catches to one by Oz.

The Michigan game was pretty much a clusterf#&% all the way around.  So I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it.  Bell and Washington got carries in the first half.  Oz didn't.

 

So in the first three games, both Bell and Washington were obviously ahead of Oz in both touches and production.  After that Bell got mad and left and Washington got banged up.  Oz took it an finished the season very well.  But I don't think there is really any way to argue that Oz was anything better than our third-best back when the season started.

Link to comment

At the beginning of that season I dont think any of us thought Ozigbo would see the field. Bell came with some pretty big numbers, Washington and Jones were highly touted speedsters. 

 

But Ziggy went out and lost the weight, gained a step and won the job in the Purdue game. He looked like a different back. It was noticeable right away.  I have no clue who is responsible- gets credit for that.

 

And yes Rileys "ground" game was an absolute joke, an embarrassment to the game of football. Just like his track record indicated it would be. So how much of it was scheme, player, coaching- I wasnt there so I dont know. 

Link to comment
55 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

You can semantic it as when they actually set foot on campus or what they had to work with when they got to the first game.  Bell and Washington didn't show up until the summer so they weren't here when the staff first got to campus but they were here to play in the first game.  So I would go with who they had to work with when they actually had to play a game.  I didn't know if that's what you were going with or not.

 

Washington may have been listed as #2 but he had missed most of the summer, showed up underweight and wasn't expected to be eligible.  So him being behind a senior on the initial depth chart doesn't really mean much.

 

Ozibgo got one more carry against Colorado than Bell did but Bell out-yarded him by 44.  Washington had the same yards-per carry as Oz.

In the second game against Troy, Washington and Bell both got 14 carries to Oz's 9.  Washington got 92 yards, Bell got 64, Oz go 25.  Washington also had three catches to one by Oz.

The Michigan game was pretty much a clusterf#&% all the way around.  So I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it.  Bell and Washington got carries in the first half.  Oz didn't.

 

So in the first three games, both Bell and Washington were obviously ahead of Oz in both touches and production.  After that Bell got mad and left and Washington got banged up.  Oz took it an finished the season very well.  But I don't think there is really any way to argue that Oz was anything better than our third-best back when the season started.

So do you think Coach Held gets credit for bringing Oz from deep on the depth chart to a 1K rusher?  The only point I was trying to make was that Oz wasn't deep in the depth chart.  He was a senior who got himself into great shape was already a pretty good back when the season started.  Everyone keeps misconstruing my comments in different ways and two hours later--here we are.  

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Visit the Sports Illustrated Husker site



×
×
  • Create New...