Scratchtown
All-Conference
Cross runs way to high. He could be a lot harder to bring down than what he is.
Camping Out: Running Backs
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
Every player has strengths and weaknesses, and Cross is no exception. I think this year will tell us a lot about what people think Cross can/can't do. He's shown in the past that he's not the best runner laterally, but that he can make things happen when he sees the hole and goes vertical.
If we go off our best educated guess about the type of offense Riley wants to run, Cross may not see a lot of PT. He's not necessarily quick in space and he's not really the guy I want to see catching a pass out of the backfield. If it's 2nd and 1 at the goal line, hammer away with a Cross. If you're running a RB screen or a stretch run, I'd take a different back.
If we go off our best educated guess about the type of offense Riley wants to run, Cross may not see a lot of PT. He's not necessarily quick in space and he's not really the guy I want to see catching a pass out of the backfield. If it's 2nd and 1 at the goal line, hammer away with a Cross. If you're running a RB screen or a stretch run, I'd take a different back.
Last edited by a moderator:
Treand3
All-Conference
I've always felt Beck had Imani do things that weren't his strengths. I'd sigh every time he get called to run laterally and didn't get the chance to get downhill. Felt Cross could've complemented Ameer...if used properly. That's my hope with Riley's philosophy in the run game. He likes to get north/south in general offensively fron what I've seen. BTW, welcome!
Last edited by a moderator:
I was just joking about being Imani's mom, in case anyone took that seriously.
I think Nebraska is blessed with five great running backs, Wilbon, Stevenson, Taylor, Newby and Imani. Different strengths and weaknesses. Like you, I feel if used properly every one of these backs could be a huge contributor. Imani is the only one of these five getting dissed into non relevancy on this board. Riley may want to develop the backs that will be around more than one season, so maybe Imani will get benched his senior year. If so, I would be disappointed.
I like the power running game and would love to see Imani smashing opponents as part of the total offensive package. Ten TD's in his senior year and I will be happy regardless of the yards.
It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
I think Imani gets dished into irrelevancy because of his body type and previous contributions. He got somewhat looked over at times in previous seasons, a lot of that was due to AA's talent, but also Cross' abilities, IMHO. Combine that with what people THINK Riley will run this year, in terms of the type of offense, and Cross may just not be the guy needed on most downs.
I also heard from two people who watched practice yesterday that Cross didn't look good catching passes in the backfield. In fact, he dropped four of them in the first hour. That said, I heard quite a few people had problems yesterday. First day of practice so shouldn't read too much into it, though. Just observations from yesterday.
I also heard from two people who watched practice yesterday that Cross didn't look good catching passes in the backfield. In fact, he dropped four of them in the first hour. That said, I heard quite a few people had problems yesterday. First day of practice so shouldn't read too much into it, though. Just observations from yesterday.
Army_Allen
All-Conference
His contribution? He's been steadily more productive as time has went on through his career with both ypc and tds where he got quite a few (10?) Last year.
A bunch of comments - not the least of which from Riley - that Stevenson is quite a ways behind in the conditioning department. That's not surprising - actually, you'd hope that would be the case. But, while people are impressed with his potential, it sounds like he's got a long ways to go to be up to speed with the other backs.
SuperBigFan69
Head Coach
"Game" conditioning will take 2 weeks. We are talking about an elite athlete not one of us.
Secondly, this is just a guess, but he is so amped up right now that he probably goes balls out on every drill, so a few minutes into it he looks ragged...think of the first time you had sex...you think you can give it your all but you find out that you can last about a minute and are totally out of breath...and crying.
Secondly, this is just a guess, but he is so amped up right now that he probably goes balls out on every drill, so a few minutes into it he looks ragged...think of the first time you had sex...you think you can give it your all but you find out that you can last about a minute and are totally out of breath...and crying.
