Camping Out: Running Backs

[kbbccandyman]

As the new season approaches, I have been popping in a little bit ... trying to get a heads-up on how Adam Taylor is doing. Has he recovered from his broken foot and regained his confidence? How is he stacking up against the stable of able RBs the Huskers have in the fold for this year? It sure has to be tough on a player like Adam to "red shirt" a year and then miss another year due to an injury. Hope he gets some play time this year as it would be hard on him mentally not being able to play for such an extended period of time.

Thanks in advance for anyone in the know that could bring us Katy folks up to speed on Adam.

I can't remember if I posted this or not, but this is the 8th grade video of Deondrick Glass, the 14 yr old freshman RB,QB, WR coming into the Katy Football Program. Kid has crazy good football skills,

but with a nick-name of "showtime" we may have to give him an extra helping of "humble pie" or he might not be able to fit in with the "team first attitude" that is mandatory if you want to play at Katy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSgMHKYJvY

Hope the Huskers have a relatively injury free pre-season.

 

[Mavric]

Unfortunately, it sounds like Taylor is down the depth chart a ways. From the media guys watching practice, there seems to be two guys who are at the top of the list - Newby and Wilbon - and then kind of a jumble behind them with Taylor and at least one or two other guys all vying for the #3 spot.

However, it will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff uses the backs. They've said a couple times it will probably be some sort of committee approach. Taylor is a bigger back than those first two so he may carve out a niche for himself. But right now it's sounding like those first two guys will probably get most of the snaps.

 

[Red Five]

Benning said yesterday that he thought Taylor looked "not right" or "off" at the scrimmage.

 

[Enhance]

Benning said yesterday that he thought Taylor looked "not right" or "off" at the scrimmage.

Heard that, too. I'm not sure what to make of that and I kind of think DB would've been better off not saying anything, because there could be 1,000 reasons Taylor seemed not right or off. Sharp didn't really have anything to say about it in response to DB and seemed to think it wasn't worth speculating.

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[Mavric]

While some of the younger backs have been in the headlines more this camp, Riley mentioned senior Imani Cross as someone who has also shown well of late.


"Imani lost a lot of weight. I think he's handling that really nicely, it's really good for his body," Riley said. "Because he's a big guy anyway. And he's lost some good weight, I think, to help him maneuver and play better."

LJS

 

[Mavric]

"I'll say this kind of reluctantly, because from my history you won't know how this fits, but it really is better for everybody if you have two or three guys kind of share that job, to take the burden off," he said. "We've always been before a one-back show. … But I really think in this day and age in football, to have two or three guys who are put in the game, and rotated in, it's probably a pretty good thing.


"I'm not committing to how we're going to do it yet, but I think with this group we certainly could it."

LJS

Too bad we don't have a better strength and conditioning program. Then we wouldn't have to sub out our running backs so much.

 

[kbbccandyman]

Maybe Riley and the RB coach need to take a look at this video so they may get an appreciation for what Adam Taylor can do

so they can do something to encourage him to reach his potential. I can just imagine how discouraged Adam may be having not touched the ball in a game for over 2 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP_zQYt9o2w

The coaches may think they have an idea of what Adam can do, but after watching this maybe it could open their eyes as to what his potential really is if given the opportunity. Not giving him the opportunity to be productive is the fastest way to have the door closed to the Huskers for any future opportunities to recruit others from a great high school program.

 

[Enhance]

I have a different mentality what it comes to playing time, even when I played sports. You earn what you get and there's nothing else to it. I don't feel bad for Adam Taylor not getting touches, especially at the division one college football level. As Herm Edwards once said, "you play to win the game." If players out there are better than you, it's your job to compete and fight for your carries. The door is always right there if any player isn't comfortable handling that. You just have to.

In terms of running back by committee, I'm interested to see what happens. If Newby is only getting 15-20 touches a game, and a couple other guys are getting 10-15, the only logical explanation is that one guy hasn't set himself far enough apart to earn the vast majority of carries. I feel pretty confident saying if AA was on the team still, he'd be getting 25-30 carries a game and there wouldn't be much debate about it.

 

[Landlord]

Maybe Riley and the RB coach need to take a look at this video so they may get an appreciation for what Adam Taylor can do

so they can do something to encourage him to reach his potential. I can just imagine how discouraged Adam may be having not touched the ball in a game for over 2 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP_zQYt9o2w

The coaches may think they have an idea of what Adam can do, but after watching this maybe it could open their eyes as to what his potential really is if given the opportunity. Not giving him the opportunity to be productive is the fastest way to have the door closed to the Huskers for any future opportunities to recruit others from a great high school program.

Man, you've been a lot of fun to have around and provide insight on Adam and the Katy program, but do you not think that the coaches know better than you do?

The tone of your post(s) seems to be that you're sure the coaches think they know about Adam, but if they knew what you knew, they would see him more truly, and that seems kind of silly to me. I'm sure they have a better grasp of him as a player right now than any of us do, especially since we haven't seen him play the last two years, and we haven't seen how he responded from his injury.

These guys are successful, paid professionals. You're a guy on the internet linking film of 8th graders, and I'm a guy on the internet giving you grief for it. I'm still very high on Adam as well, in large part to your input through his recruiting process and since, but it doesn't look like he's ready to be a gamechanger yet.

 

[HuskerExpat]

Surprise arrival Jordan Stevenson joins Nebraska RB battle

BY STEVE BEIDECK Associated Press AUGUST 7, 2015 Miami Herald

Nebraska opened practice Thursday night with the competition at running back the featured position battle. Terrell Newby came out of the spring as the front-runner in the race to succeed three-time 1,000-yard rusher Ameer Abdullah. But the surprise arrival of heralded recruit Jordan Stevenson of Dallas has added plenty of intrigue.

<snip>

Stevenson's enthusiasm was apparent before the first warmup drill. He implored the offensive linemen to get pumped up, shouting encouragement to the players he hopes will be opening big holes for him. The 5-foot-9, 205-pound Stevenson averaged 180.7 rushing yards and 9.8 yards per carry as a senior at South Oak Cliff High School. He ended the year with 2,530 yards and 28 touchdowns.

LINK

This is a great development! Who would've thought it a couple months back?

I am getting all sorts of grief from Wisconsin fan I work with about Nebraska athletic standards.

Living in Chicago I get that sort of thing all the time. It is easy to make it stop. I just said something like "I don't really care about academics. I just want my team to win. Do the high academic standards make you feel better when your team loses?" That shuts up most people right away. It is a huge oversimplification of my true feelings, but I think most of us care mostly about winning. With that said, I think it is a very good idea for our guys to take advantage of their opportunity to get a good education.

 

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

You dont just hand out the candy there candyman (unless you want to end up with subway jared)...taylor has to earn his carries like everyone else. Hes probably behind taylor in the goal lineback role at this point and may notbe a great fit in this offense.

 

[Landlord]

You dont just hand out the candy there candyman (unless you want to end up with subway jared)...taylor has to earn his carries like everyone else. Hes probably behind taylor in the goal lineback role at this point and may notbe a great fit in this offense.

I love the irony of your username being onlyHskrfaninIL and the last two posts before yours were both from guys living in Chicago.

 

[HuskerExpat]

You dont just hand out the candy there candyman (unless you want to end up with subway jared)...taylor has to earn his carries like everyone else. Hes probably behind taylor in the goal lineback role at this point and may notbe a great fit in this offense.

I love the irony of your username being onlyHskrfaninIL and the last two posts before yours were both from guys living in Chicago.

Yeah, not sure where in IL he lives, but there are a lot of Husker fans in Chicago. There are some Nebraska bars within a few miles of each other that both pack in hundreds of people for each game.

 

[Landlord]

You dont just hand out the candy there candyman (unless you want to end up with subway jared)...taylor has to earn his carries like everyone else. Hes probably behind taylor in the goal lineback role at this point and may notbe a great fit in this offense.

I love the irony of your username being onlyHskrfaninIL and the last two posts before yours were both from guys living in Chicago.

Yeah, not sure where in IL he lives, but there are a lot of Husker fans in Chicago. There are some Nebraska bars within a few miles of each other that both pack in hundreds of people for each game.

I"m excited to be a part of it. Heading back for the BYU game but I'll be a regular fixture somewhere.