Helu should start against Mizzou

[BigWillie]

I agree completely with this post. Swift is a great possesion guy, and he is the guy that needs to fill that role, but we can't have two of the same player on the field. I personally feel that Niles Paul is going to see a lot more playing time coming up shortly. I could be that these two guys playing now looked like superstars in camp and the spring because they were playing against our secondary! That is probably what is going into the coach's thinking. SOMEBODY has to be a deep threat.

However, you are dead wrong on Lucky's blocking ability. He is a fabulous blocker, Mel Kiper ranked him at one point this offseason as the best senior blocking back in the country on espn.com. Also, if you go back and watch the game Lucky had several very good runs. The problem is we are not letting him get in a rhythm. No back can be great if he only gets a few carries a game. Hell BJack had way more carries than this, so did Cory Ross. Lucky would be great if they would leave him in.

And while I'm on it, Quentin Castille is never going to be an Iback. He is too slow, and can't pass block. Look for him to play fullback next year full time. He is already taking the majority of his snaps from that position.

Never, ever, ever, ever quote Mel Kiper on talent evaluation. It would be like quoting and giving credit to GWB on foreign policy or fiscal responsibility. They may have experience in the area, but that does not make them good at it.

As far as Marlon -- why do you think he got limited opportunities as a freshman? Why do you think he lost his job as a sophomore? And why do you think he is losing carries now and moreso every week? If not for having freshman backups who had no blocking ability (Castille) or limited time as a RB (Helu) I doubt he would even have as many carries as he did last year.

Marlon is what he is, a WR who just happens to play RB. In pass-pro, he is a liability. Always has been. 'Dems the facts.

I do get your point. I dont think Mo was that great. He was good. He wasnt fast. He could jump. He had size. But also dropped a lot of balls. I dont remember him creating separation running routes. He was a threat from inside the 5 yard line. But mostly a possession reciever - believe it or not.

The fact is if guys get the chance, they need to show it. Niles, Holt, Cure, even Brooks have had some opp's. Guys like Cooper & Cure do need some more opportunities, yes. But it still seems everyone is better in their mind then on the field.

Mo had bad hands? Say huh? You and I have completely different ideas of Mo then. Mo was a threat all over the field. We needed a tough catch across the middle? He made it. Need to move the chains? He did it. He was our go-to WR and made all the difficult chances. If not for his limited speed that he cannot make up for on the NFL level, I have no doubt he could be contributing on the NFL level right now.

And as far as his hands -- you question his hands? Did we even watch the same guy? Mo had incredibly sticky hands. It was probably his best trait.

Niles, Curenski and Brooks have had very, very limited opportunities. Especially Curenski and Brooks has had no chances at all.

 

[In the Deed the Glory]

I agree completely with this post. Swift is a great possesion guy, and he is the guy that needs to fill that role, but we can't have two of the same player on the field. I personally feel that Niles Paul is going to see a lot more playing time coming up shortly. I could be that these two guys playing now looked like superstars in camp and the spring because they were playing against our secondary! That is probably what is going into the coach's thinking. SOMEBODY has to be a deep threat.

However, you are dead wrong on Lucky's blocking ability. He is a fabulous blocker, Mel Kiper ranked him at one point this offseason as the best senior blocking back in the country on espn.com. Also, if you go back and watch the game Lucky had several very good runs. The problem is we are not letting him get in a rhythm. No back can be great if he only gets a few carries a game. Hell BJack had way more carries than this, so did Cory Ross. Lucky would be great if they would leave him in.

And while I'm on it, Quentin Castille is never going to be an Iback. He is too slow, and can't pass block. Look for him to play fullback next year full time. He is already taking the majority of his snaps from that position.

Never, ever, ever, ever quote Mel Kiper on talent evaluation. It would be like quoting and giving credit to GWB on foreign policy or fiscal responsibility. They may have experience in the area, but that does not make them good at it.

As far as Marlon -- why do you think he got limited opportunities as a freshman? Why do you think he lost his job as a sophomore? And why do you think he is losing carries now and moreso every week? If not for having freshman backups who had no blocking ability (Castille) or limited time as a RB (Helu) I doubt he would even have as many carries as he did last year.

Marlon is what he is, a WR who just happens to play RB. In pass-pro, he is a liability. Always has been. 'Dems the facts.

I do get your point. I dont think Mo was that great. He was good. He wasnt fast. He could jump. He had size. But also dropped a lot of balls. I dont remember him creating separation running routes. He was a threat from inside the 5 yard line. But mostly a possession reciever - believe it or not.

The fact is if guys get the chance, they need to show it. Niles, Holt, Cure, even Brooks have had some opp's. Guys like Cooper & Cure do need some more opportunities, yes. But it still seems everyone is better in their mind then on the field.

Mo had bad hands? Say huh? You and I have completely different ideas of Mo then. Mo was a threat all over the field. We needed a tough catch across the middle? He made it. Need to move the chains? He did it. He was our go-to WR and made all the difficult chances. If not for his limited speed that he cannot make up for on the NFL level, I have no doubt he could be contributing on the NFL level right now.

And as far as his hands -- you question his hands? Did we even watch the same guy? Mo had incredibly sticky hands. It was probably his best trait.

Niles, Curenski and Brooks have had very, very limited opportunities. Especially Curenski and Brooks has had no chances at all.

First and foremost, don't lecture me again. I have seen, played, and coached enough of this game to be able to form my own educated intelligent opinions.

By the way, Mel Kiper is the best overall judge of talent in the sports world. Talent doesn't mean NFL success. That has to do with position coaches and individual attitude when it comes to the NFL. There is a reason that NFL TEAMS got his insight when he started evaluating drafts. That's right, they asked him for his opinion because he knew what he was doing. But I'm sure you feel you know more than him.

I DVR'd the Neb Football Show and watched it again last night. Lucky missed one block in the entire game in pass pro and it was bad. That's probably where you're getting your impression. Every other time he didn't block, he was supposed to release. They run several patterns for him that he doesn't even chip on the way out. Everytime a LB got by a back it was Helu or Castille in the game. Furthermore, he made THE key block on the TD pass to Mike McNeil. If he doesn't get the blitzing man pushed back so Ganz could step up that is a sack and a wide open man is wasted. That's an opportunity you can't pass up in D1 football. The thing with a RB in pass pro, is people expect them to "pancake" or lock up with a guy. In NU's offense, you don't want the RB locked up on a man. You want a chip block, or shove, to allow the QB to move up in the pocket. This allows the RB to be the safety release, which in this offense he is on nearly every deep drop route and many short drops.

Expanding on this, when the line shifts protection (this is when they move the pocket for Ganz where he is better) on a slide protection the back is left on an island. He has to be a great blocker in order for the play to even develop. NU only runs this type of blocking scheme with Lucky in the game. When the others are in, you can tell that the TE is usually used in pass pro, or there are no deep routes being ran at all. You're complaining about not having a deep threat in the game, but it won't do any good if they have to run short routes or leave in a TE. 1 deep route and a crossing pattern because you can't rely on the other backs to block would work less efficiently than what is being tried now.

 

[admo]

I agree completely with this post. Swift is a great possesion guy, and he is the guy that needs to fill that role, but we can't have two of the same player on the field. I personally feel that Niles Paul is going to see a lot more playing time coming up shortly. I could be that these two guys playing now looked like superstars in camp and the spring because they were playing against our secondary! That is probably what is going into the coach's thinking. SOMEBODY has to be a deep threat.

However, you are dead wrong on Lucky's blocking ability. He is a fabulous blocker, Mel Kiper ranked him at one point this offseason as the best senior blocking back in the country on espn.com. Also, if you go back and watch the game Lucky had several very good runs. The problem is we are not letting him get in a rhythm. No back can be great if he only gets a few carries a game. Hell BJack had way more carries than this, so did Cory Ross. Lucky would be great if they would leave him in.

And while I'm on it, Quentin Castille is never going to be an Iback. He is too slow, and can't pass block. Look for him to play fullback next year full time. He is already taking the majority of his snaps from that position.

Never, ever, ever, ever quote Mel Kiper on talent evaluation. It would be like quoting and giving credit to GWB on foreign policy or fiscal responsibility. They may have experience in the area, but that does not make them good at it.

As far as Marlon -- why do you think he got limited opportunities as a freshman? Why do you think he lost his job as a sophomore? And why do you think he is losing carries now and moreso every week? If not for having freshman backups who had no blocking ability (Castille) or limited time as a RB (Helu) I doubt he would even have as many carries as he did last year.

Marlon is what he is, a WR who just happens to play RB. In pass-pro, he is a liability. Always has been. 'Dems the facts.

I do get your point. I dont think Mo was that great. He was good. He wasnt fast. He could jump. He had size. But also dropped a lot of balls. I dont remember him creating separation running routes. He was a threat from inside the 5 yard line. But mostly a possession reciever - believe it or not.

The fact is if guys get the chance, they need to show it. Niles, Holt, Cure, even Brooks have had some opp's. Guys like Cooper & Cure do need some more opportunities, yes. But it still seems everyone is better in their mind then on the field.

Mo had bad hands? Say huh? You and I have completely different ideas of Mo then. Mo was a threat all over the field. We needed a tough catch across the middle? He made it. Need to move the chains? He did it. He was our go-to WR and made all the difficult chances. If not for his limited speed that he cannot make up for on the NFL level, I have no doubt he could be contributing on the NFL level right now.

And as far as his hands -- you question his hands? Did we even watch the same guy? Mo had incredibly sticky hands. It was probably his best trait.

Niles, Curenski and Brooks have had very, very limited opportunities. Especially Curenski and Brooks has had no chances at all.

Willie, I never said Mo had bad hands. C'mon dawg, dont change up my words. We do have different evaluations of him. You say "threat" and I say "go to". There's a difference. He did bail out Zach Taylor & Sam Keller at times b/c they just threw it at him a lot. And yes, he did drop passes in his career at NU, or didnt make a catch at times. Dont be puttiing him in the hall of fame just yet. He was good. He wasnt great. We'll differ on that end over end.

(Great college WR = Terry Glenn, Calvin Johnson, Ted Ginn, Roy Williams, Larry Fitzgerald, Malcom Kelly, Dwayne Jarrett, Desmond Howard, Rocket Ismail, etc)

My point is that, if Ganz throws it to Swift as often as Taylor & Keller threw it to Mo Purify, he would have the same type of numbers reception wise. Maybe even TDs. We dont know. But I do believe he would bail Ganz out if the chance was taken as often. Swift isn't catching 3 passes out of 5 or 7 attempts. And that's four years of steady play backing that up. Not a year and a half like Purify. Because until the Texas game half way through his first year, Purfiy wasnt a go-to guy. Nunn was. The rest was spread out between WRs, TE, and RB dink passes.

Give Swift his due or not. He deserves to be out there b/c he is tough and clutch. Take out Peterson if you want (I agree he is more of a third or fourth receiver that can come up big at times). Put in some speed. But until proven on the field, this receiver corps is not OU or Texas. But let's see in on the field with what we have and not based on a fast HS recruit who knows only 2 routes coming into college.

Damn. Bad hands = Braylon Edwards & Terrell Owens. Never said that about Mo Purify. Come on. (I'm hoping you watch enough NFL and know those guys have amazing talent, but an obvious flaw).