Mikale Wilbon
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FrankWheeler
Starter
Ulty
All-Conference
Everyone was wrong about a lot of things. Even those of us who were rooting for Ozigbo did not expect him to have the season he had. No one expected Bell to be a bust. No one expected to go 4-8. We are all going to be wrong about a lot of things with the 2019 season as well.
BUT, in this thread and especially in the "Running Back room" thread, a lot of people seemed especially eager to bury Ozigbo on the depth chart and discount positive things that were said about him. Even without his stellar senior year, his work and reliability (compared to the rest of the craptastic running game during the Riley era) deserved better treatment than what he was getting in pre-season talk on HB. I imagine that all Ozigbo had to do to motivate himself up before each practice last fall was read Mavric's posts.
BUT, in this thread and especially in the "Running Back room" thread, a lot of people seemed especially eager to bury Ozigbo on the depth chart and discount positive things that were said about him. Even without his stellar senior year, his work and reliability (compared to the rest of the craptastic running game during the Riley era) deserved better treatment than what he was getting in pre-season talk on HB. I imagine that all Ozigbo had to do to motivate himself up before each practice last fall was read Mavric's posts.
Minnesota_husker
All-American
Dont forget to ice your shoulder when you pat yourself on the back that hard.
gobiggergoredder
All-American
Been getting beat up praising Ozigbo for 3 years. I might need to have rotator cuff surgery.
knapplc
International Man of Mystery
Nebfanatic
All-American
Or you could just get over it and realize everyone is ecstatic for Ozigbo NOW the only time that matters.
ColoradoHusk
Heisman Trophy Winner
Honestly, I don't know if there was a lot of Ozigbo's play worth praising prior to 2018. He showed moments of strong play, but due to him being overweight, he was slow, he didn't pick up his feet very well going through the hole, and he wasn't able to make much out of plays if the immediate hole wasn't there.
Ozigbo deserves all the credit he got in 2018. He got himself in great shape, he got faster, and he was a much improved back. If you were able to predict that based on his fairly average play in 2015-17, then good for you.
gobiggergoredder
All-American
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ColoradoHusk
Heisman Trophy Winner
I agree that any running back would have a hard time succeeding in Riley's crappy run offense. I don't think anyone is making that argument.
B.B. Hemingway
All-American
I was a big Ozigbo supporter through his first few years, and I also thought he might be our best back overall, but I never seen this year coming. It's probably a combination of being misused by the previous staff, his ability to get in better shape and get himself faster in 2018, and Frost's scheme.
Minnesota_husker
All-American
Question for you, and I want you to try and be honest even if it hurts your argument.
Did you really WANT Ozigbo to be special because of his work ethic and toughness?
Or
Did you think he WAS going to be special and he was just in a bad offense?
If it is the last one, do you think without the S&C program in place he could have succeeded like he did in this offense?
My whole point with the above is that I dont think many questioned his toughness or work ethic, I just didnt think one year of a S&C program would suddenly make him elusive like it did. Maybe having more open holes was a big part but his ability grew and I just didnt think it was possible for a guy to grow that much from his JR to SR year...maybe Fresh to Soph but not year 3.
This mirrors my opinion very closely. @B.B. Hemingway and I were having a good conversation/debate about this in a status update today.
I was one of those people who felt the addition of Bell and MW would mean Ozigbo was going to be third string, maybe second string at best. I doubted him, but, his body of work supported that viewpoint. His YPC average was pretty meh, he didn't have notable lateral quickness, wasn't great in pass pro, lacked some explosion/elusiveness and was fairly inconsistent. I think there were a lot of reasons for the results to that point - scheme, bad coaching and him not being in optimal physical condition - and it's a credit to him and this staff that he's now in the position he's in. I don't think any of us anticipated Zig being considered a mid-round NFL draft pick like he is right now. Most of us probably would've said UFA at best.
I think it's 100% OK to have been somewhat questioning of him early on and accepting of his skills now. A lot of things changed for the better and I think that's OK.
gobiggergoredder
All-American
We saw flashes for 3 years. People can give all the credit world to 6 months of fitness, but it’s more than that. It be ignorant to say S&C didn’t benefit Ozigbo, but contributing the majority of his success to a few months of training is disingenuous.
He played in offense with two QBs that allowed Defenses to stack the box. The offense get a legitimate threat at QB and the pressure is relieved. And some much improved coaching. The O Line went from horrid to acceptable. Ozigbo goes from donkey (not my words) to third team all conference 1000 yard rusher.
It was always there and some of us saw that. The leadership and QB changes definitely helped.
You don’t suck because the organization you work for does. Sometimes youre a product of a broken system.
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