ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
2013, the Year of the White RB!
I'm not going to be blind enough to say that NFLdraftscout is completely fair. And as I've said, the graduating H.S class rankings they come out with every year look very much like Rivals, (so their site appears to be lazy and biased enough to copy Rivals lists), but I have noticed that our white RBs often move up the rankings during their careers in college. In 2013, we have 3 white RBs in the top 40 rankings (amazingly this may be the best year since the 1980s for white RBs in an NFL draft). Sam McGuffie is ranked 22nd (he really should be in the top 15 IMO and he would only move up as he plays more this year due to his elite talent)! Rex Burkhead is ranked 35th (Rex should really be ranked in the top 25 IMO and would only move up). And lastly Brandon Wegher is ranked 37th! Wegher should really be ranked in the top 25 as well, (probably right around where his teammate Adam Robinson is ranked).
I think that Wegher has the most upside of Iowa's 3 talented tailbacks listed in the top 50 for 2013 however. Wegher's 4 YPC, as a true freshman, would probably have been about 5 YPC if not for his cracked rib and having his longest 70 yard TD called back on a bogus holding penalty. I have looked at Wegher on film from his H.S days, and also his best games last year for Iowa, and he looks like he has more tools than both Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton to become a superstar!) The only thing we have to worry about for these three guys is that Wegher has loads of competition at Iowa. Adam Robinson is ranked 20th for 2013 and Jewel Hampton, who had a good freshman year for Iowa before hurting his knee last year, is ranked 45th. I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa uses all three of these guys this year, until two of them really pull ahead of the competition. It may actually be better for Wegher with all the white RBs for the 2013 NFL draft (hard for me to conceive the purely racist NFL drafting 3 white pure tailbacks in one year), and his two Iowa teammates losing their FBS eligibility in 2013, for Wegher to get a high ankle sprain at the beginning of this season and get red-shirted so he will be set to leave Iowa to try his luck at the NFL draft for 2014.
Lastly, I will just comment that I am happy to say that I think Toby Gerhart has opened some eyes to people about questioning the coal blackness of the tailback position in the NFL! I think we are going to see more white RBs in the future in FBS football. And yes, even a few guys with chances to get enough playing time to get 1,000 yards every year in the NFL!
And oh, I almost forgot to mention that we have two white RBs in the top 50 for 2012 (Joe Martinek and Derek Lawson) and one of them (Martinek) plays in a BCS conference and will have a good chance to bust 1,000 yards this year and he has a great all round skill set! Typical/ all too common though, that Lawson and Martinek are listed right next to each other in the rankings as the "token lumped together white guys"Â (at 44th: Lawson and 45th: Martinek). I see this trend happening a lot.
2012 RB Rankings...Could be Another Good Year if the World Doesn't End LOL!
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
I'm not going to be blind enough to say that NFLdraftscout is completely fair. And as I've said, the graduating H.S class rankings they come out with every year look very much like Rivals, (so their site appears to be lazy and biased enough to copy Rivals lists), but I have noticed that our white RBs often move up the rankings during their careers in college. In 2013, we have 3 white RBs in the top 40 rankings (amazingly this may be the best year since the 1980s for white RBs in an NFL draft). Sam McGuffie is ranked 22nd (he really should be in the top 15 IMO and he would only move up as he plays more this year due to his elite talent)! Rex Burkhead is ranked 35th (Rex should really be ranked in the top 25 IMO and would only move up). And lastly Brandon Wegher is ranked 37th! Wegher should really be ranked in the top 25 as well, (probably right around where his teammate Adam Robinson is ranked).
I think that Wegher has the most upside of Iowa's 3 talented tailbacks listed in the top 50 for 2013 however. Wegher's 4 YPC, as a true freshman, would probably have been about 5 YPC if not for his cracked rib and having his longest 70 yard TD called back on a bogus holding penalty. I have looked at Wegher on film from his H.S days, and also his best games last year for Iowa, and he looks like he has more tools than both Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton to become a superstar!) The only thing we have to worry about for these three guys is that Wegher has loads of competition at Iowa. Adam Robinson is ranked 20th for 2013 and Jewel Hampton, who had a good freshman year for Iowa before hurting his knee last year, is ranked 45th. I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa uses all three of these guys this year, until two of them really pull ahead of the competition. It may actually be better for Wegher with all the white RBs for the 2013 NFL draft (hard for me to conceive the purely racist NFL drafting 3 white pure tailbacks in one year), and his two Iowa teammates losing their FBS eligibility in 2013, for Wegher to get a high ankle sprain at the beginning of this season and get red-shirted so he will be set to leave Iowa to try his luck at the NFL draft for 2014.
Lastly, I will just comment that I am happy to say that I think Toby Gerhart has opened some eyes to people about questioning the coal blackness of the tailback position in the NFL! I think we are going to see more white RBs in the future in FBS football. And yes, even a few guys with chances to get enough playing time to get 1,000 yards every year in the NFL!
And oh, I almost forgot to mention that we have two white RBs in the top 50 for 2012 (Joe Martinek and Derek Lawson) and one of them (Martinek) plays in a BCS conference and will have a good chance to bust 1,000 yards this year and he has a great all round skill set! Typical/ all too common though, that Lawson and Martinek are listed right next to each other in the rankings as the "token lumped together white guys"Â (at 44th: Lawson and 45th: Martinek). I see this trend happening a lot.
2012 RB Rankings...Could be Another Good Year if the World Doesn't End LOL!
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins