Brandon Wegher

[Jimmy Chitwood]

via ESPN and scouts.inc...

Wegher seeks respect and recognition
by Tom Luginbill
Scouts Inc.
April 3, 2008

Brandon Wegher, 5-foot-11, 190 pounds
ESPN 150 Watch List running back
Heeland Catholic (Sioux City, Iowa)

Brandon Wegher rushed for 2,334 yards and scored 34 touchdowns his junior year at Heelan Catholic, but he still has a chip on his shoulder.

"I want to be a good 'known' white running back," he said.

It's a stigma that's whispered about in certain circles. Combined with Wegher's hailing from Sioux City, Iowa, not exactly a recruiting hotbed, he says he's had to fight and scrap for respect.

Since his junior film started making the rounds with college coaches in February, his popularity has slowly begun to rise. Wegher has seen his offers increase from those at the mid-major level like San Diego State, one of the few that knew about him early, to programs like Auburn and a host of teams from the Big Ten and Big 12.

If he even comes close to his senior goals this fall, respect will come in droves.

"I want to rush for 3,000 yards and win a state title," said Wegher.

Already boasting good straight-line speed, strength and vision, he admits he needs to work on his flexibility, one of the reasons he maintains a strict offseason workout regimen. Adding flexibility will dramatically enhance his shiftiness and ability to make people miss; if he gets on a straight line, he can go, as evidenced by his 10.8 100-meter and sub-4.4 40-yard track times.

If work ethic means what it used to, Wegher will make it. He is blessed with the ability to combine good habits with excellent overall athleticism, and it won't matter if he's purple, blue, or green -- he'll just be a running back who can play and folks won't be able to ignore him for much longer.

Brandon Wegher's Scouts Inc. Evaluation

Wegher is a speedy, slashing back with a gliding style. Once he gets into the open field, he is a threat to go the distance. Possesses more than adequate size and a sturdy, muscular build. He is a lot like Class of '08 prospect Sam McGuffie but is a smoother athlete with a longer stride.

He attacks the hole with quickness and authority and shoulders are square and downhill. There is no hesitation to his style and he doesn't dance -- is very decisive. Has the speed to start inside and then bounce plays to the perimeter and is always running to daylight. Shows the ability to fit through tiny creases inline, and while he is not a power back, he does show good leg drive and runs tough and with good pad level. He will break arm and ankle tackles and is not afraid to lower his shoulder to fight for extra yards. Is highly competitive and in good condition and is capable of handling a lot of carries throughout a game. His hands are superb and he has terrific ball skills out of the backfield. Is a natural pass catcher.

However, Wegher can be a bit straight-lined and lacks great lateral quickness and suddenness to make multiple defenders miss in the open field. Doesn't show a great feel for the cutback lane, and while you love his top-end speed, there just isn't much "wiggle." He's not a creative runner; needs to be unobstructed working through the line of scrimmage to be at his best. Takes some time to gather his feet when cutting to make someone miss but is capable of making the first defender miss then using his speed the rest of the way.

Overall, you respect Wegher because he can be a home-run threat. He runs tough and is talented not only as a RB, but his abilities as a kicker are rather astounding. We do question the overall level of competition he faces each week, but he is highly productive and competitive. Very good prospect.

Tom Luginbill is the national director of recruiting for Scouts Inc. Luginbill is a college football and recruiting studio analyst for ESPNU.

Brandon Wegher running back highlights

Brandon Wegher running back and wide receiver highlights

Brandon Wegher training video

 

[whiteCB]

Hell yeah!!! Thats what we need more of a white kid speaking up and saying he knows because he's a white RB that there is a chip on his shoulder. I love the attitude he brings to the table.

 

[Gi-15]

Definitly a guy to keep an eye on. He has a great highlight video. But as far as being a "smoother athlete" than mcguffie, i don't think so. Sam looked a hell of a lot more explosive against better competition.

 

[Mike]

This may be the first time Luginbill has ever described a white skill position player as athletic without some kind of arbitrary caveat about lacking a "third gear."

 

[White Power]

My prayers have been answered stand up for yourself and be proud youre a WHITE ATHLETIC RUNNING BACK. This kid will go far in life he is already my favorite recruit this year.Edited by: White Power

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Great find JC!


Here is his website which includes contact info.


http://www.wegherfootball.com/

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

This is looking like an above average year for white RB recruits. There are 6 RBs that all will have a legit shot in this years class to run the ball in Div. IA. First off; Brandon Wegher of course since this is his thread. Tyler Gaffney, Mike Trumpy, Mike Campanaro, Hunter Furr and Ryan Swope all have a good shot as well. And maybe two more in Huldon Tharp and Rex Burkhead also, but it looks like Tharp is being hyped as mostly a LB and Burkhead mostly as a Safety.

All the aforementioned guys have legit buzz about them. Hopefully others like Tyler Tabor, Ryan Clark, Shane McCullen and Alex Scyocurka can start to get some buzz about them to have a shot too. The latter guys are ranked outside of that 75 grade or so range by ESPN that typically will get a white recruit enough buzz to get a scholarship to Div. IA at RB.

I was the most impressed with Wegher and Trumpy out of all these prospects. Although I haven't gotten around to comparing lots of prospects yet; both Wegher & Trumpy look like they would be in the top 10-15 RBs in the nation if they were black. Are things beginning to shift a little after Brian Leonard's fame, Jacob Hester's year for the championship LSU Tigers and Sam McGuffie having over 2,000,000 Youtube views? We will see, I think Rivals & ESPN got lots of heat for their treatment of Sam; the kid's a legend!

Youtube has allowed the casual fan to see talented H.S players and compare. The information age may weaken the caste system!

Edited: Grammar; commas and such of course.Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I have also noticed that all of Luginbill's evaluations when reviewing a speedy white RB (I looked at McGuffie, Wegher, Trumpy, Campanaro and Martinek's ESPN profiles) that doesn't fit into the power runner mold all seem to say these three things about agility:

"There is no hesitation to his style and he doesn't dance -- is very decisive."

I guess that's a positive, unless he means he is completely incapable of stutter stepping and dancing on the move.

"can be a bit straight-lined and lacks great lateral quickness and suddenness to make multiple defenders miss in the open field...and while you love his top-end speed, there just isn't much "wiggle." He's not a creative runner; needs to be unobstructed working through the line of scrimmage to be at his best. Takes some time to gather his feet when cutting to make someone miss"

I didn't see these things at all when watching McGuffie, Wegher or Trumpy; yet all of them had to have the negative review from Luginbill of not having much "wiggle." When I watched Wegher and Trumpy I saw at least a few times in their Youtube vid where they slashed in one direction and then quickly, without slowing down "any more than Noel Devine would" for instance, darted in the opposite direction.

These two guy's moves are more subtle than Sam McGuffie b/c they don't tend completely shift their hips and bounce off two legs the way Sam does when they cut, but they dart cut w/o slowing down at all and "might" do it quicker than Sam.

And the positives in his review of white scat backs all seem to be the same too:

"He attacks the hole with quickness and authority and shoulders are square and downhill.....Has the speed to start inside and then bounce plays to the perimeter and is always running to daylight.....is capable of making the first defender miss then using his speed the rest of the way."

I'd like to ask the other posters if they can find any white speedster RB reviewed by Luginbill that doesn't say those exact same positives and negatives...Any help on this would be much appreciated, b/c I have yet to find any difference! There's just no creativity in Scouts INC. profiling!

 

[SteveB]

Brandon was second in the 100 meters at the Drake Relays this past weekend.
[url]http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20080425/SPORTS0204/80425012[/url]

A few more articles that I found on him.
[url]http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/04/11/sports/s ports/27a18e3014f4f7c5862574280010e312.txt [/url]
[url]http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/04/16/sports/s crapbooks/east/08/track/494-041608.txt [/url]Edited by: SteveB

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Brandon comes in at 16th at RB in the updated Scout.com rankings and 153 overall! Brandon may very well make the ESPN 150. Brandon is on their 150 Watch List.

 

[celticdb15]

I think i am more excited to see this kid run in college than mcguffie!!!

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

The more I've seen of this kid the more I think he is very much in the same league as Sam McGuffie as a stud RB! This kid doesn't have quite the burst of McGuffie, but is just as powerful if not more and has slightly better breakaway speed IMO. Wegher makes more of a quicker darting cut, where McGuffie makes more of momentum redirecting bounce/slasher cut and both are mesmerizingly effective.

The level of competition Wegher plays against isn't as impressive as McGuffie's and he hasn't dominated the same way Sam has yet. Part of this is due to a more lackluster offensive line blocking for him than McGuffie. But Wegher still has a year left in H.S so watch out!

Here are his favorite schools to attend and all have offered him:
Auburn
Illinois
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas
Penn State
Texas Tech

Personally I hope he chooses Iowa or Illinois (he could become the next Rashard Mendenahall). I fear he won't see the field much at all at Auburn and will become another Tre Smith. Iowa State isn't a good enough or important enough program for him to get proper recognition there even if he breaks school records. Kansas I'm hoping will get Burkhead. Penn State has the ancient caste grandpa Joe Paterno and Texas Tech is a die hard passing offense.

Wegher is on the ESPN 150 watch list and caste whore Luginbill surprisingly seems to like him, he comes in at 153 in the Scout.com rankings as the 16th overall RB. I am also convinced Lemming will have Wegher toward the bottom of his top 100 by this winter if he gains some more buzz from a spectacular senior season. Lemming doesn't have him in his early 100, but I think part of that has to do with Lemming being, well a Lemming, and worrying what the rest of the media will think if he has a white RB in the top 100 2 years in a row. How could he have the gaul!

But where does Rivals come in in all of this, oh yeah they don't even have Wegher in the top 250 and they are the only site to have the 2nd best white RB Tyler Gaffney as a FB! Just typical; SINISTER BLACK PANTHER RIVALS!

 

[whiteCB]

Alright I have revised the ranking to include Mizzou and avoid "Yankee bias", thanks Col Reb you're right Zook is a caste whore.

Where Wegher should go in order out of the schools J.Tough listed above:

1. Iowa- gotta love Coach Ferentz
2. Kansas- 2 words: JAKE SHARP
3. Iowa St.
4. Texas Tech- though they pass WAAAAYYY too much
5. Mizzou- kind of hard to get a read on...
6. Illinois- Zook is a caste whore through & through
7. Penn St- Joe Pa will pull a Tim Shaw and him to OLB
8. Auburn- stay away brandon. stay VERY far away from SEC schools

Edited by: whiteCB

 

[Mike]

He also has an offer from Mizzou

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I don't know where you yankees get off thinking Illinois would treat Brandon fairly. They have been one of the blackest teams in the country the last few years. Ron Zook is their coach for crying out loud. I can understand the anti-SEC comments, but come on, be willing to admit Illinois is no place for a white RB either.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I know little of anything about Illinois caste policies, but I was thinking that if Wegher goes there he would be by far their best recruit at RB. Illinois doesn't get as good RBs traditionally as Auburn or Penn State. Illinois has recruited him pretty hard I hear. But you're right Zook is a caste whore. Florida has gotten a little better since he left and Meyer has taken over.

 

[Gi-15]

I hope it's Iowa personnally, they had a white cornerback starting for 3 years.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Iowa would be good, so would Kansas. However, Kansas has already offered Rex Burkhead and I don't want to see two of the very few white guys offered at RB on the same team.
There are too few white RBs that get a chance anyway for two of them to have to compete with each other.

I would have had more faith in Penn State as they seem to recruit much more whites in general than teams like Michigan, but I was shocked by Paterno's utter unfairness to RB Tim Shaw. He seems to have earned the role of "Caste Grandpa", the oldest caste whore in the industry!

 

[blue_mentos]

I also agree that Iowa might be the best fit. They consistently have great white players at WR and DB. I also remember a few years ago, when the first and second string RBs were injuried they started a white RB for a couple games. As I have high expectations for Wegher's future, if he landed with Iowa, got the starting spot in his first two years, we would be looking at 3 starting white RBs in the Big Ten with Dierking, McGuffie and Wegher. Obviously that would be best case scenario hoping no position changing and fair decision making by the coaches.

 

[Gi-15]

Iowa would be good, so would Kansas. However, Kansas has already offered Rex Burkhead and I don't want to see two of the very few white guys offered at RB on the same team.
There are too few white RBs that get a chance anyway for two of them to have to compete with each other.

I understand your logic, but it would also give a greater % chance of one of them getting the feature job no?

Could you imagine a 1-2 punch of 2 white RB? I couldn't dare to....

 

[Don Wassall]

As I have high expectations for Wegher's future, if he landed with Iowa, got the starting spot in his first two years, we would be looking at 3 starting white RBs in the Big Ten with Dierking, McGuffie and Wegher.

That would bring back memories of the Big Ten in the mid-'90s, when Mike Alstott (Purdue), Alex Smith (Indiana) and Scott Greene (Michigan State) were all running the ball.


Only Alstott was given a shot to run by the NFL, the only white runner of consequence in the league over the past 20 years even though he should have been Tampa's featured runner. Greene had unbelievably quick feet and elusiveness for his size (around 220 lbs.) but was beefed up into the obligatory blocking fullblock by Carolina, a role for which he was unsuited. Smith was shunned completely by the NFL, getting only the briefest of shots as a free agent with Indy.


I used to go out of my way to watch those guys back then. It would be nice to see it happen again in the Big Ten.

 

[celticdb15]

The big ten is perfect for the white runningback. It is big, slow,tough, but always seems to win!!

 

[whiteCB]

I also agree that Iowa might be the best fit. They consistently have great white players at WR and DB. I also remember a few years ago, when the first and second string RBs were injuried they started a white RB for a couple games. As I have high expectations for Wegher's future, if he landed with Iowa, got the starting spot in his first two years, we would be looking at 3 starting white RBs in the Big Ten with Dierking, McGuffie and Wegher. Obviously that would be best case scenario hoping no position changing and fair decision making by the coaches.

Oh man having McGuffie at Michigan, Wegher at Iowa, and Dierking at Purdue would have to make the Big 10 the most favored conference here at caste football and add in the fact that Ohio St now has 4, I repeat 4!, white WRs on their current roster. All are scholarship players, no walk-ons(Hartline, Sanzenbacher, Stoneburner, and converted safety Grant Schwartz!)

 

[blue_mentos]

i completely forgot about northwestern as well. they signed trumpy, who looks amazing. last year they also signed alex daniel. they also have 2 more white backs on their roster as well. their starting black backs this year are seniors, so next year or the year after there is a great possibility they would start a white back. would wegher make it 4 out of 11 schools in the conference to do so? too good to be true? idk, but id love to see it happen.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Mike Trumpy is the real deal it seems from the highlights I've looked at and I think it will be Trumpy starting for Northwestern over Daniel and any other newcomers. Trumpy is quite the scat back. He is light on his feet and has an elit burst, breaks through arm tackles well and doesn't hesitate in the open field to make his cuts. Trumpy does have to gear down "just a little" to make his cuts, but doesn't lose much in transition at all compared to most of the overrated black prospects I've looked at that were given higher praise for agility by Exaggeration of Sports Performance of Negros lol(I do frown upon the non Spanish use of that word though)=ESPN. The only area Trumpy lacks "elite" skills for the division one level is breakaway speed. However, I would have to say that even for the NFL Trumpy's speed wouldn't be worse than average for the tailback position. Northwestern seems like a relatively fair program to whites and I think Trumpy is too good to ride the pine and they will realize it!