Current and Past Fullbacks Who Should Have Been Starting Power Backs in the NFL

I thought of 3 fullbacks who could have been good running backs. Tom Rathman of the 49ers, Cory Schlesinger of the Lions, and Jon Ritchie of the Raiders.
 
Phall said:
Ben Mason from Michigan is stuck on the Ravens practice squad until Patrick Ricard retires. He was underused in college.



Not as zippy as Konrad, who is a superlative, but he acquitted himself well during workouts. His nickname was "Bench Mason," and I'm sure he could add or subtract 15 lbs of body mass pretty quickly on demand (he moonlighted as a DT during MIchigan's time of need).
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As you know Phall Gattis sure screwed over Mason. He looked like a potential Alstott his sophomore year to hb/te/dt his and mostly the bench his last two years.

As far as Konrad goes I thought he ran a sub 4.6 forty? Was the 4.61 his slowest run which they always Do to white players? Konrad had all the leverage in the world to go to a college that would only play him at tailback or demand that Syracuse only use him at tailback. Frustrating!!
 
El Gringo said:
As you know Phall Gattis sure screwed over Mason. He looked like a potential Alstott his sophomore year to hb/te/dt his and mostly the bench his last two years.

As far as Konrad goes I thought he ran a sub 4.6 forty? Was the 4.61 his slowest run which they always Do to white players? Konrad had all the leverage in the world to go to a college that would only play him at tailback or demand that Syracuse only use him at tailback. Frustrating!!
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I also remembered him as being sub 4.6. I know he was 4.4 or just under coming out of high school. But if he did run at 251 pounds then it's not surprising if that was his actual time. He should have slimmed down for the Combine instead of beefing up.
 
John Elway could have started at halfback given his athleticism. The Broncos ran a lot of QB draws with him and he excelled with his legs. He was a very powerful runner with great strength. There's footage of him trucking defenders and shrugging them off like they're weightless. His moves were limited due to his left knee having no ACL, so you won't see him doing many jukes and spins, but he could cut if he had to.
 
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Joel Makovika could at the very least put up Alstott type numbers in the nfl.
 
Owen Schmidt. Look up some old YouTube footage of him from West Virginia.

I just think Peyton Hillis had so much potential that was wasted. He was a better back than Felix Jones at Arkansas. He was a better back than those in front of him in Denver.

He brought excitement to Cleveland in a way not done for a long time prior to 2010 and not since. Once Mangini was gone the team and leave had no desire for Hillis to replicate his success.

Brad Hoover could have been a stellar halfback as well.
 
Hokie Gajan, who had a crazy YPC average.
 
No doubt Owen Schmitt would have rushed for multiple 1000 yard seasons in the nfl. I love this offense that Rodriguez ran. Owen dominated his first couple of seasons until he was to successful and Rodriguez wanted to use him more as a “versatile te/hb fb” in other words block for the brothers.
 
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El Gringo said:
No doubt Owen Schmitt would have rushed for multiple 1000 yard seasons in the nfl. I love this offense that Rodriguez ran. Owen dominated his first couple of seasons until he was to successful and Rodriguez wanted to use him more as a “versatile te/hb fb” in other words block for the brothers.
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He is very similar to Petyon Hillis and Ryan Nall as far as the power and coodination. Great video!
 
HEath was the man.

Owen Schmidt was tackled for a loss 4 times in over 350 carries in his collegiate career. Somehow this didn't translate to NFL? he only got a few carries for Seahawks, they used him as a pass catcher somewhat more but he could have easily been Alstott type back for them.
 
backrow said:
HEath was the man.

Owen Schmidt was tackled for a loss 4 times in over 350 carries in his collegiate career. Somehow this didn't translate to NFL? he only got a few carries for Seahawks, they used him as a pass catcher somewhat more but he could have easily been Alstott type back for them.
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Yeah it’s crazy white men can excel at catching the ball and blocking but they just aren’t athletic enough to carry the ball with the exception of Cmac who is a genetic freak bred by his parents.
 
Heath Evans was every bit as talented as the black backs on the Patriots.

He deserved heckuva lot more.
 
Not a fullback, but do you men recall Tre Smith, white running back at Auburn in the early 2000’s? Very talented and a shame he never got a real chance at professional football.
 
I remember Smith. He was a Florida kid. I’m sure he went to someone’s camp, but never sniffed a roster.
 
Tre Smith - that is one of those players I remember stumbling across before I was fully aware of the Caste System. Another example of a White player performing well only to be pushed down the depth chart during his career.
 
Leonardfan said:
Tre Smith - that is one of those players I remember stumbling across before I was fully aware of the Caste System. Another example of a White player performing well only to be pushed down the depth chart during his career.
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What happened to him in the end?
 
Logos5 said:
What happened to him in the end?
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The same thing that happens to 99% of White athletes - he was ignored and forgotten about immediately. The caste system does a great job ensuring for short term memory when it comes to White athletes defying stereotypes.
 
Logos5 said:
What happened to him in the end?
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He played for 2 years in the CFL and decided to get on with his life.

I remember him in the league but never really payed attention to his stats or snap counts but he did have a typical CFL running backs game which is similar to McCaffrey or Barber which was rare in the NFL at the time which was still a power running league and now a guy like him with his physical dimensions is quite common in the NFL.
 
Here's a 14 minute highlight video of Smith in the CFL. As expected there's virtually nothing of him on YouTube from his Auburn career other than a game against Alabama in which he dominated that looks like it was filmed in 1906 rather than 2006.

The beginning of the CFL video notes that Smith's short shuttle run of 3.96 was the fastest in the country in '07.

That led me to find this article on the ten fastest short shuttles ever run at the Combine by anyone who played high school or college ball in Alabama. Smith's time of 3.96 ties for seventh best on that list (he went to high school in West Virginia not Alabama so he isn't listed). The article also mentions Kevin Kasper's blistering short shuttle time of 3.73 recorded in '01.

Interestingly, one of those with the seventh best time from Alabama was Richmond Flowers, the son of NFL player Richmond Flowers, a speedster drafted in the second round in 1969 who played defensive back for the Cowboys and Giants. Flowers was a world class 110 meters hurdler who was among the favorites to win gold at that event in Mexico City during the '68 Olympics but suffered a hamstring injury right before the Olympic trials and didn't make the team. Despite his speed and size (decent enough at 6'0" 180 pounds) he was used as a safety in the NFL rather than at cornerback, an example of the Caste System in its early stages after it began kicking into high gear circa '68. However his namesake, like his dad a speedster who played receiver at Duke, predictably never got a shot in the NFL. https://www.al.com/sports/2023/02/a...st-in-the-shuttle-run-at-the-nfl-combine.html

Kasper's time is likely still the fastest ever run at the Combine as I did a search on that and it claims the fastest ever is 3.81 by Brandin Cooks and Jason Allen, so just as with his NFL career, Kasper was screwed over and deposited in the memory hole.

Here's the video of Smith in the CFL:

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Don Wassall said:
Here's a 14 minute highlight video of Smith in the CFL. As expected there's virtually nothing of him on YouTube from his Auburn career other than a game against Alabama in which he dominated that looks like it was filmed in 1906 rather than 2006.

The beginning of the CFL video notes that Smith's short shuttle run of 3.96 was the fastest in the country in '07.

That led me to find this article on the ten fastest short shuttles ever run at the Combine by anyone who played high school or college ball in Alabama. Smith's time of 3.96 ties for seventh best on that list (he went to high school in West Virginia not Alabama so he isn't listed). The article also mentions Kevin Kasper's blistering short shuttle time of 3.73 recorded in '01.

Interestingly, one of those with the seventh best time from Alabama was Richmond Flowers, the son of NFL player Richmond Flowers, a speedster drafted in the second round in 1969 who played defensive back for the Cowboys and Giants. Flowers was a world class 110 meters hurdler who was among the favorites to win gold at that event in Mexico City during the '68 Olympics but suffered a hamstring injury right before the Olympic trials and didn't make the team. Despite his speed and size (decent enough at 6'0" 180 pounds) he was used as a safety in the NFL rather than at cornerback, an example of the Caste System in its early stages after it began kicking into high gear circa '68. However his namesake, like his dad a speedster who played receiver at Duke, predictably never got a shot in the NFL. https://www.al.com/sports/2023/02/a...st-in-the-shuttle-run-at-the-nfl-combine.html

Kasper's time is likely still the fastest ever run at the Combine as I did a search on that and it claims the fastest ever is 3.81 by Brandin Cooks and Jason Allen, so just as with his NFL career, Kasper was screwed over and deposited in the memory hole.

Here's the video of Smith in the CFL:

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There's a story in the Auburn football where are they now archives that says Smith had two options. Leave Atlanta Falcons training camp to get his MBA in Business from Auburn and get cut or stay in Atlanta and not get his degree.
He chose to get his MBA instead of chancing staying in Atlanta and possibly getting cut anyway.
As of June 2020, he was married with 2 children, a girl and a boy. He develops software for an advertising company. He and his wife Rebecca and 2 children live on a six-acre ranch in the Sarasota area of Florida where he's originally from.
 
Don, thanks for uploading that highlight video of Tre Smith. I see an absolutely complete back with elite agility, quickness and speed. He is 200 lbs and runs with power as well as evidence by the numerous broken tackles.

Perhaps he was a decade or two ahead of his time as far as the NFL is concerned, but we all know if he was black he would have been fine. Tikki Barber, similar size and skills set from what I can see, had a long and storied career.

How many Tre Smith’s or Brandon Wegher’s (a personal favorite of mine from a talent standpoint) have gotten screwed over by the racist league over the decades of the caste system?

Too many to count…
 
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