Sam McGuffie

[snow]

Well apparently that is the attitude most coaches have towards white athletes, ready to pull them after 3 games. I guess we should have given up on Toby Gerhart when he averaged 3.5 ypc his first season.
Sam definetly has potential to be one of the best. Not every back can come in and be good right away, some take some time developing, Jake Sharp was an example of this, it took him a while to learn to follow his blockers and break off bigger runs. Sam has shown flashes here and there, and definetly had some maturing to do physically as he is much bigger now. He has been out of football an entire year, like I said, give it more time, he never had hesitation problems while at Michigan.

and btw Bush has developed into a good player in the NFL, he averaged 5+ ypc last year and finally stopped dancing around, he isn't worthy of a first round pick but I wouldn't call him bad.

I wouldn't say Smith has really outproduced him by that much. They pretty much averaged the same the first game. Smith had a great game rushing the 2nd game while Sam did terrible, but Sam had 96 yards receiving, I believe most he was lined up as a rb. 3rd game Smith had 3 carries for -6 yards, Sam had 6carries for 30 yards and 7 catches for 48 yards, again I believe most of the catches werelined up as a rb.Smith has 4 catches for 34 yards combined for all 3 games.Edited by: snow

 

[SuperSpeed23]

Weve all seen what mcguffie can do when hes at his best and i think there much more of that to come in the future. The season is still young and i think he just needs one long touchdown run to get his confidence up.

 

[WHITE NOISE]

It's all about the blocking. Sam needs to adjust quickly and run instinctively. He is the absolute best athlete on the team, just needs to settle in.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I agree, Reggie Bush is a good NFL comparison for McGuffie. Sam has performed nowhere near the level that Bush did in college though, but I think with Guff's freakish speed and measurables- he'd be worth around a 4th round pick in the NFL draft as of now. Sam is a great receiving back, who can make a big play out of nothing once in a while as a runner, but he is inconsistent as runner and sometimes struggles to see the cutback lane through the o-line and fall forward upon contact. Sam is a good runner to the outside, but struggles between the tackles- and in today's NFL that would rule him out as a featured every down back.

But to compare to some black players in the NFL: Kahil Bell averaged 2.8 YPC (the same Sam is averaging right now) as as senior for UCLA- with under 400 yards rushing and went on to run a 4.78 at the combine and somehow made the Chicago Black Bears last year as an UFA. What about RB Chris Henry being drafted by the Titans in the 2nd round based on freakish measurables when he averaged only mid 3 YPC in his career at Arizona? Chris Henry became a bust though.

I'm going to hope for the best, but if I'm Rice's coach- Sam would be splitting carries evenly with Tyler Smith right now, but Sam might possibly become my team's Reggie Bush and Tyler Smith the Pierre Thomas- if Smith continues to play so well.

For player similarities, I think Jake Sharp has some similarities to McGuffie as well, but runs a bit harder up the middle and could carry a heavier workload as a runner. Still, no doubt if Sam puts up similar stats rushing to what he did at Michigan- on this Rice team with their average o-line- that he'd probably be a mid round pick if black.

 

[FootballDad]

Keep in mind folks that McGuffie is just a sophomore. He played his freshman year with the Wolverines, and didn't get a ton of playing time, with being a true freshman and his concussions. Last year he was ineligible, and now he's finally playing again, as, basically, a freshman all over again. Sure, he's made some poor decisions, but look at Barry Sanders during his first two years at OSU.

 

[whiteathlete33]

The problem is that if he doesn't put up good numbers the NFL won't give him a chance a few years down the road. Despite his incredible athleticism he needs to have good offensive linemen and blocking to succeed.

 

[FootballDad]

Yeah, but he's got the rest of this year, and then two more years after that. Don't panic yet.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Yeah, but he's got the rest of this year, and then two more years after that. Don't panic yet.

Exactly. Y'all are getting too wound up about this way too early.

Give the kid some time.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Well apparently that is the attitude most coaches have towards white athletes, ready to pull them after 3 games. I guess we should have given up on Toby Gerhart when he averaged 3.5 ypc his first season.
<div>Sam definetly has potential to be one of the best. Not every back can come in and be good right away, some take some time developing, Jake Sharp was an example of this, it took him a while to learn to follow his blockers and break off bigger runs. Sam has shown flashes here and there, and definetly had some maturing to do physically as he is much bigger now. He has been out of football an entire year, like I said, give it more time, he never had hesitation problems while at Michigan. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>and btw Bush has developed into a good player in the NFL, he averaged 5+ ypc last year and finally stopped dancing around, he isn't worthy of a first round pick but I wouldn't call him bad.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I wouldn't say Smith has really outproduced him by that much. They pretty much averaged the same the first game. Smith had a great game rushing the 2nd game while Sam did terrible, but Sam had 96 yards receiving, I believe most he was lined up as a rb. 3rd game Smith had 3 carries for -6 yards, Sam had 6 carries for 30 yards and 7 catches for 48 yards, again I believe most of the catches were lined up as a rb. Smith has 4 catches for 34 yards combined for all 3 games.</div>

That is a good point I should consider though snow. I usually think your analysis is pretty spot on. I forgot Guff averaged 5 YPC last game. I just thought his performance "as a rusher" against a team like North Texas was terrible. Then again- star black players like Dion Lewis and a few others have really been struggling so far this year, so we will have to wait and see with Sam- as he's only played 3 games after sitting out last year.

In the NFL I'd predict a Reggie Bush type career for Sam (without the return game role) which would make him worth- maybe- a late 2nd or 3rd round pick- but based on performance so far- even with his freakish athleticism- he's more like a 4th or 5th rounder. Problem is that the NFL will ignore him unless his stats are PHENOMENAL because of his taboo skin colour (just look what happened to Jake Sharp).

 

[forty-four]

Any updates on Sam thus far tonight?

 

[Colonel_Reb]

The Baylor/Rice game is under a lightning delay in the first quarter. Sam has 5 carries for 10 yards and 3 catches for 18 yards so far.
Edited by: Colonel_Reb

 

[forty-four]

Thanks brother.

 

[Don Wassall]

11 yard TD rush by McGuffie. Rice is down 27-13 with about 6 minutes left in the game.

 

[SuperSpeed23]

Mcguffie just ran it in from 11 yards out!

 

[SuperSpeed23]

beat me to it lol.

 

[Don Wassall]

lol. Gotta say also that the announcers have been giving Sam props all game, even complaining that heisn't gettingthe ball enough. Unfortunately Rice came out of the weather delay very flat.

 

[snow]

yeah it seems like McGuffie is doing much better when they just try to run conventional up the middle running plays. It seemed like they tried too hard to get him in space early on, running plays designed to go to the outside that the defense saw coming. When they have given him the ball going straight up the middle he has gotten several nice runs, a few 10+ yard runs, if they had been doing that all night he might have broken off a larger run.

 

[SuperSpeed23]

The announcers have it right. He still hasnt gotten the ball enough to be successful. I hope after this game they change their game plan to let him run the ball more.

 

[JReb1]

S. McGuffie,RB




14 Rush, 64 yds
1 TD



http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recap?gid=201009250081

I can't find Sam's receiving totals from this game.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Sam finished with 7 catches for 33 yards.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Sam had a solid outing running the ball- a 4.6 YPC average which was better than backfield mate Tyler Smith's 4.2. 4.6 YPC is solid I think in the FBS- considering Rice's offense. Let's hope he keeps improving and is more patient and then decisive when he sees a seam.

With the way Texas' (Mack Brown snubbed Sam) RBs have performed and how stars like Dion Lewis and Ryan Williams fared the first couple weeks- I think I was a bit hard on Sam for starting slow.

 

[JReb1]

Sam McGuffie finished with 20 rushes for 96 yards and 1 TD with a very respectable 4.8 YPC. Sam also had 5 receptions for 45 yards. McGuffie seems to be adjusting and getting better, he should have a huge breakout game very soon.

http://rice.rivals.com/boxscore.asp?Game=36992
Edited by: JReb1

 

[SuperSpeed23]

He easily had his best game as a rice owl yesterday. Plenty of longer rushes then in previous games and he even pulled off one of his sick hurdles!

 

[Leonardfan]

I think Sam will get better as the season goes along. He was away from the game for a year and is in a new offense. Looks like he is improving every week. It would be great if he could somehow reach 1200-1500 yds of offense this year.

 

[JReb1]

I didn't see the game so why did Rice force feed Nick Fanuzzi the ball (15 times for a measly 6 yards and ridiculous 0.4 YPC avg) when Sam McGuffie was having so much success rushing?