White RB 2008 Watch List! I'm Optimistic!

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Luke Lippincott is back at Nevada. He will have to have an absolute monster season playing in that conference to get interest as a RB from the NFL being a white RB. Despite having 4.5 speed and good stats running the ball as a HB; NFLdraftscout.com is projecting Lippincott as a FB and he isn't even in their top 10 FBs for '09.

The other 5 RBs we need to have big years who will be draft eligible next yr. are Kevin Harris & Kyle Bell (needs a big bounce back year.), both the later are listed as FBs by NFLdraftscout.com

and scat backs Jake Sharp and Jared Hawkins of course! And last, but not least Skylar Jessen under the new "relatively white friendly" coach at Washington State.

The other guys I will be keeping my eye on are "of course" freshman Sam McGuffie (Michigan; the top RB in the 2008 class IMO; probably 2nd teamer this yr. though) Freshman Sausan Shakerin (Utah; could start), Freshman Alex Daniel (Northwestern; unlikely to play a lot this yr. IMO), Phillip Morrelli (Colorado State; could contribute) J.J DiLuigi (BYU; could start), Joe Martinek (Rutgers; has a shot at starting), Dan Dierking (Purdue; could start) Mitch Borroughs of Boise State (should contribute), Micah Mosley (North Texas; could start) and Toby Gerhart of Stanford (Could start, but needs to bounce back from injury)

Talented guys I am hopeful for at RB, but not optimistic for this season: Jordan Roberts as a walk-on at WVU (I hope he works his way into playing time as a 2nd teamer behind Noel Devine), Brock Fitzhenry (Texas; I hope they let him contribute as a scat back/ 3rd down back in a committee backfield; rather than a slot WR.) And freshman Justin Salum & also Glyndon Bolasky (Arizona)

Edited to add: Am I missing any big name guys in Division IA? Help would be appreciated!Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[reclaimsocal]

If he can stay healthy, Stanford RB Toby Gerhart is a monster. I'm not sure if he will be considered a Junior or Sophmore as he may have been granted a medical redshirt in one of his first two seasons.

 

[jared]

I believe you are correct reclaim so he should be a Soph. This is his first redshirt.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

How did I forget Toby? And he had a monster first game last year before he got hurt, he's much better than black RB Anthony Kimble. Toby partially tore his PCL last season and then completely tore it trying to rehab it.

Tearing your PCL is much rarer than your ACL or MCL and it is near impossible to have corrective surgery on it like the ACL and MCL. You have to naturally rehab it. Toby was actually a top 100 Scout.com RB from 2006. However, I'm afraid he might chose baseball since he is a two sport star rather than fighting an uphill battle to make it as a white RB to the NFL.

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

TJR: I think it goes without saying that Lippincott`s chances of being taken seriously as a RB by NFL people in 2009 would be greatly helped by solid performances running the ball next season by Leonard, Hester and Woodhead.

 

[Mike]

Eric Kettani. Greg Shinego. Jarod Bryant.

No way J.J DiLuigi starts. BYU has too many good backs, including Unga, who is ahead of all of those guys.

Same with Dierking. Very good back with a bright future at Purdue, but he's not about to replace two seniors in Taylor and Sheets.

And there is no way Shakerin is going to come in and start over a senior in Mack who ran for over 1000 yards last year. Once again, good back with a bright future, but don't get your expectations up with these guys. Edited by: Mike

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

You make some good points Mike, but I think Unga is very overrated. He had something like 18 carries for 16 yards in BYU's bowl game last year. I hope DiLuigi at least gets to play a complimentary role to Unga. Of course it could have just been an atrocious game by Unga, but he really was very unimpressive to me against that good UCLA defense.

I know very little about Purdue's other RBs, so you're probably right. Sheets and Taylor look like they're doing good against the tough Big 10 defenses and compliment each other well as far as size difference. Sheets got close to 1000 yards. The two of them ran for 5.1 and 5.2 YPC respectively.

But with Shakerin, he's at least got to be second team IMO. Shakerin had a final ranking of 20th overall by Scout.com at RB and was as high as 5th last year. That is quite a prized recruit for a school like Utah! And Darrell Mack ran for only a respectable 4.8 YPC for his good team in the Mountain West Conference against those defenses. I think Shakerin might be a better option already.

Overall, I just want these white RBs to be treated fairly. If the black guy is performing good and is an upperclassman then I understand that it isn't a racial issue and the white guy has to wait his turn.

 

[Mike]

That's a fair point about Unga, but if we're going to bring in the "well in this game he only got x amount of yards" argument we may as well be real and tell ourselves it happens to every good runner. My only point is that DiLuigi is in a tough situation, and despite having a good spring its going to be hard to even win the backup job with the backs BYU has. Mendenhall uses a lot of personel though, so he should get carries eventually.

Watch out for the three guys I named though, especially Kettani.

Both Sheets and Taylor graduate after this year, so if Dierking can hold on he has a real good oppertunity to start in 2009. Edited by: Mike

 

[jared]

Kettani will be a monster. He is more beastly than the very successful and recently graduated Adam Ballard that he is replacing. According to Navy's website (and this info is a year old) Kettani:
"...benches 400 pounds (fourth best on the team) and runs a 4.53 40-yard dash (third best on the team) ... also has a 32-inch vertical ..."

Unfortunately, I don't know that Navy is going to relax their service requirements for athletes like the Army did with Caleb Campbell and Mike Viti.

 

[jared]

Jarod Bryant and Greg Shinego are both second string on Navy's depth chart and they are both seniors.

 

[Mike]

It's a three man rotation at slotback and Bryant is the backup quarterback and punt returner because Kaipo did not play during the spring. Relax.

 

[jared]

Good to know they'll get some playing time, it will make Navy even more fun to watch. But of those 3 guys, only Kettani will begin to make a blip on All-American lists or draft consideration.

 

[patriot]

I don't see Skylar Jessen on the Washington State roster anymore.

 

[patriot]

I also don't see Brock Bolen on the Louisville roster.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I also don't see Brock Bolen on the Louisville roster.

You aren't looking very hard then.


[url]http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/lou-m-footbl- mtt.html[/url]


#32

 

[jared]

Okay, so just to recap here, who are all the white RBs this year that are starters, or will at least get an approx. equal share of the carries? We have:

Starters or ~50% of carries:

Kyle Bell - Colorado State
Eric Kettani - Navy
Luke Lippincott - Nevada
Jake Sharp - Kansas
Toby Gerhart - Stanford
Jared Hawkins - Vanderbilt
Brock Bolen - Louisville
Micah Mosley - North Texas

Will likely see carries:
Dan Dierking - Purdue
Greg Shinego - Navy
Sam McGuffie - Michigan

Did I miss any? Overall, it looks like a pretty good year for white RBs (best in a while???). I think it will only be better next year with guys like Shakerin, DiLuigi, Alex Daniel, Martinek, Jessen, Moline, and Mosure as up and comers. Things are gonna get sweet over the next couple years, guys. Only a couple of RBs on the list above are seniors. 2010 and 2011 are gonna be nice.

 

[backrow]

Kevin Harris from Wake Forrest?

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Kevin isn't even listed on the depth chart as far as I can tell. cfn.scout.com has the top 5 tailbacks or the top 2 fullbacks.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

jared, great list, and I hope you are right about the next three years. I'm cautiously optimistic about more of these great athletes being given a fair chance at starting.

 

[backrow]

Kevin isn't even listed on the depth chart as far as I can tell. cfn.scout.com has the top 5 tailbacks or the top 2 fullbacks.

damn...

 

[White Power]

yes he is listed as #3 running back

 

[White Power]

Also Willie Rose Fla Atlantic is a junior.
John Goebel is listed as second team running back for the Cincinatti bearcats.
Kevin Mulrooney is listed as the second team running back for Boston college.
Chan Moline and Craig Shepard for the UCLA Bruins.
Jayson Bird Idaho state.
Ryan Van Rensberg will see action for Vandrbilt as well.
Chris Clancy Will be the starting running back for Ballstate.
Ryan Matthews for Fresno State will be the Starter.
Also Robbie Frey and Nathan Sherr for Connecticut.
Ryan Christian played running back For TCU last year this year his is a senior.
Jim Mitchell is listed as a 3rd team running back for UAB and will play this year.
Ryan Bohm will see action for Utah State.
Tyler Roehl North Dakota State.
Derek Lawson 2nd team running back Arkansas State
Paki O'Meara is listed as the starter for Iowa.

That's all I can remember so far I would like to ask can we add Polynesian and Hawians or not I would like your input.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Which site has Kevin Harris listed as 3rd RB, White Power? Its not Wake's website either.


Ryan Mathews isn't white. Here's his pic. We had this discussion last year.

Paki O'Meara is mixedPolynesian. Some of those other FBS players might see the field, but are unlikely to start or even get significant playing time.


Chris Clancy is listed as second string on the spring prospectus and still listed as a TE on cfn.scout.com

 

[White Power]

I am optimistic I guess I read where Clancy will be the starter I'll try and find it. As for the others if a white player even gets a hand full of carries at the running back postion i woiuld consider this an acoplishment because of how far we have had to come just to get the starters we have. not to mention the role players at the position let us remember the days when it was unthinkable to have a white even touch the ball at a skill postion except by passing it or handing it off. We have come to far to call some players getting carries not a big deal it is a very big deal any time you have a chance to kick down the caste door.

 

[White Power]

Rivals football college data base has Kevin Harris isted as the # 3 tailback who will get playing time this year. The article said he swithced to full back last because of injuries and not because of play.