ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
Might as well get the 2009 thread started. I'll give an outlook on what white RBs have a chance to be 1st or 2nd team this coming season. Never too early to be thinking about football. Of course some of this is best cast scenario:
Prime candidates:
ACC:
Wake Forest: Kevin Harris: Will he get any glory after saving Wake in their most recent Bowl game with a phenomenal performance. He is in his last year of eligibility. Kevin has led his team in yards per carry both times he received the most carries in his career. He's a senior now so if this coach doesn't give him a shot I'd have to nominate him for biggest caste "WACKO" of the year. Freshman Brandon Pendergrass did nothing to warrant starting as a freshman running for 3.5 YPC and sophomore Josh Adams was even worse with 3.3 YPC. They had 5 and 4 TDs respectfully. Kevin Harris had a 5.3 YPC average and had the longest run of all 3 despite getting 4 times less carries than the backup Adams. He scored a crucial rushing TD in Wake's Bowl game. But evidence be damned to this caste clown coach on who the best RB is on the team.
This is a "very" dark conference so I don't expect any other white runners to even be 2nd teamers. I will mention Hunter Furr later in my Fat Chance write-ups. Maybe I should use a nicer word and call it "Long Shots".
Big 12:
Iowa State: Beau Blankenship: Believe it or not I think Beau Blankenship has a legit shot to be a 2nd teamer at season's opening; if he shows his skill in pre-season practices. Starter Alexander Robinson did pretty well considering this is a crappy team, but no one else performed up to speed at all.
Kansas: Jake Sharp: Played brilliantly from mid-season on after they worked on his blocking reads and is by far the most athletic RB on the team. He'd have to have the starting job wrapped up going into his senior season, even in our ridiculous "black power" society wouldn't he? Angus Quigley deserves no more than 1/4 of the carries IMO despite playing well as a reserve and also going into his senior year. Sharp is an athletic freak and just came on too strong late season to not be the main guy next year. Former Sex offender Crawford (showed very little on the field) deserves no carries.
Kansas State: Logan Dold got hurt, but was the 2nd leading rusher and had a better YPC than leading rusher Lemark Brown at 4.1 YPC compared to 3.5. YPC to me is probably the most important stat when the difference is significant. Unfortunately I am only expecting Dold to be a 2nd teamer. I have set my expectations low here with this new unknown coach and Brown has one more year experience.
Nebraska: Rex Burkhead: I am expecting Rex Burkhead to be the second team RB by some point in the season if he isn't red-shirted. He's just too ridiculously good and would be ideal in the Marlon Lucky 3rd down receiving back role of last year due to his pass catching ability to start the season. Roy Helu performed well last year, totaling 803 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Burkhead will have to prove himself to end up getting more carries than Helu next season and he very well might b/c he certainly has more natural talent and blue collar work ethic to boot. 3rd teamer of last year, Quinton Castille is nothing special. Castille only had 4.4 YPC; which isn't very good considering Nebraska's quality offense.
Big East:
Cincinatti: John Goebel: Realistically I am not setting my expectations high for Goebel's carries to increase. Goebel slightly outplayed starter Jacob Ramsey; posting a slightly better YPC, more TDs and a better longest run. However, Ramsey is going to be a senior so I don't see a decline in his carries and Isaiah Pead was the very talented 3rd string RB last season posting the best YPC and longest run in limited time. Pead is also the "MOST HYPED" RB on the team. Hopefully Goebel will see around the same number of carries, but I'm not hopeful for an increase.
Connecticut: Robbie Frey: Without really looking into their latest recruiting class, I would think Robbie Frey has a chance to be second team. This is especially with the white RBs performing so well in this conference. Frey was the 3rd leading rusher and the talented Donald Brown has graduated. Frey also has sub 4.5 speed if I recall from an old thread in the H.S forum.
Rutgers: Joe Martinek: The athletic and powerful Joe Martinek should be the starter in a fair world. He started the season as 4th string last year and just played his way on to the field. He had 4 of the 5 longest runs on the team last year despite having the 3rd most carries and led the team in yards per carry. Martinek also played the best out of the RBs in the Bowl game. Kordell Young although he has some natural talent; didn't perform up to par. Joe Martinek has no less year's experience than the other 3 RBs who got playing time to boot. With all the evidence presented Joe Martinek definitely deserves to be the starter.
Syracuse: Doug Houge: Curtis Brinkley graduated and Doug Houge was the second leading rusher with the second highest YPC (an impressive 6.6) out of the 4 RBs with over 100 yards. He also had the longest rushing TD on the team with only 35 carries. He should clearly be in the mix for the starting job this year in a fair world. If not; expect 2nd team again.
Big 10:
Iowa: Brandon Wegher. Wegher is ridiculously talented and should start if he plays hard in off-season practices, but in America a coach just can't insult a black RB who has played solid, by putting a white one in front of him. Jewel Hampton ran for 463 yards on 5.1 YPC (solid, but not spectacular for Iowa's amazing blocking) and probably is going into the season thinking he's a lock for the starting job. Expect Wegher to possibly start off as 2nd team and then just play his way to becoming the starter. Jeff Brinson was getting hyped on some message boards as the next Shonn Greene, but received no carries last year; so I don't know where this is coming from; the coaches must know better.
Northwestern: Mike Trumpy: The best RB for next season would already appear to be Mike Trumpy. Check out his Youtube.com highlights and you'll become a believer. Tyrell Sutton graduated and Omar Contreh was very unimpressive as the backup running for only 3.2 YPC on 235 yards. I checked out Alex Daniel's highlights a while back when Rivals' highlights were still free. Daniel indeed looks talented, but Trumpy is just a phenom and worthy of a 5.9 rating on Rivals IMO. I doubt in our super stereotypical society that even a top Academic University like Northwestern would be brazen enough to show a one-two white punch at RB, so expect Daniel to sit on the bench.
Purdue: Dan Dierking: Kory Sheets graduated and Dan Dierking was the second leading rusher amongst tailbacks (albeit he only had 34 yards on 9 carries). I expect Dierking, Ralph Bolden (sophomore) and true freshman Al-Terek McBurse to be the only guys in the running for carries this season at tailback. McBurse is highly touted. I believe Rivals has him as a 4 star recruit. ESPN has him lower as the 85th best RB in the nation. Hopefully Dierking will emerge from the pack in the top two, but I never get too hopeful. Coaches are afraid to put a white RB ahead of a black one when the competition is close to protect themselves from cries of racism from the black RBs and the DWFs and even ESPN/Rivals media. Hopefully Purdue's coach will hold to his convictions and play the best.
Conference<"Black Power">USA (With McGuffie having to red-shirt after transferring this conference looks very bleak):
You heard this correct; there is absolutely "ZERO" to report here. Andrew McKinney led Southern Methodist in rushing last year with a whopping 190 yards (sarcasm intended). SMU may be the least run friendly team in the entire FBS, but somehow a white guy led this team in rushing. McKinney has graduated and maybe another white runner will take over. Top Rivals' black RB recruits obviously wouldn't be high on this team.
Independents:
Navy: Bobby Doyle and others: They have a lot of white RBs and Shun White and Eric Kettani have graduated opening up the top two RB spots. Third teamer Bobby Doyle is white. Cory Finnerty may have a chance for second team level carries. I would expect 2009 recruit John Howell to play before long, he had one of the best highlight tapes I saw this year. He's probably amongst the top 50 RBs in the nation IMO when you compare him to lower level Rivals 4 star players, when you look at his sick highlights, measurables and production. It's completely ludicrous he got no offers other than Army and Navy. He will have to work his way up the depth chart; as Service Academies want their players to put in their hard work to see the field. Bo Snelson is another Rivals 4 star caliber recruit who got no offers other than SA ones. He may see time before long at slot-back.
MAC: (Get your barf bags ready)
Eastern Michigan: Cory Welch: He led the team in YPC out of the top 3 RBs and leading rusher Terrence Blevins graduated. Hopefully he'll make 1st or 2nd team.
Mountain West:
Air Force: Kyle Halderman and Brent Michaels appear to have a good shot at one of the top 2 spots with only Asher Clark playing well amongst returning black RBs. Best case scenario one of these guys emerges as the starting tailback. Small "athletic freak" Cody Getz realistically as only a freshman probably won't be amongst the top two. He could be a great change of pace RB in the future. He's only listed at 5'5.5 and 150lbs on Scout.com as a H.S senior so he will have to add maybe 10-15 lbs of muscle to be more compact at his short height. Maybe he could turn out to be the next Maurice Jones Drew or Darren Sproles if he doesn't grow much more. Oh yeah I forgot, he's a white Air Force commit, so that ain't happening...blah.
BYU: J.J DiLuiggi or Jerry Bruner: The number two RB spot is up for grabs behind Harvey Unga with Vakapuna graduating. Maybe a chance for J.J DiLuiggi or even Jerry Bruner?
Colorado State: John Mosure could very well be the starter with the graduation of Gartell Johnson and Kyle Bell. Phillip Morelli could make 2nd team, but I doubt the coach would have the guts to let two white guys be 1 and 2 even at Colorado State. Is the coach still Klint Kubiak?..Well maybe it could happen then.
TCU: Ryan Christian legitimately has a shot to be a second teamer and in a fair world even the starter. Aaron Brown graduated and Joseph Turner only ran for 4.4 YPC. However TCU got a big name black recruit Waymon James; expect Christian to be second team at best unfortunately.
Utah: Sausan Shakerin: With Darrell Mack graduating the number two spot could possibly go to the talented Sausan Shakerin. Don't expect him to pass Matt Asiata for starter any time soon though.
PAC-10:
Stanford: Toby Gerhart or Tyler Gaffney: Wow I am shocked at how black this conference is at tailback. This situation is just as bad as the SEC. When you are a little shocked at only one team to report on in a conference this actually shows things are improving a little for our caste clown sports Nation. Toby Gerhart will be the starter if he returns and stays healthy (knock on wood). His carries will probably go up with Kimble's graduation. If Gerhart leaves for baseball Gaffney could take over the big back role, but with Gerhart still there; expect Howell or maybe fellow '09 recruit Usua Amanam to get a scat back role behind him and Gaffney to have to wait. I truly think Gaffney will replace Gerhart when he leaves as Stanford's big RB and come out ahead of Stepfan Taylor. Jim Harbough seems to know what to do with evaluating RBs. Gaffney is amazing; check his Youtube highlights.
SEC: (Get your barf bags ready again)
Vanderbilt: Jared Hawkins: The very athletic Jared Hawkins is the only guy to report on in this entire conference. Just utter insanity. Jared will have to step up his 4.3 YPC to become more intriguing for NFL scouts (what little chance he has at the BLACK POWER NFL). This team is not a good offense to be a RB for (ala Iowa State in the Big 10), so 4.3 YPC is actually pretty good. To top this off 2nd team black RB Jeff Jennings ran for 2.4 YPC. Jamie Graham currently listed as a WR should be the only threat to take away any significant amount of carries from Hawkins.
Sun Belt:
Arkansas State: Derek Lawson only coming off his freshman season has the #2 job wrapped up and is probably already the best RB on the team. It is Reggie Arnold's last year of eligibility, so expect Arnold to keep his starting job.
Florida Atlantic: William Rose: Unexplainably called a FB by NFLdraftscout.com William Rose was third on his team in rushing and the two top black rushers have graduated. He looks like a HB candidate at the next level to me and from what I have heard has solid NFL speed for his size.
North Texas: Micah Mosley did himself no favors by getting hurt. Cam Montgomery emerged as a good player for this crappy team and will be a senior this year. Montgomery looks to be the starter, Mosley could very well be second team.
WAC: (I'll just call it a disappointment; I've talked about barf bags enough lol):
Nevada: Luke Lippincott: The only team to report on in this conference. Luke Lippincott got hurt and Vai Taua played very well running for 1521 yards on 6.4 YPC and 15 TDs with a long run of 79 yards. Lippincott could very well be second team, but will really have to play his way back into getting any significant kind of work behind Taua.
Long Shots:
Arizona State: Shane McCullen: He's listed as an "Athlete" by most "recruiting" services. McCullen ran a 4.35 40 at the Scout.com Nike combine and that doesn't appear to be a fast track BTW. He also ran a 4.10 short shuttle a great showcasing that he indeed has very loose hips. The leading rusher for Arizona State Dimitri Nance didn't perform well and either did the backup. However McCullen will also have Ryan Bass, a "BIG TIME" Rivals fawned over recruit from last year who played pretty well in limited time, and a fellow recruit from this year Cameron Marshall to compete with for playing time. I personally don't see Shane cracking the top two this year unless the other guys completely stink it up; not in our caste nation, maybe next year though.
Boise State: Mitch Borroughs ought to think of transferring. He got zero carries last year and despite Ian Johnson graduating the 2nd and 3rd team RBs showed good production with a reasonable ammount of work. Borroughs is very talented, but this coach appears to do him no favors. I mean 12 guys got carries on the team last year and the 2nd thorugh 4th team RBs were all underclassmen. But Zero carries for Borroughs? Borroughs is a real long shot for 2nd team RB.
UAB: Jim Mitchell: A walk-on formerly of small school Presbyterian College; earned all county in track and was named Gwinnett county athlete of the year in H.S in Georgia. He is stuck behind two very mediocre black players. He is a Junior, but I don't really expect a change here for some reason; this guy has basically no notoriety.
Real Long Shots:
UCLA: Craig Sheppard: A walk-on who has ran a 10.73 100 meters and a 21.86 200 meters back in H.S; he is in his last year of eligibility. Sheppard wasn't overly productive as a football player in H.S. UCLA ran with Chane Moline some last year so maybe there is a slim glimmer of hope for Craig Sheppard. Kahil Bell, he of his 4.74 speed and 2.8 yards per carry, graduated. Bell is somehow still ranked the 38th best RB for this year by NFLdraftscout; unbelievably not one white RB is ranked ahead of Bell. Bell was coming off an injury, but compare him to Toby Gerhart (also coming off injury) who is ranked only 23rd for 2010 by their "scouting" service and is ahead of Kahil Bell in basically every single quality a scout should covet, especially speed, power and "WORLDS AHEAD" in production. Shepard is still stuck behind Derrick Coleman who played well and Rivals fawned over recruits like Aundre Dean and this year's RB recruiting class is good. A very slim glimmer of hope here. Posted to show a typical tale of the career of a white walk-on tailback.
Ridiculous situations:
North Carolina BLACK TAR HEELS: Hunter Furr: Despite the unimpressive production of the black RBs last year and no big black RB recruits signed this year, I don't expect Hunter Furr to get a sniff of the field at tailback as a freshman under Caste Loser Butch Davis.
South Carolina CasteC*cks: Pat DiMarco and Taylor Rank: Mike Davis and his 3.5 YPC have graduated. Freshman backup Eric Baker had 4 YPC and Sophomore 3rd teamer Brian Maddox had all of 3.8 YPC. 4th team black RB Bobby Wallace graduated. Despite horrible production from these black recruits don't expect CasteC*cks' coach Steve Spurrier to give FB/HB hybrid Pat DiMarco or tailback Taylor Rank a chance to move past 6th and 7th team level carries. Despite being behind prized o-line recruits that Spurrier can get with his notoriety, these black RBs are just not producing. Now with Rivals 250 RB Jarvis Giles entering the situation only gets worse for these token white guys.
Texas A&M: Ryan Swope: Swope should absolutely have the chance to be a 1st or 2nd teamer as a true freshman with Mike Goodson graduated and with the "incredible skill" he possesses. However, Sherman is a spineless clown and is probably already set to make Cyrus Gray and far over-hyped recruit Christine Michael shoe ins for the #1 and #2 spots. Read my "Hyped C. Michael vs. R. Swope: Texas A&M" comparison thread in the H.S forum. Christine Michael is probably the most over-hyped black Rivals 100 RB this year (his agility wasn't overly impressive to me) and I would take Swope over Michael personally if I were a recruiter. Ryan Swope wake up and transfer. You and Hunter Furr are going to destroy your careers playing for these clowns. You'll never see the field at your natural positions.
Most Disappointing situation:
West Virginia: Jordan Roberts: After breaking the West Virginia H.S single season rushing record (on a whooping 11.8 YPC if I recall) he had to walk-on for West Virginia. Noel Devine cleary has proven to be a phenomenal #1 RB and is a shoe in for the job barring injury, but Roberts could be the perfect backup with his size and power to Noel. Noel is 5'8 175 lbs. Instead backing up Devine are two more small RBs. Jock Sanders is 5'7 175 lbs. and the 3rd string black RB is 5'9 174 lbs. Again why not diversify your backfield and give a guy with good speed, but also freakish power Jordan Roberts a chance. Robert's is a good cut-back-slashing-power-runner with speed to boot that could be part of helping to close out games in the 4th quarter. Come on- I mean he only broke records in H.S in the school's very state.
Other names who seem destined to remain buried on the depth chart for this season:
Glyndon Bolasky: Arizona
Shaun Chapas: Georgia (Another FB/HB "tweener", may start at FB for Georgia)
Hunter Frantz: Army
Chris Gronkowski: Arizona (The brother of Dan could be a possible starter at FB; he has power-tailback type athleticism)
Daniel Mulrooney: Boston College: Daniel has some notoriety as a recruit. I thought a Boston Catholic school would love an Irishman. Black freshman Montell Harris played well, but Rivals' fawned over freshman Josh Haden did not; where's the love for Mulrooney in Irish Boston.
Justin Salum: Arizona: Maybe one of these Arizona guys should transfer. It hasn't looked good for any of them so far.
Joe Suhey: Penn State: Playing for race traitor Caste Grandpa Joe Paterno.
So best case scenario (if my very optimistic predictions all come true) we could be seeing 25 teams with a white 1st or 2nd team RB out of 120. That is 21% of FBS teams. Things are indeed getting better guys. How long can the NFL ignore the white RB with this increase in numbers of whites in the FBS topping it off with their on-field performance?Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
Prime candidates:
ACC:
Wake Forest: Kevin Harris: Will he get any glory after saving Wake in their most recent Bowl game with a phenomenal performance. He is in his last year of eligibility. Kevin has led his team in yards per carry both times he received the most carries in his career. He's a senior now so if this coach doesn't give him a shot I'd have to nominate him for biggest caste "WACKO" of the year. Freshman Brandon Pendergrass did nothing to warrant starting as a freshman running for 3.5 YPC and sophomore Josh Adams was even worse with 3.3 YPC. They had 5 and 4 TDs respectfully. Kevin Harris had a 5.3 YPC average and had the longest run of all 3 despite getting 4 times less carries than the backup Adams. He scored a crucial rushing TD in Wake's Bowl game. But evidence be damned to this caste clown coach on who the best RB is on the team.
This is a "very" dark conference so I don't expect any other white runners to even be 2nd teamers. I will mention Hunter Furr later in my Fat Chance write-ups. Maybe I should use a nicer word and call it "Long Shots".
Big 12:
Iowa State: Beau Blankenship: Believe it or not I think Beau Blankenship has a legit shot to be a 2nd teamer at season's opening; if he shows his skill in pre-season practices. Starter Alexander Robinson did pretty well considering this is a crappy team, but no one else performed up to speed at all.
Kansas: Jake Sharp: Played brilliantly from mid-season on after they worked on his blocking reads and is by far the most athletic RB on the team. He'd have to have the starting job wrapped up going into his senior season, even in our ridiculous "black power" society wouldn't he? Angus Quigley deserves no more than 1/4 of the carries IMO despite playing well as a reserve and also going into his senior year. Sharp is an athletic freak and just came on too strong late season to not be the main guy next year. Former Sex offender Crawford (showed very little on the field) deserves no carries.
Kansas State: Logan Dold got hurt, but was the 2nd leading rusher and had a better YPC than leading rusher Lemark Brown at 4.1 YPC compared to 3.5. YPC to me is probably the most important stat when the difference is significant. Unfortunately I am only expecting Dold to be a 2nd teamer. I have set my expectations low here with this new unknown coach and Brown has one more year experience.
Nebraska: Rex Burkhead: I am expecting Rex Burkhead to be the second team RB by some point in the season if he isn't red-shirted. He's just too ridiculously good and would be ideal in the Marlon Lucky 3rd down receiving back role of last year due to his pass catching ability to start the season. Roy Helu performed well last year, totaling 803 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Burkhead will have to prove himself to end up getting more carries than Helu next season and he very well might b/c he certainly has more natural talent and blue collar work ethic to boot. 3rd teamer of last year, Quinton Castille is nothing special. Castille only had 4.4 YPC; which isn't very good considering Nebraska's quality offense.
Big East:
Cincinatti: John Goebel: Realistically I am not setting my expectations high for Goebel's carries to increase. Goebel slightly outplayed starter Jacob Ramsey; posting a slightly better YPC, more TDs and a better longest run. However, Ramsey is going to be a senior so I don't see a decline in his carries and Isaiah Pead was the very talented 3rd string RB last season posting the best YPC and longest run in limited time. Pead is also the "MOST HYPED" RB on the team. Hopefully Goebel will see around the same number of carries, but I'm not hopeful for an increase.
Connecticut: Robbie Frey: Without really looking into their latest recruiting class, I would think Robbie Frey has a chance to be second team. This is especially with the white RBs performing so well in this conference. Frey was the 3rd leading rusher and the talented Donald Brown has graduated. Frey also has sub 4.5 speed if I recall from an old thread in the H.S forum.
Rutgers: Joe Martinek: The athletic and powerful Joe Martinek should be the starter in a fair world. He started the season as 4th string last year and just played his way on to the field. He had 4 of the 5 longest runs on the team last year despite having the 3rd most carries and led the team in yards per carry. Martinek also played the best out of the RBs in the Bowl game. Kordell Young although he has some natural talent; didn't perform up to par. Joe Martinek has no less year's experience than the other 3 RBs who got playing time to boot. With all the evidence presented Joe Martinek definitely deserves to be the starter.
Syracuse: Doug Houge: Curtis Brinkley graduated and Doug Houge was the second leading rusher with the second highest YPC (an impressive 6.6) out of the 4 RBs with over 100 yards. He also had the longest rushing TD on the team with only 35 carries. He should clearly be in the mix for the starting job this year in a fair world. If not; expect 2nd team again.
Big 10:
Iowa: Brandon Wegher. Wegher is ridiculously talented and should start if he plays hard in off-season practices, but in America a coach just can't insult a black RB who has played solid, by putting a white one in front of him. Jewel Hampton ran for 463 yards on 5.1 YPC (solid, but not spectacular for Iowa's amazing blocking) and probably is going into the season thinking he's a lock for the starting job. Expect Wegher to possibly start off as 2nd team and then just play his way to becoming the starter. Jeff Brinson was getting hyped on some message boards as the next Shonn Greene, but received no carries last year; so I don't know where this is coming from; the coaches must know better.
Northwestern: Mike Trumpy: The best RB for next season would already appear to be Mike Trumpy. Check out his Youtube.com highlights and you'll become a believer. Tyrell Sutton graduated and Omar Contreh was very unimpressive as the backup running for only 3.2 YPC on 235 yards. I checked out Alex Daniel's highlights a while back when Rivals' highlights were still free. Daniel indeed looks talented, but Trumpy is just a phenom and worthy of a 5.9 rating on Rivals IMO. I doubt in our super stereotypical society that even a top Academic University like Northwestern would be brazen enough to show a one-two white punch at RB, so expect Daniel to sit on the bench.
Purdue: Dan Dierking: Kory Sheets graduated and Dan Dierking was the second leading rusher amongst tailbacks (albeit he only had 34 yards on 9 carries). I expect Dierking, Ralph Bolden (sophomore) and true freshman Al-Terek McBurse to be the only guys in the running for carries this season at tailback. McBurse is highly touted. I believe Rivals has him as a 4 star recruit. ESPN has him lower as the 85th best RB in the nation. Hopefully Dierking will emerge from the pack in the top two, but I never get too hopeful. Coaches are afraid to put a white RB ahead of a black one when the competition is close to protect themselves from cries of racism from the black RBs and the DWFs and even ESPN/Rivals media. Hopefully Purdue's coach will hold to his convictions and play the best.
Conference<"Black Power">USA (With McGuffie having to red-shirt after transferring this conference looks very bleak):
You heard this correct; there is absolutely "ZERO" to report here. Andrew McKinney led Southern Methodist in rushing last year with a whopping 190 yards (sarcasm intended). SMU may be the least run friendly team in the entire FBS, but somehow a white guy led this team in rushing. McKinney has graduated and maybe another white runner will take over. Top Rivals' black RB recruits obviously wouldn't be high on this team.
Independents:
Navy: Bobby Doyle and others: They have a lot of white RBs and Shun White and Eric Kettani have graduated opening up the top two RB spots. Third teamer Bobby Doyle is white. Cory Finnerty may have a chance for second team level carries. I would expect 2009 recruit John Howell to play before long, he had one of the best highlight tapes I saw this year. He's probably amongst the top 50 RBs in the nation IMO when you compare him to lower level Rivals 4 star players, when you look at his sick highlights, measurables and production. It's completely ludicrous he got no offers other than Army and Navy. He will have to work his way up the depth chart; as Service Academies want their players to put in their hard work to see the field. Bo Snelson is another Rivals 4 star caliber recruit who got no offers other than SA ones. He may see time before long at slot-back.
MAC: (Get your barf bags ready)
Eastern Michigan: Cory Welch: He led the team in YPC out of the top 3 RBs and leading rusher Terrence Blevins graduated. Hopefully he'll make 1st or 2nd team.
Mountain West:
Air Force: Kyle Halderman and Brent Michaels appear to have a good shot at one of the top 2 spots with only Asher Clark playing well amongst returning black RBs. Best case scenario one of these guys emerges as the starting tailback. Small "athletic freak" Cody Getz realistically as only a freshman probably won't be amongst the top two. He could be a great change of pace RB in the future. He's only listed at 5'5.5 and 150lbs on Scout.com as a H.S senior so he will have to add maybe 10-15 lbs of muscle to be more compact at his short height. Maybe he could turn out to be the next Maurice Jones Drew or Darren Sproles if he doesn't grow much more. Oh yeah I forgot, he's a white Air Force commit, so that ain't happening...blah.
BYU: J.J DiLuiggi or Jerry Bruner: The number two RB spot is up for grabs behind Harvey Unga with Vakapuna graduating. Maybe a chance for J.J DiLuiggi or even Jerry Bruner?
Colorado State: John Mosure could very well be the starter with the graduation of Gartell Johnson and Kyle Bell. Phillip Morelli could make 2nd team, but I doubt the coach would have the guts to let two white guys be 1 and 2 even at Colorado State. Is the coach still Klint Kubiak?..Well maybe it could happen then.
TCU: Ryan Christian legitimately has a shot to be a second teamer and in a fair world even the starter. Aaron Brown graduated and Joseph Turner only ran for 4.4 YPC. However TCU got a big name black recruit Waymon James; expect Christian to be second team at best unfortunately.
Utah: Sausan Shakerin: With Darrell Mack graduating the number two spot could possibly go to the talented Sausan Shakerin. Don't expect him to pass Matt Asiata for starter any time soon though.
PAC-10:
Stanford: Toby Gerhart or Tyler Gaffney: Wow I am shocked at how black this conference is at tailback. This situation is just as bad as the SEC. When you are a little shocked at only one team to report on in a conference this actually shows things are improving a little for our caste clown sports Nation. Toby Gerhart will be the starter if he returns and stays healthy (knock on wood). His carries will probably go up with Kimble's graduation. If Gerhart leaves for baseball Gaffney could take over the big back role, but with Gerhart still there; expect Howell or maybe fellow '09 recruit Usua Amanam to get a scat back role behind him and Gaffney to have to wait. I truly think Gaffney will replace Gerhart when he leaves as Stanford's big RB and come out ahead of Stepfan Taylor. Jim Harbough seems to know what to do with evaluating RBs. Gaffney is amazing; check his Youtube highlights.
SEC: (Get your barf bags ready again)
Vanderbilt: Jared Hawkins: The very athletic Jared Hawkins is the only guy to report on in this entire conference. Just utter insanity. Jared will have to step up his 4.3 YPC to become more intriguing for NFL scouts (what little chance he has at the BLACK POWER NFL). This team is not a good offense to be a RB for (ala Iowa State in the Big 10), so 4.3 YPC is actually pretty good. To top this off 2nd team black RB Jeff Jennings ran for 2.4 YPC. Jamie Graham currently listed as a WR should be the only threat to take away any significant amount of carries from Hawkins.
Sun Belt:
Arkansas State: Derek Lawson only coming off his freshman season has the #2 job wrapped up and is probably already the best RB on the team. It is Reggie Arnold's last year of eligibility, so expect Arnold to keep his starting job.
Florida Atlantic: William Rose: Unexplainably called a FB by NFLdraftscout.com William Rose was third on his team in rushing and the two top black rushers have graduated. He looks like a HB candidate at the next level to me and from what I have heard has solid NFL speed for his size.
North Texas: Micah Mosley did himself no favors by getting hurt. Cam Montgomery emerged as a good player for this crappy team and will be a senior this year. Montgomery looks to be the starter, Mosley could very well be second team.
WAC: (I'll just call it a disappointment; I've talked about barf bags enough lol):
Nevada: Luke Lippincott: The only team to report on in this conference. Luke Lippincott got hurt and Vai Taua played very well running for 1521 yards on 6.4 YPC and 15 TDs with a long run of 79 yards. Lippincott could very well be second team, but will really have to play his way back into getting any significant kind of work behind Taua.
Long Shots:
Arizona State: Shane McCullen: He's listed as an "Athlete" by most "recruiting" services. McCullen ran a 4.35 40 at the Scout.com Nike combine and that doesn't appear to be a fast track BTW. He also ran a 4.10 short shuttle a great showcasing that he indeed has very loose hips. The leading rusher for Arizona State Dimitri Nance didn't perform well and either did the backup. However McCullen will also have Ryan Bass, a "BIG TIME" Rivals fawned over recruit from last year who played pretty well in limited time, and a fellow recruit from this year Cameron Marshall to compete with for playing time. I personally don't see Shane cracking the top two this year unless the other guys completely stink it up; not in our caste nation, maybe next year though.
Boise State: Mitch Borroughs ought to think of transferring. He got zero carries last year and despite Ian Johnson graduating the 2nd and 3rd team RBs showed good production with a reasonable ammount of work. Borroughs is very talented, but this coach appears to do him no favors. I mean 12 guys got carries on the team last year and the 2nd thorugh 4th team RBs were all underclassmen. But Zero carries for Borroughs? Borroughs is a real long shot for 2nd team RB.
UAB: Jim Mitchell: A walk-on formerly of small school Presbyterian College; earned all county in track and was named Gwinnett county athlete of the year in H.S in Georgia. He is stuck behind two very mediocre black players. He is a Junior, but I don't really expect a change here for some reason; this guy has basically no notoriety.
Real Long Shots:
UCLA: Craig Sheppard: A walk-on who has ran a 10.73 100 meters and a 21.86 200 meters back in H.S; he is in his last year of eligibility. Sheppard wasn't overly productive as a football player in H.S. UCLA ran with Chane Moline some last year so maybe there is a slim glimmer of hope for Craig Sheppard. Kahil Bell, he of his 4.74 speed and 2.8 yards per carry, graduated. Bell is somehow still ranked the 38th best RB for this year by NFLdraftscout; unbelievably not one white RB is ranked ahead of Bell. Bell was coming off an injury, but compare him to Toby Gerhart (also coming off injury) who is ranked only 23rd for 2010 by their "scouting" service and is ahead of Kahil Bell in basically every single quality a scout should covet, especially speed, power and "WORLDS AHEAD" in production. Shepard is still stuck behind Derrick Coleman who played well and Rivals fawned over recruits like Aundre Dean and this year's RB recruiting class is good. A very slim glimmer of hope here. Posted to show a typical tale of the career of a white walk-on tailback.
Ridiculous situations:
North Carolina BLACK TAR HEELS: Hunter Furr: Despite the unimpressive production of the black RBs last year and no big black RB recruits signed this year, I don't expect Hunter Furr to get a sniff of the field at tailback as a freshman under Caste Loser Butch Davis.
South Carolina CasteC*cks: Pat DiMarco and Taylor Rank: Mike Davis and his 3.5 YPC have graduated. Freshman backup Eric Baker had 4 YPC and Sophomore 3rd teamer Brian Maddox had all of 3.8 YPC. 4th team black RB Bobby Wallace graduated. Despite horrible production from these black recruits don't expect CasteC*cks' coach Steve Spurrier to give FB/HB hybrid Pat DiMarco or tailback Taylor Rank a chance to move past 6th and 7th team level carries. Despite being behind prized o-line recruits that Spurrier can get with his notoriety, these black RBs are just not producing. Now with Rivals 250 RB Jarvis Giles entering the situation only gets worse for these token white guys.
Texas A&M: Ryan Swope: Swope should absolutely have the chance to be a 1st or 2nd teamer as a true freshman with Mike Goodson graduated and with the "incredible skill" he possesses. However, Sherman is a spineless clown and is probably already set to make Cyrus Gray and far over-hyped recruit Christine Michael shoe ins for the #1 and #2 spots. Read my "Hyped C. Michael vs. R. Swope: Texas A&M" comparison thread in the H.S forum. Christine Michael is probably the most over-hyped black Rivals 100 RB this year (his agility wasn't overly impressive to me) and I would take Swope over Michael personally if I were a recruiter. Ryan Swope wake up and transfer. You and Hunter Furr are going to destroy your careers playing for these clowns. You'll never see the field at your natural positions.
Most Disappointing situation:
West Virginia: Jordan Roberts: After breaking the West Virginia H.S single season rushing record (on a whooping 11.8 YPC if I recall) he had to walk-on for West Virginia. Noel Devine cleary has proven to be a phenomenal #1 RB and is a shoe in for the job barring injury, but Roberts could be the perfect backup with his size and power to Noel. Noel is 5'8 175 lbs. Instead backing up Devine are two more small RBs. Jock Sanders is 5'7 175 lbs. and the 3rd string black RB is 5'9 174 lbs. Again why not diversify your backfield and give a guy with good speed, but also freakish power Jordan Roberts a chance. Robert's is a good cut-back-slashing-power-runner with speed to boot that could be part of helping to close out games in the 4th quarter. Come on- I mean he only broke records in H.S in the school's very state.
Other names who seem destined to remain buried on the depth chart for this season:
Glyndon Bolasky: Arizona
Shaun Chapas: Georgia (Another FB/HB "tweener", may start at FB for Georgia)
Hunter Frantz: Army
Chris Gronkowski: Arizona (The brother of Dan could be a possible starter at FB; he has power-tailback type athleticism)
Daniel Mulrooney: Boston College: Daniel has some notoriety as a recruit. I thought a Boston Catholic school would love an Irishman. Black freshman Montell Harris played well, but Rivals' fawned over freshman Josh Haden did not; where's the love for Mulrooney in Irish Boston.
Justin Salum: Arizona: Maybe one of these Arizona guys should transfer. It hasn't looked good for any of them so far.
Joe Suhey: Penn State: Playing for race traitor Caste Grandpa Joe Paterno.
So best case scenario (if my very optimistic predictions all come true) we could be seeing 25 teams with a white 1st or 2nd team RB out of 120. That is 21% of FBS teams. Things are indeed getting better guys. How long can the NFL ignore the white RB with this increase in numbers of whites in the FBS topping it off with their on-field performance?Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins