If the offense can be average or better, we should be good. But if it can actually be a plus, then look out. This could be a very dangerous team. I sure wish we had been able to have normal spring workouts and a normal training camp this summer.Does Street and/or Smith know we lost Robinson ?
OUr defense will be top 5, our offense will not ... work in progress and a lot to prove before we should be talking top 10, much less top 5.
I do think we have the talent on offense, but until it materializes, I'm skeptical. As Total Red inquired, it's 4th and 2 (or 3rd and 2), who do you give the ball to ? We're really going to have top mix things up on offense until we see what we have. Without Robinson, we will need a reliable pass game. I love our WR group and hope they stay healthy .. they should be ready this fall. But our RB group is a year behind our young WR group and therefore a question mark, as is our pass game. OUr strong OL gives me some hope the offense will be good enough to win enough games to make playoffs. Our challenge will be the upper half of MVFC again looks very strong and you can probably add SIU to the upper half talk. I put the MVFC in these tiers in 2020:If the offense can be average or better, we should be good. But if it can actually be a plus, then look out. This could be a very dangerous team. I sure wish we had been able to have normal spring workouts and a normal training camp this summer.
The main thing we missed last year was a deep threat. Most of that offensive line that kept the 'birds winning games when everyone knew we were running the ball is back. If Davis can force those defenses to respect the passing game... It was starting to come together for Davis before the injuries last year to Edgar and Grimes.
MOST is a wildcard for me. Petrino has won at every stop in his coaching career, including WKU. Steckel's 2020 recruiting class was reputed to be his best. Faint praise, I know, but there were several that had FBS offers, which is unusual for MOST. Petrino added to the class in the spring with the NJCAA defensive player of the year, a couple big defensive linemen (330+), a speedy WR (3rd place in the 100m dash in GA), among some others. We play them in our MFVC season finale, so they'll have a year of Petrino schooling under their belt. Probably won't matter, but a team to watch, IMO.I do think we have the talent on offense, but until it materializes, I'm skeptical. As Total Red inquired, it's 4th and 2 (or 3rd and 2), who do you give the ball to ? We're really going to have top mix things up on offense until we see what we have. Without Robinson, we will need a reliable pass game. I love our WR group and hope they stay healthy .. they should be ready this fall. But our RB group is a year behind our young WR group and therefore a question mark, as is our pass game. OUr strong OL gives me some hope the offense will be good enough to win enough games to make playoffs. Our challenge will be the upper half of MVFC again looks very strong and you can probably add SIU to the upper half talk. I put the MVFC in these tiers in 2020:
Tier 1: NDSU, SDSU, UNI, ISUr, SIU .. NDSU is prohibitive favorite, they had little coming back last year and still won it all. This year, they have fair amount back. Then probably SDSU, and after that, it will be a dog fight between UNI, ISUr, and SIU. If our offense is pretty good, we will rise above this group and contest SDSU for 2nd place. I just love our defense again .. especially the DL and DB groups, and I expect or LB group to reload it's depth, though our depth here is our only question mark on defense. But our offense has to move some chains some against the upper half teams .. and this depends on a lot on Davis establishing pass game.
Tier 2: USD, UND, ISUb, and YSU .. thinking USD and UND will be competitive, but not ready for upper tier. While ISUb and YSU should have some further fall off, possibly into Tier 3
Tier 3: WIU and MoST .. just not seeing any chance they move up at all this year.
Does Street and/or Smith know we lost Robinson ?
OUr defense will be top 5, our offense will not ... work in progress and a lot to prove before we should be talking top 10, much less top 5.
No one went higher!View attachment 320
No hole? No problem. Is this what coaches mean when they tell you to take your game to a higher level?
Walter was not human. He was made of steel. And 200 lbs was bigger then. Jay Hilgenberg went to 7 pro bowls at 250 lbs.Randy Reinhardt, our own local sportswriter, is the one that does the MVFC and the National writeup for the FCS portion of Street & Smith's, so it can be said with confidence that he is aware that James Robinson is no longer a Redbird.
Yes the offense has a lot to prove but remember that the team finished in the top 8 of the playoffs last year. We had workhorse Robinson but we didn't have our starting QB (Davis) or starting WR (Grimes).
btw it was Coach Timmy that asked who gets the ball on 4th and 2. My answer - Proctor. Just as I contend that speed is overrated for long runs by a RB, I also contend that size is overrated in short yardage situations. Most short yardage runs are not a handoff, a straight line run and a head on collision with an attempt to knock the defender backwards. Most short yardage runs involve movement just before contact to find the small opening that exists. The RB can maneuver left, right, high, low and yes sometimes pads down and straightforward but not that often. The perfect 4th and 2 back? Fans of my generation think of Walter Payton. Not big, not fast, just an incredible football player with all kinds of ways to beat you. Proctor is similar in size to Payton - does he deserve to be mentioned in the same breath? I'll circle back to what fourth said - "work in progress and a lot to prove," but it's sure something to shoot for.
We can be 8-3 and a genuine contender for the national title. We will be underdogs in those three away games, I agree.S & S has the Redbirds 3rd in the conference and #5 nationally. The polls aren't likely to go along. We're the likely underdog at North Dakota St., at Northern Iowa and at Illinois. That's 3 losses right there. An 8-3 team has a very hard time being ranked #5. They'll go with a 9-2 or 10-1 team from a lesser conference with an easier schedule. Same old story. The MVFC teams knock each other off during the regular season and then prove their worth in the playoffs.
Randy Reinhardt, our own local sportswriter, is the one that does the MVFC and the National writeup for the FCS portion of Street & Smith's, so it can be said with confidence that he is aware that James Robinson is no longer a Redbird.
Yes the offense has a lot to prove but remember that the team finished in the top 8 of the playoffs last year. We had workhorse Robinson but we didn't have our starting QB (Davis) or starting WR (Grimes).
btw it was Coach Timmy that asked who gets the ball on 4th and 2. My answer - Proctor. Just as I contend that speed is overrated for long runs by a RB, I also contend that size is overrated in short yardage situations. Most short yardage runs are not a handoff, a straight line run and a head on collision with an attempt to knock the defender backwards. Most short yardage runs involve movement just before contact to find the small opening that exists. The RB can maneuver left, right, high, low and yes sometimes pads down and straightforward but not that often. The perfect 4th and 2 back? Fans of my generation think of Walter Payton. Not big, not fast, just an incredible football player with all kinds of ways to beat you. Proctor is similar in size to Payton - does he deserve to be mentioned in the same breath? I'll circle back to what fourth said - "work in progress and a lot to prove," but it's sure something to shoot for.
oh the memories of watching him run. And his patented leap over the top for TDs (or 1st downs) was just a thing of beauty. Somebody suggested Proctor is similar size ... Proctor is reportedly up to 185 lbs at 5'8". Walter was 5'10' and 200 lbs.View attachment 320
No hole? No problem. Is this what coaches mean when they tell you to take your game to a higher level?
oh the memories of watching him run. And his patented leap over the top for TDs (or 1st downs) was just a thing of beauty. Somebody suggested Proctor is similar size ... Proctor is reportedly up to 185 lbs at 5'8". Walter was 5'10' and 200 lbs.
But would love to drift this thread about Payton .... he was a very powerful 200 lbs, but just fast and quick enough for NFL, and then phenomenal running skills and nearly impossible to tackle one on one or in open field. And his stiff arm or shoulder ... oh my, it was just brutal. His running style at his size defied physics. I know players weren't as big then, but still.
I seriously wish they kept stats for how many times RBs got forced out of bounds versus tackled. And not when RBs opt to go out of bounds to avoid contact, but actually forced out of bounds versus tackled. And with Payton there was almost always more contact because he forced the contact before he had no choice but to go out of bounds. Walter would have been ranked way up the hell up there.
Somebody suggested Proctor is similar size ... Proctor is reportedly up to 185 lbs at 5'8". Walter was 5'10' and 200 lbs.
Proctor is around 205 now video of him working out with Footwork King !
You almost can't compare Payton and Sanders or Jim Brown. If someone asked me who the most electric talented big play RB of all time, it is Barry Sanders, hands down. If you asked me who the most dominant RB of all time, it would be Jim Brown. But when question is simply, who is the best all around RB of all time, it is clearly Walter Payton.Walter was a very special player. I was living in the Detroit area the last few years of Barry Sanders's career and saw him several times at the old Silverdome. I used to get into heated arguments with Lions fans when I told them if I had to make a choice, I would pick Walter over Barry every time. The Lions fans would go absolutely crazy. I told them a couple of things. One, Barry would break a play for 35 yards and then lose 7 on the next play. The Lions took Sanders out in goal line or short yardage on a regular basis because he was as likely to lose yardage as pick up a couple of yards. Sanders was an elusive runner kind of in the Gale Sayers mode but he was rarely asked to block and completed a successful block even less often. Walter was the best all-around football player I have ever seen play the game. He could run, catch, pass, and was a devastating blocker. He even played QB in a game in 1984. Now don't get me wrong, you could not go wrong with either player but my first choice would be Walter. Then toss in his durability. He only missed one start in his career and insisted he could have played that day. With as much contact as he had and on some horrid Bears teams, that to me was his most amazing stat.
Yeah, players were smaller then. Hard to believe now but I vividly remember people astonished with the Fridge because he weighed over 300 pounds. Heck, Dan Hampton was 6'5" and 264 pounds. I don't think it would impact his ability as much as his durability. He probably would have been injured a little more with 330 or 320 pounds guys slamming into him all day. Just a wonderful football player and human being.