PS: Defense dominates practice-ending scrimmage for SU football | Syracusefan.com

PS: Defense dominates practice-ending scrimmage for SU football

OrangeXtreme said:
http://blog.syracuse.com/orangefootball/2012/08/post_207.html#incart_river_default
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For those that care about this kind of thing, I believe Ritchy Desir and Durell Eskridge have switched positions...Desir is now working as a FS and Eskridge as a SS. Given their sizes (Desir is listed at 5'11 189, Eskridge at 6'3 205), this makes a lot of sense.

Some more ramblings, this time on the RB situation:

We haven't talked about it a lot, but Jerome Smith is one of the players who put on the most weight from spring to fall, going from 213 pounds to 226. While it is hard to see for certain with all the pads and the uniform on, if you see him in person, he doesn't look overweight at all. His legs were always pretty big, but they are huge now...close to Delone Carter territory. He is going to be our biggest starting RB in many years...maybe forever.

In the open practice, Smith did not get a lot of work, so it was hard to get a feel for how he is playing, but in the plays he ran, he was mostly running inside. It appears he is running more lower to the ground than he did his first couple of years with the program, which was surely prompted by his tendency to get concussions. No question Smith is a load to tackle, had defenders bouncing off him often, and is going to be able to move the pile and get some yards after initial contact. His speed has been reported to be sub 4.5. Didn't see enough of him running to verify that. Wish I saw more of Smith but as in past years, when the staff has identified a starter and knows what they bring to the table, they don't play them much, presumably because they want to avoid getting a starter needlessly injured.

Haven't seen the ball thrown to Smith much. The last couple of years, last year especially, the staff really liked to throw the ball to the RB, especially in 3rd down situations, especially to Bailey, who broke all records for receptions for an SU RB for a season and a career. I am guessing that they are going to want to continue to throw to the RB a lot this season.

Smith is clearly #1 here, he knows the position the best (is less likely to blow an assignment) and is physically more ready to play than the others. If we lost him, it would be damaging. I hate to write this, but given his injury history, especially with concussions, this is a real possibility, even with his improved size, strength and running style.

Which brings us to the question of who will serve as the top backup to Smith at RB this season? You know at least one other RB will be getting some serious PT this season. I think it is going to be fascinating to see who that player is.

With all respect to Rene, who unfortunately is out for 3 to 5 weeks after the Shamarko hit he took at the open practice, the candidates are Gulley, Moore and Morris. There is a lot to like about all three.

Gulley has been around the longest. People haven't talked about it a lot but he, like Smith, is a lot stronger than he has been (gained 9 pounds from the spring and is up to 190 pounds now). Regarding his running style, I think it provides an excellent contrast in running style to Smith.

Even though Jerome is a junior now in academic eligibility, I haven't seen him play all that much. From what I have seen, I see him as a prototype power back, a guy who runs North-South, and prefers to run through rather than around pesky defenders. Extremely strong lower body (check his squat number, it might be the highest on the team). Tough, physical guy.

Gulley is more of a dodger guy. Rarely runs North-South, while he is stronger than he was, he is not going to run over anyone. Don't think he has tremendous straightaway speed but he accelerates really quickly, cut sideways extremely well and reads his blocks well. I think the things he needs to do to lock in his playing time are 1) show he can pass block 2) show he can be a reliable receiver on those little dump passes Bailey got so many times the last couple of years and 3) take care of the ball. He has had fumbling issues so far in his career. The extra weight and strength should help him a lot here.

I have seen AAM run even less than Smith. He was clearly too slow to do a lot last season. Down to 229 now, he looks like a D1 RB for the first time. You don't dominate in HS like he did, playing with and against a lot of D1 football players, without a lot of talent. I think he is ready to play and will contribute if given the call. The biggest problem for Moore is that I think his running style is very similar to Smith's, so that nice changeup you like to have when you swap out RBs will not be there. I don't thinke he plays much unless Smith gets hurt.

Like the others, I have only seen George Morris play a little but I am really impressed with him. I think he is the fastest RB we have, the fastest RB we have had in a while, not world class speed but legitimate 4.45 speed. But he is more than a speed back. Reads plays well, has great acceleration and cuts nicely too. I think he has some power as well...he looks like he is a well rounded talent.

He is the kind of a player that is a threat to score every time he touches the ball and I think he is going to bring to excitement and big play ability to our offense. Gulley is capable of doing some of this as well, though I don't think he has that extra gear to take a well blocked play a long way for a touchdown.

I haven't been this upbeat on the status of the running backs in a long time. It is nice to have a couple of power backs and a couple of play makers we can go to. I expect this unit will do well this season. Very well.
 
I really, really like our defense. I think our d-line could be one of the best we have ever had at Syracuse from top to bottom. And if we can get pressure with four down linemen, that will take so much pressure off the rest of the unit.

That being said, this offense is another train wreck waiting to happen IMO. Granted its only practice, and granted the defense is usually ahead of the offense in this stage of the game, but... we are two weeks away from our first game.

I have a feeling we are going to need to win in a similar fashion as we did in 2010, unless we use more misdirection/trickeration. The straight-forward approach that Marrone/Hackett have employed has not and will not work with this talent level.
 
Good post Tom. I would say that, while I hate any injuries for obvious reasons, I'm less worried about a Smith injury than I would have last year about a Bailey injury. As you say, Moore is the same type of runner, and just based on weight alone, he's practically a different human than last year. And since he was a fairly high regarded recruit, I would hope he can step in. Marrone says he wants to have 4 RBs available to play, and I think he has it. Of course, if we get down to Morris, there will likely be issues with blocking and other assignments that accompany true freshman RBs. We also need to factor Broyld in as well, not a true RB, but someone who will see time and provide some of that passing to the RB that you mention we might lack without Bailey.

At this point, I never really worry about injuries, too used to it by now. Seems far fetched that we'd get through the year without having 2 of those guys hurt the same time. I'd call that a jinx, except for the fact that it happens every single year. Part of the game.
 
SUFan44 said:
I really, really like our defense. I think our d-line could be one of the best we have ever had at Syracuse from top to bottom. And if we can get pressure with four down linemen, that will take so much pressure off the rest of the unit.

That being said, this offense is another train wreck waiting to happen IMO. Granted its only practice, and granted the defense is usually ahead of the offense in this stage of the game, but... we are two weeks away from our first game.

I have a feeling we are going to need to win in a similar fashion as we did in 2010, unless we use more misdirection/trickeration. The straight-forward approach that Marrone/Hackett have employed has not and will not work with this talent level.
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Agree. NFL offenses require NFL talent, particularly on the OL.
 
IMO ... PTG is a 3rd down back.

If Smith gets hurt, AAM or Morris will be his back-up at "powerback".
 
sutomcat said:
For those that care about this kind of thing, I believe Ritchy Desir and Durell Eskridge have switched positions...Desir is now working as a FS and Eskridge as a SS. Given their sizes (Desir is listed at 5'11 189, Eskridge at 6'3 205), this makes a lot of sense.

Some more ramblings, this time on the RB situation:

We haven't talked about it a lot, but Jerome Smith is one of the players who put on the most weight from spring to fall, going from 213 pounds to 226. While it is hard to see for certain with all the pads and the uniform on, if you see him in person, he doesn't look overweight at all. His legs were always pretty big, but they are huge now...close to Delone Carter territory. He is going to be our biggest starting RB in many years...maybe forever.

In the open practice, Smith did not get a lot of work, so it was hard to get a feel for how he is playing, but in the plays he ran, he was mostly running inside. It appears he is running more lower to the ground than he did his first couple of years with the program, which was surely prompted by his tendency to get concussions. No question Smith is a load to tackle, had defenders bouncing off him often, and is going to be able to move the pile and get some yards after initial contact. His speed has been reported to be sub 4.5. Didn't see enough of him running to verify that. Wish I saw more of Smith but as in past years, when the staff has identified a starter and knows what they bring to the table, they don't play them much, presumably because they want to avoid getting a starter needlessly injured.

Haven't seen the ball thrown to Smith much. The last couple of years, last year especially, the staff really liked to throw the ball to the RB, especially in 3rd down situations, especially to Bailey, who broke all records for receptions for an SU RB for a season and a career. I am guessing that they are going to want to continue to throw to the RB a lot this season.

Smith is clearly #1 here, he knows the position the best (is less likely to blow an assignment) and is physically more ready to play than the others. If we lost him, it would be damaging. I hate to write this, but given his injury history, especially with concussions, this is a real possibility, even with his improved size, strength and running style.

Which brings us to the question of who will serve as the top backup to Smith at RB this season? You know at least one other RB will be getting some serious PT this season. I think it is going to be fascinating to see who that player is.

With all respect to Rene, who unfortunately is out for 3 to 5 weeks after the Shamarko hit he took at the open practice, the candidates are Gulley, Moore and Morris. There is a lot to like about all three.

Gulley has been around the longest. People haven't talked about it a lot but he, like Smith, is a lot stronger than he has been (gained 9 pounds from the spring and is up to 190 pounds now). Regarding his running style, I think it provides an excellent contrast in running style to Smith.

Even though Jerome is a junior now in academic eligibility, I haven't seen him play all that much. From what I have seen, I see him as a prototype power back, a guy who runs North-South, and prefers to run through rather than around pesky defenders. Extremely strong lower body (check his squat number, it might be the highest on the team). Tough, physical guy.

Gulley is more of a dodger guy. Rarely runs North-South, while he is stronger than he was, he is not going to run over anyone. Don't think he has tremendous straightaway speed but he accelerates really quickly, cut sideways extremely well and reads his blocks well. I think the things he needs to do to lock in his playing time are 1) show he can pass block 2) show he can be a reliable receiver on those little dump passes Bailey got so many times the last couple of years and 3) take care of the ball. He has had fumbling issues so far in his career. The extra weight and strength should help him a lot here.

I have seen AAM run even less than Smith. He was clearly too slow to do a lot last season. Down to 229 now, he looks like a D1 RB for the first time. You don't dominate in HS like he did, playing with and against a lot of D1 football players, without a lot of talent. I think he is ready to play and will contribute if given the call. The biggest problem for Moore is that I think his running style is very similar to Smith's, so that nice changeup you like to have when you swap out RBs will not be there. I don't thinke he plays much unless Smith gets hurt.

Like the others, I have only seen George Morris play a little but I am really impressed with him. I think he is the fastest RB we have, the fastest RB we have had in a while, not world class speed but legitimate 4.45 speed. But he is more than a speed back. Reads plays well, has great acceleration and cuts nicely too. I think he has some power as well...he looks like he is a well rounded talent.

He is the kind of a player that is a threat to score every time he touches the ball and I think he is going to bring to excitement and big play ability to our offense. Gulley is capable of doing some of this as well, though I don't think he has that extra gear to take a well blocked play a long way for a touchdown.

I haven't been this upbeat on the status of the running backs in a long time. It is nice to have a couple of power backs and a couple of play makers we can go to. I expect this unit will do well this season. Very well.
Expand...

I'm in the Morris fan club. Get the kid touches this year. I'd make him the kick returner next to Kobena, and I'd get him in the rotation ahead of AAM.
 
SUFan44 said:
I really, really like our defense. I think our d-line could be one of the best we have ever had at Syracuse from top to bottom. And if we can get pressure with four down linemen, that will take so much pressure off the rest of the unit.

That being said, this offense is another train wreck waiting to happen IMO. Granted its only practice, and granted the defense is usually ahead of the offense in this stage of the game, but... we are two weeks away from our first game.

I have a feeling we are going to need to win in a similar fashion as we did in 2010, unless we use more misdirection/trickeration. The straight-forward approach that Marrone/Hackett have employed has not and will not work with this talent level.
Expand...

It's mid camp mini scrimmage. They have been rotating different guys in an out of spots. They haven't settled on the RG and RT yet as far as I know. Continuity is going to suffer.
 
sutomcat said:
For those that care about this kind of thing, I believe Ritchy Desir and Durell Eskridge have switched positions...Desir is now working as a FS and Eskridge as a SS. Given their sizes (Desir is listed at 5'11 189, Eskridge at 6'3 205), this makes a lot of sense.

Some more ramblings, this time on the RB situation:

We haven't talked about it a lot, but Jerome Smith is one of the players who put on the most weight from spring to fall, going from 213 pounds to 226. While it is hard to see for certain with all the pads and the uniform on, if you see him in person, he doesn't look overweight at all. His legs were always pretty big, but they are huge now...close to Delone Carter territory. He is going to be our biggest starting RB in many years...maybe forever.

In the open practice, Smith did not get a lot of work, so it was hard to get a feel for how he is playing, but in the plays he ran, he was mostly running inside. It appears he is running more lower to the ground than he did his first couple of years with the program, which was surely prompted by his tendency to get concussions. No question Smith is a load to tackle, had defenders bouncing off him often, and is going to be able to move the pile and get some yards after initial contact. His speed has been reported to be sub 4.5. Didn't see enough of him running to verify that. Wish I saw more of Smith but as in past years, when the staff has identified a starter and knows what they bring to the table, they don't play them much, presumably because they want to avoid getting a starter needlessly injured.

Haven't seen the ball thrown to Smith much. The last couple of years, last year especially, the staff really liked to throw the ball to the RB, especially in 3rd down situations, especially to Bailey, who broke all records for receptions for an SU RB for a season and a career. I am guessing that they are going to want to continue to throw to the RB a lot this season.

Smith is clearly #1 here, he knows the position the best (is less likely to blow an assignment) and is physically more ready to play than the others. If we lost him, it would be damaging. I hate to write this, but given his injury history, especially with concussions, this is a real possibility, even with his improved size, strength and running style.

Which brings us to the question of who will serve as the top backup to Smith at RB this season? You know at least one other RB will be getting some serious PT this season. I think it is going to be fascinating to see who that player is.

With all respect to Rene, who unfortunately is out for 3 to 5 weeks after the Shamarko hit he took at the open practice, the candidates are Gulley, Moore and Morris. There is a lot to like about all three.

Gulley has been around the longest. People haven't talked about it a lot but he, like Smith, is a lot stronger than he has been (gained 9 pounds from the spring and is up to 190 pounds now). Regarding his running style, I think it provides an excellent contrast in running style to Smith.

Even though Jerome is a junior now in academic eligibility, I haven't seen him play all that much. From what I have seen, I see him as a prototype power back, a guy who runs North-South, and prefers to run through rather than around pesky defenders. Extremely strong lower body (check his squat number, it might be the highest on the team). Tough, physical guy.

Gulley is more of a dodger guy. Rarely runs North-South, while he is stronger than he was, he is not going to run over anyone. Don't think he has tremendous straightaway speed but he accelerates really quickly, cut sideways extremely well and reads his blocks well. I think the things he needs to do to lock in his playing time are 1) show he can pass block 2) show he can be a reliable receiver on those little dump passes Bailey got so many times the last couple of years and 3) take care of the ball. He has had fumbling issues so far in his career. The extra weight and strength should help him a lot here.

I have seen AAM run even less than Smith. He was clearly too slow to do a lot last season. Down to 229 now, he looks like a D1 RB for the first time. You don't dominate in HS like he did, playing with and against a lot of D1 football players, without a lot of talent. I think he is ready to play and will contribute if given the call. The biggest problem for Moore is that I think his running style is very similar to Smith's, so that nice changeup you like to have when you swap out RBs will not be there. I don't thinke he plays much unless Smith gets hurt.

Like the others, I have only seen George Morris play a little but I am really impressed with him. I think he is the fastest RB we have, the fastest RB we have had in a while, not world class speed but legitimate 4.45 speed. But he is more than a speed back. Reads plays well, has great acceleration and cuts nicely too. I think he has some power as well...he looks like he is a well rounded talent.

He is the kind of a player that is a threat to score every time he touches the ball and I think he is going to bring to excitement and big play ability to our offense. Gulley is capable of doing some of this as well, though I don't think he has that extra gear to take a well blocked play a long way for a touchdown.

I haven't been this upbeat on the status of the running backs in a long time. It is nice to have a couple of power backs and a couple of play makers we can go to. I expect this unit will do well this season. Very well.
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Thanks for the recap.
 
GoSU96 said:
It's mid camp mini scrimmage. They have been rotating different guys in an out of spots. They haven't settled on the RG and RT yet as far as I know. Continuity is going to suffer.
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Yeah, just not that worried yet. Plus a good article this morning on our first opponent and all the losses they have suffered. Granted, they have some more continuity than we have in their program, but the most experienced team they have had was 6-6. Now they have to replace a lot of parts, including both starting corners, a starting safety, two starting DL.

I'd rather have the defense look better at this point. They know what our offense is doing.
 
sutomcat said:
I haven't been this upbeat on the status of the running backs in a long time. It is nice to have a couple of power backs and a couple of play makers we can go to. I expect this unit will do well this season. Very well.
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You weren't this upbeat even when we had Delone and Ant?
 
MikeSU02 said:
You weren't this upbeat even when we had Delone and Ant?
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Close but no. That was a good pairing, those guys complemented each other well, and both were fine players. But I think there is a lot more depth and a little more raw talent in this group. Standard disclaimer applies: not of these RBs have played much, I am going on really small sample sizes seeing them play but I really like what I see from these guys.
 
GoSU96 said:
It's mid camp mini scrimmage. They have been rotating different guys in an out of spots. They haven't settled on the RG and RT yet as far as I know. Continuity is going to suffer.
Expand...

To be fair though, you could honestly have just copy and pasted this exact post from threads at the same time the last three years. I think people are worried about this being a trend as opposed to an isolated early-camp issue. I am choosing to remain optimistic (well, optimistic for me) because it's August and I just want to be optimistic. But I can understand why the alarm bells are going off for some here.
 
GoSU96 said:
I'm in the Morris fan club. Get the kid touches this year. I'd make him the kick returner next to Kobena, and I'd get him in the rotation ahead of AAM.
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Morris is exciting. I actually feel that way about Gulley too. I think people drastically underrate the kid by simply pigeon-holing him as a change-of-pace back or third-down guy. He may fill that role if we have really solid backs who are a bit better between the tackles, but I'd be disappointed if he doesn't get 10 touches a game (if healthy). I really think his cutting and acceleration out of those cuts (judging from high school film and what little we saw last season) is really, really rare. I also believe true speed to be a vastly overrated quality for a back ... wait for it ... particularly with our offensive line (rimshot).
 
More Morris please. I think he is going to be a game changer. From what I have read I don't know HCDM is going to keep him off the field.

Allen/Morris/Broyld/Funderburk and Thompson are huge huge offensive pieces going forward into the ACC IMO.
 
phil77 said:
More Morris please. I think he is going to be a game changer. From what I have read I don't know HCDM is going to keep him off the field.

Allen/Morris/Broyld/Funderburk and Thompson are huge huge offensive pieces going forward into the ACC IMO.
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Agreed. Some might say this is the same talk as every year but when is the last time

1) we landed a QB who is considered one of the top 25 HS QBs in the country (based on the selection to the Elite 11 showcase)
2) we had an incoming RB with a blend of speed and power like Morris? Carter was close but his hip got blowed up almost before he even started here.
3) we had a couple of 6'3/6'4 athletic WRs like Broyld and Funderburk? (We had one with Mike Williams for a while). If Broyld ends up elsewhere, who cares? He is going to be effective wherever he ends up.
4) we had a 4 star incoming TE with the speed and athletic ability of Thompson? I think you have to go back to the days of Roland Williams and Kaseem Sinceno. that was a long time ago.
 
Tomcat with a good writeup, but one puzzling thing.

Regarding Smith: "His speed has been reported to be sub 4.5." (not buying it at all
about him by the way)
Regarding Morris: "I think he is the fastest RB we have, ... but legitimate 4.45 speed."

How do you tell?

From what I'd previously heard, I'd prefer Ameen-Moore be the starter, but as a longtime SU fan, there've
been many RBs brought in who've put up ungodly HS stats who did nothing at SU. What I hope they can
find from the RB position is the potential to break one at any time. Deleone Carter, great power back, but
aside from one long td in the Pinstripe Bowl, for him to break one you had to lay on top of the defensive
players. Bailey, maybe he had the ability, but it didn't happen last year. If you have to get Morris on the
field for this, please do so. And can we agree that pass blocking out of a talented freshman RB is
overrated? I don't care if he can't block if he has the ability to break off a 25 yard run on every play. Heck,
send him out for screen passes and sub him out on obvious passing downs. If you look at even recent
examples of freshman RBs - the one I like is Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina - I will bet the most
productive ones suck at pass blocking. But, if you can put up 1200 yards rushing with 17 TDs, along
with 400 yards receiving and two more TDs, who cares? The tailback position is not defined by the
ability to pass block, that is "nice to have" (fullback's job), it's a scoring position, where the job is to
move the ball. I'd hate to see a solid skill position player relegated to the bench because they
are not a good blocker. I may be overestimating any RB's abilities here, but still. That's like saying
you don't want your best receiver on the field because they can't run block. With a struggling offense,
that's an extra handicap you don't need. SU has to get the talented players on the field and get the
ball to them, quickly enough to not let them worry picking up a rusher.

Kev
 
sutomcat said:
Close but no. That was a good pairing, those guys complemented each other well, and both were fine players. But I think there is a lot more depth and a little more raw talent in this group. Standard disclaimer applies: not of these RBs have played much, I am going on really small sample sizes seeing them play but I really like what I see from these guys.
Expand...

Based on what we have seen so far from our current group, I rather have our 3rd string 2009 RB (Collier). I hope the current group has a big year, but to say that they will be better than the DC3/Bailey combo is setting the bar pretty high.
 
billsin01 said:
To be fair though, you could honestly have just copy and pasted this exact post from threads at the same time the last three years. I think people are worried about this being a trend as opposed to an isolated early-camp issue. I am choosing to remain optimistic (well, optimistic for me) because it's August and I just want to be optimistic. But I can understand why the alarm bells are going off for some here.
Expand...

And to be fair to that, if the defense couldn't get any pressure against the line we'd all be worried about the defense.

it's a scrimmage, everybody should treat it as such and take things with a grain of salt.
 
KevMonstah said:
Tomcat with a good writeup, but one puzzling thing.

Regarding Smith: "His speed has been reported to be sub 4.5." (not buying it at all
about him by the way)
Regarding Morris: "I think he is the fastest RB we have, ... but legitimate 4.45 speed."

How do you tell?

From what I'd previously heard, I'd prefer Ameen-Moore be the starter, but as a longtime SU fan, there've
been many RBs brought in who've put up ungodly HS stats who did nothing at SU. What I hope they can
find from the RB position is the potential to break one at any time. Deleone Carter, great power back, but
aside from one long td in the Pinstripe Bowl, for him to break one you had to lay on top of the defensive
players. Bailey, maybe he had the ability, but it didn't happen last year. If you have to get Morris on the
field for this, please do so. And can we agree that pass blocking out of a talented freshman RB is
overrated? I don't care if he can't block if he has the ability to break off a 25 yard run on every play. Heck,
send him out for screen passes and sub him out on obvious passing downs. If you look at even recent
examples of freshman RBs - the one I like is Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina - I will bet the most
productive ones suck at pass blocking. But, if you can put up 1200 yards rushing with 17 TDs, along
with 400 yards receiving and two more TDs, who cares? The tailback position is not defined by the
ability to pass block, that is "nice to have" (fullback's job), it's a scoring position, where the job is to
move the ball. I'd hate to see a solid skill position player relegated to the bench because they
are not a good blocker. I may be overestimating any RB's abilities here, but still. That's like saying
you don't want your best receiver on the field because they can't run block. With a struggling offense,
that's an extra handicap you don't need. SU has to get the talented players on the field and get the
ball to them, quickly enough to not let them worry picking up a rusher.

Kev
Expand...
You asked about 40 times for Smith and Morris.

Smith reportedly ran sub 4.5 40s during off season workouts. I just repeated that information. I have never timed him.

I haven't timed Morris either but I have seen his HS film, where it appeared he is very fast, and I saw him run right by 3 linebackers and 3 defensive backs to score a long TD in the open practice. Haven't seen that from an SU RB since the days of Rhodes and Reyes. That told me he can fly. If he gets to the corner, I think he is going to be hard to run down.

I agree with you , in recent years, guys like Bailey and Carter were routinely caught from behind after breaking into the open field. I think Morris might do better in these situations. Regarding pass blocking, I agree it isn't really important, especially not to a back that will come out in passing situations (like I think Smith will for instance). If Morris plays mostly in passing situations, that changes some. But there is than pass blocking that makes coaches hesitate to play freshmen at RB.

Morris is true frosh who did not enroll early. He has to learn the play book, has to learn to secure the ball against BCS defenses, what his blocking assignments are, what the audible calls are, etc. RB is a really important position where even a small mistake can result in disaster. It is a huge jump from HS to college ball, and it is unlikely he is going to be anywhere near 100% ready for a long time.

Based on a really limited sampling, I think he might well be our most talented RB but if he is running the wrong way, fumbling handoffs, blowing assignments, dropping passes, lining up incorrectly, etc. on a regular basis, he probably isn't our best back. If they get him on the field early in the season, it will likely be with him knowing only a limited number of plays. If he is out there early in close games, I am not sure it is a sign of the greatness of Morris or on how bad our 'veteran' backs are.
 
sutomcat said:
Morris is true frosh who did not enroll early. He has to learn the play book, has to learn to secure the ball against BCS defenses, what his blocking assignments are, what the audible calls are, etc. RB is a really important position where even a small mistake can result in disaster. It is a huge jump from HS to college ball, and it is unlikely he is going to be anywhere near 100% ready for a long time.
Expand...

Morris has great hands and played split out a lot in high school. He might be a dangerous weapon in passing situations. If they're going to use him there though they'll have to give him a crash course in being an effective pass blocker at this level. there'll be plenty of times times he has to stay in and block- especially to pick up blitzes.
 
sutomcat said:
You asked about 40 times for Smith and Morris.

Smith reportedly ran sub 4.5 40s during off season workouts. I just repeated that information. I have never timed him.

I haven't timed Morris either but I have seen his HS film, where it appeared he is very fast, and I saw him run right by 3 linebackers and 3 defensive backs to score a long TD in the open practice. Haven't seen that from an SU RB since the days of Rhodes and Reyes. That told me he can fly. If he gets to the corner, I think he is going to be hard to run down.

I agree with you , in recent years, guys like Bailey and Carter were routinely caught from behind after breaking into the open field. I think Morris might do better in these situations. Regarding pass blocking, I agree it isn't really important, especially not to a back that will come out in passing situations (like I think Smith will for instance). If Morris plays mostly in passing situations, that changes some. But there is than pass blocking that makes coaches hesitate to play freshmen at RB.

Morris is true frosh who did not enroll early. He has to learn the play book, has to learn to secure the ball against BCS defenses, what his blocking assignments are, what the audible calls are, etc. RB is a really important position where even a small mistake can result in disaster. It is a huge jump from HS to college ball, and it is unlikely he is going to be anywhere near 100% ready for a long time.

Based on a really limited sampling, I think he might well be our most talented RB but if he is running the wrong way, fumbling handoffs, blowing assignments, dropping passes, lining up incorrectly, etc. on a regular basis, he probably isn't our best back. If they get him on the field early in the season, it will likely be with him knowing only a limited number of plays. If he is out there early in close games, I am not sure it is a sign of the greatness of Morris or on how bad our 'veteran' backs are.
Expand...

Sounds like a good case for redhirting him.
 
Tomcat -

I would agree that Morris is probably SU's fastest "bigger" back, and it's likely
Rene and PTG are probably a little bit quicker just due to being like 160-175.
I just got a bit of a chuckle out of the "sub 4.5" vs. 4.45 timing.

And, yeah, Morris probably does have stuff to learn, but as far as a jump from
HS, the likelihood of a kid succeeding at RB has got to be higher than almost
every other position, except maybe DT at a school that doesn't zone blitz.
There it's pretty easy: just mash into the center and go to where the ball is.
Granted, a college offense is going to be a lot more complicated than a high
school one, but still, you could mostly describe an RB's job as: run right,
run left, run up the middle, screen pass right, screen pass left, hold onto the
ball, and make everyone miss. And try to gain yards, not lose them. That's
really what it comes down to. Any freshman *should* be able to do those
things, and should be able to do that at a school like Syracuse, which does
not run the most complex of offenses. Last year it was, "simplify the
offense" towards the end of the year. If they're waiting for a kid to grasp
how to pass block before playing him, and he's more talented than the
guys who are playing, I think they're handicapping themselves unnecessarily.

Kev
 
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