Brown/'Butu working at FB

[mikeirwin]

In the early part of today's practice Pierre Brown and Sam Olajubutu were seen working some at fullback.
It was very noticeable since the defense wears white jerseys while the offense goes in red.
No word yet on what the point of this was.

[Buff]

No word yet on what the point of this was.

i dont think im the only other onw here that's halfway curious

[WilsonHog]

I find myself strangely unsuprised by this.

[mikeirwin]

Thursday is not much of a work day so my first reaction was that it was some sort of a scout team thing simulating ULM's offense since Barthel was the QB. But McFadden was the TB so who knows ?

[hogwildinhouston]

Thursday is not much of a work day so my first reaction was that it was some sort of a scout team thing simulating ULM's offense since Barthel was the QB. But McFadden was the TB so who knows ?

Mike, have you ever seen a college coaching staff do as many stupid "high school" type things as this one does?  Moving players to the other side of the ball mid season, move players 3 and 4 times during their career, blow reshirts for just a few plays, etc?  It seems like they are constantly running "willy nilly" around doing things trying to look like "geniuses" if one happens to work.  Most seem to be miserable failures.

[mikeirwin]

HDN said after practice that Brown and 'Butu were fooling around.

[dirty stanchez]

How about the coaches make sure they take the practice seriously.

We're staring 1-4 in the face.

[TulsaHogFan]

How about the coaches make sure they take the practice seriously.

We're staring 1-4 in the face.

Yea lets waste practice time dicking around, that sounds great.  Cause we are perfect like we are, no reason to try and improve this team.  Farging idiot can his ass now.

[radar]

I would say it was somehow directed toward Hillis, since he has requested to be tried at LB, seems he is not very popular with the head man. Is he still off limit to reporters?

[DisplacedHogFan]

I would say it was somehow directed toward Hillis, since he has requested to be tried at LB, seems he is not very popular with the head man. Is he still off limit to reporters?

That is an excellent observation. Perhaps he was proving a point. Both were LBers lining up at FB. Peyton is obviously disgruntled, you can see it in his body language the last couple of games. He has looked very lethargic on punt return duty...I hope he isn't "quitting" on the team just because he doesn't want to play FB and isn't getting the time he thinks he should at RB. Pretty selfish if that's the case. Oh and for the record, I don't think Hillis would be well suited to be a LBer, but I could be wrong.

[dirty stanchez]

I would say it was somehow directed toward Hillis, since he has requested to be tried at LB, seems he is not very popular with the head man. Is he still off limit to reporters?

That is an excellent observation. Perhaps he was proving a point. Both were LBers lining up at FB. Peyton is obviously disgruntled, you can see it in his body language the last couple of games. He has looked very lethargic on punt return duty...I hope he isn't "quitting" on the team just because he doesn't want to play FB and isn't getting the time he thinks he should at RB. Pretty selfish if that's the case. Oh and for the record, I don't think Hillis would be well suited to be a LBer, but I could be wrong.

So Nutt is using valuable practice time, which should be utilized to piece together the puzzle, to criticize and alienate an all SEC player.

GREAT!

[RebelHawg]

Hey also did you also see that fred bledsoe was taking snaps at qb..ya it was pretty obvious because i was there and i know everything, but wait a minute wasnt practice closed during the offensive/defensive part of practice....ohh well you all should believe me because i was there..

[dirty stanchez]

Hey also did you also see that fred bledsoe was taking snaps at qb..ya it was pretty obvious because i was there and i know everything, but wait a minute wasnt practice closed during the offensive/defensive part of practice....ohh well you all should believe me because i was there..

I hope you're not dogging on Mike.

The guy is kinda in the know.

[idochog]

How about the coaches make sure they take the practice seriously.

We're staring 1-4 in the face.

Yea lets waste practice time dicking around, that sounds great. Cause we are perfect like we are, no reason to try and improve this team. Farging idiot can his ass now.

I guess HDN figured they could goof off a little after practicing all 5 plays in the playbook.

[dirty stanchez]

How about the coaches make sure they take the practice seriously.

We're staring 1-4 in the face.

Yea lets waste practice time dicking around, that sounds great. Cause we are perfect like we are, no reason to try and improve this team. Farging idiot can his ass now.

I guess HDN figured they could goof off a little after practicing all 5 plays in the playbook.

Don't wanna over-practice.  Just gotta keep gettin' better.

[DisplacedHogFan]

Hey also did you also see that fred bledsoe was taking snaps at qb..ya it was pretty obvious because i was there and i know everything, but wait a minute wasnt practice closed during the offensive/defensive part of practice....ohh well you all should believe me because i was there..

I hope you're not dogging on Mike.

The guy is kinda in the know.

Noobie mistake I'm sure as far as him not knowing who Irwin is. As for alienating an All SEC player...Hillis is not a TB, he's a FB and he doesn't really want to play FB, he'd rather play LB. What would you do if you were in Houston's shoes? I really don't know what I would do, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with the situation. It's obvious we have better TB's than Hillis (McFadden and Jones), but Hillis should be our go to guy at FB, so what gives? He has God given ability at that position, I just don't get why he won't embrace it. He will only hurt the team if he insists on playing TB or LB where he is not as much of a force. That's my opinion on the matter and I'm sure it's debatable.

[dirty stanchez]

Hey also did you also see that fred bledsoe was taking snaps at qb..ya it was pretty obvious because i was there and i know everything, but wait a minute wasnt practice closed during the offensive/defensive part of practice....ohh well you all should believe me because i was there..

I hope you're not dogging on Mike.

The guy is kinda in the know.

Noobie mistake I'm sure as far as him not knowing who Irwin is. As for alienating an All SEC player...Hillis is not a TB, he's a FB and he doesn't really want to play FB, he'd rather play LB. What would you do if you were in Houston's shoes? I really don't know what I would do, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with the situation. It's obvious we have better TB's than Hillis (McFadden and Jones), but Hillis should be our go to guy at FB, so what gives? He has God given ability at that position, I just don't get why he won't embrace it. He will only hurt the team if he insists on playing TB or LB where he is not as much of a force. That's my opinion on the matter and I'm sure it's debatable.

I don't think it's constructive to poke fun at or get at a kid for talking about a position change.

Kennedy is a great FB.  We don't need Hillis there right now.

We don't need Hillis at TB.

We don't throw to the TE's.

Tunnell screens from Nutt's brand-new HB position aren't showcasing the abilities of Hillis.

[RebelHawg]

ya i know who he is he is that short little leprechaun person that comes to practice with his little hat. also this guy is not in "the know"

[CarolinaHog1176]

He will only hurt the team if he insists on playing TB or LB where he is not as much of a force.

since none of us have seen him play LB at the college level I'm going to hold of judgement on how good of one he would be until I see it.  I'm like many of you though and think that should be a FB.  although, I do think that he would be an excellent LB... he's got the size, agility, and speed to do the job.  he's definitely nasty enough since he likes to punish the tacklers when he's carrying the rock.  the H-back experiment hasn't exactly worked out for Hillis or Poole this year, and we can put pretty much anybody at TE the way we use them right now.  B. Kennedy is a SR this year and we've got F. Jackson and K. Payne (who is very small for a FB in our system), so unless we're recruiting another excellent FB, I think that Hillis should stay on offense.

[Big_D]

ya i know who he is he is that short little leprechaun person that comes to practice with his little hat. also this guy is not in "the know"

Hey bud, you are making a big mistake banging on Irwin here. I can assure you , that you do not want to take on Irwin in a argument. That would be a bad mistake. As for the statement "this guy is not in the know", I would venture to say Irwin has forgotten more in his sleep , about the Razorbcks, than you know.

I will take his view of the situation over yours any day to the week.

[RebelHawg]

haha ok man you keep thinking that because you obviously have no idea who you are talking to. you can think about whatever you want because hmmm let me see does he work in the FB center and is in every meeting? also i am not saying that mike irwin isnt a good sports anchor, because he is, but what he knows about the program right now is very minimum compared to people on "THE INSIDE" know

[clew]

haha ok man you keep thinking that because you obviously have no idea who you are talking to. you can think about whatever you want because hmmm let me see does he work in the FB center and is in every meeting? also i am not saying that mike irwin isnt a good sports anchor, because he is, but what he knows about the program right now is very minimum compared to people on "THE INSIDE" know

Obviously he doesn't know who he's talking to because your pansy ass won't put your name on your post.  Coward.

Chris Lewis
Austin Texas

[Big_D]

haha ok man you keep thinking that because you obviously have no idea who you are talking to. you can think about whatever you want because hmmm let me see does he work in the FB center and is in every meeting? also i am not saying that mike irwin isnt a good sports anchor, because he is, but what he knows about the program right now is very minimum compared to people on "THE INSIDE" know

Obviously he doesn't know who he's talking to because your pansy ass won't put your name on your post. Coward.

Chris Lewis
Austin Texas

        BUSTED!!!!!!!!!

[A Boy Named Sue E.]

Mike, were Butu and Brown both wearing the same jersey #?

[DevilHog]

Hey also did you also see that fred bledsoe was taking snaps at qb..ya it was pretty obvious because i was there and i know everything, but wait a minute wasnt practice closed during the offensive/defensive part of practice....ohh well you all should believe me because i was there..

He shot video of it. Saw it on the news. The "inside" must not be what it once was. I guess you were in the Broyles Center in a meeting or something.

[Pragmatic PiG]

also i am not saying that mike irwin isnt a good sports anchor, because he is, but what he knows about the program right now is very minimum compared to people on "THE INSIDE" know

just for laughs, who might these be?

[TulsaHogFan]

Don't you know?  He is an insider, he washes the uniforms.  He knows more about the situation than anyone.  He told me earlier HDN told him losing to Vandy, Alabama, and USC was just a ruse to get Ole Miss to look past us so we can sneak up and beat them to take our 4th win of the season. 

That guy is in the know, forget that Mike Irwin guy, he would probably wash the uniform tops with the bottoms and turn them all pink, some people think they know everything.

[silvertip]

Brandon Kennedy was one of the top-ranked running backs in the nation out of high school. Also was a good receiver out of the backfield. Check out his bio on Hogwired.com

This season, he has ZERO rushes & ZERO catches. In his CAREER playing FB for HDN, he has 3 rushes & 3 catches.

Well, gee whiz guys, you think Hillis wants to play FB? Of course, he wouldn't touch the ball much more as a TE.

Hillis had his choice of schools as a RUNNING BACK. No way will he accept a role as FB in HDN's scheme. I do think he has everything it takes to be a great LB. You can bet Herring knows it.

[mikeirwin]

This is all pretty funny. This story has nothing to do with whether on not anybody is "in the know." It happened in the open part of practice in full view of anybody who was watching. As has already been pointed out there was video shot of it. There is no question it happened. The only question is WHY it happened. My best guess is just as HDN suggested the players were, "kidding around." There is a portion of practice on Thursdays involving the special teams. It appears that 'Butu and Brown were not involved in that so they wandered over to an offensive drill involving the QBs and RBs. Perhaps it wasn't HDN sending a message to Hillis but Brown and 'Butu. Not they they were mad but maybe it was just a little bit of,, SO YOU WANNA BE A LINEBACKER ? OKAY WE'RE GONNA BE FULLBACKS. Centuries ago when I played this game on the HS level guys did stuff like that all the time, usually on Thursdays which was a light practice just before game day.

[DisplacedHogFan]

This is all pretty funny. This story has nothing to do with whether on not anybody is "in the know." It happened in the open part of practice in full view of anybody who was watching. As has already been pointed out there was video shot of it. There is no question it happened. The only question is WHY it happened. My best guess is just as HDN suggested the players were, "kidding around." There is a portion of practice on Thursdays involving the special teams. It appears that 'Butu and Brown were not involved in that so they wandered over to an offensive drill involving the QBs and RBs. Perhaps it wasn't HDN sending a message to Hillis but Brown and 'Butu. Not they they were mad but maybe it was just a little bit of,, SO YOU WANNA BE A LINEBACKER ? OKAY WE'RE GONNA BE FULLBACKS. Centuries ago when I played this game on the HS level guys did stuff like that all the time, usually on Thursdays which was a light practice just before game day.

Good post Mike. Thanks for your perspective on it. I personally think it's funny, and I don't see anything wrong whatsoever with them taking a few minutes to make a point to Hillis. I just don't think he's a linebacker. Like I've said before I could be totally wrong, but the kid's future is as a FB. I just don't see him making it to the next level at any other position.

[JDW]

How about the coaches make sure they take the practice seriously.

We're staring 1-4 in the face.

Yea lets waste practice time dicking around, that sounds great. Cause we are perfect like we are, no reason to try and improve this team. Farging idiot can his ass now.

I guess you 2 don't ever waste any of your employers time at work, do you?

[whatsshakinbacon]

'butu with the ball is a pretty intriguing prospect...forget all the Hillis stuff and think for a minute about a pass in the flat to a guy who hits like 'butu does.

I'm not sure it would be a huge dropoff.

Bacon out...

[silvertip]

Ok, DisplacedHogF, I'm curious as to why you don't think Hillis has the size, speed & attitude to be a great LB?

[whatsshakinbacon]

Ok, DisplacedHogF, I'm curious as to why you don't think Hillis has the size, speed & attitude to be a great LB?

Silvertip - I agree with you - if Olajubutu can play lb, Hillis could be a stud. 

Let's face it, if you're Hillis and you want to be a showcase player, why wouldn't you want to play LB?  I think he has the size and definitely the attitude to be an SEC 1st teamer there.  Plus, what I like is that he must LIKE Herring to want to play there.  That makes me like Herring a bit more.  Hillis will be throwing blocks 80% of the time as FB for our team with the studs we have at TB.  And he's a good blocker, but without the heart to want to be a great blocker why not fill in with somebody else in that spot who thinks blocking is alright?

Bacon out...

[HogsRule]

I guess you were in the Broyles Center in a meeting or something.

now that's funny right there

[Jim Harris]

In the early part of today's practice Pierre Brown and Sam Olajubutu were seen working some at fullback.
It was very noticeable since the defense wears white jerseys while the offense goes in red.
No word yet on what the point of this was.

Butu is working there because they feel he is too tall at his current position. He's 5-6 and needs to be shorter, hence the practice blocking at fullback.

[whatsshakinbacon]

In the early part of today's practice Pierre Brown and Sam Olajubutu were seen working some at fullback.
It was very noticeable since the defense wears white jerseys while the offense goes in red.
No word yet on what the point of this was.

Butu is working there because they feel he is too tall at his current position. He's 5-6 and needs to be shorter, hence the practice blocking at fullback.

LMAO - BTW can he play point guard?

Bacon out...

[Ben Steiger]

This is all pretty funny. This story has nothing to do with whether on not anybody is "in the know." It happened in the open part of practice in full view of anybody who was watching. As has already been pointed out there was video shot of it. There is no question it happened. The only question is WHY it happened. My best guess is just as HDN suggested the players were, "kidding around." There is a portion of practice on Thursdays involving the special teams. It appears that 'Butu and Brown were not involved in that so they wandered over to an offensive drill involving the QBs and RBs. Perhaps it wasn't HDN sending a message to Hillis but Brown and 'Butu. Not they they were mad but maybe it was just a little bit of,, SO YOU WANNA BE A LINEBACKER ? OKAY WE'RE GONNA BE FULLBACKS. Centuries ago when I played this game on the HS level guys did stuff like that all the time, usually on Thursdays which was a light practice just before game day.

Mr. Irwin, thanks for exhibiting most of the "experts" for who they are...

[MCPeePants]

This is all pretty funny. This story has nothing to do with whether on not anybody is "in the know." It happened in the open part of practice in full view of anybody who was watching. As has already been pointed out there was video shot of it. There is no question it happened. The only question is WHY it happened. My best guess is just as HDN suggested the players were, "kidding around." There is a portion of practice on Thursdays involving the special teams. It appears that 'Butu and Brown were not involved in that so they wandered over to an offensive drill involving the QBs and RBs. Perhaps it wasn't HDN sending a message to Hillis but Brown and 'Butu. Not they they were mad but maybe it was just a little bit of,, SO YOU WANNA BE A LINEBACKER ? OKAY WE'RE GONNA BE FULLBACKS. Centuries ago when I played this game on the HS level guys did stuff like that all the time, usually on Thursdays which was a light practice just before game day.

That sounds like an infinitely more plausible explanation than the "HDN wanted to send a message to Hillis" hypothesis. Regardless of how irritated Nutt may or may not be with Hillis, he's just not going to do that. And say what you will about Nutt's tendency to experiment with moving players around to other positions - he's simply not going to start fooling around with putting our best defensive player at FB and let him risk injuring himself on some ill-fated bad technique block or something. So I think the only explanation for this is that Butu and Brown just decided to switch jerseys and stand in at FB on their own accord at the end of a long practice, just for sh!ts and giggles or just to kinda mess with Hillis in a good-natured sort of way.       

[DisplacedHogFan]

Ok, DisplacedHogF, I'm curious as to why you don't think Hillis has the size, speed & attitude to be a great LB?

Silvertip - I agree with you - if Olajubutu can play lb, Hillis could be a stud.

Let's face it, if you're Hillis and you want to be a showcase player, why wouldn't you want to play LB? I think he has the size and definitely the attitude to be an SEC 1st teamer there. Plus, what I like is that he must LIKE Herring to want to play there. That makes me like Herring a bit more. Hillis will be throwing blocks 80% of the time as FB for our team with the studs we have at TB. And he's a good blocker, but without the heart to want to be a great blocker why not fill in with somebody else in that spot who thinks blocking is alright?

Bacon out...

I will admit that I'm going just from things I've heard from people that watched him play in high school. Nobody ranted and raved about him being an awesome linebacker, quite the contrary. That's not to say he couldn't be one in college, but I really think FB is his "true" position. By that, I mean the one he is most likely to show "next level" talent at in order to make it to the NFL and get the most PT on our team. Anywhere else and I think he'd just be average (or below average) as evidenced by the horribly failed experiment at TB. Would love for him to prove me wrong but I think he'd be 2nd string or worse at LB with the talent we have already. I guess my question is this:

If Hillis wants to play LB who will you take out of the lineup? Brown? Butu? Fairchild? I like the way all those guys are playing this season. Now if Clarke Moore was still starting I might give Hillis more of a look, but that's just the way I see it right now. I just don't think he's needed at LB with guys like Tyrell Graham, Chip Gregory, and several other young guys already looking like they might be capable of contributing next year. Would be a pointless move IMHO.

[whatsshakinbacon]

Ok, DisplacedHogF, I'm curious as to why you don't think Hillis has the size, speed & attitude to be a great LB?

Silvertip - I agree with you - if Olajubutu can play lb, Hillis could be a stud.

Let's face it, if you're Hillis and you want to be a showcase player, why wouldn't you want to play LB? I think he has the size and definitely the attitude to be an SEC 1st teamer there. Plus, what I like is that he must LIKE Herring to want to play there. That makes me like Herring a bit more. Hillis will be throwing blocks 80% of the time as FB for our team with the studs we have at TB. And he's a good blocker, but without the heart to want to be a great blocker why not fill in with somebody else in that spot who thinks blocking is alright?

Bacon out...

I will admit that I'm going just from things I've heard from people that watched him play in high school. Nobody ranted and raved about him being an awesome linebacker, quite the contrary. That's not to say he couldn't be one in college, but I really think FB is his "true" position. By that, I mean the one he is most likely to show "next level" talent at in order to make it to the NFL and get the most PT on our team. Anywhere else and I think he'd just be average (or below average) as evidenced by the horribly failed experiment at TB. Would love for him to prove me wrong but I think he'd be 2nd string or worse at LB with the talent we have already. I guess my question is this:

If Hillis wants to play LB who will you take out of the lineup? Brown? Butu? Fairchild? I like the way all those guys are playing this season. Now if Clarke Moore was still starting I might give Hillis more of a look, but that's just the way I see it right now. I just don't think he's needed at LB with guys like Tyrell Graham, Chip Gregory, and several other young guys already looking like they might be capable of contributing next year. Would be a pointless move IMHO.

Just because PH hasn't shown us anything at LB doesn't mean he couldn't unseat any of those guys.  They are good, but lets face it, just because we like them doesn't make our linebacking corps as good as say, Alabama's.  Judging solely by size, speed and pure meanness I think Hillis could be an asset at that position, and when you look at the linebacker rotation which Herring uses on defense he would get his chances to play.

All of his ability means jack squat if he doesn't want to play FB.  This is one of the problems I have with Nutt.  You have to get inside of a kids head and make him WANT to play a certain position...to make him buy into his importance at that spot.  Obviously HDN can't sell PH on FB or he'd want to stay there.  And nobody needs to come spewing the garbage that it's different because PH is different - this is a problem which has surfaced on our team several times over the past few years. 

Bacon out...