Am I the only that hates this quote from HDN? . . .

[Feralhog]

Robbie Neiswanger article today quoting Nutt " "We feel like we have a couple of home run hitters there," Nutt said about his freshmen class....I still believe in De'Arrius Howard, Peyton Hillis and Dedrick Poole. That's your experienced group. Then you've got some guys right on their heels..."  I read this and I want to rip my friken eyes out and throw them at my computer.


Anyone remember the discussions last year on this board asking if Adrian Peterson had chosen Arkansas instead of OU, would he have been a starter for the Hogs?  Let's be honest, Our returning RB's  haven't exactly been the model of consistency, other than maybe Peyton Hillis!  I understand experience is important, but if these freshmen have talent that is clearly, head and shoulders above the experienced RB's, does anyone think that Nutt will ever let 'em start? 

We'll be lucky to get 800 yards of production from these frosh this year!  

[Hollywood_HOGan]

Well if he aint gonna play them that much, he better shirt at least one or two of them.

Cant waste talent like we wasted Fred Talley his first year and Vick Vaughn wasted his frosh year on Special Teams.

Nutt does have a knack for wasting very talented kids in their first year when he can shirt them and have them an extra year in the system.

[idochog]

I bet he wastes Felix Jones or McFadden or just a few plays.

[Feralhog]

What's ironic our RB's tend to look better as freshmen than they do the rest of their career.  I watched the '99 UT game the other night and had Cobbs ran as hard his entire career as he did that day, he'd been an all american.   Howard is another example of a RB looking better his freshmen year than he does now!

[club monaco]

No need to worry. Same article said he is asking the freshman backs to learn two plays a day. They should have the playbook mastered by Friday afternoon.

[Since 1894]

It will all depend on the passing game and injuries.  If we can't throw and catch, these backs will get plenty of carries because that will be all we will have.

But I bet we will be able to throw and catch!

[Biggus Piggus]

You recall how Cedric Cobbs ramped during his freshman year.  Nutt wants to make sure a kid can hold onto the football and not get his QB blown up on pass plays.  As the year went on, Cobbs was the man in big games.  Nutt is very conscious of massaging the egos of lettermen.  I would be annoyed if the Hogs ended up with 40-50 carries a game distributed among six backs.  Do that with three, great.

It is obvious to me that Howard and Hillis will continue to battle for the same carries.  Poole ought to be a third down and long yardage back.  Question is who's in there on first down.  Can the offense stand blowing big-play opportunities by having a plodder in the backfield on first down?  I bet this Oline is going to open some holes; why get 7 instead of 20?

I say plodder.  Howard supposedly has good speed.  If he has great playing speed, if he gets to the hole and through the hole and forces some attempted arm tackles, then he has good speed.  Did not see any of that the past two years.  These freshmen are good enough to intimidate even a senior.  I don't know if the incumbents will step up or lay down.

You are right, nobody will gain if carries are piecemealed out in an attempt to placate everyone.  That will make nobody happy.  For this offense to work, somebody's gotta win, somebody's gotta lose.  Get the great talent on the field.

[Hogger]

No need to worry. Same article said he is asking the freshman backs to learn two plays a day. They should have the playbook mastered by Friday afternoon.

Brilliant!  

[HogNuttz]

What's ironic our RB's tend to look better as freshmen than they do the rest of their career. I watched the '99 UT game the other night and had Cobbs ran as hard his entire career as he did that day, he'd been an all american. Howard is another example of a RB looking better his freshmen year than he does now!

Talley progressed quite nicely. Cobbs had several injuries but his senior season was his best.  Howard however, is a good example.  Seems to me he is kinda fat, slow, and less powerful than he was as a freshman.  Maybe he will be in better shape this year.

[LSUFan]

Robbie Neiswanger article today quoting Nutt " "We feel like we have a couple of home run hitters there,"

Uh, does he not know he is coaching football and not baseball? That may be the problem.

[Feralhog]

 You make some great points Biggus, and I'm not arguing with you.   Let me expand on this just a bit.   Peterson was starting by the 3rd or 4th game at OU, and in games prior to his starting, he made a ton of freshmen mistakes.  However, Stoops determined that his EXPLOSIVENESS was worth the trade off.   C4 his freshmen year was averaging something like 7 yds per carry and riding the pine behind Chekuyma (sp) who was avg. something like 3.2.  I understand that Chris was getting the bulk of the carries, so those avg. are a bit misleading, however, even to untrained observers, there was a clearly another gear with Cobbs.   I don't care if it was outside or between the tackles, nobody hit the hole harder than C4 his freshmen year.  He ended the season with what 680 yards?  Total waste if you ask me.   

[LSUFan]

Wasn't Cobbs a potential Heisman candidate as a soph or junior?

What happened?

[Feralhog]

IMO, Cobbs quit running the ball hard.  He began dancing around, trying to pick his way through holes instead of hitting them hard and fast.  I marveled, the other night watching the '99 UT game reminded me how Cobbs use to hit the holes.  Maybe it was his blown shoulder his sophmore year that caused him to be tentative?

[Inigo Montoya]

Well, I'm ready for some football now.  I think Howard, Hillis, and Poole are all descent and could light it up this year if the holes are there for them unlike they were last year.

[Feralhog]

Talley progressed quite nicely. Cobbs had several injuries but his senior season was his best. Howard however, is a good example. Seems to me he is kinda fat, slow, and less powerful than he was as a freshman. Maybe he will be in better shape this year.

Our crack staff had Talley playing DB his freshmen year!

[idochog]

No need to worry. Same article said he is asking the freshman backs to learn two plays a day. They should have the playbook mastered by Friday afternoon.

Thats easy Draw, Stretch play left, Stretch play right.

[Chief Mac]

IMO, Cobbs quit running the ball hard.  He began dancing around, trying to pick his way through holes instead of hitting them hard and fast.  I marveled, the other night watching the '99 UT game reminded me how Cobbs use to hit the holes.  Maybe it was his blown shoulder his sophmore year that caused him to be tentative?

He ran pretty good up until the shoulder injury.  You would have to think that played a part in his dancing days.

WPS

Chris

[CarolinaHog1176]

IMO, Cobbs quit running the ball hard.  He began dancing around, trying to pick his way through holes instead of hitting them hard and fast.  I marveled, the other night watching the '99 UT game reminded me how Cobbs use to hit the holes.  Maybe it was his blown shoulder his sophmore year that caused him to be tentative?

yea, that and him trying to hit the home run everytime he touched it

[Hawgbrew]

I don't get all this talk about Poole.  He has never shown me anything except one
decent run against Texas where he got caught from behind.  I hope I am wrong but he would really have to Step it up to be better than Mcfadden and Jones.  I think Howard will have a good senior year but I haven't heard much about him in camp so far.  Howard has had a tough road in his career here and I hope he shines this year.   

[rudebaker]

this just goes to show you that houston is more concerned with hurting feelings than putting the best team on the field.  i am also sick of the phrase "we're gonna play him cause he's been there"  why not put the best player on the field.  these kids are still getting their education paid for and they should be happy with that.  i can see where it would hurt their pride if a freshman took their place but if they are a team player (which houston swears everyone is) then they will get over it.  how about the phrases "the defense really flew around out there today" and "he's gonna be special."   those are pretty annoying also.

[Theolesnort]

Although it is a great asset to have, speed does not make a great running back. Before some jump down my throat thinking I'm about to dis Darren don't do it. My point is about Howard. He has very good speed but he looks slow compared to some of the other backs because he is not a instinctive runner and is often indecisive about hitting the hole or having the vision to know where the hole is going to be. If Howard was a old fashion tailback running out of the I where the offensive line fires out low and the guard takes his man one way and the tackle his man the other way and the fullback leading the tailback through the hole then Howard would be a dandy. Alas this is not the way Ark or most schools block any more. The zone blocking scheme makes it a necessity for the running back to have the knack or vision to anticipate where the crease or hole will be and when it does appear, to be there and explode through it. It takes impeccable timing to be a great one. Evidently Mcfaddon has wowed everyone with his speed and athleticism yet Felix Jones who is not as big or fast is the one that the Nutts are getting excited about. Why? Evidently he has a lot of intangibles that few backs have.

[club monaco]

The newest one that I am tired of hearing is "with Matt gone, now we can put in our real offense." Can't wait to see what that looks like.

In the ADG today, it was written that the Hogs will keep things basic on the ground again, using the same four running plays they have used the past few years with a little option sprinkled in. Sounds like the old offense.

[sage_dragoon]

Wasn't Cobbs a potential Heisman candidate as a soph or junior?

What happened?

His sophmore year, he was averaging over 150 ypg until he got dogpiled against Bama and broke his collarbone. After that, he bulked up, got tenative and unproductive until he slimmed up before his senior season.

[Jim Harris]

What's ironic our RB's tend to look better as freshmen than they do the rest of their career. I watched the '99 UT game the other night and had Cobbs ran as hard his entire career as he did that day, he'd been an all american. Howard is another example of a RB looking better his freshmen year than he does now!

I don't think it's irony. I think specifically there is a definite pattern. But it's a great point you made. Why don't they improve?

[Jim Harris]

I don't get all this talk about Poole. He has never shown me anything except one
decent run against Texas where he got caught from behind. I hope I am wrong but he would really have to Step it up to be better than Mcfadden and Jones. I think Howard will have a good senior year but I haven't heard much about him in camp so far. Howard has had a tough road in his career here and I hope he shines this year.

I contend that had Poole gone to high school in, say, Conway, or Sylvan Hills instead of LR Central, he'd be at UCA or Arkansas Tech, and D'Angelo Williams would be at Arkansas.

[Biggus Piggus]

It's a hefty burden for Poole to carry, knowing he probably was in the way of Williams coming to Arkansas.

Another thing Cobbs had to contend with in 2001-02 was the kind of holes he had to run through.  They didn't stay open very long.  And the blocking from tight ends and fullbacks was spotty.  The style slanted to Talley.  Recall too in '01, defenses decided the best way to deal with Cobbs was to send all 11 men at him on first down.  Close to it anyway.  He got hit in the backfield often.

[RazorRedneck]

Wasn't Cobbs a potential Heisman candidate as a soph or junior?

What happened?

His sophmore year, he was averaging over 150 ypg until he got dogpiled against Bama and broke his collarbone. After that, he bulked up, got tenative and unproductive until he slimmed up before his senior season.

Just a little correction here...he did not break his collarbone it was a massive shoulder separation

[toshortrock]

i don't feel it in Howard like u do,,,,been feeling it for the last few years,,,,i hope he proves me wrong

[Jim Harris]

It's a hefty burden for Poole to carry, knowing he probably was in the way of Williams coming to Arkansas.

Another thing Cobbs had to contend with in 2001-02 was the kind of holes he had to run through. They didn't stay open very long. And the blocking from tight ends and fullbacks was spotty. The style slanted to Talley. Recall too in '01, defenses decided the best way to deal with Cobbs was to send all 11 men at him on first down. Close to it anyway. He got hit in the backfield often.

Talley was built far better for running behind a zone-blocking scheme, imo, than was Cobbs. Look for example at the guys who have succeeded lately at Iowa behind their zone blocking.

[Mike_P]

Talley progressed quite nicely. Cobbs had several injuries but his senior season was his best. Howard however, is a good example. Seems to me he is kinda fat, slow, and less powerful than he was as a freshman. Maybe he will be in better shape this year.

Our crack staff had Talley playing DB his freshmen year!

Talley wasn't one of the best backs his freshman year and he did not want to RS. One of the reasons we got him was by promising him he wouldn't RS.

Hey! But whatever it takes to give HDN and Co. a shot. Facts be darned!

[Biggus Piggus]

Why do you think it is acceptable to promise recruits they won't redshirt, then waste a year of their eligibility with brief and useless playing time?  Why is it OK to cede intelligent decisionmaking just because of a recruiting promise?  Every coach makes recruiting promises, and every coach breaks them, and usually it doesn't result in kids transferring prior to their second year.

[Feralhog]

It's a hefty burden for Poole to carry, knowing he probably was in the way of Williams coming to Arkansas.

Another thing Cobbs had to contend with in 2001-02 was the kind of holes he had to run through. They didn't stay open very long. And the blocking from tight ends and fullbacks was spotty. The style slanted to Talley. Recall too in '01, defenses decided the best way to deal with Cobbs was to send all 11 men at him on first down. Close to it anyway. He got hit in the backfield often.

Talley was built far better for running behind a zone-blocking scheme, imo, than was Cobbs. Look for example at the guys who have succeeded lately at Iowa behind their zone blocking.

I don't buy into that crap.  Bottom line imo, backs have to hit the hole hard.  If the hole is defined by area, then they need to hit the area hard.  To expand on this, one play in the '99 UT video that stood out.  For us old schoolers, it looked a lot like a play that was designed to go wide, but instead of a sweep, the receiver would kick out on his man and the back would cut inside the block between the tackle and end.  I'm not sure I fully understand zone blocking but I'm guessing in that situation, the back will read the receiver's block, who's kicking our or blocking in, based on his postion against the defender.  Anyway, every time we ran that play with Cobbs, he was hauling a** to the point of the block, then exploded through the opening. I Don't remember him running to the hole like that as an uppper classmen!   

[TechHawg]

But if Houston Nutt broke a promise to a recruit and it got out, people on here would burn him down for it.

[hogsanity]

Why do you think it is acceptable to promise recruits they won't redshirt, then waste a year of their eligibility with brief and useless playing time? Why is it OK to cede intelligent decisionmaking just because of a recruiting promise? Every coach makes recruiting promises, and every coach breaks them, and usually it doesn't result in kids transferring prior to their second year.

2 reasons

1.  You start telling recruits, especially really good ones, that they wont redshirt, then you shirt them any way and all it takes is one or 2 transferring out for other coaches to use that against your program.

2.  At some positions, especially Rb, it does no good to redshirt guys.  Rb is probably the EASIEST position to recruit at UA.  THe state produces 1 or 2 a year, and our neighbors to the south produce so many they could stock half the d1 schools by themsleves with Rb's.  Some of course are better than others. 

Redshirting is a huge benefit on the lines and at QB.  Of course if you are signing 25 parade all americans every year heck red shirt the whole class.

[Mike_P]

Why do you think it is acceptable to promise recruits they won't redshirt, then waste a year of their eligibility with brief and useless playing time? Why is it OK to cede intelligent decisionmaking just because of a recruiting promise? Every coach makes recruiting promises, and every coach breaks them, and usually it doesn't result in kids transferring prior to their second year.

It's acceptable to promise that if it's going to be a deal breaker to getting him on campus. Also, as you've stated many times while bashing HDN, that you don't lie to kids especially from places where you're going to be recruiting from frequently. I'm sure that after promising him he wouldn't redshirt and the first thing you do in the fall is tell him he's going to RS and then wonder why the HC at Longview, Tx steers his kids to other schools.

Not that the facts matter but Talley actually was playing on special teams and some on defense until he was injured his freshman year.

Then we get to read long posts with way too much BS and way too few facts as to why HS coaches don't care for HDN.

[Feralhog]

I've not read anywhere where people are suggesting that Nutt should promise to start a kid, if that's what you're implying?  Everything I've read has HDN promising to give these guys an honest look at the position they were being recruited.  I'm not so sure he's doing that!  I think he's so caught up in giving playing time to verterans, a true frosh to earn a starting spot, especially against Seniors, will likely never happen!  No matter how good he is.  Do you think Adrian Peterson would have started at RB for the Hogs as a frosh, as early as the 3rd game? 

[Biggus Piggus]

Why do you think it is acceptable to promise recruits they won't redshirt, then waste a year of their eligibility with brief and useless playing time? Why is it OK to cede intelligent decisionmaking just because of a recruiting promise? Every coach makes recruiting promises, and every coach breaks them, and usually it doesn't result in kids transferring prior to their second year.

It's acceptable to promise that if it's going to be a deal breaker to getting him on campus. Also, as you've stated many times while bashing HDN, that you don't lie to kids especially from places where you're going to be recruiting from frequently. I'm sure that after promising him he wouldn't redshirt and the first thing you do in the fall is tell him he's going to RS and then wonder why the HC at Longview, Tx steers his kids to other schools.

Not that the facts matter but Talley actually was playing on special teams and some on defense until he was injured his freshman year.

Then we get to read long posts with way too much BS and way too few facts as to why HS coaches don't care for HDN.

It is not acceptable to promise kids PT before they've earned it.  Promise them a shot.  Make them earn it.  Not redshirting Talley was a waste.  Don't lie, don't be stupid, don't be a marshmallow.

[hogsanity]

I don't get all this talk about Poole. He has never shown me anything except one
decent run against Texas where he got caught from behind. I hope I am wrong but he would really have to Step it up to be better than Mcfadden and Jones. I think Howard will have a good senior year but I haven't heard much about him in camp so far. Howard has had a tough road in his career here and I hope he shines this year.

AMEN. Someone do a quick CAREER carries and yardage for D.Poole. It's not worth the scholarship. He's as unproven as any of the freshmen!!! The only thing he's proven is that he gets hurt a lot.

YEa but we gotta go after EVERY in sate kid, even if that means signing 12 at the same position.  Anyone should have been able to look at Poole's Hs career, his size, and the competition he played against and seen what was going to happen.  But gotta get those LR kids to keep the recruiting pipeline open. 

[jabohog]

I think the biggest reason freshmen are being told to come in ready to play besides trying to get them on campus is the fact that we have no depth. You get a little quality depth at all positions and you can start a redshirt program. The saving grace for these frosh RBs may be the fact that if we have depth anywhere it is at DB. McFadden is such a versatile athlete don't be surprised if he's moved to LB before the year is out. Coach Nutt is know to use athletes in other positions, especially if it's crunch time. Just ask Brandon Holmes.

[Mike_P]

Why do you think it is acceptable to promise recruits they won't redshirt, then waste a year of their eligibility with brief and useless playing time? Why is it OK to cede intelligent decisionmaking just because of a recruiting promise? Every coach makes recruiting promises, and every coach breaks them, and usually it doesn't result in kids transferring prior to their second year.

It's acceptable to promise that if it's going to be a deal breaker to getting him on campus. Also, as you've stated many times while bashing HDN, that you don't lie to kids especially from places where you're going to be recruiting from frequently. I'm sure that after promising him he wouldn't redshirt and the first thing you do in the fall is tell him he's going to RS and then wonder why the HC at Longview, Tx steers his kids to other schools.

Not that the facts matter but Talley actually was playing on special teams and some on defense until he was injured his freshman year.

Then we get to read long posts with way too much BS and way too few facts as to why HS coaches don't care for HDN.

It is not acceptable to promise kids PT before they've earned it. Promise them a shot. Make them earn it. Not redshirting Talley was a waste. Don't lie, don't be stupid, don't be a marshmallow.

Obviously he was promised a shot to get on the field whether it's RB, DB and/or special teams where it did work out. And if he wasn't promised that he wasn't coming here!

We can always count of BP to start name calling when he's called out on something.

Please let us know where the lie and stupidity is. Way to go BP...the only expert I know that swears NFL teams carry 12-15 O-lineman.

[Biggus Piggus]

Arkansas has wasted whole years of eligibility for many freshmen out of those panics over positional depth.  The Hogs were very thin in the secondary in 2000, and that's a big reason why Talley was tried there.  We had a list on here the other day of players who saw brief PT early on then never saw the field again.  Confused panic mode.  What the heck was Cedric Logan doing on the field last year?

[Donald Miller]

Arkansas has wasted whole years of eligibility for many freshmen out of those panics over positional depth. The Hogs were very thin in the secondary in 2000, and that's a big reason why Talley was tried there. We had a list on here the other day of players who saw brief PT early on then never saw the field again. Confused panic mode. What the heck was Cedric Logan doing on the field last year?

It sure would be nice to have another yr for Ugoh.