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Kaleb Johnson on pace for 2,130 yds & 29 TDs. Shonn Greene, in 2008, was 6th in the Heisman Vote & Doak Walker winner (1,850 yds & 20 TDs)

Prior to '08, Greene had to get his grades in order at Kirkwood. He also had ballooned-out in terms of weight ... I remember some folks claiming that he had gotten up to 280 ... but I think that it was more likely that he was at around 260 to 265. Thus, he came into the season lacking conditioning. Furthermore, having ballooned-out like that ... he lost most of the high-end speed he had when he was younger. However, the flip-side of that is that he had great balance and toughness ... and he really ran behind his pads. When you run behind your pads, keep your legs driving, and you have good balance ... it can be really tough to get you down.

Anyhow, as you indicated ... Greene was great at reading cutbacks in Iowa's zone-system. He'd see an opportunity, and make the cutback ... and then just run hard. There were obviously broken bodies strewn behind (and around) him. You know you're doing something right when you reach around 1800 yards rushing on a season!

Anyhow, I see Kaleb as more of an upright runner than Shonn. Furthermore, Kaleb has higher-end speed (compared to '08 Shonn). However, Kaleb has the similar attribute of having pretty good vision and reading his blocks. Perhaps due to his upright style ... he's able to "get skinny" and make it through more narrow holes than Shonn. On the flip side, it's obviously significantly easier to bring down Kaleb than it was to bring down Shonn.

The comp that keeps on coming up in my head when I watch Kaleb is Adrian Peterson. I see the comp to Melvin Gordon too though ...
I wish he ran as physically as AP did, though AP was a freak of nature.
Melvin Gordon is a good comp, same with Dickerson.
If KJ can find a bit more wiggle he might be our first impactful NFL back in quite some time. Right now he's just a little to straight line and stiff.
 
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I wish he ran as physically as AP did, though AP was a freak of nature.
Melvin Gordon is a good comp, same with Dickerson.
If KJ can find a bit more wiggle he might be our first impactful NFL back in quite some time. Right now he's just a little to straight line and stiff.
I'm not really a big NFL fan ... so my primary reference frame is remembering AP from his Oklahoma days. He wasn't quite as physical back then ... largely because the B12 wasn't a very physical league.
 
I'm not really a big NFL fan ... so my primary reference frame is remembering AP from his Oklahoma days. He wasn't quite as physical back then ... largely because the B12 wasn't a very physical league.
Not really looking for an argument here but go back and watch his OU highlights. He was always a violent runner and extremely difficult to being down. Kaleb isn't that style currently.
 
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Prior to '08, Greene had to get his grades in order at Kirkwood. He also had ballooned-out in terms of weight ... I remember some folks claiming that he had gotten up to 280 ... but I think that it was more likely that he was at around 260 to 265. Thus, he came into the season lacking conditioning. Furthermore, having ballooned-out like that ... he lost most of the high-end speed he had when he was younger. However, the flip-side of that is that he had great balance and toughness ... and he really ran behind his pads. When you run behind your pads, keep your legs driving, and you have good balance ... it can be really tough to get you down.

Anyhow, as you indicated ... Greene was great at reading cutbacks in Iowa's zone-system. He'd see an opportunity, and make the cutback ... and then just run hard. There were obviously broken bodies strewn behind (and around) him. You know you're doing something right when you reach around 1800 yards rushing on a season!

Anyhow, I see Kaleb as more of an upright runner than Shonn. Furthermore, Kaleb has higher-end speed (compared to '08 Shonn). However, Kaleb has the similar attribute of having pretty good vision and reading his blocks. Perhaps due to his upright style ... he's able to "get skinny" and make it through more narrow holes than Shonn. On the flip side, it's obviously significantly easier to bring down Kaleb than it was to bring down Shonn.

The comp that keeps on coming up in my head when I watch Kaleb is Adrian Peterson. I see the comp to Melvin Gordon too though ...
AP was on a whole nother level.
That is not a knock on Johnson but AP was an absolute freak of nature.
 
When I watched his high school video several years ago I was excited about this kid and I'm even more excited now because our offensive line is starting to open holes for him and you can't stack the box on him.Cause he'll leave you in the dust
 
AP was on a whole nother level.
That is not a knock on Johnson but AP was an absolute freak of nature.
Yeah ... AP was definitely a freak ... I just see the smoothness, the uprightness, and the speed ... and that is what came to mind.

If Kaleb can even be 3/4 the back that AP was ... then we can count ourselves lucky!
 
Numbers are cool and all, but as much as I like Kaleb Johnson, he's no Shonn Greene . . . at least not yet . . . no matter what the numbers say. Greene literally ran over people like a bulldozer and still had top end speed. Johnson has a different style. I've haven't seen him bulldoze anyone, and he's been caught from behind most of the time. I hope Johnson ends up somewhere close to Greene, but I'll reserve judgment for now. I'm a whole lot more interested in what he's going to do against Minnesota and Ohio State than what he's done against Illinois State and Troy.
Kaleb J has housed a lot of long TDs without being caught from behind. He is chopped down sometimes when DBacks have and angle. He is not a top end sprinter but he knows how to veer away from the 2nd and 3rd level defenders, get by them, and get big runs.

Shonn Greene was fast, powerful, and also had better spin moves and feet in the hole than Kaleb. That is a one of the differences.

We will see how the Iowa Offensive line does against big 10 teams because no running back can do it without a really good line.
 
Kaleb J has housed a lot of long TDs without being caught from behind. He is chopped down sometimes when DBacks have and angle. He is not a top end sprinter but he knows how to veer away from the 2nd and 3rd level defenders, get by them, and get big runs.

Shonn Greene was fast, powerful, and also had better spin moves and feet in the hole than Kaleb. That is a one of the differences.

We will see how the Iowa Offensive line does against big 10 teams because no running back can do it without a really good line.
His running style is so smooth that he’s going a lot faster than it looks. Although Shonn was pretty fast for his size, he was mostly a devastating downhill back. Both are pretty special and I’m glad both have worn the Old Gold and Black.

Yes, it will be a different level with Big 10 teams each week, and the OL will need to be on their game, too, as it’s really hard for any running back to run when there’s no place to go. So far, though, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the OL.
 
Shonn was like a pinball as he would bounce off defenders and got stronger as the game progressed. My memory is that he had to sit out a season and delivered furniture prior to his record setting year.
That’s true and he wasn’t in the greatest of shapes when he came back. In 2008, SG got stronger and better as his fitness improved through the season.
 
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Numbers are cool and all, but as much as I like Kaleb Johnson, he's no Shonn Greene . . . at least not yet . . . no matter what the numbers say. Greene literally ran over people like a bulldozer and still had top end speed. Johnson has a different style. I've haven't seen him bulldoze anyone, and he's been caught from behind most of the time. I hope Johnson ends up somewhere close to Greene, but I'll reserve judgment for now. I'm a whole lot more interested in what he's going to do against Minnesota and Ohio State than what he's done against Illinois State and Troy.
"Green literally ran over people... still had top end speed."
Green 5'11". 227 4.6. 40
Johnson 6'2" 225 4.5. 40

Kaleb has the frame to run over people, but is a much more fluid running back. Listened to P.J. Fleck talk about him on film and how he just looks so deceivingly slow as he runs by and away from people. He is by far a better back in that his longevity as a back is greatly increased by not being a bulldozer. He has the size to get the short tough yards, but I'll take his ability to stay clean over Shonn Green all day everyday.
A running back who can get 8 yards untouched is the back that is sought after.
 
Nope. Apparently the UI now formally calls it Hawkeye Gold. However it used to be Old Gold. Sorry, need to get my color palette nomenclature down. Details, details.
A little good natured ribbing. I just happen to know "all hail to our old gold and black" is a line in their fight song. And that Iowa hasn't worn actual gold in quite a long time now, but yellow.
 
His running style is so smooth that he’s going a lot faster than it looks. Although Shonn was pretty fast for his size, he was mostly a devastating downhill back. Both are pretty special and I’m glad both have worn the Old Gold and Black.

Yes, it will be a different level with Big 10 teams each week, and the OL will need to be on their game, too, as it’s really hard for any running back to run when there’s no place to go. So far, though, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the OL.
Let’s be honest Shonn Greene was a bowling ball, he would pin pong off of defenders into the end zone, KJ is much faster and glides past defenders he reminds me a lot of Larry Johnson who use to play for the Chiefs.
 
A little good natured ribbing. I just happen to know "all hail to our old gold and black" is a line in their fight song. And that Iowa hasn't worn actual gold in quite a long time now, but yellow.
No problems here. I took it that way. I can sense when someone is goofing and when someone is being a dick. Although it did cause me to do a little research and that’s when I discovered they came up with Hawkeye Gold. I thought I was dispensing some historical knowledge to anyone who may have read our exchange and it turned out I was the smarty pants doofus who was wrong. The way the UI protects their trademarks, I won’t be surprised if I get a cease and desist letter from their attorney just because I used “Hawkeye Gold” in these posts.
 
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SG was a great back and a freight train to tackle, but had hands of stone. Any screen or swing pass was going into the turf. I'd like to see if KJ has any hands to open up the playbook.
 
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Caught from behind most of the time? Not really. He's run away from dbacks more than any RB we've had since probably Tavian. Greene was a slasher and bruiser, Kaleb is finesse and speed.
This. He only gets caught in the secondary if a db takes the correct angle. Most of his long td runs he is increasing the distance of the following dbs. His running style doesn’t look fast. He has deceptive speed.
 
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Numbers are cool and all, but as much as I like Kaleb Johnson, he's no Shonn Greene . . . at least not yet . . . no matter what the numbers say. Greene literally ran over people like a bulldozer and still had top end speed. Johnson has a different style. I've haven't seen him bulldoze anyone, and he's been caught from behind most of the time. I hope Johnson ends up somewhere close to Greene, but I'll reserve judgment for now. I'm a whole lot more interested in what he's going to do against Minnesota and Ohio State than what he's done against Illinois State and Troy.
Cross between shonn and tavian.
 
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