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Running Backs

Suterman

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Nov 13, 2003
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A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?
 
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A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?
I agree,Maybe Goodson can be outstanding, but the rest of our running backs are average.
 
A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?
that freshman running back we have is a difference-maker he just needs to play more
 
A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?

James White and Montee Ball weren't elite by any stretch of the imagination.
 
I think we are overselling Goodson because by comparison he’s more athletic than Saergant and Young.

Let’s not forget, neither Saergant or Young had any other Power 5 offers.

We need to land guys that other Power 5 teams want, especially at the skill positions. We have a pretty good hit rate with those kids. Just look at our WRs—Smith, Smith-Marsette, and Tracy. They weren’t elite recruits, but they had offers from the likes of the Minnesota, Indiana, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Purdue’s of the world.

We’ve recruited a lot of RBs over the years that didn’t have many Power 5 options.
 
Average running backs with average to below average interior line and an average OC in a primary running scheme without a mobile QB is recipe for a below average offense. The recruiting of running backs with the system we run is baffling to me. Tyler Goodsen is the best of that group, but let's not anoint him as All B1G or NFL back just yet.
 
Was watching highlights from the 2002 season the other day and we were so much more loaded and athletic on both sides of the ball it is not even funny. I can't even hardly stand to watch anymore because I know we don't have the type of talent needed to consistently compete with the big boys. It's drab systems and mostly average talent, yes we do a pretty good job of coaching up players so we end up be an ok team but you can only coach up so much. We had difference makers all over the field in 2002, next to none now.
 
Was watching highlights from the 2002 season the other day and we were so much more loaded and athletic on both sides of the ball it is not even funny. I can't even hardly stand to watch anymore because I know we don't have the type of talent needed to consistently compete with the big boys. It's drab systems and mostly average talent, yes we do a pretty good job of coaching up players so we end up be an ok team but you can only coach up so much. We had difference makers all over the field in 2002, next to none now.
I'll take the 2019 CBs over the 2002 guys any day of the week. Much more talented and athletic. The positions where 2002 gets the nod are QB, TE, the interior OL (although Linderbomb might be more athletic than Nelson, just inexperienced - freshman v. 4 year starter), LB, and the Hitman. Elsewhere, the 2019 guys measure up pretty well, and may even be better.
 
I'll take the 2019 CBs over the 2002 guys any day of the week. Much more talented and athletic. The positions where 2002 gets the nod are QB, TE, the interior OL (although Linderbomb might be more athletic than Nelson, just inexperienced - freshman v. 4 year starter), LB, and the Hitman. Elsewhere, the 2019 guys measure up pretty well, and may even be better.
Watching Brad Banks video last weekend just made me want Iowa to hit up the transfer portal NOW and get somebody in here that's at least semi-mobile! I forget, did Banks play QB at Hinds CC or was he a converted WR...I know Iowa only stumbled into him because of recruiting CJ Jones (cousin).
 
Watching Brad Banks video last weekend just made me want Iowa to hit up the transfer portal NOW and get somebody in here that's at least semi-mobile! I forget, did Banks play QB at Hinds CC or was he a converted WR...I know Iowa only stumbled into him because of recruiting CJ Jones (cousin).
Brad played WR one year and QB the next. He transferred from UCF, because he was behind Daunte Culpepper.
 
Mark Weisman.... lol... I actually think that Toren Young should get the bulk of carries the rest of the way and be spelled by Goodson & Sargent He ran very well opening up against Wisconsin then Iowa went away from him..
 
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Iowa needs to drop this 3-back rotational disaster and make Goodson the featured back and spell him with Young ... We've shown ZERO advantage of using this platoon system ... Almost as bad as rotating QBs. How do you get in a groove when you play a series and then sit for a quarter? Our offense has absolutely ZERO identity ...

Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers: Goodson, Tracy, Marsette
 
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I'll take the 2019 CBs over the 2002 guys any day of the week. Much more talented and athletic. The positions where 2002 gets the nod are QB, TE, the interior OL (although Linderbomb might be more athletic than Nelson, just inexperienced - freshman v. 4 year starter), LB, and the Hitman. Elsewhere, the 2019 guys measure up pretty well, and may even be better.

The d-line then was a lot better as well (Babs, Cole, Clauss, Hodges, throw in Roth, Derreck Robinoson and Luebke. More productive and more disruptive. I'll take Mo Brown, CJ Jones and Hinkle all day over the WR group we have now. Russel and Lewis were both better than any back we have this year. The 2002 team would beat the heck out of this years team.
 
A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?

Wisconsin has a lot better run blocking. That's pretty obvious. We are currently 87th in ypa rushing. Again, we haven't broke the top 50 in ypa since 2008 and we were top 50 five times between 2001 and 2008. We were 100th in 2017 with Wadley. Our RBs aren't that bad. Defenses have completely figured out how to defend Iowa. It's pretty clear in the downward trend of yards per attempt.

Opponents have had 20 years to study our tendencies so it makes sense they would defend us well. I say, at least, Iowa should completely overhaul the blocking scheme and get out of our comfort zone, if not change offensive schemes altogether. We still have good fundamental players. KF is a good coach but opponents know him better than he knows himself.

In the mean time, go uptempo. There's a reason uptempo works for Iowa. Other teams don't have time to apply their knowledge, and that's an advantage for Iowa because it minimizes the other team's advantage.

Also, if we can't run the ball, we need a mobile QB, one or the other is a must, preferably both.
 
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Iowa needs to drop this 3-back rotational disaster and make Goodson the featured back and spell him with Young ... We've shown ZERO advantage of using this platoon system ... Almost as bad as rotating QBs. How do you get in a groove when you play a series and then sit for a quarter? Our offense has absolutely ZERO identity ...

Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers: Goodson, Tracy, Marsette
Spot on, Rusty Sr.!
 
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I think we are overselling Goodson because by comparison he’s more athletic than Saergant and Young.

Let’s not forget, neither Saergant or Young had any other Power 5 offers.

We need to land guys that other Power 5 teams want, especially at the skill positions. We have a pretty good hit rate with those kids. Just look at our WRs—Smith, Smith-Marsette, and Tracy. They weren’t elite recruits, but they had offers from the likes of the Minnesota, Indiana, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Purdue’s of the world.

We’ve recruited a lot of RBs over the years that didn’t have many Power 5 options.
I would like to think that the Transfer Portal could help us. There has to be some higher ranked RBs that we could pursue and hopefully land.
 
A few years ago it was determined that our WR group was sub standard and we could all see it. Now I think we can say that group has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded. But what about our running backs? The big and almost only difference between Iowa and WIsconsin is and has been at Running Back. Wisconsin reads like a who's who of elite running backs, Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, James White, Montee Ball and Jonathon Taylor to name a few. Iowa has had some good running backs Akrum Wadley LeShun Daniels, Toren Young, Mark Weisman and Adam Robinson to name a few. That is a Who's That of running backs to most of the B1G fans. Goodson appears to be a step up, but time will tell. WE NEED A DIFFERENCE MAKER AT RB. We have 2 William's kids coming in next year at RB. Are they difference makers? I have not seen them play so I can't say. We have had 1 real difference maker with Shonn Greene in the last 20 years or more. This must change or we may never again win our division. Thoughts?

Better RB talent certainly wouldn’t hurt, but I agree with another poster who said our blocking scheme is half of the problem. If I had a beer for every time I’ve seen an outside zone running play completely dead on arrival the second the RB gets the ball throughout the last 15 years, my liver would be long since pickled, and I’d be dead.

In other words, if Tristan Wirfs played for Wisconsin, his job on most plays would be to straight ahead maul people. Man, I’d love to see him be able to do that more often. I’ve never seen an offensive lineman at Iowa with his freakish size and strength since the Commings era (yes, including Gallery). The strength in his legs and ass is other-worldly, so let him straight-ahead block and run up it!!

Ok, end rant. I love your podcast. You’re the voice of reason on the show and I wish Pat let you talk more and didn’t interrupt you so much.

Go Hawks!
 
Difference between Iowa and wiscy is the giant 320 lb lineman. You stick any average joe behind wiscy ol and they look great. Put an average rb behind Iowa’s ol last 5 yrs and you get a bad run team like it’s been.
 
Better RB talent certainly wouldn’t hurt, but I agree with another poster who said our blocking scheme is half of the problem. If I had a beer for every time I’ve seen an outside zone running play completely dead on arrival the second the RB gets the ball throughout the last 15 years, my liver would be long since pickled, and I’d be dead.

In other words, if Tristan Wirfs played for Wisconsin, his job on most plays would be to straight ahead maul people. Man, I’d love to see him be able to do that more often. I’ve never seen an offensive lineman at Iowa with his freakish size and strength since the Commings era (yes, including Gallery). The strength in his legs and ass is other-worldly, so let him straight-ahead block and run up it!!

Great post. Spot on. Zone blocking is shit when it's not executed with perfection. End of story.

Also, Tyler Goodson is better than Eno right now, and if he isn't yet, he will be.

I'm going out on the limb here, but I think this kid is the best runningback in the Ferentz era, if not the history of this program. He is a gem. Feed him the rock.
 
Watching Brad Banks video last weekend just made me want Iowa to hit up the transfer portal NOW and get somebody in here that's at least semi-mobile! I forget, did Banks play QB at Hinds CC or was he a converted WR...I know Iowa only stumbled into him because of recruiting CJ Jones (cousin).

Brad played WR one year and QB the next. He transferred from UCF, because he was behind Daunte Culpepper.

Culpepper was a senior in Brad's only year there so I doubt he left because he was behind him. I read he actually flunked out of UCF. Ended up at Hinds and was discovered when Ron Aiken went there to look a lineman and the Hinds coach told him to take a look at Banks.
 
IDK seems like they always have 3 or 4 guys like 6'8 350 pretty sure Wadley could have had a few 200yd plus games for them.
we won the moore award when wadley was here ;)

BTW when do you see our "power backs" dragging folks around like taylor does? He has better speed, power, vision etc. Night and day....
 
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there is no improvement at all in the WR core UNTIL tracy… and i like having three healthy backs. i think you should be reversing this theory and saying we need more action from the WR and the backs are solid.
 
IMO, the difference is 20% RBs, 20% OL, 60% schemes and blocking assignments.

No doubt all 3 play a significant part. However, not sure on those percentages vary from team-to-team.
ie. Weisman was a good back in the system BECAUSE he the vision and one cut to the hole, and enough power to move the ball.
Coker was big and could plow in then fall forward. Then he went elsewhere and couldn't do much.
Greene on the other hand was a great BECAUSE he had that and the speed and athleticism to take it home.

I am a firm believer that Iowa MUST have a top tier RB and. BiG OL if they want to run a solid 50-50 ball control offense.
Works at Alabama, but just as well at Wisconsin and now Minnesota, and it has and does work at Iowa when we have the right personnel. The OL right now is interior weak, and IMO you need to take 2 RB each year and I am a fan of big backs for Iowa.
(5'11 210# plus)

I wanted to see Iowa take Brock, and was disappointed in the TX mishap. However am excited about TGood, William's and William's. Really think we are getting back there with those 3. I think that At least one will emerge as a great.
 
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