The kid is an awesome player. Good attitude and has a great family. Peabody has probably the worst coaching staff on Earth. The kid ran against 9 man fronts most of the year. On a few occasions the opponent didn't even line up over both receivers and Peabody still ran the ball. He gashed almost everyone that they played against this season with the exception of ASH and he still almost topped a 100 yards that game. With better coaching his numbers actually could have been better. I think he was under 20 carries in the Grant game also.
Look at the other teams Richard played early in the season my friend, peabody had about 4 or 5 games they lost within 4 points or less. He also had an offensive line that had 2 freshmen on the right side, watch the film his line never really gets to the second level to block nor do they hold blocks very well. He does have a nice left guard in Cowen who still needs to be more polished. I'm not saying he's Ford, in my opinion he's better and faster. Ford 40 time was 4.56, Richard 40 last year as a soph was 4.53 with shin plents in both legs and a sore knee. Let you in on a lil secret Richard came down with the flu tuesday week of the Ash game and lost 7 lbs, but still played Friday night. He still ended up with 95 yards rushing even when ash had 10 in the box at times and blitzed the whole game. Don't you think the recruiters and scouts see what he has as an cast around him. Ford had an complete team around him, Peabodys defense could not tackle. Not to mention Ford ran out of the spread, Richard runs out the "I". I'm just saying pay close attention and time will tell, that's all I'm saying. Also the highlights are 8 minutes long what does that have to do with 1 minute plus of grant footage. They ran basic plays and the starting QB was out 2 weeks with ankle so Richard had to run the offense. They didn't run up the score Grant just could not stop the run. They had 2 other backs over a 100 that night also my friend. Richard had 353 yards on Grant so where do you think the rest that made 2,289 came from, Pop Warner. Some teams even put their best player from offense on D just to shadow him. Let all of us know how you feel in the next 2 to 3 years. Tell you what put Richard with one of the other better teams and you will see the light.
@BD, better than Ford. GTFO w/ that. Let him do what ford did over a career and not just 1 season. You know the kid its cool, great you stick up for him. He is a good player and had a great JR year. But don't get it twisted he is not or will not be what Ford was in high school. 1 year doesn't make you. And to question fords size in high school, check the facts yourself he was 200 coming out his SR year. IF LSU told him to get bigger okay, but bigger doesn't always mean more weight. You do not have to put down another tiger just to try and get your buddy some board time. He is a prospect we are gonna talk about him.
He may be slightly faster than Ford and even shiftier than Ford, but there's no way in hell that he's stronger than Ford. Ford was stronger in HS than many college seniors RB's coming out of a 5 year weight training program.
Keep posting big dog. Regardless of how he compares to Ford, It's really nice to get firsthand information on a recruit. I appreciate your posts. Tell Jalen to keep striving to get better...but to make everything with his opportunities in the classroom as well.
Actually the kid has alread surpassed Ford career wise. He started as a freshman and put up well over 1000 yards on a sucky team. His team is going nowhere, but he is a great prep RB. Granted, Ford had two injury-riddled years, but nothing those in the know about Richard have said is false. It's no coincidence he's winning MVP awards at national camps. His team is just utter garbage. I wouldn't compare strength. Obviously Jalen is not as strong as Ford, especially considering Ford benchpresses elephant calfs and hybrid cars. But with that said, he is unusually strong and fast as hell. I don't think anyone is tearing down a tiger to build him up, but they're rise to prep stardom, while similar in stats, is very different. Ford played on playoff teams with other weapons. Peabody might never sniff the playoffs in a sorry district. With that said, I think Ford would've put up numbers even in Richard's circumstances. They ARE comparable skill wise. Ford is a tiger and Richard needs to be too.
:geaux: FWIW, according to rivals.com his stats as a freshman ('08) were 606 yds on 89 attempts (6.8 per carry) with 5 TD's and as a sophomore ('09) 884 yds on 154 attempts (5.7 per carry) with 11 TD's. As a junior he had 2,289 yds on 263 attempts (8.7 per carry) with 33 TD's, along with 13 receptions for 140 yds. Have no idea how these stats compared with Ford, but I will agree that Peabody does suck at football. :dis: It is sad that a player of his ability has to languish in a program like that. Too bad he can't transfer to ASH. :hihi: Will be looking forward to see what he does this season. :LSU231:
