I'm really starting to believe that if Crowton doesn't succeed, he's gotta go this year. Shepard, Tolliver, Randle, Ford, Murphy, if he can't figure out some way to use all of these guys successfully, then he's got a lack of creativity. I get the fact that he's had an inexperienced QB so far, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but there are a lot of things you can do to alleviate that. If Mark Sanchez can lead an NFL team to the AFC championship as a rookie, I think Crowton can work with Jefferson. That being said, I would love to see Shep getting 15-20 touches a game, somewhat like Harvin did when he was at Florida. Too many good things can happen when he has the ball for us not to get it to him. I can't wait to see him catch his first bubble screen.
Stevan Ridley is a very good RB, as he showed when Scott and Williams got hurt. Murphy? We'll see - he had one good Spring game a couple years ago. Since then, his game touches have largely been few and unimpressive. Ford has tons of potential, and shined in the Spring game this year, but so did Ridley. After Saturday's scrimmage, the running game sounds very good (160 yards on 35 carries) assuming the defense is up to snuff without Baker. Ford had 3ypc in the Saturday scrimmage. Ridley 8ypc, Murphy 7ypc, Ware 3ypc and Blue 3ypc (I rounded). It's just one scrimmage. But Miles has been saying all along this fall - let's see how the backs do in full contact. I don't think he's been saying that randomly - I think he has an idea of where the younger guys need to improve. I hope Ford explodes. Unlike others, I think Miles will play him A LOT if he does.
2theadvocate.com | Sports | Coming on strong — Baton Rouge, LA Good writeup on Ford. Makes me anxious to see the running game.
I think his point was that 2004 was the last time a freshman/sophomore got the majority of the carries early on. Yes, Addai averaged 6.7 ypc with 3 TDs while Broussard's avg. was 6.1 with 10 TDs. What an idiot that Saban guy was, huh? And Broussard had a terrible knee injury (and weight gain) he never totally recovered from. He would have been a top pick had he stayed healthy. And what does Russell have to do with anything? Man, some of you guys get so butt hurt, it's ridiculous.
Awesome, we are back to this again. If I want them to fail, then why would I be disappointed when Shepard doesn't get carries. That would be my dream scenario, right? I thought the Miles bashers were the ones obsessed with Saban.
Gosh I hope so! ...I remember saying the same thing about Keiland Williams ...not that KW didn't show flashes of great things...he just wasn't the complete RB I thought he'd be.
I was a big fan of Keiland Williams, but I think Ford looks better at this point running between the tackles. I know he hasn't played in a real game yet, but that's what I took from the spring game and his high school footage.
