Is it me or does it seem that he continues to appear to run scared? He seems to tentatively approach the line or a defender when running. Crazy thing is he averages 7 yds a carry. Guy has amazing skills and if he ever gets a chip on his shoulder or the running mindset of Charles Scott or Hester, he would be a heisman candidate.
I think he might run with a little more vision than the two guys you mentioned. What surprises me about Hester is that even though he is a tough guy with a good head of steam, sometimes he gets stopped fairly easily by defenders. When he didn't make that fourth and short on Tech's side of the field in the second half I was pretty disappointed. I also think that the success of our other fullback goes to show you that Hester owes a fair amount of his success to the OLine. I still think he is a solid player, and I was very impressed with his speed when he busted that long run. I think Williams will be a great back for LSU by the time he leaves. The more touches he gets the better he'll get (barring injury, knock on wood). Probably in the mold of Dalton Hilliard and Joseph Addai.
Hester doesn't get stopped fairly easy by defenders!! I don't know where you see that. The only time that Hester had a game where he went down sort of easily was when he had the thigh bruise. The guy gets 3 yards easily after initial contact. When he gets stuffed at the line, it is due to a great play by the DL in short yardage and he gets hit in the back field. He is much harder to get to the ground after initial contact than Scott and Williams. The reason is because he is a leaning forward runner and gets his shoulders lower than the tackler and springs forward after the hit. The only time he doesn't get yards after the contact is when the defender hits him in the legs and wraps him up, which is what happens when he gets stopped at the line. We would have at least another 2 losses on our record if not for Hester. It is easy to talk about Williams and Scott having 5-7 yards per carry avg, but that avg would drop off just as well if they got the carries that Hester gets and they don't get the yards that Hester gets after the contact. Would I like to see Scott and Williams more? Absolutely I'm just coming to Hester's defense here because he doesn't go down easily and he has been very productive and won some games for us. Also, Hester is easily a 4.5 guy.
Oh yeah. I think Mr. Wright would argue with you concerning Hester going down easy. This was probably the best hit of the year by LSU. Notice that the safety's feet are planted and are shoved back a yard at the hit.:rofl: http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...l=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
Maybe it was the OLine's fault, but I'm think particularly about the fourth and 1 where Hester was stopped before he got going. And another instance in the LaTech game where it took him three times to get the ball into the endzone. I know that once he picks up a head of steam he is quite a load to take down, and I was among the first to sing Hester's praises about making plays and falling forward, but I find in short yardage situations he is often ineffective and stopped upon first contact. Maybe it is the fault of the OLine or great play by the defense, but I'm just calling it like I see it. I'm really glad to have him on our team and I think he is a great player, but for some reason he seems unable to get a lot of push without a head of steam. I believe our other FB, Shawn Jordan (#40 I think), was showing that it might have as much to do with the OLine as it does with Hester's ability. Jordan was able to bust some long runs as well.
He does run scared. He takes most runs to the outisde. When he does run inside, its for a minimal gain.
