Once we were in an Arby's somewhere in rural Indiana or something. It said to ring this bell by the door on the way out if the service was good. Well, dagummit, I rang that bell, to which the entire staff said "THANKS GUEST, YOU'RE THE BEST!"
I turned the tables, and said, "NO, YOU ARE!"
They had no idea what the hell I was talking about.
Let's just hope Arby Fields is feeling good around this time next week, if not earlier.
Let's get into our running back preview (in Dave Revsine's voice) NNOOOWWW!"
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Ahhh, the running backs. Believe it or not, this used to ALWAYS, and I mean always, be a position of strength for the Wildcats. Let's backtrack on the previous running backs.
Tyrell Sutton (NFL), Noah Herron (NFL), Jason Wright (NFL), Damien Anderson (NFL / Heisman finalist), Adrian Autry, Darnell Autry (NFL / Heisman finalist).
Not too bad a list there.
Last year was a little rough. Arby Fields led the team with 302 yards and 5 touchdowns. Mike Kafka was second in rushing and had 8 touchdowns. The 'Cats were 95th in the nation, which has been well-documented by, well, pretty much everyone. Not too much balance there, and Fitz is one of the first to agree with us.
This year, he wants "a guy." A guy he can call on to pound out some yards to end the game. Who has stepped up?
It looked like Fields was that guy until he got dinged up in a drill a few weeks ago. It appears he will be back for game week, but I wouldn't doubt it if he is held out. Fields says he feels stronger, faster, and showed some good burst last year, especially around the outside. What I see with Fields is what you see with a lot of young backs - they're afraid to hit the hole hard. There is often a split second a back has before he is either dropped in the backfield or loose into the secondary. Fields needs to find that. Also, Fields is a horrible pass blocker, so let's hope he's better at that this year. Most freshman backs are, but we were blessed with Sutton, who could be one of the best blocking backs in NU history.
Next, you have a group of guys who just kind of all seem the same. Jacob Schmidt is a guy that does all the little dirty work. He's a great blocker. He catches the ball well, and he gets the tough yards. Last year, he averaged just under four yards a carry.
You have Scott Concannon, another guy that is similar to Schmidt, but maybe has a little more speed. Then, of course, Stephen Simmons, who was thrust into the starting role a few years ago at Michigan and came up with a big touchdown late in the game.
So in other words, you have a lot of reliable third down backs, but no star. That's who Fitz and the rest of Wildcat nation is looking for this year.
A guy to watch out for is Adonis Smith, a true freshman who has impressed, but is kinda buried on the depth chart. He reminds me of Sutton a little more than Arby even, just the way he delivers hits rather than takes them. I just hope he holds on to the football. I honestly think this guy will get a redshirt this year. They don't want to blow their future.
Another guy, Mike Trumpy, was one of the top backs in Illinois coming out of high school, but has not really made a name for himself yet. It will be interesting to see if he gets any playing time this year.
Let's just make this plain and simple. We wouldn't at all be surprised if Dan Persa leads the team in rushing this year. He's built for that, and the offense is built for that. However, you want to reduce the number of hits on Persa as much as possible and if a running back can spell him from a few Adrian Clayborn hits, we'll be thankful.
Filed under: Football, General
Tags: Adonis Smith, Arby Fields, Big Ten, college football, Jacob Schmidt, Mike Trumpy, Northwestern Wildcats, Running backs, Scott Concannon
