I have always wondered and sometimes asked, but to no avail. If Caleb is such a dynamic athlete as the coaches have always raved about why has he not been given a chance at returning kicks or punts? I WR and RB you actually have to understand the position and plays and such and cannot just rely on pure talent. However, at returning it's get the ball and go. I want to see him be successful at Tech somewhere. But maybe he's just one that doesn't pan out. Any answers or thoughts??
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Was a great recruit that was brought in, never really found a position and now other recruiting classes are being used to recruit position players not just athletes.
If I remember correctly he never really understood the WR playbook/nuances, then we lost Holmes so we moved Caleb to RB
Hes been working hard and waiting for his turn to contribute as a team player. Hopefully he gets his chance to show his talent and why he was such a high-demand recruit. Id hate to see him leave the program.
Hell find his place I'm sure, the guy is a phenomenal athlete
Ha! That's what we should call him: Hellboy!
Hey, eshiben, is there a long range forecast for Saturday yet?
Good thing is that he still has three years left for coaches to work him onto the field.
Sounding a lot like Justin Hamilton's time at VT. Though he was moved around a lot, he ended up getting his turn and ended up in the League.....not bad. Hopefully JC will find his spot quicker.
Man, looking closer, it sounds like these guys are having carbon copy careers. JH started at WR and was moved to RB. He finally ended up at Free Safety. Maybe JC should follow his lead? Interesting......
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/players/2005/hamilton.html
Personally, I'd love to see him at gunner if he can tackle in the open field. Actually, all the special teams coverage/return units could benefit from his athleticism.
Did he play any Defense in HS? Anyone know if the kid can tackle? It sounds like ST is the way to get him on the field and would allow him to still provide depth at RB for the time being. Then next year if the depth isn't needed he could give D (Safety?) a shot....
I liked his run in the Spring Scrimmage game. There is definitely potential but I'm wondering with all these Freshmen passing him by if it means that he's not that good of a running back. It'll be hard for him to switch to another position after having switched to running back.
JH did it........just sayin'.
His bio says he played six different positions in HS. That bodes well for his versatility.
I still don't see why he isn't used to return kicks and punts. Maybe they tried in practice and he didn't like it, but to me that seems to be the ideal place to get him on the field and get him touches. You can still keep him at RB but having him return kicks allows him to show how dynamic he can be. I'd at least like to see it tried. KJ kind of sucked last year returning punts. He'd do like 5 moves in the span of 2 yards and get tackled. He was great in 2012 but not last year. Seemed to always look for the homerun instead of just getting up field and getting good yardage and making people miss on the move.
2 things regarding kick returns. 1, just because you have a talented athlete, it doesn't mean he's good at returns (see Ryan Williams). And 2, your return is only as good as your blocking and our blocking, when it wasn't called as a block in the back, was shoddy at best over the last 2 seasons.
True....but it at least gives him a chance to field the ball. Again, I don't know if he's tried it in practice and wasn't any good or didn't like it or what.
Hey, I'm with you, I think he should have a shot returning kicks too, but if he's not the most dynamic playmaker for the role (not saying he is, not saying he isn't) then you can't just throw him there only to justify having him on the team. To me, he's more of a punt returner than a kick returner, only because he doesn't have a huge top speed, but he has the ability to make the first person miss or to run through them which is the most important thing for a successful punt return.
agree....just wonder if they've tried it or not
I think it was the "me" attitude with RW. I see that he is having to humble himself and learn to be a special teams player to make the Cowboys. Funny how you can get humble at 24 not at 19 after 3 years lost to injuries.
Please don't badmouth hokies, especially when you're clearly making unsubstantiated assumptions. Ru was known to be a humble and hard working guy while he was in Blacksburg, and that's obviously still the case as evidenced by him fighting back through so many injuries.
So pumped at what he did in limited time the other day. Also, he's been hitting the weights hard. Looks more beastly than he did at tech, which is scary.
I was referring to his first year, specifically the game against Alabama when he muffed a punt. Just trying to say that being a talented athlete and returning a kick where the ball is rotating in an unusual way and you have to look for different holes to go through don't always mix.
I would guess they are not using Caleb because Travon and Deon Newsome are better in the return game right now. Because of how important Chesterfield County is to recruiting and because of Caleb's talent, I am sure they want to see him earn a spot on the field. But, if he isn't lighting it up in practice, then the coaches have to play the best guys.
Take this as an indicator that Shai, Travon, and Marshawn are really good.
I think Caleb's situation is the epitome of how VT's recruiting how improved in the past 2-3 years. Big time recruit, can't see the playing field due to the emergence of competition. Years past, our (most) talented players would always see significant playing time due to the lack of depth. Great problem to have that I am happily getting used to!
It also has helped that we started actually recruiting WRs in HS to play the position in college. That is not an easy position to learn (eg. D Roberts)
....DJ Coles, Marcus Davis, Carlis Parker, etc.