Shane Beamer said as many as six RBs could play this year. Was keenly aware of what the message board reaction would be to that. #Hokies— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) August 20, 2014
#Hokies RB coach Shane Beamer said team may dress as many as 6 TBs this season, but there will be a rotation with 3 primary ball carriers.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) August 20, 2014
Put your pitchfork down for a minute. I think I have a logical explanation for this. Given that they want a rotation of three ball carriers, six tailbacks may play over the course of the season. Not one of Edmunds, Williams, and McKenzie are 100%. They are three of the top-4 options along with J.C. Coleman. Caleb and McMillian may get meaningful carries in any of the former three's absence. When everyone is healthy, I'd expect two of the aforementioned three to join Coleman as the top-3.
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So are any of them gonna reach the 1k yd mark??
Maybe, maybe not. So long as we convert short 3rd downs, can get safeties and LBs looking in the backfield on playaction, and most importantly, win games, I couldn't care less.
I'm with this guy. Whatever works.
Maybe not, but I will take 6....with each having 999 yards!!!!!!! #SMASHMOUTH
i think the whole KEY to this is that it says DRESS not play... and if they do play that it might not be just at RB. (special teams) some teams dress 100+ kids... VT usually dresses very little in relation to other teams. nothing about a guy hanging out on the sideline in pads worries me about the running back rotation. and if we have a MD qb situation we know we got back ups that wont be a fall off.
From what I remember, we had two years of no one coming close, so its a nice number and all, but I'll take a servicable platoon if thats what it takes to move them chains
In before the...
That being said, I have always thought that our rotation this year will eventually be Trey-Marshawn-Shai. If our newbies are as good as people say they are, its going to be very, very difficult to keep them off the field, and with the history we have of good tailbacks going pro early, if they're as good as advertised, we might as well use them now while we can.
But having 4 RBs with 400 yards will not get them much of a look from the NFL guys just because they can't show their full potential splitting carries 4 ways.
Pros draft on potential all the time. Marvin Williams was taken in the 1st round of the NBA draft a few years back, and he came off the bench at UNC for Roy Williams.
That's not really true - look at Devonta Freeman. 2nd round pick out of FSU for Atlanta, and was a part of a rbbc in college. The evaluators will figure out who can play.
Freeman still managed to rush for over 1000 yards despite being part of a RBBC and he wasn't drafted until the fourth round, not the second.
Still, I would be ecstatic to have that type of production from any of our RBs.
Freeman was 4th round maybe, but never had more than 173 carries
Alfred Blue never more than 78 carries/year and he was still drafted in the 6th round
De'Anthony Thomas never had more than 100 attempts/year or 45 catches/year and was still drafted in the 4th round
High volume carries are good for exposure, but not necessary if the talent is apparent
What matters is what they do with each touch. I've read something recently that very few NFL RBs get many carries these days. There are only a handful that get more than 20 carries a game. Most teams are using committees to reduce the attrition on RBs. Because of faster defenses RBs are getting more passes to get into space and the passing game overall has gotten more attention.
That sounds fair. It seems like the team has 6 talented RBs that can contribute this year. 3 starters & 3 back ups. Injuries are common for RBs so thats not a bad decision . Im sure as the season progressed, 3 guys will be the primary ball carriers.
Beamer be like.."Lookey what I can do"
Stuart!
The only thing I would like to see is that we use no more than 3 tailbacks in a single game, preferably only 2 with a 3rd being added in mop-up time.
Have three in at one time.
Trey Will be the feature back with Shai giving him relief on certain drives. JC Coleman will be the third down back. Marshawn in Short Yardage. Joel Caleb for late game relief and when we are blowing teams out. Travon McMillan on Special teams. DJ Reid in red shirt.....If I had to guess I would go with this. But also, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2-back system at times because lefty like to use players to take advantage of Matchups as well as use a lot of formation.
Please do not put JC in on third down. They usually tried to punch him up the middle if I recall and needless to say he didn't get it. If you are going to run the ball on third down it's probably because it's short yardage so run Shai or Williams on those plays.
Leg.
That said, a fake with JC on 3rd and short, with him wheeling into the flat with a TE or 2 blocking would be a great play if we have a QB that can drop that ball into him in stride.
from one of the Bitter articles, it sounded like they were going to use McMillian as a RB/WR hybrid almost like what I always thought Caleb should do -- so having him in the rotation would seem more like for just special scenarios
6 tb's to get playing time?
Possible problem number one: No back gets in a rhythm.
Possible problem number two: Specific roles for specific backs may tip our hand in a big way as to what plays are coming.
So I hope that those specific roles of the 4, 5 & 6 backs have more to do with special teams or mop-up duty than actual snaps in the backfield. Of course, injuries change everything.
And I hope the roles of the 1, 2 & 3 backs are distributed in a way that ensures number 1 gets enough carries to establish a rhythm, and then isn't pulled when he is heating up just to give number 2 or 3 their carries.
If we continue the woes of the past couple years, I'm placing the blame squarely on our RB coach.
Leg. Couldn't have said it better myself.
I kind of figured this was gonna happen....espicially since BUD hinted an opinion in an interview that the freshmen were their best backs!
I still don't like "this guy plays this package and this guy plays that..." I think that hinders the backs getting into a rythym especially if multiple packages are ran on one drive. Also another thing that I think tips our hand "oh hey look Joel Caleb is now in at RB....switch to defense package X" I don't like I don't like I don't like it.
Wait until we've seen it in a couple games, and then see if you've still got a problem with it. Florida State won a national championship doing pretty much exactly that.
With Winston at QB they could have used Tomahawk Nation posters at RB and been fine offensively.
I know this is hyperbole, but I have to disagree. In the BCS Champioship FSU couldn't put Auburn away until Jimbo stopped relying on Winston and started to just run the damn ball (stolen signals or not). Their extremely talented RBBC is what really opened up the passing game for Winston and made their offense so successful throughout the season.
This is exactly right. Winston by himself was not that great. I really can't stress enough just how much I disagree with him winning the Heisman. That should've gone to Andre Williams, no question. Tangent aside, it was FSU's dominant running game behind an outstanding offensive line and three NFL-quality tailbacks that made them (and Winston) so dangerous.
What, three NFL-quality tailbacks? We have six. We will be double national champs now.
tbh, during the Pitt game when everyone was like 'ooh, that FSU guy completed 99% of his passes' or whatever, all I could think of was 'dang, I wish we had his receivers that get sooo open I could throw to them'
After hearing so much hype about Winston, when I finally saw him play a game I was astounded by how inaccurate his passes were. He also had the benefit of a deep core of receivers that could easily get wide open and catch anything that came close to them. It is easy being a QB when your receivers can out run and out jump everyone on the other team. I've said it before and I will keep saying it-Jamies Winston is JaMarcus Russell 2.0.
Whatever happens, we just want a robust ground attack once more!
Truth be told, I could give a rats ass how many RB's we dress as long as we put the damn ball in the endzone!
Agreed (in the end result). The reason I stated about wanting at least 1 of them to reach 1k is because 1k yd backs attract pro scouts, raise their draft stock, get drafted in high rounds and in turn, attract potentially high rated recruits. Rinse and repeat.
I'll drink to that!
I really like JC Coleman, but I feel like we have possibly 3 backs on the team better than him. Anyone else feel this way or am I blaming too much of last year'a offensive woes on him?
I don't think we saw a healthy JC at any point last year. Still, we saw flashes where he showed a great burst, good vision, and a few broken tackles. I'll reserve judgement on his abilities until I have a chance to see all of them play in a real game.
Ditto!
Even though I've never been a fan of JC's running, I agree that we should reserve judgement on him for this season until he's played 2 or 3 games.
I believe he has his moments. With that being said, I too, feel that when healthy Shai, Marshawn and Trey (in that order) will be the best we have.
Why that order?
Well...The coaches say Shai is coming off a tremedous camp. Marshawn was aBEAST in the spring and really impressed untill the hernia setback. Trey is not totally 100% yet while coming off a devestating injury. Trey is definetly the better blocker.... but IMHO I think the two freshman are the "real deal" when it comes to running backs.
If we had a Darren Evans situation (like we did back in '09 with RMFW and 4STILLRUNNING4EVA) I'd be inclined to agree. The main question is how long are those nag injuries gonna keep Edmunds and Marshawn below 100% game ready?
While I agree with you that may be the order talent wise from what I understand both the freshmen can't hold a candle to Trey's blocking.
I saw this over on the Bitter blog and figured this place would be blowing up a bit.
Here's the deal: We have injuries all over. And running backs get injured a lot. I'm cool with being 6 deep, with three guys as 'primary' ballcarriers, but I really want to see what the young guys can do.
Call me typical if you want, but I already think I know what JC and Trey bring to the table. It's what Caleb (especially), McMillian, Marshawn, and Shai can deliver. That's what's getting me excited about the running back rotation. Sadly, it would be best if I didn't get to find these things out until next year.
Or later, since JC is the oldest guy and he's only a junior.
One positive aspect of the running game last year was that the RBs committed no fumbles. Hopefully the new RBS learn to protect the ball as well as gaining a bunch of yards.
I'm assuming this means DJ Reid is a surefire redshirt for this season?
It's looking that way, yes.
Also I know he's at FUMA but is Taybus Taylor going to be a LB?
That'd be my guess, barring significant attrition at the RB position.
I thought they were looking at him as a FB, but I am often wrong.
Its like The Expendables 3 starring Edmunds, Williams, and McKenzie, and they just keep adding that supporting cast. But how awesome would it be to see all six running backs score in one insane Black Friday beatdown of LOLUVA.
Expendables 2 is better than both, just by the fact it had Chuck f'n Norris in the previews.
Agreed, the casting situation is starting to get a bit ridiculous at this point. I can't even imagine how they are splitting up paychecks for these movies even more.
Also Jean Claude Van Dayum
Hopefully we play the best 3 backs while redshirting the next 3 up unless someone from the top 3 becomes injured.
In 2013, we averaged 119.8 yards/game, good for 108th in college football. We averaged 3.2 yards/carry, good for 115th in college football. We averaged 1.3 rushing TDs/game, good for 95th in college football.
As far as I'm concerned, nobody on this roster has proven they can consistently be the bell cow. I'm perfectly ok with Shane giving everyone a fair shot. It's gotta work better than the shit we saw last year. I apologize for being a dick but we were embarrassing (Shane's words, not mine) last year. Nobody has proven they deserve the job during real games.
I thought (up until he got injured) Edmunds did.
So combine this with all the "wild turkey" rumors we have been hearing and it sounds like we do not need a qb as we are going to be a run first, run second and run third team. I am good with that as long as we get first downs and control the clock, give the D plenty of rest so Foster can have them doing Foster things...
I just don't want to see Dooley's run up the middle, run up the middle, pass, punt offense.
Seth Dooley has an offense??!!?!
I just had a vision of 1982 with that comment.
So I am not the only one to remember.
I lived it, one excruciating yard at a time. God bless Cyrus Lawrence.
You know what?
I'd like to see JC not returning kicks and that role being delegated to McMillian and Caleb.
I have my opinions, but I'm gonna trust Shane and Company on this one. If the kids can play, then let them play.