Marshawn Williams tells Hokiesports that he is 85% and almost running full speed with "nothing serious" pain-wise.
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/huddle/
I still would like to see Williams and McKenzie both redshirted with Coleman, Edmunds, and McMillian all coming off strong spring practice seasons.
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If he is performing at 100%, suit him up.
marshawn also said he was 100% with his last injury and we all saw that the coaches thought otherwise. I expect him to redshirt 1000%
Agreed, both Williams and McKenzie should redshirt this year. We have enough other RB talent with Edmunds, Coleman returning as well as a redshirt back that wants to take over for Coleman next year.
If he's 100%, keep him as the 4th string. He can RS unless he absolutely has to get in there.
I think Exum was saying the same thing at this point. I like Williams future, but if the depth we have stays healthy, the last thing we need to do is waste carries on a less than 100% back with fumbling issues.
Some people said RMFW (r-Fr) had fumbling issues when he muffed the punt return against Bama and his most untimely fumble that same year in the home night game against UNC. Darren Evans fumbled in the final drive of the
loss to JMUGAME THAT NEVER HAPPENED. I remember people calling David Wilson a fumbler too. Point being, Marshawn was a true freshman last year who was trying to adjust to the speed of the college game, I think he'll grow out of it.Cedric Humes had terrible fumbling issues early in his career, as did Kevin Jones. Both of them got their issues fixed. David Wilson never did get his issues figured out, while Darren Evans never really had any fumbling issues, just a couple of ill-timed ones.
On a side note, people forget how much Bryan Randall was disliked and dismissed after he had 8 fumbles and 19 turnovers overall in 2002. He had 28 fumbles in his career and lost 13 of them (Sean Glennon had 19 and lost 9). Here's hoping Michael Brewer becomes the player Randall became- winning changes everything.
David Wilson didn't lose a fumble until his Junior year at Tech, granted that he didn't have as many carries until then because he was splitting them with R. Williams and Evans. Prior to that he had a few fumbles, but they were all recovered by VT. On the Giants, all of the fumbles he lost were in two or three games (he only lost fumbles against the Cowboys, but I can't remember how many games they were spread across).
Edit to provide actual stats:
Over his VT career, Wilson had 9 fumbles, 4 of which were lost. In his JR year, he lost 4 of 7 fumbles, while rushing 1627 yards with 266 carries spread over 13 games (CBS Sports appears to not include bowl games in their stats). Over his career, Wilson averaged a fumble ever 48.7 carries and lost a fumble every 109.5 carries.
We still have DJ Reid also who could sneak up out of nowhere and possibly do some serious damage against defenses =D I am curious to see what all we had on the bench last year.
Peoples as well, although he could be redshirted with Wright as Rogers backup.
I'm hoping Williams and McKenzie redshirt to get completely healthy, but I want to see Peoples play. I liked what I saw from him in the spring game, and I think he definitely gives us another weapon at FB.
I definitely think both should redshirt and allow those knees proper time to heal. Shai's coming off his second ACL tear in 2 years on the same knee, and Juice would be really pushing it to be ready by August. We have two good backs in Edmunds and Coleman, and I'm excited about McMillian and potentially Reid as well. The only thing is, if we redshirt both Shai and Juice, they along with McMillian and Reid will all be r-Sophomores next season. Would be nice to have some separation there, but it is what it is.
One truly can't understand the process of a torn ACL recovery until they've went through it. The ligament is usually healed after 12 weeks (close to 3 months), but the knee has yet to return to full/unhindered flexion and the quad muscle is still very week. The next several months are spent trying to work the quad up so the leg isn't depending so much on the new knee for the ACL. For a college football player, any orthopedist will wait until the athlete is 100% to clear him, because of how demanding the sport is. I have seen instances were athletes playing less demanding sports in less demanding situations were cleared way sooner. My high school soccer coach was cleared 3 and a half months after surgery to play baseball when he was in high school. A high school soccer goalie right now that I know could possibly be cleared after 3 months. A lot of times, these players will need braces. In college and professional football though, orthopedists wait till after the athlete is comfortable without the brace to clear them, because that means their muscles are stable enough to feel like a normal leg again. Marshawn will most likely not be cleared until he is 100%, and that is best. Trust me, ACL tears are more debilitating than you'd think until you are 100%. I've been there.