So I was a little curious to see how McMillian stacked up against Tech running backs of the past. Not having a huge knowledge of Tech football history, being from Pennsylvania where Penn State rules everything, I decided to do a little digging.
As of after the GT game, McMillian has 800 yards on 145 carries (as per hokiesports.com). If he averages 100+ for the last two games, not even counting a bowl, he will be Tech's 14th different 1,000 yard rusher ever - Suggs, Lawrence, and Coles each did it twice.
McMillian would also cement himself as the 4th freshman to reach 1,000 yards joining Ryan Williams, Darren Evans, and Phil Rogers. Evans and Suggs had 287 and 293 carries respectively in their freshman campaigns - far more than McMillian will end the season with. Granted, those two did put up more yards than just edging 1,000.
My question though is this. Where would you rank McMillian in terms of skill/potential compared to previous Tech freshman and where do you see his ceiling? That is, where in Tech's history books of great college running backs does he end up after his 1-3 more years here?
Comments
That's McMillion to you
Is this even a question? He's damn good and he's had this production only starting 6 or 7 games? I'm glad I still have my 2009 RMFW jersey. Also was good for Kyshoen when he was here.
Anyway, McMillian will be a stud. Yes. And I think he'll break 1000. I hope Ford breaks 1000 and 10+ TDs as well
Did you read the question haha? He is asking how he stacks up to past greats.
I know. I answered the question. He's almost @ 1000 only starting 7 games.
has he started 7 games? I feel like its really closer to five, but I may be looking at this as the number of carries per game is only relatively high over the past five games.
Not sure, but he technically started the Purdue game but got very few carries.
that is a statistic not an analysis. If I ask if Michael Vick was the greatest quarterback to ever play at Tech would you then say well he had 2000 rushing yards
The point being that he's done a spectacular job with considerably less opportunity and is on pace to come within 500 yards of Wilson's rushing record, and has only played meaningful snaps since October.
So, YES I THINK HE WILL BE A SUPERSTAR.
Clear enough?
Slightly better. Does that mean all the other Tech backs were "superstars". What quantifies a "superstar". The NFL draft would disagree. Evans never got drafted or played a down of NFL football. Neither did Ore. I think the question is where he will stack up against Techs all time best running backs which your answer still doesn't address
I think he's as good as any we've had. He gets forward, doesn't dance around like Wilson. In that regard he reminds me of Ryan Williams, but I think he's a little faster than Williams and Evans. He's got size, strength, speed, patience and is decisive with the ball in his hands. We haven't seen him make too many people miss, but I think he's got that in his repertoire as well.
As far as the NFL bit, I think he could have a future there as well, but with my superstar comment I was only referring to college career. I'm not even thinking about his pro future cause I want him to stick around for a while.
Just because he doesn't "dance around" like Wilson does not nor will it make him a superior back to Wilson in the lore of Hokie RBs.
Ok guys, clearly I'm an idiot and have no idea what I'm talking about. Sorry for commenting in first place.
I'd allow it. 2000 yards for a RB would have him on post season award lists. 2000 yards for a QB is absurd and should have him on the short list for greatest to ever play the position, not at Tech but in all of college football.
I think we'll remember McMillian right up there with our favorites, and we won't even see it coming.
I agree with you, there is something about his running style that makes me shrug when I read the question, but then you see his productivity and it has been really impressive since he got the starting nod. He is decisive and gets good positive yardage on most carries, but he never jukes anyone out of there shoes like say RMFW would do. Darren Evans was super productive and didn't have that shifty ability, but he would plow people and get that wow reaction. McMillian very easily could end up being one of the best in terms of production when all's said and done, but how we remember him will be interesting in terms of the "all-time great" Hokie RB's.
He is faster than most of those guys except Wilson and Jones. He has good but not great vision and is hard to bring down for his size. He is still developing into the position and it is early but I think he will be around the fifth or sixth best I've seen behind Williams, Jones, Wilson, and Suggs. Suggs just had a nose for the end zone and was never stopped on third and one it was uncanny. Ore would be in the conversation if he had played another year and not gotten into trouble.
is she....going to catch something...with her mouth?
Skittles..probably
Dammit Jsketch. Again with the Brazzers gifs? What, did you just remove the watermark on it or something?
Wait a tic-how do YOU know if it's a brazzers gif??
Jsketch has a history. I can only assume any gif posted by him comes from there.
Good enough to hold on to the starting job next year even with the depth behind him methink
I'm wondering if we're going to see either Shai or Marshawn transfer after this season.
McClease looks pretty beast mode from what we have seen then we have reid too. I think someone brought up the idea of splitting them out wide to add more depth to the passing game. You never know how people come back from injuries though no guarantee McKenzie and Marshawn ever return to form. But 5 backs with 3-4 years of eligibility left is not a terrible problem to have ( not even counting Trey) we might lose one or two when the new coach comes in and Travon could go pro after next season
And all this without getting meaningful snaps in the first couple of games as well. He probably would have already eclipsed the 1000 yard mark or would be really close to it if he had been the starting back at the beginning of the year or at least after the OSU game. He's going to be a good one. It will be interesting to see how Shai and Juice figure into the rotation next year as well (of course there is another thread to that though).
I'm not sure he was keyed into the game yet the first few.
He learned fast but, against Ohio St. first game, I don't think he'd be anywhere near his average yds per carry with sustained use during the game.
I think he learned how to play college ball and got confident during the weak sauce of Purdue and Furman types.
Afterwards the arrow was definitely pointing up.
This. I agree with this so much.
He will get after you.
They'll get after him, too, in the sense that they're always behind him.
How good is he?
He's decisive. Powerful and physical. He takes advantage of the little holes the O-line created for him. He would have 1000 yards if he was stating early in the season. So he is good enough and will get better.
he'd have even more yards if he didn't get pulled after first down runs so Rogers could run an ill fated sweep every time.
He was completely gassed at the end of the GT game, I'm not going to complain about him getting a breather here and there .. we need him strong at the end of games too
Probably should have asked before I did it anyway, but can I use as avatar?
Awesome you're using the image. May the magic be with you my friend!
i feel fully dipped on this sunny friday morning. nobody's going to deny my pussy touchdowns
DORK MAGIC MASTER RACE!
one of us...one of us...
Criminally underused
That's how I would rate him this year. Seriously, this alone is enough to not so kindly inform all offensive coaches their services aren't needed after this season, regardless of coaching hire.
Yep, exactly. Last night was a case study in everything I dislike about our offensive coaching staff. McMillian disappeared for a qtr and a half. Gets 12 yard runs, taken out. Given all these ridiculous veer plays that take 10 years to run and depend on Rogers and Malleck to perform superhuman blocks. Yet McMillian still drops 135. An offensive system that runs down field could have put 180 on him.
And, truth be told, McMillian is a work in progress. Once he starts running with forward lean and lowers himself through the hole, he's going to be spectacular. Last night was actually the worst I've seen him since the NCSU game about running high. That 2nd and 2 in the 4th QTR where he stood up in the hole and got stopped was pretty frustrating. But those are skills he's going to get with experience. His 1st TD run was great, made a decisive cut and leaned into the hit. He's got it in him, needs to start doing consistently. As much as I like Shane personally, he hasn't made his RB's better at all.
Again, I agree with a lot of this, but just blindly bashing coaches is totally uncalled for, especially when there's no evidence of it. McMillian wasn't this good at the beginning of the season and he's continually gotten better. Hell, he was a quarterback a year ago and now is running with confidence and hitting holes and has us talking about him among the schools greats, but he hasn't made his RBs better at all?
Fair point.
I would clarify that I don't think Shane is a top-flight RB coach and I look forward to Mac's progression under a Billy Hite type of guy. He certainly has improved a lot as the year has gone on.
Agreed, hard to argue he's top flight after the carousel from earlier this year, no matter who the backs coach is, I'm looking forward to seeing Mac continue the development that Shane & staff started.
I kinda hope we keep Searles. It would not upset me if they kept Burden as well, but the rest can go. (I think Burden's recruiting will do well in the 757. Gut feel, no real knowledge)
He had to learn his protection responsibilities in the pass game before he could really be an every down back.. add that to the fact that he looked completely gassed at the end of the GT game, and maybe we are getting as much out of him as we could expect for a player with his experience at the position
hes dag gum good. Not to be next year guy, but assuming Lawson gets is as advertised, our offense could be special sauce.
We, hopefully, will still have JoVann Quillen coming in next year. He compares very well with Tyrod. Both Hampton High Crabbers.
Underused? Dude is getting 25+ touches a game.
He's fresher since he was underutilized earlier in the season, so it's like the coaches are making up for lost time with him now.
Still, I'd like to see him get spelled by someone not named Rogers here and there.
I hear what you're saying but the guys not named Rogers haven't done a thing this season to earn any sort of trust in their reliability to gain good yardage.
Yeah, I know. That's the conundrum.
But it took 5 games to get there.
"Underused? Dude is getting 25+ touches
a gametwo games this entire season"He's going to be a treat next season if we can pull off a Herman/Fuente type hire me thinks. The talent on this team would make any offensive guru salivate.
I just think his vision and patience is years above his experience level. Once he starts running lower and shoring up the finer points of his technique he will be great. Hopefully he will have a coaching staff that will utilize him correctly.
Love his patience, you think he is stuck and hole opens up for him. Hes exciting to watch, sometimes you think he has a short game then pinballs around for a few extra yards.
He should have 1000 yards, but it took some sorting out at the beginning of the year. Healthy Brewer and McMillian starting day one, maybe the coaching search would be delayed.
Not to mention healthy Kendall...
I feel the same way watching him that I did with RMFW in the backfield. Not making a comparison beyond how awesome he is to watch, but after our drought of talent and injuries that is enough.
He has been the brightest spot this season IMO. The burst, the north-south style, and the shiftiness have been all you can ask for in a running back. To think he still has so long to develop makes me pray he sticks around with the new head coach (whoever that may be). The sky's the limit for this kid.
He's very very good, up there with past VT greats IMO. His production even though he was hardly used the first 3-4 games and behind a worse O Line than VT used to have is nothing short of great.
More and more, on the field he reminds me of Brendan Ore. He doesn't wow you, but he gets forward. Last night, honestly I didn't think he looked explosive and thought to myself that he was dealing with an injury. Then, I look at the numbers and he is well over 100 yards rushing without the benefit of a huge number of touches. He is a hell of a player to be that productive when it doesn't look like he has his A-game going.
Was just coming here to say he reminds of of Branden Ore with a good work ethic.
I was just here to buy rims man
I knew he reminded me of somebody and I think it is Ore. McMillian looks bigger and maybe even faster, but the way he bounces around in the hole (mostly forward) and always ends up head first, is a lot like Ore. I think a lot of people forget how good Ore was.
McMillian is very good and the kind of back that will win games for you and give opponents headache everytime you face em. Glad we have him
Before the NC State game, would you have EVER believed that we would have a 1,000 back this season? With the way we were splitting up carries? It's amazing that McMillian could do it after starting just half of the season.
If the next coach truly is an offensive guy, then McMillian has a chance to challenge some records next year if he can continue improving.
Ranking the RBs that I've watched personally (so, starting in '92) I'd rank the top 5 as:
1. RMFW - best all-around combination of power & vision, only real knock was lack of elite speed
2. Suggs - not the flashiest guy but always got the tough yards and was a touchdown machine
3. DW4 - could do something spectacular on any given play, which unfortunately includes turning a 1-yard gain into a 10-yard loss
4. KJ - complete package of size, speed, and agility, but had a tendency to dance in the hole and try to take runs outside too often
5. (tie) Ore & Evans
Honorable mention: Ox
Obviously a lot depends on the new coaching staff, but based on what I've seen this year, TM could certainly earn that #5 spot. And if he learns to run lower and fall forward consistently and remains the feature back for a couple years, he could maybe move up as high as #3? IMO it's all about consistency, as both KJ & DW4 had more raw talent than Suggs.
Good list, I would agree with all the descriptions. I have RW first but have a very difficult time sorting out KJ, Suggs and Wilson. I tend to put Wilson last because he didn't have the nose for the endzone (of the others) and did get in trouble with his crazy backwards runs. KJ did that too but KJ could also be a bull in the redzone. Suggs got everything out of his talent, I always thought he reminded me of a poor mans Marcus Allen. Always got that yard when you needed it. Great forward lean. Never fumbled.
I think Mac can end up fifth as well. Ore had all the talent in the world but lacked discipline at times. Evans was a plodder and liked contact, fun to watch, but lacked the physical skills that everyone above him had.
Mac needs to learn the forward lean and to hit the hole hard and low. I'm seeing great vision, but he can do a lot more. Very exciting player to build around.
You could rearrange my #2-#4 in any order and I couldn't argue with you. It also depends on your perspective; if you like guys who work hard and get the most out of their talent you gotta love Suggs, but if you're an NFL scout DW4 clearly has a higher ceiling.
It's a shame that every single one of them was limited in the league due to injuries... I know it's a fact of life, especially for RBs, but our guys seem to have had more than their share of bad luck in that department.
Here's mine:
1) Lee Suggs (only player to win the Dudley Award twice. According Hite, only player to remind him of Cyrus Lawrence in terms of nat talent)
2) K. Jones (nominated for Heisman, earned Pro bowl after his rookie season. I think he was the last Tech player in the top 3-5 Heisman nominations)
3) RMFW
4) DW4
5) Evans
Honor mention: Oxendine
Right now I have McMillan at seven but I could put him as high as number 4 by the end of his career at Tech (though I do not agree that he is or will ever be superior or equal to DW4).
Really sucks that we waited to late in the season to give him the reigns and find out just how good he is. The next coach has to be happy about the offensive talent he's coming into.
I feel like he should have run for 175+ last night. The OL was mauling a lot of the night in the run game. There were a few runs where he was 3 yards past the LOS and still hadn't hit the hole because the OL was getting such a push. He was an ankle tripping away from a few big runs as well.
I think he is ahead of where DW4 was as a freshman but not quite where RMFW was. His running style reminds me of a faster Daren Evans. He doesn't put many moves on guys and he finishes the runs hard. If he can run with a better forward lean he will run through people.
https://memecrunch.com/meme/1MYI1/that-boy-good/image.png?w=500&c=1
Why the link?
I like his vision on his runs, he sees the hole way better than Edmunds, Coleman, et al... which makes him more decisive, and his brain isn't fumbling with his feet. With the way the o-line is playing, I wouldn't mind seeing Edmunds spell him for a snap or two. Difference is, Edmunds needs a big hole to run through, a la Alabama in 2013. You could drive 3 semis through that hole.
I don't have the best memory, I'm certainly not the most observant, and I am by NO means a football analyst, but.......it appears to me that McMillian's recognition of and cuts to the hole are faster than any VT baller I can recall. Combined with his speed, power, determination, north-south routes, and considering his inexperience, I can see him developing into maybe the best we've ever had.
On the spectrum of the various running back attributes he seems to have the best vision. If there was a hole David Wilson was gone. If there wasn't he wouldn't get much. Williams was shifty and good once to the second level. Of all our backs he reminds of Suggs the most. Leads with excellent vision and has power, speed, and explosiveness to compliment.
On the spectrum of the various running back attributes he seems to have the best vision. If there was a hole David Wilson was gone. If there wasn't he wouldn't get much. Williams was shifty and good once to the second level. Of all our backs he reminds of Suggs the most. Leads with excellent vision and has power, speed, and explosiveness to compliment.
Double. Drink. Agree and like the post though.
I think you all are really overlooking Michael Holmes here
We're not talking future Hokie RBs.
You called.
Not sure I understand your joke.
That's Drew Harris.
Just wait until Drew Harris gets here next year. That running back tandem will be insane.
Look up one picture.
I'd say his game is strong, to very strong
McMillian is a stud and will have a great career, but lets give the O-Line some credit too. They have been blocking very well to give him holes to cut back into and lead blocking. With no O-line, I don't care who you have at RB, you don't have a running game.
Seems everyone likes his forward movement. So can he return punts too?