It was suggested a couple weeks back that I get this thread going and I've just been sitting on my couch in the middle of a hurricane since then. Particularly, I've been checking in on Travon McMillian and AJ Bush, but there are plenty of other guys to add to this list like Andrew Ford, Dwayne Lawson, etc.
Travon McMillian, Colorado - Week 1: 10 carries, 103 yards and this gem of a TD
Here's a 👀 at that 49-yard touchdown by @tmcmillian2 Dancing around the Rams defense and putting them on skatesWATCH on CBS Sports Network#BeatCSU #GoBuffs #CUvsCSU pic.twitter.com/pY4aGVwduw— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@RunRalphieRun) September 1, 2018
Week 3: 15 carries, 162 yards, 2 TDs including a 75-yarder
AJ Bush, Illinois - Week 1- 13-23, 190 yards, 21 rushes, 139 yards
AJ injured his hamstring in Week 2 and sat out Week 3, hopefully he will be back soon.
Andrew Ford, UMass - For the season, Ford is 49-78, 486 yards, 2 TD 3 INT
Ford was injured in the first quarter of Saturday's game when he was sacked and didn't return.
Yall let me know any other guys to add here. I'll try and keep a weekly update for kicks.
Comments
Do you think you could include the passing efficiency numbers for Bush and Ford since that seems to be the popular stat around here these days?
Edit: wow travon absolutely PUNKS that db in the open field
Passing Efficiency anagrams to Spacey Ice Sniffing
Is Dwayne Lawson still involved in college football- at any level?
If I'm remembering right, he committed to Illinois last year after JUCO
He committed in Spring of 2017 but didn't enroll due to continuing academic issues:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-illinois-quarterback...
That really sucks man. I heard nothing but good things about that kid when he committed to us, and I hate that we never really got to see his potential.
I think we are seeing his potential. What we're not seeing is the hype.
im curious as to what happened the coach from his high school that we hired as a "QC" guy. he bet the boat on DLaw and got left in the wind.
Be curious no longer
Max Warner left Virginia Tech after one season to become High School Head Football Coach
What school is each person at?...
Good call - will edit
Not a good look for the program when a guy that leaves the school because he was in Fuente's doghouse is going bonkers (or "en fuente") on a team that he transfers to. This and DT are arguably our biggest positions of need right now.
I don't blame him for transferring, he was too good to be given the amount of reps that he was given here. Hopefully the guy can find continued success.
Once a Hokie...
I'm good with the look. Seems like it worked out for both sides. We are 2-0 and have fielded a team that Fuente wants and trusts to be on the field.
Strongly agree with your take, Fud. I'm putting my chits on Fu and I won't be second guessing him about who he wants on his team and who he doesn't. I have no problem hoping Travon has a good career and I don't feel like it reflects poorly on us at all, unless someone wants to try to make it so and is believed. Not every peg fits in every hole, and I also believe we'll get where we want to be with the running game when all the pieces are fitting right and the full offensive vision of CornFu comes to fruition.
With McClease fumbling last game I wonder if he goes to the doghouse in favor of Peoples and Wheatley
Probably not since he came back in the game a quarter or so later.
I must have missed it
Wheatley is getting carries exclusively on the jet sweep motion when lined up in the slot. The way he is being used is very different to how McClease and People's are when they get carries.
[Fixed Spelling]
That doesn't have to be permanent.
Wheatley has had a pretty defined role in the offense through two games and a McClease fumble is not going to cause Fuente or Cornelson to completely reassess how the utilize him. Obviously it doesn't have to be permanent because nothing is but there's going to have to be a much bigger catalyst to see a change like that.
Fuente wanted him to be able to block as well as run. He decided to get mopey and transfer to somewhere that blocking wasn't going to be a necessary part of his skillset.
You should watch a Buffs game. He still struggles badly with pass blocking and run blocking for other ball carriers. In their first game he is asked to block and not joking here gets skinny to get between two guys he should have blocked.
I wouldn't react too much Trevon's early season stats. He had good games against an FCS team and a G5 team that ranks 117th in defense on the S&P+. The one P5 team he played against he went 8 attempts for 25 yards. As others have mentioned he seems to still be a liability when it comes to blocking. Lets see what his stats look like once he gets into conference play.
I mean it's not like he's some true freshman recruit we missed on that we are trying to convince ourselves can't play. We have already seen him have a 1000 yard season for us as a r-Fr. and his overall numbers under Fuente were quite easily explained by his lack of carries. He'd have a big game against one team and have 3 carries the next game. Whatever his situation with Fuente was, it clearly wasn't conducive to him being successful with any level of consistency.
All I know is that for the past 2 years, EVERY explosive run by an actual RB was made by McMillian. Everyone else was 3 yards and a cloud of dust or a jet sweep. If a RB carried the ball and broke one, it was Trayvon. Fuente didn't like his game for whatever reason, and that's fine.
Because and I think I've read this somewhere before, he couldn't and still can't block.
Isn't that what we have an H Back for?
Everyone but the QB should be able to block.
Logan disagrees:
That happens today and Logan becomes the first QB ejected for helmet to helmet hit.
Except it was all shoulder.
Luckily ACC refs never let the facts get in the way of a targeting call.
I often forget that, for a gloriously short amount of time, we had DW4 and LT3 on the same field.
Or the wonderous year that was 2010. Tyrod, LT3, RMFW, DMFE, DW4, Coale, Boykin....now I hate Stinespring more
The block was during the '11 season.
And all of our runningbacks should be able to hit homeruns.
really?
And that number of explosive runs in the last two years would equal...uh, one?
In the 25 games after the Tennessee game in 2016 (when he had a 69 yard run), his longest run was 34 yards. Other than the 69 yard run vs Tenn in early 2016, he had maybe 5 runs >20 yards (two of which were 21 yards) on ~250 carries in '16 & '17. That's a 1 in 40 chance of a run > 20 yards and a 1 in 80 chance of >25 yards.
His longest run in '17 was just 23 yards.
I'm have no doubt McMillian is a great kid, but he's overall a below average P5 running back who is occasionally capable of an above average rushing performance. In his entire time at VT, he had at most 10 quality starts and the rest just exposed how weak many parts of his game are.
I'll bet that by the end of the season, he'll have Colorado fans scratching their heads too.
I miss Marshawn so bad. Shai had his upsides and his issues, but Marshawn's story just made me want to cry. Except the part where he reinjured his leg on a hover board.
Same here. We sat a few rows behind Marshawn's family during his first game (William and Mary 2014) and they were soooo excited! Their enthusiasm was just contagious. I've been a Marshawn fan ever since. When he was injured, I thought about his mom that day, and yep, I cried.
I have no idea what Colorado's depth chart looks like, but I'm fairly certain he didn't start against Nebraska. Maybe he breaks out there, maybe he doesn't, but all I'm saying is its a little too early to start worrying that this will have a big impact on recruiting. Let's see what he does when is he playing P5 defenses every week. For every explosive play he had here, you can probably find one that got blown up due to his poor blocking.
I feel like the thing with Mcmillian is that he either gave you an explosive play (very few of those) or nothing at all. Travon, IMO, isn't a natural RB. Very little consistency in combination with being a poor blocker.
It simply wasn't going to work. Best for both parties.
Is this one of the casualties of us converting players from position to position? (for those who don't recall, TMac was a QB in HS)
No.
Was asking for a friend, really. Other posters have brought that up as a recruiting deterrent.
If he was too good he wouldn't have been completely outperformed by McClease last year
Completely outperformed is maybe a little much, but yeah, they were almost the same running back statistically.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/259/year/2017
I never really thought about it, but it would've been interesting to have Lawson and AJ at illinois. Not sure of the timing but they also may not have brought in AJ if Lawson was on the roster.
If VT is getting enough talent where a player that can't perform a secondary skillset for his position is lost in the shuffle AND we are winning, then this is nothing to worry about. Be glad for dragon, he found a place that can use him and doesn't need him to block, or at least is understanding of his inability/reluctance to do so. Glad he is doing well.
Where is the update on Drew Harris?
He has 4 kids
I really hope this puts an end to the Drew Harris comments...
They can still help you get Bingo
My god, thats a John Oliver doppleganger
Dr Bloom, who thinks Pirates of the Pancreas is just okay
Offset your downvote, fam.
Illinois has started a Freshman (MJ Rivers II) at QB over AJ Bush tonight.
Well, it's working well so far...
AJ has been dinged up; I don't think he played last week either. Illini fans on Twitter seem to want him over MJ.
Week 5 update:
AJ Bush returned from injury and went 10-18 for 89 yards and a TD, and also ran for 116 yards and 2 TDs. Worth noting the Illini are 3-0 with Bush, 0-2 without.
Travon McMillian continues to dominate, rushing for 102 yards and a TD in a win over UCLA, then rushing 30 times for 136 yards in a win over Arizona State. Colorado is quietly 5-0 with a few quality wins. Travon is averaging 6.3 yards per carry and has 4 TDs on the year.
Andrew Ford had a big game vs Ohio, passing for 335 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. The following week he passed for 199 yards with 2 TDs and 1 pick. Both games UMass lost by the score of 58-42, so it's not on Ford. Andrew is completing 66.4% of his passes this year for the 2-5 Minutemen.
Yep, McMillian is killing it. 6.3 ypc, has rushed for over 100 yards in 4 out of 5 games. I was actually just looking at his stats earlier today because I was curious.
How's his blocking? ;^)
Travon McMilian finished his season at Colorado with 1009 rushing yards on 201 attempts (5.0 ypc) and 7 rush TDs (and 1 rec TD).
However Colorado started 5-0 and finished the season with 7 straight losses to finish 5-7 and miss a bowl game.
edited: The initial stats I posted apparently weren't final. Corrected in the edit.
Been saying it all year and the stats back it up. Peoples is having just as good of a year rushing, he just has less carries. Peoples also has had a better year receiving and certainly blocking.
Not sure if this is the right place, but I just remembered Jalen Hudson is still playing for Florida.
Here's a look a current stats per game.
2018-2019: 16.8 Min, .302 FG%, .207 3p%, 6.0 Pts
2017-2018: 26.6 Min, .455 FG%, .404 3p%, 15.5 Pts
The summary from the FL articles I read is that he has less shots off the dribble and from pick and rolls this season, leading to a lower efficiency and less playing time.