https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Article/Virginia-Tech-Hokies...
With the RB influx this winter....many fans likely had a hunch this was in the works. Who will step up next season?
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Great post by McClease. Good luck to him
Good luck to McClease. He played his nuts off.
Was fun to watch. Always a Hokie!
Godspeed and best of luck brother!
Hopefully either the 2nd best JUCO running back in Marco Lee or Khalil Herbert from Kansas who ran for almost 9 yards a carry this year.
Also, Keshawn King should hopefully put on some muscle this offseason and be more productive.
Herbert and King are the obvious candidates to be lead dog in 2020...with Holston and Gary in the mix as well.
Herbert will help a lot.
But man, we need to start landing some big name RBs in recruiting. Given what we want to do on offense, its mind boggling we are still struggling with that.
Perhaps why Zohn is no longer part of the coaching staff.
We've honestly struggled ever since coach Billy Hite retired.
I mean, say what you will, but in 2014/2015, Shane had Shai McKenzie, Travon McMillian, Marshawn Williams, Trey Edmunds, and JC Coleman. Such a total shame that Shai and Marshawn had very promising careers derailed by injury. Trey had a promising 2013 but injury also set him back. Even DJ Reid and Joel Caleb were highly touted recruits that just didn't pan out.
Ohh I agree about the talent, we just haven't been able to "Coach'em up". Beamer jr. rotated the guys before anyone could a feeling and we had converted Tight ends playing OG/OT.
2014-17 should have been great RB wise until the unfortunate and recurrent injuries to Shai and Marshawn, who were flashing immediately as true freshmen.
King has the advantage of having actually gotten touches in multiple games when it counts, so at this juncture, I'd expect him to get about 30% of RB carries. We had 300 RB carries this year, so that's about 90 carries for King, which is only 11 carries more than he had this year.
I expect Holston, Herbert, and Lee to get a combined 45%. 135 total carries.
Gary, about 15%. 45 carries
Everybody else about 5%. 15 carries
5% being split among all backs. 15 carries
Does the 30% assume he gains weight, or just projection from his play time this year. Don't forget Robinson and the carries he had this year. Unless you're just talking specific RB carries. Any thoughts on whether one of the other RBs will take over jet sweeps and let Robinson focus more on receiving?
I'm just talking about RB specific carries.
I think Robinson is too dangerous a threat on the sweep to remove him from the play, unless we develop King or Herbert into the sweep/wheel route threat, allowing Robinson to stretch the field.
The 30% is barely more than he had this year (26.3%), so I'm expecting an uptick in his carries, regardless, simply because he's our most experienced back (in our system).
The trio assumes one of them will emerge as the primary physical back getting the bulk of the carries, while the other two have carries to spell the two premier backs. Gary, I assume will be the predominant garbage time back, of which I am assuming we will have aplenty.
Yeah, loved seeing Robinson on the sweeps - that dude is quick! King seems like he's pretty quick too, so was thinking maybe he POTENTIALLY could take it and get Robinson focused on receiving, but some of that is just me thinking about dropped passes this year and wanting/needing reliable receivers.
One way or another, I'm excited about the RB situation for next year! I like what I've seen from King and Herbert's film looks really good! It'll be interesting to see how the others do. Gary had a couple good carries this year, and he was coming off a pretty bad injury.
While I understand the reasoning behind your numbers as there isn't a clear top dog right now, I really hope we don't split carries that many ways. I'd like to see more established roles with a lead back, a power back, and then either a third down back or primary backup getting some run. Of course it won't be that cut and dry but 5 guys getting 15-30% makes me cringe.
My inclination is Herbert and King battle it out for lead back with the other being the primary backup. Holston and Gary compete for power back. There doesn't appear to be anyone with the proven skill set to be a 3rd down back.
Your point underscores why we haven't recruited running backs well. Who wants to go to a school where the lead back gets 30% of the carries? I'm hoping Lechtenberg will change that, and maybe recruits will take notice
t a v i e n p l s
Perhaps. I know that's a seemingly logical narrative among fans- and the recruits very well might be buying it as well- but I believe the idea that the coaches prefer a running back by committee approach is overblown. The backfield was a mess in 2017 but we've had a fairly clear 1-2 punch these past two seasons (2018 - Peoples/McClease, 2019 - McClease/King).
Conversely, we lost multiple RB targets to PSU and, lo and behold, they get stuck in running back committee all season, splitting carries between 4 RBs with their QBs frequently running as well.
Best of luck to Deshawn! Really hope he gets picked up and sticks on a roster.
McClease is a great Hokie! Classy announcement...
First, I'd like to acknowledge McClease's 5 years in the program, and the huge step forward he made this season to become a better running back and playmaker. I think this was probably the right decision for him. He has spent 5 years as a part of Hokie football, earned two degrees (I'm told), and I doubt his draft stock or chances of making a roster increases next year compared to this year.
As for next year, I'd say the betting favorite for most carries is Khalil Herbert, being spelled or rotated with game-ready, big JUCO RB Marco Lee, and a still sub 200lb, but more college looking version of Keshawn King. I think by King's junior year we will have him playing comfortably in the 200-205 range, but not sure we can get him to that in one offseason without sacrificing some of his explosiveness.
As for the other guys on the roster, I think we will see some attrition but I don't have any inside sauces on who they might be. So I don't want to speculate on them too much. I think Gary could shakeup my above mentioned plan, but I still think we might prefer to bring him along slowly and make sure he is 100% confident mentally on his fully healed femur.
Lightning - Herbert (5.9, 205, rSR) or King (5.11, 182, SO)
Thunder - Lee (5.11, 225, JR) or Gary (5.8 221, rFR),
Holy crap. That's a lot of dude in a short package.
Maybe he can be a Maurice Jones-Drew type.
If we end up with a 3-back rotation, I think the name should be "Boom Shaka Laka".
We're on fire!
Best of luck to him. Not sure who will have incredible bowl games for us now (he rushed for >100 yards in each of our last 3 bowl games)
McClease- great career and good luck on everything. Dude was a beast in our bowl game- My only issue with Cornelson was that Tech should have run him 24 times instead of 12. Probably would have translated into a win. Hope you have a great career.
King will be the next David Wilson/ Ryan Williams for us.
Really? He's elusive and fast AF but lacks the power, by far, that those guys demonstrated. I'd love to be wrong about that.
He's a small guy right now as a true Freshman. Give him another year or two in the S&C program and he might be able to grow into the role. I'm just glad that he survived this season without any injuries.
I love your optimism but Ryan Williams dragged Earl Wolff 10 yards for a TD, and that dude had a medium cup of coffee in the NFL
I absolutely have no doubt. He played sparingly but given a full season of games I bet he can have the kind of game impact and production that those two had.
Agree, but if the opposing D can't catch him it really doesn't matter. If we can give him a clean hole to run through he's going to have one hell of a career.
Thats a bold statement
Yeah. I like King, but those other dudes were, well, better.
Yeah, that's one way to put it.
I do like King, though.
I wish Deshawn was staying because the light came on for him this season and would have been an excellent example to follow and a great competitor. Hopefully we won't miss that aspect. I thought Gary looked awesome in the handful of touches he got.
Good luck McClease!
Best of luck dude, we need someone to get drafted this year. So QP is gonna be the feature back now methinks? semi-sarcastia...
We are bringing in game-ready/college ready backs in grad transfer Khalil Herbert and JUCO RB Marco Lee to help prevent the situation we found ourselves in this year without a healthy big back, forced to play Keene as a RB at times. Barring extreme injury misfortune, we should have much better depth at RB next season.
In a dream world, QP becomes our Derrick Henry.
that sounds more like a nightmare tbh. i'd much rather QP become our Cam Newton and then we recruit our Derrick Henry
Hmmm....having two Heisman Trophy winners on the same roster...
Bold strategy, you know that just might work.
Dude looked the part on a couple of those runs versus UNC. I would love to have him line up as RB and go down hill... think he could be awesome.
It seems like half of the team is made up for RBs. Joking aside, King, the Kansas transfer, and the JUCO transfer should be our main guys.
Damn good for him. He was gonna kill it next year for us so that side of things is sad.
Does it make any sense for King to redshirt this year to give him time in the weight room to get bigger without burning a year and let Herbert & Lee take over as the main backs? Herbert graduates after next year and King steps into his role or Lee takes over with King as the #2 back his R-So year and then he's the lead RB his Junior/Senior year.
That's a great idea, but it would probably depend on how fast Herbert picks up the offense and attrition at the position.
If he's the best RB then no. The best RB(s) need to play regardless of their stature and size.
I see no reason to do this. We have no proven backs on the roster now and only King has much experience with the team. He can gain size while he plays. Play your best guys. We will have a complete returning Oline. I want to see what King can do behind that.
I agree with playing your best guys, but if Herbert or Lee come in and quickly pick up the system in the first 4 games, doesn't it make sense to redshirt him?
Is King still better than them in this scenario? Yes? Then it makes no sense. What are we saving him for? We have an almost entirely returning roster next year. I see no reason to think we shouldnt shoot for a coastal and ACC title. If those two come in and are better then sure, redshirt him doesnt really matter at that point.
Thank you Clease - You will get a shot at the NFL...Best of Luck
Whomever doesn't fumble- regardless the skill set- will get the bulk of the carries.
Cornelsen and Fuente currently working on "Battering Ram Package"
RB, HB and QB all converge at the line of scrimmage in a 5 wide set and share possession of the ball and ram-rod their way into the endzone. This should essentially cure fummblitus and 4th and short.
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Imagining a 32 personnel formation where all 4 backs are arranged in a line parallel with the OL where any of them can receive a directional direct snap and run into the gap immediately in front of them while the other backs all do the same thing and laughing to myself.
False Start! Numbers 87, 76, 92, and 98.
Half of the half of the half of the half of the distance to the goal line, repeat 1st down for the 12th straight time!
I think you mean "Pattering Ram". Regardless, it will always be the Wild Turkey formation in my eyes.
Classy post. I don't like the decision. On the surface this looks like another Ryan Williams / Darren Evans type decision. Both declared early, neither were really ready imho, and both had very abrupt NFL careers. I'm not going to question the reasoning for his decision (which is his, and his along to make), but another year could make the difference between going late round (or undrafted) to bring in the top 3 rounds.
What the hell? Ryan Williams didn't leave too early, he was an early 2nd round draft pick and his NFL career involved him suffering several long-term injuries. He won the starting job in Arizona on 2 or 3 different occassions only to get another severe injury. That's just bad luck, staying at VT another year doesn't make his shoulder or patellar tendon any more stable.
I must be recalling RW incorrectly, so I will retract my statement.
EDIT: I retract part of my retraction. Williams has 2 years of eligibility left. He would have been entering his r-Jr year had he stayed.
I also forgot that McClease was a 5th year, and he didn't have any guaranteed eligibility left on the table. Basically disregard my entire post.
Even with eligibility left, RW made the right call to get to the league as a 2nd round pick. The wear and tear on RBs is echoed a lot, so when you factor that in, he absolutely made the right decision to leave. The injuries were unfortunate.
This was absolutely the right decision if he has NFL aspirations. He had the best year of his career and will be, at best, the 3rd most talented back on the team next year. Best case scenario for him if he had stayed would be to cut this year's production in half
Dude... McClease has two degrees, and he's already been in Blacksburg for 5 years. This smells like a canned post.
Are you a bot? You know if you're a bot, and I ask if you're a bot, you have to tell me. It's the law.
He has his degree, had a great year, and probably deserved more touches. I wish him the best of luck. He was fantastic in the bowl game.
* 2 degrees.
He made the side bar for NCAA Football top stories this evening. That's pretty impressive... didn't realize the hype was outside the program. Best of luck to him.
I know there's a knock on our running game, as inconsistent as it has been over the last few years. McClease kind of showed that. I looked at his numbers against P5 top 25 rushing defenses + Marshall + Bowl opponents in 2018 as they had a pretty solid rushing defense.
Against those teams (10 opponents), he averaged 5.72 yards per carry on 101 carries. He particularly shined against top bowl opponents in bowl games, getting 8.38 yards per carry on 42 carries. Now, outside of bowl games, he netted 3.83 yards per carry on 59 carries.
Thank you.
P.S. please teach some one to pick up those blocks like you were doing, it stood out all season.
And it's gonna pop on his tape for evaluators at the next level
Damn, he was really heating up too. One of my favorite offensive players this year. Sucks to see him go. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward!!
Run DMC... i will miss you and your perfect nickname