AJC's A-Back preview

[orientalnc]

I like the fact that Lynch does what he is supposed to do. Top speed is nice when you get space, but much of what A-backs do is finding space and making blocks that need to be timed perfectly. I think our offense suffered most when Dennis Andrews was dismissed. He was not as fast or as talented a ball carrier, but he knocked people on their butt. It seems like a small thing, but a lot of 3rd down plays were stopped last year because an A-back or B-back did not take out an LB or corner.

 

[deeeznutz]

I like Lynch too and I imagine he is a hard worker, although I really don't know. However, my guess is that he falls down the depth chart a little. He will see game action pretty often, but I think he will get passed by a few guys. That first sentence of my quote pretty much sums up why.

Searcy is faster and more elusive. Lands-Davis is quite a bit more physical and has proven himself to be a better receiver than we might have originally thought. He won't be confused as much this season. Lynn Griffin was starting to show out by the end of the season. He broke some tackles and looked like he was our best runner at making something out of nothing. JJ Green has a body of work at another school that suggests he will be good. Finally, I was speaking with a guy inside the program with a TON of football experience who told me that Cotrell had already essentially won the starting AB job in a total of one week on campus. He was that good. I have never seen the kid play, but I trust this guy's critique 100%. So, if he has healed up and doesn't have any issues (mentally or physically) with the leg, he might be hard to beat out too. It is going to be an intense situation, which is good for us fans. If Lynch can hold all those guys off, then more power to him. I will be more than happy.

You could easily be right, and if someone passes him I think it's a good sign for the team. He reminds me of Deon Hill towards the end of his career, solid all around: blocking, running, and receiving. I really hope Cottrell is as good as reported...we sure could use a dynamic, home run threat at the position.

 

[iceeater1969]

I like the fact that Lynch does what he is supposed to do. Top speed is nice when you get space, but much of what A-backs do is finding space and making blocks that need to be timed perfectly. I think our offense suffered most when Dennis Andrews was dismissed. He was not as fast or as talented a ball carrier, but he knocked people on their butt. It seems like a small thing, but a lot of 3rd down plays were stopped last year because an A-back or B-back did not take out an LB or corner.

Agree a very big loss but feel he was a good rusher. Think days and laskey in senior year. He could have been the rb that got that extra yard for first down or the longer run - 25 yds verses 12 yds. Also his experience was not available to our coaches for teaching the young guys. He had great timing when blocking or running. I hope to see this return in 16.

 

[iceeater1969]

You could easily be right, and if someone passes him I think it's a good sign for the team. He reminds me of Deon Hill towards the end of his career, solid all around: blocking, running, and receiving. I really hope Cottrell is as good as reported...we sure could use a dynamic, home run threat at the position.

What if Cottrell is as good and we add Robertson? Can Lots of speed / talent but moderate blocking find a home on the flats while underclassmen? I hope our offense can be well run by underclassmen.

 

[alagold]

Cottrell may be a good but getting well AND showing out with no experience may be a lot to ask for next yr.Lynch has got to be very near the front just on game production.MLD is the biggest and showed good hands.I still think Willis may be the best blocker of all.Searcy and Green seem to be maybe the most elusive.Unless Griffin explodes, I can't see him getting ahead of others(I hope he goes to Def).Jarrett has size problems .

I sure hope we redshirt several and recruit enough DLs and not bring more in Abacks next yr..

 

[vamosjackets]

Everybody always forgets about Willis. I was surprised last year, whenever I saw an AB that I thought was playing faster than others, it was always him.

 

[Boomergump]

I have to apologize, I mispelled Cottrell's last name earlier in the thread. I fixed it along with the others who followed my bad spelling. I hate when I do that.

 

[takethepoints]

I mentioned Cottrell's senior film earlier. Here it is:



If we can get this guy to the corner - and I'm pretty sure we will - we'll get a TD or a long gain about every 4 plays. Look at what he does when the DBs think they have an angle on him. Spoiler alert: he commonly out runs them by 10 yards or better. He's like Tony Hollings too in that when he sees a gap, he simply turns on the afterburners and goes in a straight line toward the goal. Leaving everybody on the field smothering in the jet exhaust, btw. And he can catch, he doesn't go down on a first hit, and he can throw. This is high school, but it's the way he scores; he's obviously much, much faster then anybody on the field.

I think it's easy to see why Coach keeps bringing him up. The real question is whether he is drooling when he mentions him. I think he starts easy.

 

[OldJacketFan]

I mentioned Cottrell's senior film earlier. Here it is:



If we can get this guy to the corner - and I'm pretty sure we will - we'll get a TD or a long gain about every 4 plays. Look at what he does when the DBs think they have an angle on him. Spoiler alert: he commonly out runs them by 10 yards or better. He's like Tony Hollings too in that when he sees a gap, he simply turns on the afterburners and goes in a straight line toward the goal. Leaving everybody on the field smothering in the jet exhaust, btw. And he can catch, he doesn't go down on a first hit, and he can throw. This is high school, but it's the way he scores; he's obviously much, much faster then anybody on the field.

I think it's easy to see why Coach keeps bringing him up. The real question is whether he is drooling when he mentions him. I think he starts easy.

I got to know about Nathan his jr year in the state playoffs. I said before on here that the first time I saw him my immediate thought was he is the prototypical A back for CPJ. Little did I know at the time was he would wind up a Jacket!

 

[Sideways]

You could easily be right, and if someone passes him I think it's a good sign for the team. He reminds me of Deon Hill towards the end of his career, solid all around: blocking, running, and receiving. I really hope Cottrell is as good as reported...we sure could use a dynamic, home run threat at the position.

Boy howdy, that Hill was money in the bank once he recovered from his multitude of injuries, illness etc. In that game against Georgia he would not be denied. Gotta have a block? He got it. Need a first down reception? Yep, he was the man. Need a three or four yard run for a first down? You betcha. A friend of mine who WAS a Georgia fan (I convinced him of the errors of his ways) told me that Hill does not look like much but if we (meaning UGA) had him we would not be in the fix we are in. Good job Deon!

 

[ilovetheoption]

I mentioned Cottrell's senior film earlier. Here it is:



If we can get this guy to the corner - and I'm pretty sure we will - we'll get a TD or a long gain about every 4 plays. Look at what he does when the DBs think they have an angle on him. Spoiler alert: he commonly out runs them by 10 yards or better. He's like Tony Hollings too in that when he sees a gap, he simply turns on the afterburners and goes in a straight line toward the goal. Leaving everybody on the field smothering in the jet exhaust, btw. And he can catch, he doesn't go down on a first hit, and he can throw. This is high school, but it's the way he scores; he's obviously much, much faster then anybody on the field.

I think it's easy to see why Coach keeps bringing him up. The real question is whether he is drooling when he mentions him. I think he starts easy.

The question is if he's ever that guy again. Yes, sports medicine is light years ahead of where it was even 15 years ago, but it's still an ACL, and some guys still lose that extra pop that turns a fast guy into a "high school nathan cottrell" afterburner type.

It's still ANOTHER question whether, even if he DOES become that guy again, if it's this year.

I was probably as high on Cottrell as anybody. I was showing my brothers his H.S. junior highlights before he committed going "Maaaaan, I'd love to see this dude at GT", but it's a legit question about whether that happens, at this point.

 

[takethepoints]

The question is if he's ever that guy again. Yes, sports medicine is light years ahead of where it was even 15 years ago, but it's still an ACL, and some guys still lose that extra pop that turns a fast guy into a "high school nathan cottrell" afterburner type.

I admit that's a legitimate concern. I'd have much rather he break a bone of some sort. Still, I think the capacity of medical work these days is enough to where I bet he'll fully recover. We'll see this fall.

But let's say he loses .10 of a second off his 40. That leaves him at a 4.45. That is still truckin' in anybody's book.

 

[ilovetheoption]

I admit that's a legitimate concern. I'd have much rather he break a bone of some sort. Still, I think the capacity of medical work these days is enough to where I bet he'll fully recover. We'll see this fall.

But let's say he loses .10 of a second off his 40. That leaves him at a 4.45. That is still truckin' in anybody's book.

Oh, agreed. I think he'll end up being a good A-back. The question is whether he becomes the fearsome weapon on the perimeter that puts such a scare into defenses that he opens up everything else.

 

[deeeznutz]

The question is if he's ever that guy again. Yes, sports medicine is light years ahead of where it was even 15 years ago, but it's still an ACL, and some guys still lose that extra pop that turns a fast guy into a "high school nathan cottrell" afterburner type.

It's still ANOTHER question whether, even if he DOES become that guy again, if it's this year.

I was probably as high on Cottrell as anybody. I was showing my brothers his H.S. junior highlights before he committed going "Maaaaan, I'd love to see this dude at GT", but it's a legit question about whether that happens, at this point.

On the bright side, he tore his knee early enough in the season that he should be fully healthy for this season. It really sucks when a guy tears a knee midway through the year so he loses basically 2 seasons.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Does anyone know specifically how he tore his ACL? Or how serious it was?

Some are partial tears and some seem to just snap. Some happen because of contact of some kind, a foot being planted right as a blow comes, and others just from making a cut. Sometimes they seem to tear for no apparent reason.

Not sure why my question seems important to me but just from watching these in the past it seems that how it happened and what kind of tear it was makes a difference.

 

[ilovetheoption]

Does anyone know specifically how he tore his ACL? Or how serious it was?

Some are partial tears and some seem to just snap. Some happen because of contact of some kind, a foot being planted right as a blow comes, and others just from making a cut. Sometimes they seem to tear for no apparent reason.

Not sure why my question seems important to me but just from watching these in the past it seems that how it happened and what kind of tear it was makes a difference.

Iirc, a wr missed a block and Cottrell got his knee rolled up on. I'll also admit that for whatever reason it matters to me, too. I worry about guys whose joints tend to give for seemingly no reason as opposed to somebody who takes a hit on the joint

 

[ilovetheoption]

On that note, I want to say how glad I am for this forum. When snoddy broke his leg I was watching an online feed which was a few seconds behind the TV broadcast. The board started going bananas saying don't watch the replay don't watch the replay and I was able to turn it off and fortunately have never seen it.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Thanks, that is helpful.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

On that note, I want to say how glad I am for this forum. When snoddy broke his leg I was watching an online feed which was a few seconds behind the TV broadcast. The board started going bananas saying don't watch the replay don't watch the replay and I was able to turn it off and fortunately have never seen it.

I still see it whenever someone mentions it.

 

[Boomergump]

I would be totally surprised if Cottrell didn't regain every bit of his speed and agility, shocked in fact. Pretty much everybody who works at it does. The only real question for me is the time it will take for it to happen, not IF it will happen. About the fastest full recovery you will see is 10 months, but it could take 14 or 15 months too. You just never know.