B Back Transfer - Patrick Skov

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,372
Thread derailed a bit. To get back on track, I think the Skov pickup is just what the doctor ordered for us this offseason. Does a lot to diminish my concerns about Bback depth. My primary concern now for the offense is at WR.
Summers gives us one, I am pretty sure. We know he can run and block. As he has never had the chance to go get it, we just don't know. But in an odd way the beauty of a wideout in Johnson's offense is that basically only one is a receiver, anyway. But is he the one? So yep, it is a concern.
 

AE 87

Helluva Engineer
Messages
13,015
Summers gives us one, I am pretty sure. We know he can run and block. As he has never had the chance to go get it, we just don't know. But in an odd way the beauty of a wideout in Johnson's offense is that basically only one is a receiver, anyway. But is he the one? So yep, it is a concern.

He's been a target rarely but did show ability to adjust to ball in air and to stretch out to make play.
 

takethepoints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,880
I saw Brent Cunningham multiple times on the football field, but what made him so effective showed up in the one track meet I saw him compete in. He was running the 100 yd (that dates it) dash. The gun fires. At the halfway point, Cunningham had 5 yards on the nearest sprinter. But he came in second in the race.

He was a one-step-to-full-speed runner and probably ran a legit 4.4 flat 40, maybe even faster. People like that are real, real hard to catch on a football field. Bud Carson's biggest mistake was moving him to WR in his senior year.
 

kcstech2

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
1
I saw Brent Cunningham multiple times on the football field, but what made him so effective showed up in the one track meet I saw him compete in. He was running the 100 yd (that dates it) dash. The gun fires. At the halfway point, Cunningham had 5 yards on the nearest sprinter. But he came in second in the race.

He was a one-step-to-full-speed runner and probably ran a legit 4.4 flat 40, maybe even faster. People like that are real, real hard to catch on a football field. Bud Carson's biggest mistake was moving him to WR in his senior year.
I remember Cunningham as having excellent balance and making a lot of defenders regret trying to
knock him down rather than wrap him up. Eddie Lee Ivory was the same way.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
9,566
I remember Cunningham as having excellent balance and making a lot of defenders regret trying to
knock him down rather than wrap him up. Eddie Lee Ivory was the same way.
He also was well built in those days for a small guy. He was probably only about 5'8" and that is stretching it but he was over 185, which in those days was a lot of muscle for a little guy. I was amazed that against teams like Notre Dame he could still run through the middle of the line.
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,372
I saw Brent Cunningham multiple times on the football field, but what made him so effective showed up in the one track meet I saw him compete in. He was running the 100 yd (that dates it) dash. The gun fires. At the halfway point, Cunningham had 5 yards on the nearest sprinter. But he came in second in the race.

He was a one-step-to-full-speed runner and probably ran a legit 4.4 flat 40, maybe even faster. People like that are real, real hard to catch on a football field. Bud Carson's biggest mistake was moving him to WR in his senior year.
Moving a great runner to receiver might be one reason defensive coaches have a tough time getting HC jobs. Somebody somewhere last season wrote that offensive coordinators get head coaching jobs and big contracts; defensive coordinators get an apple and a road map out of town.
 

takethepoints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,880
He also was well built in those days for a small guy. He was probably only about 5'8" and that is stretching it but he was over 185, which in those days was a lot of muscle for a little guy.

Try 5'6" and 170 soaking wet. He'd be the baddest AB in Tech history if we had another like him. Oh, wait … Marshall!
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
17,716
Moving a great runner to receiver might be one reason defensive coaches have a tough time getting HC jobs. Somebody somewhere last season wrote that offensive coordinators get head coaching jobs and big contracts; defensive coordinators get an apple and a road map out of town.

Desmond Howard was moved to WR from RB.
 

gtalltheway

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
313
Just for everyone's info. 4.6 isn't slow for an NFL running back, and with Synjyns work ethic I have no doubt that he could be successful if he's given a chance. I hope the Falcons give him a shot. He could be our marshawn type of runner to compliment the other quick backs we have, and wouldn't cost a bunch of money

http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft/combine/_/id/9
Days has more problems than speed to be an affective rb in the nfl. He got better at it as the season went along, but he was falling down anticipating being tackled before he was being hit, so he was falling forward when he could have possibly gotten more yards. Days also doesn't pick his legs up very much, lynch has very high knees when he runs which gives you much more power when running. Another thing that days does not have is an elusiveness about him which all top rbs have. I'm not so sure this would be a problem with days but playing rb is a lot different than bback because at bback you are hitting the hole so hard and it's not as much reading till you get to the line of scrimmage, at running back you are further back so when you get the ball you aren't at the line of scrimage and you need to have good vision to be able to make cuts at the line of scrimage, I say I'm not sure that will be a problem with days because he had decent vision when he got through the line of scrimage although it still is different.
 

RamblinCharger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,484
Location
Alabama
Days has more problems than speed to be an affective rb in the nfl. He got better at it as the season went along, but he was falling down anticipating being tackled before he was being hit, so he was falling forward when he could have possibly gotten more yards. Days also doesn't pick his legs up very much, lynch has very high knees when he runs which gives you much more power when running. Another thing that days does not have is an elusiveness about him which all top rbs have. I'm not so sure this would be a problem with days but playing rb is a lot different than bback because at bback you are hitting the hole so hard and it's not as much reading till you get to the line of scrimmage, at running back you are further back so when you get the ball you aren't at the line of scrimage and you need to have good vision to be able to make cuts at the line of scrimage, I say I'm not sure that will be a problem with days because he had decent vision when he got through the line of scrimage although it still is different.
I agree he wouldn't be able to start immediately and be a 1000 yard rusher or anything; I just think he has the tools to be successful if he's given the chance. It's not like he played BBack for 4 years or anything, so I think he would work hard at it and could pull it off.
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,372
Days has more problems than speed to be an affective rb in the nfl. He got better at it as the season went along, but he was falling down anticipating being tackled before he was being hit, so he was falling forward when he could have possibly gotten more yards. Days also doesn't pick his legs up very much, lynch has very high knees when he runs which gives you much more power when running. Another thing that days does not have is an elusiveness about him which all top rbs have. I'm not so sure this would be a problem with days but playing rb is a lot different than bback because at bback you are hitting the hole so hard and it's not as much reading till you get to the line of scrimmage, at running back you are further back so when you get the ball you aren't at the line of scrimage and you need to have good vision to be able to make cuts at the line of scrimage, I say I'm not sure that will be a problem with days because he had decent vision when he got through the line of scrimage although it still is different.
I am trying to remember the times he fell down before he was hit, and I come up empty. But maybe I slept through those moments.
 

gtalltheway

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
313
I am trying to remember the times he fell down before he was hit, and I come up empty. But maybe I slept through those moments.
You misinterpreted what I was saying. I never said he fell down before being hit, but I did say FALLING, which would indicate he had not yet fallen completely until he was hit. In other words he was lunging forward anticipating that he was about to be tackled, so he gave himself up a little easier in doing so. I saw him do that many times when he first stared to get playing time at bback, but as I said in my other comment he got better at not falling forward. I'm also not the only person that noticed this about him, I have other tech fans that have said the same exact thing.
 
Top