More speed next year at the RB position??

It was obvious that DiLuigi couldn't out run the SDSU's DB's on saturday but do you guys think that Adam "Timo" Hine and/or Drew Phillips could do so next year?? I just want to see somebody blow by everybody on the way to the end-zone.

beauso79 wrote:
It was obvious that DiLuigi couldn't out run the SDSU's DB's on saturday but do you guys think that Adam "Timo" Hine and/or Drew Phillips could do so next year?? I just want to see somebody blow by everybody on the way to the end-zone.

There were three or four runs where I thought, "Gee Staley would have scored on those." I'm very excited about Timo. Everyone is high on Juice, but I don't think that he's all that fast. He's a smaller version of Harvey. He'll be a great RB in the MWC and adequate against our non-MWC opponents. I think Timo can be the speed back we've missed since Braithwaite in 2003.

Drew Phillips definitely has some serious speed. 5A all state in Alabama. I'm excited for him to take some kick return duty in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9FCGxyf9lo

Phillips needs to bulk up if he wants to play RB next year is all I know. I see him as a slot type, like Kurley is for TCU, then get him the ball in various ways like TCU does. Not sure how fast Timo is, but Q has decent speed, same with JJ, but neither are burners. We arearely have speed burners, but when we do, it really helps.

Rumor is Timo is a legit 4.4 guy .... whether that is true it remains to be seen ...

Excuse me while I grind my axe again, but if we had a better strength and conditioning coach, 4.4 speedsters would be the norm rather than the rarest of exceptions.



As of right now we depend entirely on recruiting someone that was trained properly in high school for speed and is therefore fast, and then praying that once they get here they continue to practice what they did in high school to keep that speed, rather than make the huge mistake of going along with Omer's program. I don't think I'm the only one that's noticed Jacobsen has lost more than a step.



I wish more posters knew that proper training is the single biggest factor contributing to speed, rather than genetics (including skin color) or luck. Feeling hamstrung because "we keep recruiting slow guys" or "white guys" (our black guys aren't exactly burners either) sucks and if Omer knew what he was doing we wouldn't suffer that plight. Here's to hoping Phillips, Timo and any other fast guys we've recruited recently realize this and don't stop doing what got them here in the first place.

beauso79 wrote:
It was obvious that DiLuigi couldn't out run the SDSU's DB's on saturday but do you guys think that Adam "Timo" Hine and/or Drew Phillips could do so next year?? I just want to see somebody blow by everybody on the way to the end-zone.

No lack of speed from what I saw, the defenders took good angles of pursuit. A good pursuit angle nulifies speed. No one was caught from behind simply they had a better angle.

MJCOUGAR wrote:

It was obvious that DiLuigi couldn't out run the SDSU's DB's on saturday but do you guys think that Adam "Timo" Hine and/or Drew Phillips could do so next year?? I just want to see somebody blow by everybody on the way to the end-zone.

No lack of speed from what I saw, the defenders took good angles of pursuit. A good pursuit angle nulifies speed. No one was caught from behind simply they had a better angle.

Does a better angle include from the notorious fumble against Air Force having a DB get blocked then pushed out of bounds and then still have plenty of time to recover and cause a fumble on the 10 yard line? DiLuigi is not that fast.

I have to agree with the Omer thing. Our "fast" guys never have breakaway speed. This costs us points every time we step on the field. I would expect our burners to take something to the house, but to me they all look like OC when they run.

Let's be honest: the James Dye's, Luke Staley's, Ronnie Jenkins of the world are the exception at BYU. Our speed has been upgraded the last 2 years on O, but we won't see it on the field until next year. But it was nice seeing KVN all over the field making plays on D. That type of LB speed is not normal at BYU, and that kid has it.

I miss Todd Watkins.



What I don't understand is how our guys can't get off the ball against press coverage. No one can get into a route with some violence anymore.

taekwondave wrote:
Excuse me while I grind my axe again, but if we had a better strength and conditioning coach, 4.4 speedsters would be the norm rather than the rarest of exceptions.



As of right now we depend entirely on recruiting someone that was trained properly in high school for speed and is therefore fast, and then praying that once they get here they continue to practice what they did in high school to keep that speed, rather than make the huge mistake of going along with Omer's program. I don't think I'm the only one that's noticed Jacobsen has lost more than a step.



I wish more posters knew that proper training is the single biggest factor contributing to speed, rather than genetics (including skin color) or luck. Feeling hamstrung because "we keep recruiting slow guys" or "white guys" (our black guys aren't exactly burners either) sucks and if Omer knew what he was doing we wouldn't suffer that plight. Here's to hoping Phillips, Timo and any other fast guys we've recruited recently realize this and don't stop doing what got them here in the first place.

Couldn't agree more with these statements. Omer and our program are not only our reason for our fast recruits getting slow, but also for the ridiculous amount of hamstring and other static stretch related injuries we've seen. Our players are strong though, I'll give him that. But DANG, we are slow.

mizzoucoug wrote:
I have to agree with the Omer thing. Our "fast" guys never have breakaway speed. This costs us points every time we step on the field. I would expect our burners to take something to the house, but to me they all look like OC when they run.

I'm leaning this way too at this point.



But even if we had a super-fast RB, he would be sitting the bench. Anae has no idea what to do with a fast back. That's why Kariya had 22 carries against SDSU, and the two RBs on the team that are both faster and get more yards per carry had the same or less carries than he did.

Almost nobody "outruns" a CB. They are traditionally the fastest players on the team.

imuakahuku wrote:
Almost nobody "outruns" a CB. They are traditionally the fastest players on the team.

LOL, take a look at the Nebraska v. K State highlights from last week. Freshman. White Boy. These players are everywhere but here it seems.

We all see the recruits come in, and when they get here, how many of them are 4.4 or faster? Not many. Sorry, but we do not get many recruits with breakaway speed and we can't expect that to change much once they get here, either. McKay should be faster on the field, but who else? Ashworth was not listed as a burner when he came in, neither was Hafoka, or Chambers or Hoffman. Apo is not a burner either. The issue is using what you got to get open. Many of the guys we have are big strong guys, so they need to be more physical to get open and beat their guys. Chambers and Hoffman and Apo are all big dudes. They need to hammer the press coverage and knock that guy off balance to get a step or more, and that is not happening enough. That is what I would change--same with the TE's, by the way.

Mars wrote:

I have to agree with the Omer thing. Our "fast" guys never have breakaway speed. This costs us points every time we step on the field. I would expect our burners to take something to the house, but to me they all look like OC when they run.

I'm leaning this way too at this point.



But even if we had a super-fast RB, he would be sitting the bench. Anae has no idea what to do with a fast back. That's why Kariya had 22 carries against SDSU, and the two RBs on the team that are both faster and get more yards per carry had the same or less carries than he did.

Kariya had 3.9 yards per carry against SDSU. He is brought in for 2 and 5, 3rd and 2 and so forth. BYU had a 100% conversion rate on 3rd down and 5 or less. 12 for 12. And for the most part we have Kariya to thank for that.



Kariya is a great back for running it up the middle to gain 2, 3, or 4 yards. Would I like to see Juice get the ball more? Yes I would. But in my opinion Kariya hasn't done anything wrong to lose his role on the team. Juice's time will come.

Lawboy wrote:
We all see the recruits come in, and when they get here, how many of them are 4.4 or faster? Not many. Sorry, but we do not get many recruits with breakaway speed and we can't expect that to change much once they get here, either. McKay should be faster on the field, but who else? Ashworth was not listed as a burner when he came in, neither was Hafoka, or Chambers or Hoffman. Apo is not a burner either. The issue is using what you got to get open. Many of the guys we have are big strong guys, so they need to be more physical to get open and beat their guys. Chambers and Hoffman and Apo are all big dudes. They need to hammer the press coverage and knock that guy off balance to get a step or more, and that is not happening enough. That is what I would change--same with the TE's, by the way.

And that's a problem with our strength and conditioning regimen. We SHOULD expect kids to get faster when they enter the program, not slower. Now it was mentioned earlier that many players do get STRONGER when they arrive here by working with Omer, and that is true, and for some positions, strength is more important than speed, but Omer needs to get on the ball with the speed positions. He can't keep training them like he trains the strength positions. If he would change that we would see far fewer injuries at the speed positions, as their muscles have received proper training the demands they face, and we would see a lot faster players at those positions. (i.e. receiver, running back, special teams, db's, pass rushers, and even quarterback)

We rarely had speed before Omer got here either and Omer, iirc, came from Georgia Tech or some place like that where there was more speed. When I watch the games, at the risk of sounding racist, I do not see very many white guys out running corner backs on anyones team. Quite frankly - Austin Collie is not exactly known as a burner in the NFL, after two years to get over his bad conditioning at BYU. He is known for being what has been BYU's bread and butter - fast enough, possession receiver, runs great routes, separates, catches anything that he can get a hand on, tough, and hangs onto the ball. Our problem this year is not lack of burners. Our problem this year is lack of posession receiver performance. When I flip on the tv, on occasion, and see a strong receiver, blanketed by a defender, jump, fight for the ball, catch it, and wrestle it away, that is what I think we are missing this year on the receiving end, and we are still missing a little something on the ball placement, timing, and touch end of things. It is just going to take time.



Go Cougs

Speaking of Todd Watkins - I remember his Senior season being a bit of a disappointment - too many dropped balls iirc. Our grat receivers also seem to look much better when we have two of them on the field at the same time along with an NFL tight end or two, a punishing full back, and a strong running back that can catch the ball coming out of the back field When we have all of that going, everyone looks great.



That is why I was so disappointed that we didn't get to see Austin Collie as a senior with his protege, McKay Jacobsen running opposite a year ago. In fact, with Collie over there, Jacobsen and Chambers would have looked great.