Rivals has a thread asking which SEC team will have top backfield.

[blacklistedbully]

Nobody even mentioned us as being in the top 3.

OP says LSU, Bama & UGA, then later says he should have picked Arky #1. To me, Dak makes us the runaway favorite. No other program has anything close to our combination of QB and RB's. Seems to me Dak could give our RB's a 1,000 yard cushion. No way any other team's RB's are gonna be more than 1,000 yards better.

http://forums.rivals.com/threads/best-backfield-in-the-sec.151188/#post-3620361

[dawgclub99]

I saw that too. Trust me. The college football world will be talking about Shump and Arias by the time the season is finished.

[Tbonewannabe]

So LSU doesn't have a QB that would start at maybe 2 or 3 other schools and they would still be top 3? QB is hands down the most important position in football at any level.

[Harrydawg]

D. Lee will be the break out running back of the year and I love Shump.

Lee is the steal of the century due mostly to his development since coming in 2 years ago. Nobody could have seen what he's turned in to......everyone will take notice by mid-season

[hells bells]

Hey Dawg, same question asked to me today and I could not remember. Who is the freshman RB that did really well in the spring game?

[BiscuitEater]

Hey Dawg, same question asked to me today and I could not remember. Who is the freshman RB that did really well in the spring game?

from Fansided ..

Dontavian Lee, who has emerged this spring as a potential threat in the backfield, led all ball carriers with 53 yards on 11 carries.

Fellow redshirt freshman Aeries Williams led all rushers in YPC with 5.2 ? he had 31 yards in all.

Ashton Shumpert was a little slow out of the gate with 17 yards on 6 carries.

Brandon Holloway was sidelined with injury.

[engie]

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/84047/sec-position-rankings-running-backs-6

Here is last year's rankings. Same ole same ole. Can't possibly replace the guy they didn't actually give any respect last year... And just like last year -- the view on us will start to change after people hear Dak speak at media days...

[blacklistedbully]

My latest post on the thread:

Last year stats for combined Total rushing yards + starting QB passing yards:
1. MSU - 6479
2. Bama - 6380
3. TAMU - 5920 (includes both starting QB's)
4. Auburn - 5853 (6289 if you add JJ)
5. SCar - 5657
6. UGA - 5520
7. Ole Miss - 5215
8. Mizzou - 5138
9. Arky 5119
10. LSU - 4982 (includes both starting QB's)
11. Vols - 4688 (includes both starting QB's)
12. UK - 4558
13. UF - 4411 (includes both starting QB's)
14. Vandy - 2750

MSU's significant loss is RB Josh Robinson, 6479 - 1203 = 5276. In our last two regular season games J Rob got 19 carries, averaging 5.6 ypc. Returning RB Ashton Shumpert got 24 carries, averaging 5.2 yards. If we take the .4 ypc difference and apply it to J Rob's 190 total season attempts, that would reduce our total expected yards by 76, bringing us down to a projected 6,403. Of course, that is assuming Shumpert doesn't improve at all in his 3rd year, and that none of our other highly-regarded backs surpasses him.

Now, I invite you folks choosing other teams to look at last year's numbers, then give us a brief summary of what you lost, who you have coming back to replace the losses, and an expected number of total yards based on that.

You might be surprised what you discover.


Most often mentioned in the thread are Arky, Auburn and UGA, then UT and LSU. Believe it or not, the only other school's fan to mention us was a Reb.

[Dawg61]

Holy shit Vandy only had 2,750 COMBINED rushing and passing yards? Wow I thought Croom was bad but he ain't on Mason's level.

[codeDawg]

I think half of UK's yards were on us.

[MSUDawg4Life]

I don't have a problem with people ranking us low. People know Dak's a threat, but our RBs have to prove themselves.

[blacklistedbully]

I don't have a problem with people ranking us low. People know Dak's a threat, but our RBs have to prove themselves.

The problem with their logic is, they seem quick to dismiss us because we lost j Rob, but don't discount for their own issues. Prescott, on paper, gives our RB's a HUGE cushion in this equation. Unless they think our RB's will run for less than 1500 combined, it makes no sense to not put us at or near the top.

Look at Arky's numbers compared to ours. UPig is a trendy choice for them. But what is the likelihood that they will make up for a 1,360 yard delta from last year? Think about how much worse we'd have to be, and how much better they'd have to be as compared to last year. Then consider that if they somehow managed to barely do it, and become the best, we'd be the 2nd best, yet all but one of those posters doesn't think we bear even mentioning as a contender.

[War Machine Dawg]

My latest post on the thread:

Last year stats for combined Total rushing yards + starting QB passing yards:
1. MSU - 6479
2. Bama - 6380
3. TAMU - 5920 (includes both starting QB's)
4. Auburn - 5853 (6289 if you add JJ)
5. SCar - 5657
6. UGA - 5520
7. Ole Miss - 5215
8. Mizzou - 5138
9. Arky 5119
10. LSU - 4982 (includes both starting QB's)
11. Vols - 4688 (includes both starting QB's)
12. UK - 4558
13. UF - 4411 (includes both starting QB's)
14. Vandy - 2750

MSU's significant loss is RB Josh Robinson, 6479 - 1203 = 5276. In our last two regular season games J Rob got 19 carries, averaging 5.6 ypc. Returning RB Ashton Shumpert got 24 carries, averaging 5.2 yards. If we take the .4 ypc difference and apply it to J Rob's 190 total season attempts, that would reduce our total expected yards by 76, bringing us down to a projected 6,403. Of course, that is assuming Shumpert doesn't improve at all in his 3rd year, and that none of our other highly-regarded backs surpasses him.

Now, I invite you folks choosing other teams to look at last year's numbers, then give us a brief summary of what you lost, who you have coming back to replace the losses, and an expected number of total yards based on that.

You might be surprised what you discover.


Most often mentioned in the thread are Arky, Auburn and UGA, then UT and LSU. Believe it or not, the only other school's fan to mention us was a Reb.

I have no problem with placing any of those schools ahead of ours. Of that group, only Auburn doesn't have an established, proven RB coming back. Collins, Williams, Chubb, Hurd, and Fournette are all elite RBs, imo. As for Auburn, we all know it's Malzahn's system. And honestly, I think the RBs they have this year are more talented than Artis-Payne last year. I look for one of them to put up large numbers.

Say what you will, but our group has to prove themselves. Someone is going to have to emerge. My money is on Lee, as he has the best all-around tools. But it'll be a hard fought battle for reps all season. That said, I don't see us having a problem running the football. We might have a little drop off, but not what I'd call significant. And if the OL is as good as I think it can be, and one of our RBs just absolutely takes the job, I could see our ground game actually improving. I just hope that Mullen will stop being so predictable with the Dak Power in short yardage situations. Shump and/or A-Train have plenty of power in those situations, so there's no need for us to constantly put all the pressure on Dak. But it's Mullen, so I'm not holding my breath.

[Tbonewannabe]

If they are just talking RB I could see us being down the list. If they include QB, there is no way we should be lower than 3rd.

[blacklistedbully]

I have no problem with placing any of those schools ahead of ours. Of that group, only Auburn doesn't have an established, proven RB coming back. Collins, Williams, Chubb, Hurd, and Fournette are all elite RBs, imo. As for Auburn, we all know it's Malzahn's system. And honestly, I think the RBs they have this year are more talented than Artis-Payne last year. I look for one of them to put up large numbers.

Say what you will, but our group has to prove themselves. Someone is going to have to emerge. My money is on Lee, as he has the best all-around tools. But it'll be a hard fought battle for reps all season. That said, I don't see us having a problem running the football. We might have a little drop off, but not what I'd call significant. And if the OL is as good as I think it can be, and one of our RBs just absolutely takes the job, I could see our ground game actually improving. I just hope that Mullen will stop being so predictable with the Dak Power in short yardage situations. Shump and/or A-Train have plenty of power in those situations, so there's no need for us to constantly put all the pressure on Dak. But it's Mullen, so I'm not holding my breath.

The only ones from last year that weren't a significant chunk behind us were Bama and AU, when you add JJ's production.

A huge part of Bama's production left with Sims, with no heir apparent to match his numbers.

Stop and think how far we would have to fall and/or how much the others would have to gain to drop us out of contention. Look at the deltas for each school and tell me you really think enough of them are likely to surpass us by a wide enough margin to make us not even worth mentioning.

UGA was 959 yds behind
UPig was 1,360
LSU was 1,497
Vols were 1,797

That's a huge difference. Do you truly think it's reasonable to think all those teams and Auburn would be more likely to be in the top 3 than us?

[blacklistedbully]

If they are just talking RB I could see us being down the list. If they include QB, there is no way we should be lower than 3rd.

Offensive backfield includes the QB.

[Tbonewannabe]

Kind of my point. We have 2 4 star RB and Lee who seems to be a big find for us. That doesn't even take into account we have 3 or 4 4 star RB coming in as freshmen. In our offense, there isn't a school I would trade with probably in the country. Dak is about to blow up some records if our Oline is decent.

Let us remember last year we were worrying about Beckwith being in the lineup and now we are wondering if we can replace him. I think we are finally getting enough depth on the Oline that I trust Hev.

[Dawgcentral]

We've never been this deep at receiver. We're going to pass the ball to set up the run.

[MSUDawg4Life]

I think we're going to be balanced again. The run game is going to stand on its own.

We're deep at RB too. Nobody knows that but us. They are going to learn though ....

[War Machine Dawg]

The only ones from last year that weren't a significant chunk behind us were Bama and AU, when you add JJ's production.

A huge part of Bama's production left with Sims, with no heir apparent to match his numbers.

Stop and think how far we would have to fall and/or how much the others would have to gain to drop us out of contention. Look at the deltas for each school and tell me you really think enough of them are likely to surpass us by a wide enough margin to make us not even worth mentioning.

UGA was 959 yds behind
UPig was 1,360
LSU was 1,497
Vols were 1,797

That's a huge difference. Do you truly think it's reasonable to think all those teams and Auburn would be more likely to be in the top 3 than us?

If we're talking about RB only, which is generally what's implied by the "backfield", then I don't see what the fuss is about. And to repeat, four of those schools I listed all have established, elite RBs returning. And Auburn has a system that makes whoever lines up at RB look ridiculous. They're all going to have big time rushing attacks.

I'm not saying we won't be good. Far from it, I think we'll probably be about as good as last season. But if you're objectively looking at the RB position from a preseason standpoint, I don't see how you can say we should be ahead of the 5 schools above. The only guy who's got any SEC carries is Shump, and he didn't look that good in his career until the last 2-3 games last season. We'll be fine, but you're looking at it through maroon colored glasses if you're getting this upset over preseason discussion. I say take the Teddy Roosevelt approach: "Talk softly and carry a big stick." We'll break out the big stick once the season starts, so let 'em talk.

[DancingRabbit]

Well, the rivals thread was was all over the map with some talking about just RBs, some talking total rushing including QBs and some talking about total offense. These days with running QBs being a big part of many offenses it's confusing to use the term "best backfield". Better to talk in terms of total rushing, total passing or RB rushing yards, etc.

Last year MSU ranked 3rd in scoring offense, 3rd in rushing offense, 3rd in passing offense and 1st in total offense. We might slip to 4th or 5th in rushing offense if we pass more but I think we'll stay in the top 3 in scoring, passing and total offense.




If we're talking about RB only, which is generally what's implied by the "backfield", then I don't see what the fuss is about. And to repeat, four of those schools I listed all have established, elite RBs returning. And Auburn has a system that makes whoever lines up at RB look ridiculous. They're all going to have big time rushing attacks.

I'm not saying we won't be good. Far from it, I think we'll probably be about as good as last season. But if you're objectively looking at the RB position from a preseason standpoint, I don't see how you can say we should be ahead of the 5 schools above. The only guy who's got any SEC carries is Shump, and he didn't look that good in his career until the last 2-3 games last season. We'll be fine, but you're looking at it through maroon colored glasses if you're getting this upset over preseason discussion. I say take the Teddy Roosevelt approach: "Talk softly and carry a big stick." We'll break out the big stick once the season starts, so let 'em talk.

[blacklistedbully]

If we're talking about RB only, which is generally what's implied by the "backfield", then I don't see what the fuss is about. And to repeat, four of those schools I listed all have established, elite RBs returning. And Auburn has a system that makes whoever lines up at RB look ridiculous. They're all going to have big time rushing attacks.

I'm not saying we won't be good. Far from it, I think we'll probably be about as good as last season. But if you're objectively looking at the RB position from a preseason standpoint, I don't see how you can say we should be ahead of the 5 schools above. The only guy who's got any SEC carries is Shump, and he didn't look that good in his career until the last 2-3 games last season. We'll be fine, but you're looking at it through maroon colored glasses if you're getting this upset over preseason discussion. I say take the Teddy Roosevelt approach: "Talk softly and carry a big stick." We'll break out the big stick once the season starts, so let 'em talk.

Backfield includes the QB.

[blacklistedbully]

Well, the rivals thread was was all over the map with some talking about just RBs, some talking total rushing including QBs and some talking about total offense. These days with running QBs being a big part of many offenses it's confusing to use the term "best backfield". Better to talk in terms of total rushing, total passing or RB rushing yards, etc.

Last year MSU ranked 3rd in scoring offense, 3rd in rushing offense, 3rd in passing offense and 1st in total offense. We might slip to 4th or 5th in rushing offense if we pass more but I think we'll stay in the top 3 in scoring, passing and total offense.

Couple of posters may have excluded QB, but most included the QB, I believe.