Can our Bulldogs successfully replace Josh Robinson? You be the judge.

[662dawg]

Can our Bulldogs successfully replace Josh Robinson? You be the judge.

http://maroonandwhitenation.com/?p=44432

[Pollodawg]

Yes. No single one of our backs will have the stats that JRob did, but via committee, we should be able to pretty well match his production.

[Todd4State]

Let's assume that Shumpert, Williams, and Lee all got the equal amount of playing time. (They won't, I know but stay with me) All each of them would have to do to duplicate what we got from Josh is get 400 yards apiece to equal Robinson's production of 1200 yards.

I personally think Shumpert will rush for at least 1000. I'm not sure how much Aeris and Lee will play, but I think it's pretty reasonable to expect somewhere between 200-500 yards apiece for both of them. It's also reasonable to expect the same numbers from Holloway again- if not better.

And then you throw in what Malik Dear will give us from a rushing standpoint- I think it's very reasonable to expect us to have a better rushing attack next year. Especially if you include the intangibles such as Shumpert's blocking (maybe for Lee and Williams as well Dear and Dak?)

The only way it doesn't happen is if Lee and Williams are both total flops as freshmen. I don't believe that will be the case.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

No back ran as hard as the bowling ball, not even Boobie. The Kentucky play where it took 7-8 hits to bring him down is a classic. I think our current group will be just as productive but I not sure you can replace the entertainment JR brought to the field with his 1200 yards.

[mic]

Better leadership
Better all around backs
Better in locker room
Better chemistry

We will be fine

[mstatefan91]

Am I the only one that wishes that Josh had gotten an increased number of touches earlier than he did? He would have helped our 2013 campaign drastically. Nothing against Perkins.

[Reason2succeed]

Thumpert (because he's gonna lay some big hits himself) is going to lead the way but Holloway is going to break out too. Bubble screens, off tackle pitches, etc Holloway has speed our RB corp has never seen before. Watch for Mullen to use him at the end of quarters when defenses are worn down.

[Coach34]

Insert my 2010 proclamation- "we wont miss Dixon"

The better the RB is obviously helps- but alot of our rushing success is due to the offense we run. The only time we have struggled at all to run the ball under Mullen has been in 2011 when we lost 4 starters from the year before and then had 3 OL injuries in the 1st 3 games- and then a little in 2013 when our QB was not a running threat. We will be fine at RB

[Really Clark?]

Am I the only one that wishes that Josh had gotten an increased number of touches earlier than he did? He would have helped our 2013 campaign drastically. Nothing against Perkins.

The biggest thing that stopped Josh from getting touches either earlier or at the end of last year was Josh. An amazing RB but for all of the things that he didn't or wouldn't do correctly, that held him back from given more responsibility.

[Maroon_and_white]

There will be a slight drop off in my opinion and our offense will be tailored to our strengths at slot and WR. I would expect our offense to be 55/45 pass/run.

[Coach34]

Ain't no way we throw more than run

[Really Clark?]

Ain't no way we throw more than run

Not if we want to win more than 6 games we had better not be throwing more. 55/45 run pass tops. 60/40 run pass I would love. Means we are icing a lot games late.

[Maroon_and_white]

Ain't no way we throw more than run

I don't believe our offense will be as successful as last year then if we are 55/45 run to pass. Shumpert (although an athletic hard runner) does not quite have the vision and ability to break tackles as much as Jrob did. I'm not discounting Shumpert, but Jrob was fantastic for us through the first 9 games last year. You will see that our offense will incorporate more short passes and very high tempo (as noted several times).

[Really Clark?]

I don't believe our offense will be as successful as last year then if we are 55/45 run to pass. Shumpert (although an athletic hard runner) does not quite have the vision and ability to break tackles as much as Jrob did. I'm not discounting Shumpert, but Jrob was fantastic for us through the first 9 games last year. You will see that our offense will incorporate more short passes and very high tempo (as noted several times).

Name the year we were 55/45 pass to run ever in this offense. The more this offense runs the more success it has. This is not a spread pass attack. And never will be.

ETA. Our two most successful seasons under Mullen we ran the ball 57% of the time last year and I think 65%. But let's deviate from what this offense is designed to do best and what the vast majority of the stats shows Mullen wants to do and get away from all that and go pass happy. That makes no sense. With a running QB I don't think it's even possible to make yourself call 55/45 pass to run.

[Maroon_and_white]

Name the year we were 55/45 pass to run ever in this offense. The more this offense runs the more success it has. This is not a spread pass attack. And never will be.

One year at a time, every team is different. We've never had the strength at slot and WR that we have this year. Our best athletes on offense are out wide. If one of our RB's emerges as a dominant runner then hey, they should all know the full playbook as of now. This is my prediction at least through the first 6 games. I'm just basing on what I've seen and heard. When the pads strap on in game time it gives Dak more ability to run so we'll see.

[Really Clark?]

One year at a time, every team is different. We've never had the strength at slot and WR that we have this year. Our best athletes on offense are out wide. If one of our RB's emerges as a dominant runner then hey, they should all know the full playbook as of now. This is my prediction at least through the first 6 games. I'm just basing on what I've seen and heard. When the pads strap on in game time it gives Dak more ability to run so we'll see.

You are out of you mind if you think this offense and Mullen's philosophy will have this offense go 55/45 pass to run. Name your price. Whatever or how much you want to bet. I am that confident you are off the mark and have no concept of what this offense is or will be. Yes we have great WR and that allows for a better attack but it will not be 55/45. Name your stakes.

[BulldogBear]

We will run more than pass. Book it. Any deficiency drop off in running will be made up for by the best passing threat we've had in decades. What I mean is, the committee may not be up to JRob standards but will produce similarly due to having to account for the deadly passing attack and Dak. Really, it's just pass opening up the run. I expect team yardage to be comparable to last season.

[Maroon_and_white]

You are out of you mind if you think this offense and Mullen's philosophy will have this offense go 55/45 pass to run. Name your price. Whatever or how much you want to bet. I am that confident you are off the mark and have no concept of what this offense is or will be. Yes we have great WR and that allows for a better attack but it will not be 55/45. Name your stakes.

Chill dude, was just throwing my 2 cents. You may be right and history is on your side.

[Coach34]

Think about this- we were 50/50 run/pass with Tyler Russell at QB. We aren't going to be more pass-oriented with a QB that is going to run the ball 170 times this season

[Maroonthirteen]

I have no idea what the percentages will be. However, I have a feeling we will throw the ball a lot this year. Teams are going to stack the box and dare Dak to throw. I know. I know....all about WR corps. But I am telling yall. The SEC teams will have to pick their poison. They will play the run and take their chances. How Dan counters that........we shall see. But I bet we throw the ball a lot because of 7-8 man fronts.

To the original topic......in watching some of last years games.......JR got a lot of extra yards on cuts because of incredible vision. Shump has enough speed and is more physical but does he have that vision? We shall see.

[Really Clark?]

Chill dude, was just throwing my 2 cents. You may be right and history is on your side.

Gotcha and sorry this is just a hold over debate and issue I've had with people promoting an offense that we will never be under Mullen. And honestly never should consider for this league. Heck Sumlin is considered the most pass happy in the league and until last year, because of circumstances and having to throw from behind a lot, was the first year he even threw the ball more than running it in the SEC. You are just not going to be able to win a lot of games in this league throwing the ball 55/45. No matter how good your WR are, with a great running QB and our coaches philosophy, I would be shocked if we were 50/50 and if we are I would guess we have struggled more this season than expected. Two of our three losses came when we threw the ball more than running it last year. The closer we get to 60% runs the better our changes of making a run at the West. It means we are controlling the bulk of our games.

[Dawgheadcheese]

Let's assume that Shumpert, Williams, and Lee all got the equal amount of playing time. (They won't, I know but stay with me) All each of them would have to do to duplicate what we got from Josh is get 400 yards apiece to equal Robinson's production of 1200 yards.

I personally think Shumpert will rush for at least 1000. I'm not sure how much Aeris and Lee will play, but I think it's pretty reasonable to expect somewhere between 200-500 yards apiece for both of them. It's also reasonable to expect the same numbers from Holloway again- if not better.

And then you throw in what Malik Dear will give us from a rushing standpoint- I think it's very reasonable to expect us to have a better rushing attack next year. Especially if you include the intangibles such as Shumpert's blocking (maybe for Lee and Williams as well Dear and Dak?)

The only way it doesn't happen is if Lee and Williams are both total flops as freshmen. I don't believe that will be the case.

Shumpert will never rush for 1000 yards in one season. I say he ends up with around 600-700. There will be a few other 200-300 yd backs and overall our running game will be very solid. It will be interesting to see how well our coaches use our various running backs. I will say this - if our offensive line is as good as i expect, it is going to be an incredible season.

[SheltonChoked]

This is only true if you mean yardage wise. Otherwise you don't understand what our offense is.

[Really Clark?]

I have no idea what the percentages will be. However, I have a feeling we will throw the ball a lot this year. Teams are going to stack the box and dare Dak to throw. I know. I know....all about WR corps. But I am telling yall. The SEC teams will have to pick their poison. They will play the run and take their chances. How Dan counters that........we shall see. But I bet we throw the ball a lot because of 7-8 man fronts.

To the original topic......in watching some of last years games.......JR got a lot of extra yards on cuts because of incredible vision. Shump has enough speed and is more physical but does he have that vision? We shall see.

Well you are talking about situational stuff and that can change series to series in a game. But to the overall debate, the closer we are to 60/40 run pass the better our season will be. Now we will use the pass more situationally I do believe but unless a team has an idiot for a DC nobody will stay with 7-8 man fronts. And I actually suspect some of the elite teams to do the opposite. Try to stop our rushing with 5-6 men in the box. That is a game that would be worrisome if we get into that situation and they are stopping our planned run attack and can contain Dak in the pocket to throw against 6 men in coverage.

[Really Clark?]

Think about this- we were 50/50 run/pass with Tyler Russell at QB. We aren't going to be more pass-oriented with a QB that is going to run the ball 170 times this season

And as incredible as it would seem we were exactly 50/50 for the season in 2012. But even with our playbook geared for that in 2013 when Tyler went down everything was changed on the fly for Dak and his capabilities. 2013 57/43 run to pass. 2014 57.7/42.3 run to pass.

[bulldawg28]

Shumpert will never rush for 1000 yards in one season. I say he ends up with around 600-700. There will be a few other 200-300 yd backs and overall our running game will be very solid. It will be interesting to see how well our coaches use our various running backs. I will say this - if our offensive line is as good as i expect, it is going to be an incredible season.

No 1000 yard season? Wanna bet?

[LC Dawg]

To the original topic......in watching some of last years games.......JR got a lot of extra yards on cuts because of incredible vision. Shump has enough speed and is more physical but does he have that vision? We shall see.

One of the big knocks on Shumpert seems to be his running vision. I'm hoping and expecting that this gets better with more practice and experience.
However, I think Trent Richardson proves that you don't have to have good vision to be successful running the ball in college.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b584/jcattdawg/tr_zps8m7pemfm.jpg

[Tripp McNeely]

Depends on which J-Rob you speak of...if you talk about the J-Rob that showed up AFTER KY, Shump will be much more productive than that guy

[Dental Dawg33]

One year at a time, every team is different. We've never had the strength at slot and WR that we have this year. Our best athletes on offense are out wide. If one of our RB's emerges as a dominant runner then hey, they should all know the full playbook as of now. This is my prediction at least through the first 6 games. I'm just basing on what I've seen and heard. When the pads strap on in game time it gives Dak more ability to run so we'll see.


With the stable of WRs and slot backs that we have it is going to open up the run game a lot. Defenses won't be able load the box to stop Dak/Shump. I do believe we will pass quite a bit, but our overall offensive success will hinge on the run and the run game and pass game will complement one another. Our offense is going to be a lot of fun to watch

[Dental Dawg33]

Shumpert will never rush for 1000 yards in one season. I say he ends up with around 600-700. There will be a few other 200-300 yd backs and overall our running game will be very solid. It will be interesting to see how well our coaches use our various running backs. I will say this - if our offensive line is as good as i expect, it is going to be an incredible season.


Shumpert is going to surprise some people this year. He blocks well and is a hard nose runner. Hopefully his vision and cuts have improved, but don't be surprised if he doesn't eclipse 1,000 yards (pending he keeps the starting job). I would like to see some of the younger guys get some quality reps, especially Lee. Kid is a freak