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RB Ezekiel Elliott (All B1G, All-American, National Champion, Pro Bowl, All Pro, New England Patriots)

It's fashionable in today's football to say the o-line makes the running back and that running backs are more or less interchangeable when you get to a certain level. People who say that should watch the 1st td run Zeke had against Oregon. Sure, the o-line gave him a crease, but after he hit that crease he did special things: it was like a tecmo bowl run. Just a rare combination of burst, speed, quickness and lateral agility. It really had no business being a touchdown.

I might be being a prisoner of the moment but I think he might go down as the most complete, not necessarily the best, but the most complete back in tOSU history.


I don't think EzE is interchangeable, and I think he had some amazing runs(I can't stop rewatching the Big 10 Championship,Sugar Bowl and NC), but that O line was simply nasty. Wisconsin and Oregon alone were absolutely sucking wind in the 4th QTs and demoralized by the 2nd half. The vaunted Alabama defense got punched in the mouth and couldn't recover. Once the O line beat down the opposing D line, EzE went to work, and made the most of it. And it was glorious
Most complete RB in OSU History... I respectfully disagree. The best combo of speed, vision, quickness, agility and some power, IMO goes to #45! Archie set the bar extremely high and it'll be tough to top
 
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Sweet. Finally an off-season conversation that means something.....:cheers:. No worries, just kidding. Look we are fans of the greatest university on the planet. We have potential greatness at every position there is on a football field almost every year. Certain players can achieve legendary status in the hearts and minds of at least one of us in a single GAME. Sure Archie has set the bar high, and not just on the field. Would Eddie, or EZE accomplish any less with their ability in that time period, or vice versa? I remember them talking about Melvin before the BIG Championship game and I looked at my wife and said he isn't even the best running back in the stadium. Eze has so many talents, MtArchie is just a very tall mountain to climb.
 
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Part of my using the word complete was to include his blocking and his ability to catch the ball coming out the backfield. He really doesn't have any flaws, unlike even some great backs to have come through here.

Obviously it's a little bit of an unfair comparison to a guy like Archie Griffin, who in the 70's wasn't to do what backs are asked to do in 2015.
 
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Part of my using the word complete was to include his blocking and his ability to catch the ball coming out the backfield. He really doesn't have any flaws, unlike even some great backs to have come through here.

Obviously it's a little bit of an unfair comparison to a guy like Archie Griffin, who in the 70's wasn't to do what backs are asked to do in 2015.
Arch was actually a great pass catcher - as evidenced by his time spent with the Bengals. Caught a lot of passes.
 
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Arch was actually a great pass catcher - as evidenced by his time spent with the Bengals. Caught a lot of passes.


I was just about to post the same thing! Archie had very good hands, now his blocking is different because he wasn't asked to do that much of it in Woodys scheme. But he's the most complete RB OSU has had, hence his records and statues.

EzE will go down in Buckeye history for the last season alone(especially the last 3gms). But Archie was the nations best player on the best team. With the offense Urban runs, the QB still is the most important player because he gets the ball in all the playmakers hands. Like I've said before, I feel EzE's stats will take a dip as other RBs will see more carries. Looking at our schedule, there should be a number of blowouts, and the staff won't just keep EzE in there for stats. Dunn, Samuel and Weber will get carries
 
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It's fashionable in today's football to say the o-line makes the running back and that running backs are more or less interchangeable when you get to a certain level. People who say that should watch the 1st td run Zeke had against Oregon. Sure, the o-line gave him a crease, but after he hit that crease he did special things: it was like a tecmo bowl run. Just a rare combination of burst, speed, quickness and lateral agility. It really had no business being a touchdown.

I might be being a prisoner of the moment but I think he might go down as the most complete, not necessarily the best, but the most complete back in tOSU history.

I've said from early on that he reminds me a lot of Keith Byars, who was, of course, about as complete as it gets until his foot injury took away some of his speed. We'll see if Zeke throws a TD pass or two this year . . .
 
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There will be many debates about EE's place in Buckeye history but as part of it, I have never seen a back in my lifetime play the way he does without the ball. I'm willing to put him behind others for various reasons but no one is going to be able to convince me he isn't the best blocker.

You are normally happy if a great ball carrier can just get his assignments down and give you some blocking. Elliot devastates people he is assigned to block and he does it consistently. Its a tribute to the kid, his parents and all the coaches who have worked with him because that's mental toughness/discipline personified and it's the hardest thing in the world to do.
 
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There will be many debates about EE's place in Buckeye history but as part of it, I have never seen a back in my lifetime play the way he does without the ball. I'm willing to put him behind others for various reasons but no one is going to be able to convince me he isn't the best blocker.

You are normally happy if a great ball carrier can just get his assignments down and give you some blocking. Elliot devastates people he is assigned to block and he does it consistently. Its a tribute to the kid, his parents and all the coaches who have worked with him because that's mental toughness/discipline personified and it's the hardest thing in the world to do.
I couldn't agree more. Honestly, I wasn't old enough to live through Eddie and fully grasp what he did for OSU. However, Zeke is a really special back I feel. First as a freshman he was a special teams beast all year and did great in spot duty relieving Carlos and then went off this past year. Like you said though he's so complete with how he blocks, how he is a threat out of the backfield, and of course running outside/inside. He truly can do it all and a big surprise was he's really good at yards after contact (it shouldn't be a surprise considering he's like 225 pounds) but I figured due to his speed he wouldn't want the contact as much as Carlos did (but he was just as good as Carlos in that regard as well).
 
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There will be many debates about EE's place in Buckeye history but as part of it, I have never seen a back in my lifetime play the way he does without the ball. I'm willing to put him behind others for various reasons but no one is going to be able to convince me he isn't the best blocker.

You are normally happy if a great ball carrier can just get his assignments down and give you some blocking. Elliot devastates people he is assigned to block and he does it consistently. Its a tribute to the kid, his parents and all the coaches who have worked with him because that's mental toughness/discipline personified and it's the hardest thing in the world to do.

The bolded I cannot agree with more. Zeke doesn't just block, he destroys people and you can tell he loves doing it. Most skill position players feel obligated to block but sometimes I think Zeke might enjoy blocking more than getting the ball.

But if he runs the ball like he did in the second half of the season, there will need to be serious discussions about putting him in the same conversation as Archie, Eddie, etc. There are so many runs he had that were remarkable but if you watch the Bama game when he leaps the defender, then hits the ground running like he was shot out of a cannon...you realize that no matter how good the OL was (which was very, very good), "interchangeable" is not even close to accurate. Any other back in the country would have gained 7-9 yards there. Zeke damn near took it the distance. Sure the OL gave him that first bit but he took about 80% of that run. But really, who cares? I love debating it more than the next but Ohio State has an awesome tradition at running back, Zeke is just adding another page in his own way.
 
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CFI9CVoWMAAZsSP.jpg


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EzekielElliott#⃣1⃣5⃣ @EzekielElliott
Looks about right

12:14 PM - 16 May 2015

https://twitter.com/EzekielElliott/status/599608815181520896/photo/1

:slappy:
 
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