RB Roderick Smith (Official Thread)

[buckeye4ever21]

The San Diego State and Cal games are Rod's last chance to prove increased carries this year leading into a potential shared starting position next year. I think if he fumbles in either of those games, he will pretty much be dropped behind some of the talent behind him. Honestly, I hope he steps up soon because his talent is undeniable and the power RB role will diminish with the addition of speed backs.

 

[Mike80]

Hall is the starter and will probably remain the starter until Hyde returns.

:osu:

Hall isn't a RB really anymore except for special packages/emergencies. With Dunn/Ball/EZE, there's no reason to think that Hall will be the starter at RB anymore.

 

[Buckeye1]

Except Urban said so :):)

I personally would like to see the other three as well. May be we will see them more than we think in the first game.

Hall isn't a RB really anymore except for special packages/emergencies. With Dunn/Ball/EZE, there's no reason to think that Hall will be the starter at RB anymore.

 

[LitlBuck]

Except Urban said so :):)

I personally would like to see the other three as well. May be we will see them more than we think in the first game.

No he did not.

?He was there, and he shouldn?t be there,? Meyer said.
Smith's suspension stems from a violation of team rules this winter, and it probably cost him the starting job for the opener in Hyde's absence. Senior Jordan Hall will start instead, but Meyer wants him to play both running back and the H-back spot. For Buffalo, Hall will be backed up by sophomore Bri'onte Dunn, redshirt freshman Warren Ball and two true freshmen in Ezekiel Elliott and Dontre Wilson?

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2013/08/injuries_suspensions_and_speed.html

 

[pnuts34]

The San Diego State and Cal games are Rod's last chance to prove increased carries this year leading into a potential shared starting position next year. I think if he fumbles in either of those games, he will pretty much be dropped behind some of the talent behind him. Honestly, I hope he steps up soon because his talent is undeniable and the power RB role will diminish with the addition of speed backs.

I agree up until your point about the diminished role of power RBs. Dunn will be in S&G for a few more years as our power back, and ball can also be used in that role as well, since he's bulked up to 225. He's not a true power RB, but can be utilized as such. I think Meyer has no problem using a power RB, he just couldn't get one committed to UF, and honestly tebow can be used an example of a power RB, since that's how he was used in conjunction to being QB. Just think, Derrick green could've been our only RB commit last year if he committed before Elliott. I could see Meyer going after both types of RBs to balance the offense and make us more versatile.

 

[jwinslow]

The San Diego State and Cal games are Rod's last chance to prove increased carries this year leading into a potential shared starting position next year. I think if he fumbles in either of those games, he will pretty much be dropped behind some of the talent behind him. Honestly, I hope he steps up soon because his talent is undeniable and the power RB role will diminish with the addition of speed backs.

Tebow isn't walking through the door. They recruited power backs for last february, next february and are working on two februaries from now.

Let the 'Urban doesn't use power backs' meme live on rival boards.

 

[buckeye4ever21]

I agree up until your point about the diminished role of power RBs. Dunn will be in S&G for a few more years as our power back, and ball can also be used in that role as well, since he's bulked up to 225. He's not a true power RB, but can be utilized as such. I think Meyer has no problem using a power RB, he just couldn't get one committed to UF, and honestly tebow can be used an example of a power RB, since that's how he was used in conjunction to being QB. Just think, Derrick green could've been our only RB commit last year if he committed before Elliott. I could see Meyer going after both types of RBs to balance the offense and make us more versatile.

You took me out of context. I was basically saying the team last year didn't have a RB with top end speed plus agility thus you won't strictly see a power back lined up next to the QB 90 percent of the time anymore. I'm not saying the power back role will be removed, but it will definitely be diminished. With a combination of an elite speed back (Wilson), prototypical back (Elliot) and power backs (Hyde, smith), no particular role will disappear but the percentage of plays they see will vary depending on play calling and the success of the type of back. Meyer and Herman were quoted as only being able to run 60% of the playbook because of the personnel they had available. We are just slowly trending away from just offering a power run game and converting to a system that offers multiple types of backs a chance to be successful.

 

[buckeye4ever21]

Tebow isn't walking through the door. They recruited power backs for last february, next february and are working on two februaries from now.

Let the 'Urban doesn't use power backs' meme live on rival boards.

Recruiting and bringing in are two different points. Urban hasn't brought in a power back in almost 2 years of recruiting at Ohio State and it doesn't look like he's bringing one in at the end of this year. So your statement is completely inaccurate. They trended away from Derrick Green because the presence of speed backs was much more of a priority than having another power back. I know you've got a big tebowner but at no point in the conversation was I talking about what sort of run game the QB brings to the equation. With us trending away from a strictly power game, the carries are going to be split more ways and Rod's time to have the load of the carries is running out.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Recruiting and bringing in are two different points. Urban hasn't brought in a power back in almost 2 years of recruiting at Ohio State and it doesn't look like he's bringing one in at the end of this year.

Mr. Dunn would like you to reconsider your statement.

http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/forum/...onte-dunn-official-thread-17.html#post1874420

 

[buckeye4ever21]

Mr. Dunn would like you to reconsider your statement.

http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/forum/...onte-dunn-official-thread-17.html#post1874420

That's incorrect too, Dunn committed 14 months before Meyer was hired. With so many committed players and the time of the year that Meyer joined, he didn't have a chance to recruit players for his scheme. He was able to flip a couple recruits in his first class. But carrying on recruiting a long committed prospect and joining late in the recruiting process isn't an example of him recruiting a power back. It's honoring the guys that committed to be buckeyes.

 

[ant80]

That's incorrect too, Dunn committed 14 months before Meyer was hired. With so many committed players and the time of the year that Meyer joined, he didn't have a chance to recruit players for his scheme. He was able to flip a couple recruits in his first class. But carrying out a long committed and joining late in the recruiting process isn't an example of him recruiting a power back. It's honoring the guys that committed to be buckeyes.

After his commitment, several events happened. JT quit. Luke Fickell took over, and Brionte looked elsewhere (scUM). He visited a few times, and was even rumored to look to decommit when UFM got here. UFM recruited Dunn and ensured that the decommit didn't happen, and Dunn did reaffirm his commitment to tOSU after UFM showed up. Search the Real Recruiting Tidbids in the Mill for around November-December of 2011 for grad of Wade's post saying they would be "shocked" if Dunn didn't end up at scUM.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

That's incorrect too, Dunn committed 14 months before Meyer was hired. With so many committed players and the time of the year that Meyer joined, he didn't have a chance to recruit players for his scheme. He was able to flip a couple recruits in his first class. But carrying out a long committed and joining late in the recruiting process isn't an example of him recruiting a power back. It's honoring the guys that committed to be buckeyes.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I recall his recruitment being very up in the air while the dust settled after tat-gate, no? It involved trips to AA and other campuses, and a significant number of "still committed but keeping my options open" reports.

Urb worked as hard to keep him in the fold as he did to recruit anyone that year. Did Urb secure the initial verbal or was his first contact at tOSU? No. Clearly not. But getting the fish in the boat is sometimes much harder than getting it on the hook. If it's a matter of mincing words, so be it... I still call that recruiting a big back. If you care to differ, meh... so be it.

... and back to Smith.

 

[buckeye4ever21]

Ok but that still really doesn't prove against the point, when you join a team with 3 months left the class is typically about 75% intact. It's not like you can scrap the class you've got and start over, you have to go with what you got for and work to fill in needs with the other 25%. Also since he stepped away from football it's not like he was recruiting guys for his system and he just so happened to be changing teams and the players wanted to follow him to a new school. If it's not a guy he pursued from the beginning of the players recruitment then what's to say he would have pursued him at all. All this being said I just hope Rod Smith steps up this year. But through 2 years he's only really pursued Derrick green but I'd argue he's landed 3-5 guys since who could could handle carries in his type of system but some could also serve as recievers.

 

[pnuts34]

Recruiting and bringing in are two different points. Urban hasn't brought in a power back in almost 2 years of recruiting at Ohio State and it doesn't look like he's bringing one in at the end of this year. So your statement is completely inaccurate. They trended away from Derrick Green because the presence of speed backs was much more of a priority than having another power back. I know you've got a big tebowner but at no point in the conversation was I talking about what sort of run game the QB brings to the equation. With us trending away from a strictly power game, the carries are going to be split more ways and Rod's time to have the load of the carries is running out.

I still to disagree. Meyer wants to use a power run game, and will and can do it out of the spread. There aren't any examples of that while at UF, because he only got committments of smaller RBs, but at utah he had marty johnson at 6'1 230, and ran a combination of him and quinton gaither as the all purpose back. Imo, meyer wanted to do that at UF as well, but didn't get the personnel. I could see him getting a power, down hill RB, in the 2015 or 2016 class if we need them and they're available. Larry scott from OH in 2015, could easily become a buckeye for example.
Rod will get every chance he earns, and carlos is coming back sooner than we think. A combination of power and speed will probably be in our future plans.

 

[UpNorth_Buckeye]

Ok but that still really doesn't prove against the point, when you join a team with 3 months left the class is typically about 75% intact. It's not like you can scrap the class you've got and start over, you have to go with what you got for and work to fill in needs with the other 25%. Also since he stepped away from football it's not like he was recruiting guys for his system and he just so happened to be changing teams and the players wanted to follow him to a new school. If it's not a guy he pursued from the beginning of the players recruitment then what's to say he would have pursued him at all. All this being said I just hope Rod Smith steps up this year. But through 2 years he's only really pursued Derrick green but I'd argue he's landed 3-5 guys since who could could handle carries in his type of system but some could also serve as recievers.

But who's to say that we don't take Green in 2013 if Dunn decommits in 2012? We very well could have. In fact, I even think I made a post a ways back that Dunn's and Green's careers will be very interesting to follow, because IF Dunn flipped we may have been looking at Green being in the S&G.