2017 tOSU Offense Discussion

[jwinslow]

People need to remove Zeke from the conversation. He's the best RB in the entire NFL. Also try to recall the rather flawed or incomplete versions of all of the tailbacks in their first year of playing.

Is Weber a first round pick? No. Is he pretty good? Possibly.

He may only be on the Pittman stratosphere (or slightly above) but that's still a very good thing.


Also a competent offensive system is going to move a lot of guys up a notch. Guys like Parris Campbell for instance who is a big time athlete . Zander Diamant and friends had no business doing what they did at Indiana based on talent alone.

 

[buddyguy]

Not sure about that. Every big time program has guys on the roster who are "threats"

But this group. We have Weber, who, all due respect to him, isn't a star. He's a solid Ohio State running back. And then say he gets hurt---then we have Williams, who seems like he's going backward in the program if he's going anywhere. Dobbins, who, as much potential as he seems to have, is a true freshman coming off an injury. No sure thing there. McCall isn't an every down back. He's tiny. Campbell isn't even a running back, let alone an every down running back.

Weber is going to surprise some people. He had a better first year that Zeke and significantly improved his speed in the last year -- he's now one of the 5 fastest players on the team (his 1.83 "flying 20", which measures top end speed, is tied for 2nd on the team).

You are correct that Dobbins had an injury but that was a year ago and he was fully cleared all spring (and obviously all fall camp) with no lingering effects (in fact, he's faster now than he was before the injury). McCall is up to 195 so he's not "tiny". And Campbell IS a running back. That's what he played in high school and the challenge has been to convert him to a WR. He's now up to 210 and such a good runner they're going to find a way to get him carries even if all the other backs are healthy.

 

[AirForceBuck15]

Weber is going to surprise some people. He had a better first year that Zeke and significantly improved his speed in the last year -- he's now one of the 5 fastest players on the team (his 1.83 "flying 20", which measures top end speed, is tied for 2nd on the team).

In Zeke's first year of getting the bulk of the carries, as a true soph, he won us a Natty and had over 1800 yards rushing. Try not to compare Weber's first year with that.

 

[buddyguy]

In Zeke's first year of getting the bulk of the carries, as a true soph, he won us a Natty and had over 1800 yards rushing. Try not to compare Weber's first year with that.

Yes, but Zeke played the year before. He wasn't so good that year as he adapted to college ball. Weber sat out his freshman year with an injury so 2016 was his first year of college ball. You're going to see him substantially improve this year.

 

[jwinslow]

In Zeke's first year of getting the bulk of the carries, as a true soph, he won us a Natty and had over 1800 yards rushing. Try not to compare Weber's first year with that.

again, you're comparing him to the world's best tailback (at least until Saquon turns pro). Not a useful comparison nor any meaningful criticism for guys who fail to stack up.

In his second year of carries, he ran timid and was drastically outclassed as an inside runner by a 200 lb slotback true frosh named Samuel in his second game ever, leading to a terrible home loss. As his second year of playing time continued, he grew into a good back, and in his final games he became a legend. And unlike someone like Michael Thomas, that wasn't because he was being used poorly. He simply wasn't that good early on, and while he improved a lot he wasn't truly special until the end of the season.

That improvement also followed the trajectory of the passing game.

 

[jwinslow]

Yes, but Zeke played the year before. He wasn't so good that year as he adapted to college ball. Weber sat out his freshman year with an injury so 2016 was his first year of college ball. You're going to see him substantially improve this year.

yup, typically the biggest leap is between year one and two If they're buried or not getting many reps, that clock may take effect when they start playing.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

again, you're comparing him to the world's best tailback (at least until Saquon turns pro). Not a useful comparison nor any meaningful criticism for guys who fail to stack up.

In his second year of carries, he ran timid and was drastically outclassed as an inside runner by a 200 lb slotback true frosh named Samuel in his second game ever, leading to a terrible home loss. As his second year of playing time continued, he grew into a good back, and in his final games he became a legend. And unlike someone like Michael Thomas, that wasn't because he was being used poorly. He simply wasn't that good early on, and while he improved a lot he wasn't truly special until the end of the season.

That improvement also followed the trajectory of the passing game.

Considering the end to 2014, it does seem to me that many forget how Zeke ran for the bulk of his Soph season. Like you, I certainly am not going to sit here and say Zeke was some kind of bad running back or something, but he wasn't the Zeke we all have burned into our memories either. He grew into that.

Zeke, prior to the 3 game Championship run, (76 Carries for 696 yards = 9.2/carry) had:
197 carries for 1182 yards = 6.0/carry.

Like I said, a very solid campaign to be sure...

Mike Weber 2016:
182 carries for 1096 yards = 6.0/carry

Give Weber 15 more carries at his 6.0 per carry average and.... you get.... :drum roll: 197 carries for 1186 yards.

Again, Zeke went from very very good to simply the best starting against Wisconsin that year.. he never had a relapse of any kind and, as he proved last season against the NFL, has become the best Running Back in the world.

That's a very tall order for anyone to compare with, and it's also a tall order for Mike Weber...

But.... OSU has another outstanding RB in Mike Weber, and it's not really open for debate. I may be a bit too optimistic, considering what I anticipate the O will do with Wilson calling the plays, but if Weber fails to run for 1500 yards it will be because he's not playing during the second half of too many games.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

I'm glad we can have these conversations.

 

[bukIpower]

I think Weber is plenty good enough to be a top back in the big ten and be a solid NFL back. He's better then Bike Hart and he had a good college career (he went 0-4 after all).

Not sure why any of us are down on Weber to be honest. Quick cutter, that has power, and can get tough yards. Yeah he's not a home run hitter but he will get us a ton of 10-15 yarders.

 

[Bestbuck36]

As long as Weber puts the time into blocking and pass catching as well. He can run and has really good vision it just takes work to get to the next level on these things. Zeke was a monster on all levels because he had skills and worked his tail off. Let's see if Weber has those attributes before we cast too much judgement on what he can and can't do. The other backs we have are also more than serviceable also.

 

[pnuts34]

People need to remove Zeke from the conversation. He's the best RB in the entire NFL. Also try to recall the rather flawed or incomplete versions of all of the tailbacks in their first year of playing.

Is Weber a first round pick? No. Is he pretty good? Possibly.

He may only be on the Pittman stratosphere (or slightly above) but that's still a very good thing.


Also a competent offensive system is going to move a lot of guys up a notch. Guys like Parris Campbell for instance who is a big time athlete . Zander Diamant and friends had no business doing what they did at Indiana based on talent alone.

You may want to remove those Scarlet hued glasses there. Zeke had 1 year in the NFL(a great one), he's ONE of the top RBs in the league. But not the best. You're not the best until you do it year in and year out. Zeke benefited(like many rookies) from DCs having little to no film of him and running behind one of the best Olines in the NFL. Not to mention having a QB sneak up OK the NFL and put up an amazing year! A RB in Arizona and Pittsburgh would disagree with your opinion and have years of proof as well(not to mention a RB in Atlanta and Buffalo)...

 

[pnuts34]

Not sure about that. Every big time program has guys on the roster who are "threats"

But this group. We have Weber, who, all due respect to him, isn't a star. He's a solid Ohio State running back. And then say he gets hurt---then we have Williams, who seems like he's going backward in the program if he's going anywhere. Dobbins, who, as much potential as he seems to have, is a true freshman coming off an injury. No sure thing there. McCall isn't an every down back. He's tiny. Campbell isn't even a running back, let alone an every down running back.

You're forgetting that Urban Meyer is the coach, not Jim Tressel. Urban, until getting to OSU has hardly ever had a bell cow RB and has had amazing success. No one can name a dominant RB that he had while at UF, because he used various weapons/threats to be creative and it worked. If Weber were to go down(God forbid), I have faith that a combination of JT, Dobbins, McCall, Campbell, EGW, heck even Hill and McLaurin will see carries to mix things up. I'm sure the minds of Meyer and Wilson could hatch up schemes to throe off defenses with all of the offensive athleticism

 

[jwinslow]

You may want to remove those Scarlet hued glasses there. Zeke had 1 year in the NFL(a great one), he's ONE of the top RBs in the league. But not the best. You're not the best until you do it year in and year out. Zeke benefited(like many rookies) from DCs having little to no film of him and running behind one of the best Olines in the NFL. Not to mention having a QB sneak up OK the NFL and put up an amazing year! A RB in Arizona and Pittsburgh would disagree with your opinion and have years of proof as well(not to mention a RB in Atlanta and Buffalo)...

Changing the sentence to one of the best RBs in the world does not change the point.

 

[pnuts34]

Changing the sentence to one of the best RBs in the world does not change the point.

It actually does... He's not THE best. He had one year.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

I think this offense will score a bunch of points.