He said he likes the variety of skills and feels it's a solid room. One thing I heard was a quick comment about Jutahn - he mentioned his ability to 'come out of the backfield' which suggests to me that he's being seen as a pass catcher more than a ball carrier. That would jibe with my view of him as not fast enough to be the guy to consistently get to the corner and not big, strong enough to run between the tackles. Coaches have been high on him since he arrived but haven't seen much of anything that's extraordinary thus far. He's solid and has caught a few passes thus far (TD against LSU is one I definitely remember) but haven't seen him show flashes of being a guy to carry the ball 10+ times a game to give CRod a breather. Scan mentioned Smoke's speed and seemed to lump in CRod and Wright as 'thumpers'. It'll be interesting to see how the carries, catches get spread out. Didn't hear the Sam Houston transfer's name but he's been mentioned before as a guy who will see some time. Seems like we could use to restock the RB room after this year.
Coach Scan's comments on the RBs
- Thread starter gamecockcat
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I've always been a Lavell Wright guy and am looking forward to seeing what he can do with some consistant action.
Why is it disappointing to have a deep talented running back room??? I took his comment to mean all are to good with their specialities to be buried on the depth chart. All bring something special to the table.
Just because Scang said hes good at one thing doesn't mean he cant also be good at another. They're not mutually exclusive.
I had more reaction to Scangs other comments
- OL. Only Flax and Cox are solid starting spots. I still think Manning and Horsey will get the guard spots. To see them still being pushed is not what I expected
- TE. Kattus sounds like he’ll play a ton. But to hear barely a peep on Upshaw is a bit surprising. Bates, Kattus, Cummings, Upshaw and Dingle. All are raving about TE room.
- OL. Only Flax and Cox are solid starting spots. I still think Manning and Horsey will get the guard spots. To see them still being pushed is not what I expected
- TE. Kattus sounds like he’ll play a ton. But to hear barely a peep on Upshaw is a bit surprising. Bates, Kattus, Cummings, Upshaw and Dingle. All are raving about TE room.
Just my impression based on, admittedly, small sample size. Haven't seen him get to the corner very often or even get to the 2nd level on many runs. He may be among our faster backs but I haven't seen it. That's not to day he doesn't have skills that we'll use. The coach's comments indicated, to me, he might be used more catching passes than carrying the ball.
I’m in the same way of thinking. I never have seen what some people have been raving about. Can’t turn the corner. Goes down with easy contact and zero long runs to his credit. Smoke has 3X the 20 yard runs as McLain. That’s why I was hoping Jefferson was the real deal as mentioned above. We need a boom Williams to go with CROD.
Just the old saying of if you can’t decide on a starting QB you don’t have one. Elite players separate themselves from the pack. CROD has. I was hoping Jefferson would do that too.
I think the early season suspension last year set McClain back a lot. Even with that he still averaged 5 yards a carry last year. Eventhough he is not super big, he runs a lot harder than Smoke who generally goes down on the first hit. The coaches are right placing him ahead of Smoke on the depth chart. I think Wright is the intriguing option, as he is a power back, but we have only seen him in mop up situations against "scrubs" ie. Louisville. I would like to see him get some carries, with the first team OL, to see what he has to offer.
I took the comment about the OL as a HUGE positive. Sounds like some of the younger guys are pushing hard for PT. Don't think we'll see what we saw last year where only 1 or 2 subs took a meaningful number of snaps. I agree that Manning and Horsey are the frontrunners for OG starting spots. I don't think it's a bad thing if other guys are pushing them hard. That's what makes the BBW really good, imo.
Good to hear that the TEs caught 15 balls in the scrimmage, according to Coach. Hadn't heard much about their involvement in the passing game until that comment. 49ers used the TE a bunch (of course, Kittle is a stud) and I expect UK to do the same. Kattus is getting a lot of positive comments, especially in the run game. Will be interesting to see some of the personnel groups as Coach S schemes throughout the year. It would appear that opposing DCs might need to do extra time in the film room as we have multiple TEs, WRs and RBs with a variety of skills that will be hard to match up against. We could go jumbo with CRod and multiple TEs all in the 240+ lb range or go 5-wide with Crowdus, Brown, Key, Alexander, CLew, et al (i.e., speed group) and pretty much everything in between. Could be fun to be UK's OC this year.
That’s not how he meant his comments. What Scang and Yenser are saying is Horsey Flax and Cox have there spots locked down and that Manning is legit but Has a stud behind him that deserves to play as well in Burton. When he said we will see what those 3 can do he meant the 3 tackles battling for the LT job. Buford, Waulabaugh and Goodwin.
Smoke's career rushing numbers: 233-1306 (5.6 ypc) 12 TDs
For most of our history, UK would have been elated to have a returning back with those career numbers.
ukathletics.com
For most of our history, UK would have been elated to have a returning back with those career numbers.
Kavosiey Smoke
ukathletics.com
Agreed. Smoke has been very good. The problem for him is that he's been on the roster with guys that have been historically great. Also that he does tend to wear down. Smoke needs to be more of a big play back. He's not the 20+ carry back that CRod is. He needs to focus on learning the passing game the way that Jutan has.Smoke's career rushing numbers: 233-1306 (5.6 ypc) 12 TDs
For most of our history, UK would have been elated to have a returning back with those career numbers.
Kavosiey Smoke
Man the way he’s talked about you would’ve thought he was terrible lolSmoke's career rushing numbers: 233-1306 (5.6 ypc) 12 TDs
For most of our history, UK would have been elated to have a returning back with those career numbers.
Kavosiey Smoke
He’s also got recruited over. Jutahn, Jefferson, and Wright are all just better. Wasn’t the case back in 2020.
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