Pig Howard Reinstated!!

[17Vols]

Everythings coming up milhouse!!!!!

 

[KBVol]

Never seen big plays from Vaultin' Alton? Did you miss last season? Kid is a playmaker, period. Sure, he'll have to work hard to earn his spot back but apparently that is exactly what he's been doing. He and Pearson will make each other better. Both will have chances I would think.

Welcome back, BeetleJuice!

How about you catalog those big plays for me? Which ones did he he take to the house after making a guy or 2 miss? How about the 50 yd jet sweep that he scored on? No?

Pig is a tough, possession type receiver. He's not a game breaker. That's my point. Can he be effective, can he help move the sticks with some tough, hard-nosed catches in traffic within 5-10 yds of the line of scrimmage? Yes. His career thus far says yes. But he is not a dynamic, explosive player like we've been trying to bring in like North, Malone and Pearson. Here are his career stats/the evidence.....

2012- 13 catches, 4.2 yds per catch, 1 td
2013- 44 catches, 8.8 yds per catch, 3 tds

In 2013 he had 5 catches of more than 20 yds, with a long of 33 yds vs Georgia.

His longest run thus far at UT is 20 yds.

Again, I'm not trying to dog Alton, just accurately define the type of player he is. He's a good, tough possession slot receiver. He IS NOT a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Spartacavolus]

to be fair, when the offense has inconsistent qb play, doesn't have a TE, no breakaway rb and had little outside threat outside of a true freshman in North last year, it's wasn't difficult for the D to focus on Alton, who in that offense was quite often the biggest threat.
Lets see Alton with Lane/Hurd in the backfield, a qb in charge, our athletic TE's pulling lbs into coverage and safeties having to help on North and Malone. He'll have more space and more of a threat.

 

[KBVol]

to be fair, when the offense has inconsistent qb play, doesn't have a TE, no breakaway rb and had little outside threat outside of a true freshman in North last year, it's wasn't difficult for the D to focus on Alton, who in that offense was quite often the biggest threat.
Lets see Alton with Lane/Hurd in the backfield, a qb in charge, our athletic TE's pulling lbs into coverage and safeties having to help on North and Malone. He'll have more space and more of a threat.

You throw a hitch, a screen, a slant to each of the following WRs on our roster: North, Malone, Pearson, Howard. Given the same circumstances, who is the least likely to turn a short gain into a long gain or touchdown?

 

[24/7vol]

Whether he starts or don't start it's good to have depth.

 

[KBVol]

Whether he starts or don't start it's good to have depth.

Agree. I do enjoy the debate though. Either way, it's a good thing that he's back.

 

[Spartacavolus]

You throw a hitch, a screen, a slant to each of the following WRs on our roster: North, Malone, Pearson, Howard. Given the same circumstances, who is the least likely to turn a short gain into a long gain or touchdown?

Really, I don't know. Haven't seen Malone and Pearson in a college game yet. North may be but that first step or juke needs to be decisive and quick.
Problem is last year we would put Howard in motion, give him the ball on that little telegraphed end around and we were so limited in the playbook, defenses would read it quickly and get upfield.

 

[KBVol]

Really, I don't know. Haven't seen Malone and Pearson in a college game yet. North may be but that first step or juke needs to be decisive and quick.
Problem is last year we would put Howard in motion, give him the ball on that little telegraphed end around and we were so limited in the playbook, defenses would read it quickly and get upfield.

Fair enough. It's a subjective question. My personal opinion is that it's Pig. Also, couldn't agree more with you about the very vanilla, very predictable jet sweep that we seemed to run every other play. He didn't have much of a chance on most of those plays.

 

[dcm3w]

How about you catalog those big plays for me? Which ones did he he take to the house after making a guy or 2 miss? How about the 50 yd jet sweep that he scored on? No?

Pig is a tough, possession type receiver. He's not a game breaker. That's my point. Can he be effective, can he help move the sticks with some tough, hard-nosed catches in traffic within 5-10 yds of the line of scrimmage? Yes. His career thus far says yes. But he is not a dynamic, explosive player like we've been trying to bring in like North, Malone and Pearson. Here are his career stats/the evidence.....

2012- 13 catches, 4.2 yds per catch, 1 td
2013- 44 catches, 8.8 yds per catch, 3 tds

In 2013 he had 5 catches of more than 20 yds, with a long of 33 yds vs Georgia.

His longest run thus far at UT is 20 yds.

Again, I'm not trying to dog Alton, just accurately define the type of player he is. He's a good, tough possession slot receiver. He IS NOT a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination.

He really hasn't had much to work with. Tell me again, who threw to him? He could be a game changer but having sub par QB's doesn't help his cause. We could have Randy Moss on the field but if no one can get it to him on a consistent basis then Moss would be ineffective.

 

[Volbackhomefromtx]

Knock on wood. In the recent past, usually this time of year we don't get such good news. First Chris Weatherd is cleared and we have all 32 of our Legacy Class good to go and now Alton Howard is back. Among all the other things about CBJ, he's got good karma!

 

[mocfan]

Really, I don't know. Haven't seen Malone and Pearson in a college game yet. North may be but that first step or juke needs to be decisive and quick.
Problem is last year we would put Howard in motion, give him the ball on that little telegraphed end around and we were so limited in the playbook, defenses would read it quickly and get upfield.

This is true. Howard attracted big hits like a magnet.

 

[Hank Bukowski]

How about you catalog those big plays for me? Which ones did he he take to the house after making a guy or 2 miss? How about the 50 yd jet sweep that he scored on? No?

Pig is a tough, possession type receiver. He's not a game breaker. That's my point. Can he be effective, can he help move the sticks with some tough, hard-nosed catches in traffic within 5-10 yds of the line of scrimmage? Yes. His career thus far says yes. But he is not a dynamic, explosive player like we've been trying to bring in like North, Malone and Pearson. Here are his career stats/the evidence.....

2012- 13 catches, 4.2 yds per catch, 1 td
2013- 44 catches, 8.8 yds per catch, 3 tds

In 2013 he had 5 catches of more than 20 yds, with a long of 33 yds vs Georgia.

His longest run thus far at UT is 20 yds.

Again, I'm not trying to dog Alton, just accurately define the type of player he is. He's a good, tough possession slot receiver. He IS NOT a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination.

Who said he was a "game breaker?" I said he was a playmaker and you just provided the stats. Thanks for that. Apparently you are looking for the second coming of CP (aren't we all?). Maybe Pearson is that...hope he is. But our team also needs playmakers like BeetleJuice

 

[majorvol]

I will politely disagree. Alton has more experience and has shown he can make plays.

I think Pearson backs him up. I'm also hoping we see Ryan Jenkins.

Having depth is cool.

Would really like to see Jenkins.

 

[Hank Bukowski]

to be fair, when the offense has inconsistent qb play, doesn't have a TE, no breakaway rb and had little outside threat outside of a true freshman in North last year, it's wasn't difficult for the D to focus on Alton, who in that offense was quite often the biggest threat.
Lets see Alton with Lane/Hurd in the backfield, a qb in charge, our athletic TE's pulling lbs into coverage and safeties having to help on North and Malone. He'll have more space and more of a threat.

this

 

[KBVol]

He really hasn't had much to work with. Tell me again, who threw to him? He could be a game changer but having sub par QB's doesn't help his cause. We could have Randy Moss on the field but if no one can get it to him on a consistent basis then Moss would be ineffective.

The same guy(s) that threw to Pig (8.8 yds per catch) also threw to North (13.1 yds per catch), Josh Smith (15.2 yds per catch) and Jonathan Johnson (14.5 yds per catch). If you wanna put it all in the QB go ahead. I disagree.

In terms of getting the ball consistently, at least half of that is on him. Dobbs got him the ball 11 times vs Missouri and Pig only averaged 8 yds per catch. I would argue that he didn't get the ball vs Vandy (2 catches, 23 yds) in large part because he, along with all the other WRs couldn't get open.

I would agree that there could be multiple factors that contributed to Pig's pedestrian ypc average and lack of big plays. Poor to average QB play, lack of other playmaking WRs outside of North, nothing at tight end.

However, he did have the benefit of a 1,100+ yd rusher in Neal and a dynamic WR in North. Again, bottom line for me is, Pig is a tough, reliable possession receiver type slot..... but he's not shown to have the explosive game breaking ability I suspect Pearson, North and Malone have. Jmho.

 

[Vol4life25]

I hope Pearson does beat out pig for the spot, because that means Pearson is that good.

I'm just not going to put a guy who I've never seen play, ahead of our leading receiver.

 

[KBVol]

I hope Pearson does beat out pig for the spot, because that means Pearson is that good.

I'm just not going to put a guy who I've never seen play, ahead of our leading receiver.

Being our "leading receiver" last year was kind of like being the smartest kid in summer school IMO.

I know Pig had more catches but I think of North as being our leading receiver ..... he had more yards and a much better yards per catch average. He also made the 3 best catches of the season (1 vs Georgia for a td and the 2 vs SCar).

I understand your thought regarding wanting to see Pearson in a game before "proclaiming" him anything, but I'm pretty comfortable saying, after seeing a few Spring practice highlights, hearing about him from guys (Ainge, Swain, etc) who saw a lot of him from close up throughout the Spring and recognizing that he was the #2 JUCO WR in the country last year......that he will be the starting slot WR.

 

[KYVolFan]

Down with Pig and up with Alton!

Go there and show us what a slobberknocker Alton really is.

 

[PowerWookie]

awesome

 

[Stevorino]

Don't mean to be a player-hater... but... He better bring his A game if he wants to keep up w/ Pearson.

 

[DERELICK_MY_VOLS]

Who said he was a "game breaker?" I said he was a playmaker and you just provided the stats. Thanks for that. Apparently you are looking for the second coming of CP (aren't we all?). Maybe Pearson is that...hope he is. But our team also needs playmakers like BeetleJuice

REMINDS ME OF...

 

[MWAVolfan]

You throw a hitch, a screen, a slant to each of the following WRs on our roster: North, Malone, Pearson, Howard. Given the same circumstances, who is the least likely to turn a short gain into a long gain or touchdown?

is the hitch, screen or slant thrown by one of our QBs more than 5 yards downfield? My prediction is that none of them will catch the ball.

 

[Give_All_Vol]

The same guy(s) that threw to Pig (8.8 yds per catch) also threw to North (13.1 yds per catch), Josh Smith (15.2 yds per catch) and Jonathan Johnson (14.5 yds per catch). If you wanna put it all in the QB go ahead. I disagree.

In terms of getting the ball consistently, at least half of that is on him. Dobbs got him the ball 11 times vs Missouri and Pig only averaged 8 yds per catch. I would argue that he didn't get the ball vs Vandy (2 catches, 23 yds) in large part because he, along with all the other WRs couldn't get open.

I would agree that there could be multiple factors that contributed to Pig's pedestrian ypc average and lack of big plays. Poor to average QB play, lack of other playmaking WRs outside of North, nothing at tight end.

However, he did have the benefit of a 1,100+ yd rusher in Neal and a dynamic WR in North. Again, bottom line for me is, Pig is a tough, reliable possession receiver type slot..... but he's not shown to have the explosive game breaking ability I suspect Pearson, North and Malone have. Jmho.

Just to play devils advocate for a second because I really don't know who the biggest play maker on the team is either. But wouldn't it make more sense to look at yards after catch than yards per catch. Seems like a better way to judge.

Of course Pig wouldn't have the yards per catch that North does. They primarily threw to Pig around the line of scrimmage while north often caught his passes 15 yards down field. I bet pig didn't even run but a hand full of routs that far down field. It's just really hard to make that comparison because they are such different players.

Anyway, I couldn't find a stat for yards after catch so I guess we will never know. But to be honest I don't remember North making much of any yardage after the catch. Not that he needed to as much because the nature of his position vs. Pig who has to make those extra yards. There's the difference I guess

 

[KBVol]

Who said he was a "game breaker?" I said he was a playmaker and you just provided the stats. Thanks for that. Apparently you are looking for the second coming of CP (aren't we all?). Maybe Pearson is that...hope he is. But our team also needs playmakers like BeetleJuice

Ok, then provide your definition of playmaker. Perhaps we are talking about different things? I doubt we are.

The stats I provided show that he averaged 4 catches for and 35 yds per game and less than 9 yds per catch. His 8.8 yds per catch was well below that of North, Smith and Johnson. Those statistics help to define what type of "playmaker" he is. Last year Pig made some nice first down catches, had an excellent game with 2 big 20+ yd plays vs Georgia, made a couple nice plays vs Florida and had 11 catches vs Mizzou. Not trying to diminish his worth, just trying to define it. I can agree with you that he is a playmaker..... he makes tough catches around the line of scrimmage, occasionally has a decent 10+ yd run, will have a 20+ yd catch every other game or so.

 

[KBVol]

Just to play devils advocate for a second because I really don't know who the biggest play maker on the team is either. But wouldn't it make more sense to look at yards after catch than yards per catch. Seems like a better way to judge.

Of course Pig wouldn't have the yards per catch that North does. They primarily threw to Pig around the line of scrimmage while north often caught his passes 15 yards down field. I bet pig didn't even run but a hand full of routs that far down field. It's just really hard to make that comparison because they are such different players.

Anyway, I couldn't find a stat for yards after catch so I guess we will never know. But to be honest I don't remember North making much of any yardage after the catch. Not that he needed to as much because the nature of his position vs. Pig who has to make those extra yards. There's the difference I guess

Fair points, though my guess is that they'd like the slot position to provide more than 8 yds per catch. Johnson certainly didn't have as many catches as Pig, but he averaged 14 ypc from the slot when relieving Pig.

I'm bringing up all this in the context of my belief that we'll start a bigger, more talented and explosive athlete at slot this year in Pearson. That's all.

As a fan I'm very happy to know that Pig is on the team again. It's just my belief that he'll assume a secondary role this year because of the other more talented options we'll have a WR and, quite frankly, because his numbers last year as our leading receiver just weren't very impressive.