'18 GA RB Lyn-J Dixon (Tennessee transfer)

#328
#328
secking said:
Yep, that's today's recruiting. Have to recruit your guys like they are still uncommitted and keep others 'warm' just in case.

Third back, Martin, Pierce, and Franklin make sense.

Speaking of making sense, call me crazy, James Cook will decommit from FSU.
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ok crazy:eek:lol:
 
#330
#330
Bassmaster_Vol said:
And yet was only a few yards away from breaking the all time rushing record 🤔
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So overrated. He was still 400+ yards short of the record despite already having 40 or so more carries than Henry. Had he stayed at UT, he would've needed about 120 more carries than Henry to break his record. Not particularly impressive imho.
 
#331
#331
KBVol said:
So overrated. He was still 400+ yards short of the record despite already having 40 or so more carries than Henry. Had he stayed at UT, he would've needed about 120 more carries than Henry to break his record. Not particularly impressive imho.
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All time records impress me. Different situations,different schemes,different offensive lines aside...numbers are solid.
 
#335
#335
butchna said:
All time records impress me. Different situations,different schemes,different offensive lines aside...numbers are solid.
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Not me. 4.5 yards a carry in college isn't solid. How records come about and are broken matter imo. If what we saw from Hurd was the stuff of breaking records at Tennessee, then the record wasn't much to brag about imo. Also, if it takes you 120 more chances than the other guy to get more yards, color me unimpressed.
 
#336
#336
KBVol said:
Not me. 4.5 yards a carry in college isn't solid. How records come about and are broken matter imo. If what we saw from Hurd was the stuff of breaking records at Tennessee, then the record wasn't much to brag about imo. Also, if it takes you 120 more chances than the other guy to get more yards, color me unimpressed.
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I agree with you to a certain extent. But I do think if Hurd had been running behind an OL as good as the RBs at the top of this list, those numbers would be closer.

The 2014 OL was perhaps the worst unit we've fielded in the past 30 years. Any of our great RBs from years past would've had trouble finding room to run against teams like UF, Bama, Ole Miss, and Mizzou (hell, probably even USU, who pretty much nullified our running game) that year.
 
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#337
#337
KBVol said:
Not me. 4.5 yards a carry in college isn't solid. How records come about and are broken matter imo. If what we saw from Hurd was the stuff of breaking records at Tennessee, then the record wasn't much to brag about imo. Also, if it takes you 120 more chances than the other guy to get more yards, color me unimpressed.
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Before this past season, he was a star for us. Never was a fit in this offense and was still a mainstay before his personal mess. 4.5 yards a carry with some of the OL play we witnessed is beyond impressive to me and just because Kelly and Kamara averaged more with much less workload doesn't make it less so. I was a big proponent of more touches for both Kamara and Kelly and there were more than a few on this board that used the tired refrain "what have they shown that makes you think they can handle SEC defenses?"...so the narrative shifted. What remains are the numbers. Kid came in and was our leading rusher for two bowl teams. Got smothered in the backfield way too much but also hammered teams after he reached the line of scrimmage. I really don't see much overrating of him. Too many falling all over themselves to do exactly the opposite. I see him as Butch's biggest recruiting coup because it was the first. Buttressed by the fact Saban desperately coveted him and got shunned (which represents itself with every Bama fan's hate...especially Bamawriter:)). He helped kick our legs out from under us last season but his previous work still stands imo.
 
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#338
#338
I'm not gonna say that the Oline was not a problem sometimes for Hurd but the big problem with Hurd was that he had horrible field vision. I can't tell you how many times I saw him dismiss a big ass hole just to run up the backside of one of the lineman.
 
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#339
#339
SouthKnoxVOL said:
I'm not gonna say that the Oline was not a problem sometimes for Hurd but the big problem with Hurd was that he had horrible field vision. I can't tell you how many times I saw him dismiss a big ass hole just to run up the backside of one of the lineman.
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Lot going on that I wasn't aware of. :)
 
#342
#342
SouthKnoxVOL said:
I'm not gonna say that the Oline was not a problem sometimes for Hurd but the big problem with Hurd was that he had horrible field vision. I can't tell you how many times I saw him dismiss a big ass hole just to run up the backside of one of the lineman.
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I'm really torn on Hurd.


What you say is true (especially from what we saw of him in 2016), but he had moments of brilliance, too. His game against UF in 2015 was GREAT.


He probably deserved less carries than he got in 2015-2016, but I think he earned most of those 2015 reps, for the most part.

He probably would've fit best as a sort of hybrid RB/H-Back given his skill set. I'm not sure he had the mental fortitude to excel in that kind of role though.
 
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#343
#343
KBVol said:
Not me. 4.5 yards a carry in college isn't solid. How records come about and are broken matter imo. If what we saw from Hurd was the stuff of breaking records at Tennessee, then the record wasn't much to brag about imo. Also, if it takes you 120 more chances than the other guy to get more yards, color me unimpressed.
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The difference in OL play between the two was astronomical.
 
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#344
#344
Darth_Shiveman said:
I'm really torn on Hurd.


What you say is true (especially from what we saw of him in 2016), but he had moments of brilliance, too. His game against UF in 2015 was GREAT.


He probably deserved less carries than he got in 2015-2016, but I think he earned most of those 2015 reps, for the most part.

He probably would've fit best as a sort of hybrid RB/H-Back given his skill set. I'm not sure he had the mental fortitude to excel in that kind of role though.
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I certainly think he'd have had more success if he'd been allowed to hit the hole at a straight-line, full speed. Rather than at the 45 degree angle, from the offset position he had to. I think that amounted to the majority of his frustration with the system. We should've run some I formation while he was here, but no, we can't deviate from Butch's system. Worries me for QD.
 
#345
#345
benholt06 said:
I certainly think he'd have had more success if he'd been allowed to hit the hole at a straight-line, full speed. Rather than at the 45 degree angle, from the offset position he had to. I think that amounted to the majority of his frustration with the system. We should've run some I formation while he was here, but no, we can't deviate from Butch's system. Worries me for QD.
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I get this, especially considering how much more we saw Kelly run out of pistol sets in the back half of the season compared to Hurd in the front half.


But as far as Hurd is concerned, him being frustrated with this and then transferring to become a WR doesn't make much sense at all. If he'd gone somewhere like Michigan or Iowa to be a RB where they'd let him run downhill, I'd get it. But I think he could have played a very mutually beneficial role as a sort of RB/H-Back hybrid if he'd been more open to the role.


The benefit he brought to the team in pass protection is often overlooked, IMO. He's one of the best pass blocking RBs I've seen at UT in my lifetime.
 
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#346
#346
Darth_Shiveman said:
I agree with you to a certain extent. But I do think if Hurd had been running behind an OL as good as the RBs at the top of this list, those numbers would be closer.

The 2014 OL was perhaps the worst unit we've fielded in the past 30 years. Any of our great RBs from years past would've had trouble finding room to run against teams like UF, Bama, Ole Miss, and Mizzou (hell, probably even USU, who pretty much nullified our running game) that year.
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Agree in part. But Hurd simply was not as good as he was billed. Not nearly as fast and, imho, didn't run with good instincts. Also remember that both Alvin Kamara and John Kelly ran behind the same line that Hurd did the last 2 years.....and while Hurd averaged 4.35 ypc the last 2 years, AK averaged 6.2 and John Kelly averaged 5.8.
 
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#347
#347
butchna said:
Before this past season, he was a star for us. Never was a fit in this offense and was still a mainstay before his personal mess. 4.5 yards a carry with some of the OL play we witnessed is beyond impressive to me and just because Kelly and Kamara averaged more with much less workload doesn't make it less so. I was a big proponent of more touches for both Kamara and Kelly and there were more than a few on this board that used the tired refrain "what have they shown that makes you think they can handle SEC defenses?"...so the narrative shifted. What remains are the numbers. Kid came in and was our leading rusher for two bowl teams. Got smothered in the backfield way too much but also hammered teams after he reached the line of scrimmage. I really don't see much overrating of him. Too many falling all over themselves to do exactly the opposite. I see him as Butch's biggest recruiting coup because it was the first. Buttressed by the fact Saban desperately coveted him and got shunned (which represents itself with every Bama fan's hate...especially Bamawriter:)). He helped kick our legs out from under us last season but his previous work still stands imo.
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Respectfully disagree. He was a limited "workhorse" who simply didn't have the tools to be an elite back. He could eat carries and grind the 3, 4 5 yard runs but simply didn't have the ability to really threaten a defense with big plays. For all that size and power, half his runs in his first 2 years (haven't calculated the awful season he had last year) resulted in 0, 1, 2 or negative yardage. Certainly the poor OLs contributed to that, but Hurd shouldered at least half the blame for it imo.

I appreciate what he did for us the first two years, he was serviceable, and at times showed some brilliance.....but those plays were too few and far between. He was just nowhere near the elite back I thought we were getting. Firmly believe our offense would've had far more success each of the last 2 years with a 50/50 split in touches between Hurd and AK and a little more Kelly mixed in....both have much better burst and ability to get through creases/seams that Hurd couldn't imo.
 
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#348
#348
KBVol said:
Agree in part. But Hurd simply was not as good as he was billed. Not nearly as fast and, imho, didn't run with good instincts. Also remember that both Alvin Kamara and John Kelly ran behind the same line that Hurd did the last 2 years.....and while Hurd averaged 4.35 ypc the last 2 years, AK averaged 6.2 and John Kelly averaged 5.8.
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I mostly agree. Hindsight being 20/20, Hurd was more of a guy with a multiple skill set who could've/should've been used in multiple roles (rushing, blocking, receiving). He was good at all of them, but not really better at any one (maybe besides blocking) than any of the other RBs we had.

Not really sure how open he was to being more than RB#1 though. And given the talent we had at RB in 2015/2016, he probably shouldn't have been that guy.
 
#349
#349
FWIW, for the life of me I don't understand why we didn't try to have Hurd on the field along with Kamara or Kelly more than we did.


Our most difficult to defend sets had Dobbs, Hurd, and Kamara on the field at the same time, IMO. Dobbs was a crazy good runner, Kamara could run or play in the slot, and Hurd could block as well as many of our TEs, run, and receive pretty well to boot.

Those three in the backfield was a matchup nightmare for defenses.
 
#350
#350
KBVol said:
Respectfully disagree. He was a limited "workhorse" who simply didn't have the tools to be an elite back. He could eat carries and grind the 3, 4 5 yard runs but simply didn't have the ability to really threaten a defense with big plays. For all that size and power, half his runs in his first 2 years (haven't calculated the awful season he had last year) resulted in 0, 1, 2 or negative yardage. Certainly the poor OLs contributed to that, but Hurd shouldered at least half the blame for it imo.

I appreciate what he did for us the first two years, he was serviceable, and at times showed some brilliance.....but those plays were too few and far between. He was just nowhere near the elite back I thought we were getting. Firmly believe our offense would've had far more success each of the last 2 years with a 50/50 split in touches between Hurd and AK and a little more Kelly mixed in....both have much better burst and ability to get through creases/seams that Hurd couldn't imo.
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Don't disagree that mixing them better would have been beneficial...along with the offset I mixed in. I just don't feel he was overrated. He pretty much met or exceeded the production I anticipated. Remember many on here expected Marlin Lane to get more carries/yards. I think he packed on to much thickness to counter the perception that he was too lanky and THAT contributed to him not fitting this quick hitting system. For him to pile up the yards despite that is impressive.
 
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