'08 CA RB Milton Knox (UCLA Verbal)

[quiksilver253]

Originally Posted by nthurman

Do we really have room for another RB?

more like do we want another one

[Denny]

I would take another rb in the mold of Armando Allen like Knox because we already have enough guys like Aldridge, Hughes, now Jonas Grey and we've watched Darius Walker for 3years before where for the most part the longest run will be 15 yds. If something ever happened to Allen we will have all the same type of rb's. In my opinion, we need to get more of the smaller speed type guys in here to give defenses another element to prepare for.

[Irish1587]

Agreed the ND coaches knew it we can handle him on scholarship we were still going after Cyrus Gray. I think he is plan B. I believe ND will take this kid in their class. Excellent point made above by Denny. We could use play makers anywhere.

[mikejND]

Socal Domer, I was thinking the same thing. USC has about 10 running backs, I honestly feel if we have an extra scholly he should get it. He's a good quality RB. Our depth is okay, but it's not great.

BTW... Good point denny, I'm sure the coaching staff sees it the same way.

[piyachi]

Um...... am I the only person that noticed that he isn't ANYTHING like Armando? If he is like anyone it's Darius Walker - he has good vision and balance but is undersized and doesn't have breakaway speed. Allen has a ton of speed and even better balance... essentially had everything but is lighter (ala R. Bush). They are in no way the same mold of running back.

Getting excessive depth means losing it at another position. Think we should have 10 RBs on scholarship when we can only have 1 or 2 on the field at a time? If USuCk has that many on scholarship then it means they have thin depth at another position. If the staff thought we were thin at RB then they would have pursued more guys and earlier. It took a long time to get them to even offer Gray, who seems to have more power and speed than Knox. Unless Cyrus gray changes his mind, we are probably done with RBs this year.

[Irishknight1023]

Armando didn't strike me as having good balance this year, at least not yet. He was always falling or tripping constantly. He has good quickness, but I didn't really see the WOW speed that I should've this year. After watching Knox in the game against ND this year he was a pounder and solid but would add nothing that Hughes/Aldridge and Jonas already do.

[piyachi]

Originally Posted by Irishknight1023

Armando didn't strike me as having good balance this year, at least not yet. He was always falling or tripping constantly. He has good quickness, but I didn't really see the WOW speed that I should've this year. After watching Knox in the game against ND this year he was a pounder and solid but would add nothing that Hughes/Aldridge and Jonas already do.

Agree completely - I was thinking about how a guy who literally ran into and out of a pile in HS seems to get tripped up so easily... here is my hypothesis. I think we haven't been able to establish the kind of blocking we need to get him to the outside where he will be able to be dangerous. In HS the balance often looked great because he has surprising power and can stay up when people try to tackle him as he goes by. But he doesn't have enough power to get by guys that are in front of him in the middle of the field. In other words he is used to running by people rather than having so many in front of him. If we can get AA some blocking and get him outside, he is going to look phenomenal.