Darius Walker=

[huntzjess]

Darius was ineffective, to put it in a nice way. The whole day he made like one guy miss and broke like no tackles. .... I got home and watched the Nebraska and USC game and both teams backs were making people miss and braking tackles. Darius looked terrible and out of place. He did nothing with the ball.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Darius was ineffective, to put it in a nice way. The whole day he made like one guy miss and broke like no tackles. .... I got home and watched the Nebraska and USC game and both teams backs were making people miss and braking tackles. Darius looked terrible and out of place. He did nothing with the ball.

While I do not believe he is a great runner and I somewhat agree with you...I do wonder about the O-Line's ability to open lanes. We know Darius does not have the speed to turn a corner past a fast defender, but the O-line could at least open some running lanes that don't require him to squeeze through like toothpaste.

 

[rontdtarchala]

Our o line sucks I've been saying it for two years...darius isn't a game breaker but good lord would somone block for him....
I love my Irish 13-0 or 0-13 always have always will I am not a band wagon fan...thusly I will bring out my discord as I please...(just incase someone wants to complain) the sky isn't falling but there are definate cracks. Also I have never held minter in disfavor like some but I am beginning to not like him...his calls suck! don't put a de de de alone on a top notch receiver!! blitz if you don't have the talent up front...hey its not like we will give up any more big plays than we do now...we blitzed against gt and psu on occasion how come we didn't (except for a very very few occasions) against scum?

 

[marv81s]

i don't think anyone will ever disagree with anyone about darius being a break away runner, but what he does give the team is a guy that wears defenses down, he is a very durable back that gives you a lot of carries, he blocks very well, and is a very dependable receiver out of the backfield. I think people need to stop bagging on this guy. He was part of the reason why we won the GT game and other games in the past.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

i don't think anyone will ever disagree with anyone about darius being a break away runner, but what he does give the team is a guy that wears defenses down, he is a very durable back that gives you a lot of carries, he blocks very well, and is a very dependable receiver out of the backfield. I think people need to stop bagging on this guy. He was part of the reason why we won the GT game and other games in the past.

I don't want a guy that "wears people down".

I want a guy that wears people down and gets yards.

That being said, I am NOT saying to ditch Darius. His pass blocking and receiving are excellent.

But "wears people down" is an excuse, not something you look for.

You look for:
Makes people miss.
Can break out for long runs (Darius has 20+ yards only 4 times in his career right?)
Hits hard
Receives well
Pass Protection

You wear people down by hitting them over and over.

You score points by running like a gazelle and getting in the end zone.

 

[marv81s]

I'm not saying this is the RB i want to go recruiting for either, I'll take all the things you mentioned. My point is that I didn't hear as much gripping about Walker's style when he was getting 100 yards a game last year, so we shouldn't be all up in his ass this year. We've seen plays where walker has made people miss and shed tacklers, and get his points. It would be great to have Prince in the games more for that speed or even TT, but Walker will be fine if he could get some holes up front to run through, take time off the clock, wear the defenses down. Those are good attributes to, in addition to lighting up the scoreboard.

Its been said over and over again on these boards about our O-line play. I'm not sure what is going on, but hard for BQ and DW to get anything going when there are defenders in the backfield and all over them. Has BQ had a pass play yet when his feet were squarely planted yet, he constantly has had happy feet it seems like. Its no wonder his passes ahve been all over the place and not on target.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I'm not saying this is the RB i want to go recruiting for either, I'll take all the things you mentioned. My point is that I didn't hear as much gripping about Walker's style when he was getting 100 yards a game last year...

Well, those of us who showed concern were told to shut up. I was even told that when he won the Heisman I would be made to look silly... Except for a buddy of mine who hated his little shake-and-bake move that would get him tackled all the time. He used to call him S&B when writing about him. [that being said, DW has dropped that move under Weis]

Look, Darius is not THE problem. But it's a known problem that we don't have speed out of the backfield.

Given our lack of run blocking, I guess it's even less of an issue. However, it would be nice just a couple times to see what Aldridge can do. Is he really that good? Could he be that good so young?

 

[marv81s]

according to CW, he'll be ready to go by the Purdue game.

What I wonder about is why don't we see more of Prince in any of these first 3 games? He's had some playing time, but not enough in my opinion.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

according to CW, he'll be ready to go by the Purdue game.

What I wonder about is why don't we see more of Prince in any of these first 3 games? He's had some playing time, but not enough in my opinion.

I have wondered a bit, but I will be honest...while I don't think DW is the best back for ND. I believe he is the best back we have. I suspect that Prince is just not ready yet.