Alex Daniel is back and other Tuesday Sips
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 14, 2010 11:33 AM CDT
in Northwestern Wildcats Football
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PrintHow many mics do you rip on the daily? Many money say me say many many many.
- Probably the most important thing to happen as of late is that Alex Daniel, the running back, has been reinstated to the team. Normally, I wouldn't hype the return of someone whose only NU experience has been in the spring game two years ago. But our running back situation - despite Arby Fields' near 100-yard game Saturday - is kinda dire. Arby is now listed as the only starter, which is disconcerting, because he had a game where he ran for -7 yards on ten carries, which is actually the worst statistical line I've seen by any player in any sport in quite some time. Stephen Simmons is now listed as the backup, but he must've shot a coach or something one time, because he doesn't seem awful, but hasn't been given more than six carries since Eastern Michigan last year. And he only had six carries once. Then there's Jacob Schmidt, who has transformed from "that slow, short-yardage back who has been pretty consistent" to "that slow, short-yardage back who is pretty consistent at fumbling". Scott Concannon has gone from starting and playing well against Iowa to four games later being our fourth- or fifth-string running back, so, he's probably also a coach-murderer like Simmons. And Mike Trumpy is a freshman, although he didn't disappoint against ISU in limited time. So, Alex Daniel, welcome to the club. We need new members.
- NU has ten votes in the coaches poll, but more importantly, we now have one - ONE - in the AP poll. And unlike the coaches poll where we have to wait all the way until the end of the year to see who voted for who, and only get to see once, we have all the data we could possibly want now, allowing us to track our one vote to Pete DiPremio of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Pete also has Boise State at No. 1, so there's that, but, at least he's better than the guy who has James Madison ranked No. 19 and Bama at No. 3, behind TCU. That guy is an idiot.
- The Rice game will be streamed on the Rice athletic website. It's still a not on television fail by everybody involved, but we hypothetically will be able to watch it, although I sure as hell am not paying Rice University to watch it on their crappy stream if that's what it will come down to.
- Some other roster minutiae: Niko Mafuli still won't play next week, so Will Hampton - who burned his shirt last week Illinois State - is still on the depth chart. I guess the injury will keep him out for a while - it'd be silly to have someone burn their shirt for a single game against an FCS team. Also, Pat Hickey - who had been snapping on field goals - is no longer listed as the co-starter long snapper, ending the LONG SNAPPING CONTROVERSY IN EVANSTON, and hopefully all of our shanked extra points. And Bryce McNaul is back and will play, but hopefully that doesn't put an end to Ben Johnson's reign of terror.
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RBs
It will be interesting if Daniel is in playing shape, although he’s been away from the team and would take some time to get enough practice reps to be thrown into a game (remember, he’s never played in a collegiate game, unlike 5 NU RBs on the roster now). Going into last season I would have said he had a good chance of carrying the load if not for his ankle injury that kept him out for the year (the off-field stuff came later).
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see converted LB to RB Tyris Jones make an appearance at some point (he’s already a sophomore) because the coaching staff’s answer to the running problem is obviously running back by committee – and a large committee, at that.
Hopefully NU will, before too long, find a good enough combination of blocking, play calling, and RBs to have a respectable running game. Unfortunately they just haven’t been able to do that since Sutton was back there, which is frustrating for NU fans since we’ve always had a good to great RB dating back 15 years or so.
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JHodges
HailToPurple
I think they’re moving toward more of a feature back with backups just to ease the burden. With the change in the depth chart along with Schmidt’s fumble problems, I think we’ll be seeing less of him as a short yardage/blocking specialist.
I like this because it would mean not tipping our hand to what the play call is. Fields and Simmons are almost identical in style as far as I can tell.
by Batman42 on Sep 14, 2010 12:58 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Fields and Simmons
While they are very similar in size, I’d say they have significantly different styles.
Simmons has great speed (he’s one of the fastest guys on the team a few years running, hence why he is returning kickoffs) but not a whole lot else. That’s why he hasn’t outright won the job over the past two years.
Fields has a lot of moves, but doesn’t do them as well as some guy who went here a few years ago named Sutton.
There are definitely situations for each of them and I think they’ll both see time back there, but it seems like Fields is becoming “the guy.” Schmidt’s fumble problems this year have definitely hurt his stock although he’ll likely still be used for short yardage or third downs – he catches and blocks better than the other two guys, IMHO.
We didn’t see any Concannon in week one and, barring a lot of garbage time or injuries, I doubt we’ll see him or Trumpy much as this season progresses.
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JHodges
HailToPurple
also
one of the things we have to remember is that fitz is a big fan of getting guys experience at the expense of playing older players. i’d argue simmons is a better rb than fields, and maybe even fitz thinks that. but simmons is a senior. he’s got less room to grow. arby, on the other hand, might be our starting rb for two years after this one.
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 14, 2010 3:20 PM CDT up reply actions
Upperclassmen & Fitz
While I do see that trend I don’t necessarily agree that Fitz is doing it just to increase experience at the expense of winning now. I think he’s trying to get the more talented guy on the field – look at the offensive line which has featured a ton of young guys over the past 2 years or so because they are just plain better.
In the case of Simmons, specifically, he had his chance to take the reigns in late 2008 after Sutton injured his wrist, but never really did so. He also had his shot early last year but got dinged up and later passed up by the other guys. IMHO, he’s a very fast straight ahead guy but never had the lateral speed or moves to be an every down RB. He’ll still get carries and is definitely useful but won’t ever take over as “the guy” in the backfield.
In any case Fitz definitely likes to rotate in guys with enough talent to play which has helped build experience and pays off when guys do graduate or suffer an injury (examples: Peters & Carpenter had a decent amount of playing time last year and now step in with some time already under their belts). I don’t think he does it except in cases where he believes the younger guy deserves the playing time and can help the team by being out there.
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JHodges
HailToPurple
Do you know why...
we don’t know the Cats’ non-conference basketball schedule yet? I feel like every other school in the country has theirs up already.
yeah this is really pissing me off
last year they released it on September 14th, so hopefully it’ll be out sometime today
Daniel on special teams
Daniel should be a good addition to special teams kickoff coverage before he gets any carries. As injuries pop up, having him back as additional depth on kickoff coverage will help.
Seeing Mafuli on the sideline last week, I’m a little optimistic that he won’t be out for too long.
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