Spring Outlook - Running Back - Adding to the stable
by John Berkowitz on Mar 4, 2010 11:43 AM PST
24 comments
Chris Polk lived up to his potential last season by becoming an every play type of running back who proved he could move the pile and break the big one. Chris picked up 1113 yards on 226 carries and scored five touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2009. The only question mark going into spring is his shoulder which was operated on for the second time in as many seasons. Obviously the coaches won't expose him to contact till August but since he has the number one job nailed down it gives a chance for a true back up to emerge behind him.
Jr. Johri Fogerson, So. Demetrius Bronson, and Jr. Curtis Shaw return fro last season. They didn't get a lot of work in 2009 because Polk was in 90% of the time. The coaches paired Polk and Fogerson early in the season and that resulted in some key catches out of the backfield for Johri. Fogerson's playing time diinished once he became dinged up as the season went on.
Bronson had a strong spring and went into fall camp as a serious contender for the starting job. An injury and the bobbles moved him down in the depth chart. Bronson has some of the size the coaches would like to use next season but he needs to do a better job of holding on to the ball.
Shaw was tried as a kickoff returner against Idaho but a fumble knocked him out of contention for that spot. He will get another shot in 2010 but he is definitely running out of time. Brandon Yakaboski has been hurt since the day he arrived at UW and while Sark said he was excited to see what he can do this spring insiders thing he is headed for a transfer or medical scholarship after two serious knee injuries. Willie Griffin decided to transfer this winter after getting limited playing time in 2009.
The Huskies welcome true frosh Deontae Cooper and Jessie Callier this spring. Cooper is expected to slide right into the backup role behind Chris Polk. Deontae has been on campus since January and has been participating in the strength and conditioning program. The coaches expect big things out of Cooper who was one of the top running backs in California last season.
Jessie Callier also was one of the top RB's in California statistically last season and he played against much better competition than Cooper did. He racked up 2466 yards and 30 TD's for Warren HS in 2009. The coaches will be looking at him as a RB and kick returner this spring. He is also a candidate to make a move to CB if he gets buried in the depth at RB. He is definitely a kid you want to see on the field and not waiting on the bench.
Over at FB Paul Homer graduated after a steady four years of blocking and special teams play. Figthing it out for his job this spring will be Sr Austin Sylvester and RS Kimo Makaula. Sylvester is a solid blocker and that will go a long way toward earning a starting job but he doesn't have the overall tools that Makaula may show this spring. Kimo is a better athlete who has the size to lay the lumber but just may be a better option catching passes out of the backfield since he has better hands and speed.
In the fall Johri Fogerson's younger brother Zach will arrive on the scene. Zach enters UW as one of the top high school FB recruits in the country. The only knock on him has been the injury bug which curtailed his production the last two years at O'Dea. When healthy Zach gives you everyhting you are looking for in a FB. Chances are he will sit out 2010 to stay healthy and get stronger.
Overall these are strong positions for Washington that are only getting stronger. The addition of Cooper and Callier plus another two being added for 2011 means that the coaches have this position nailed now and into the future. Look for the Huskies to bring in two more running back in 2011 and also look for some probable attrition at the position by next January or sooner.
0 recs |
24 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
Polk was a pleasant surprise. He looked tentative in ‘08, but that wasn’t the case last year. He showed surprising toughness – I figured he was more of a speed back that needed space, but he was fantastic in picking up yards after contact. Unfortunately, after two shoulder surgeries in as many years you wonder if his body can handle that kind of pounding.
As much as I’d love to see him rack up 1,000 yard seasons for the rest of his career, he probably needs to not play quite as often as he did last year. Hopefully Cooper and Bronson can help take some of the load off of Polk. Johri might be an option too, but I get the feeling he may start getting squeezed out of the picture with Cooper coming in and Bronson providing a different dimension.
Callier might surprise me at RB, but I think Coach Martin is going to win that battle and get him at CB.
Yakaboski and Shaw seem highly likely to retire (Yakaboski) and move on (Shaw) – just doesn’t seem to be any room for these guys.
Sylvester will be an interesting one to watch. I get the feeling Makula and Barnett may carve out roles as H-back types while Sylvester will be the lead blocker guy. Zach should definitely redshirt.
Couldn't agree more about Polk.
The way he looked in 2008, you could see why there was talk about moving him to wide receiver. I couldn’t believe it was the same guy that seemed to look for contact as often as not. Pound for pound, he’s the toughest back the Dawgs have had since…Dillon, probably.
Hopefully, some improvement on the offensive line will reduce the number of really big hits he takes this season. He didn’t get a ton of carries last year, but he had to deal with tacklers in the backfield far too often. Getting slowed down there means that more defenders are going to get to take shots at him as opposed to watching him run by. I don’t know if there’s an official yards-after-contact stat kept, but I’d bet 75% or more of Polks came after first contact.
Are you speculating about Callier, or is that something that’s been addressed more thoroughly than it was during his recruitment?
Polk was terrible in 2008
and his injury was a blessing because it got him out of the lineup, something Ty didn’t seem to want to do. Now, I would say that he is tougher, pound for pound, than Dillon, if for no other reason because he is much smaller.
Hopefully his first contact next year will be with LBs and DBs, instead of “sharing” the offensive backfield with the D linemen. I think he improved more that Jake did last year.
North Eugene 40
In the movie/book North Dallas Forty, the police identified the WR smoking a marijuana cigarette that the team wanted to cut, but was unable to identify the other white male Caucasian, who just happened to be the starting Cowboy QB (Don Merideth).
Now the Eugene police have identified Embry, who Kelly has kicked off the team, but are unable, so far, to identify the other thief in the computer robbery at the fraternity house. I thought the first witness stated that of course he knew who Massolli was, his picture was in the paper every other day. Sorry about misspelling the QBs name, but he’s not mentioned in the article.
No doubt Chris Polk is a stud
He plays hard, has tremendous skills, and hardly ever puts the ball on the turf. But I’m going to give credit where credit is due. The Offensive Line. Now I may be going out on a limb on this thing, but I think we have to give some of the credit for Polk gaining 1,000 yards this last season to the O line. Why do you ask?
How many break aways did Polk have last season? Sure he had some decent 15 to 20 yard runs, hell he had a lot of them. Where am I going with this? If Polk would’ve broke lose for more big runs then we could all agree Polk is awesome. But when a RB doesn’t get too many break away runs, it tells me that most of his yards came from the O line opening up the hole, where Polk exploded thru the hole and was able to juke his way to 2nd level. Yet couldn’t quite turn on the after burners to get too many break aways.
Now I am not saying our O line is great- heavens NO! But I think they did a pretty good job coming off arguably the worst O line Husky performance of all time. I give a lot of credit not only to the O line, but also coach Coz, who is the running coordinator. Chirs Polk is a stud and will continue to get better and very well could put himself into all- league contention this upcoming season, but it’s not all about Polk when it comes to the running game, somebody has to open up those running lanes.
All I saw was purple
Yards after contact...
The secret to Chris Polk’s success was yards gained after contact on each play.
If you went back and looked at film of ever carry he had last season and analyzed that you would be amazed at how he turned nothing into something on almost every single play.
Washington has problems gaining yards on the ground last season wwhen they had to…or it was obvious that they had to. When teams keyed on stopping the run they did. Example would be the tough time we had converting inside the ten yard line. When the offensive line is creating holes we are talking TD’s not field goals.
Anyway to say that the 2009 OL was anything more than barely adequate would be a gross error.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 4, 2010 8:02 PM PST up reply actions
Got to agree
I even remember Sark saying just that in an interview. Chris Polk is a stud, no question, and he earned each and every yard that he gained.
Here’s a thought: With four returning starters and another off season with Ivan the Terrible, if the o-line steps it up, Locker and Polk could really shine!
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Not every play
I distinctly remember seeing Polk plunge forward thru holes opened up by the O line, where multiple times he juked away from a filling Linebacker or took the contact from a backer and dragged him for extra yardage. What we saw last season from our O line in regards to the running game was inconsistency brought on by injury and lack of depth. But I will meet you half way, I did see Polk time and again make something out of nothing.
All I saw was purple
But when a RB doesn’t get too many break away runs, it tells me that most of his yards came from the O line opening up the hole, where Polk exploded thru the hole and was able to juke his way to 2nd level
What this tells me is that you weren’t paying close attention to the games last year. Polk got a major amount of his yards after contact. He didn’t get 1,000 yards because his line was opening a ton of holes for him – he got 1,000 yards because he didn’t go down when the first guys hit him at the line of scrimmage.
Just to add to that
When a RB doesn’t get too many break away runs, it should never tell you most of the yards came from a hole the line opened. If the line makes a hole, any RB worth a crap should be at the second level and able to break one. The UW line last year was, to put it nicely, not worth much of a crap. Polk got his on his own. If he had a line, he would’ve busted more long runs. Instead of having to run through people to get to the secondary, he’d have a free pass to the secondary.
Makes you wonder
What he could accomplish with a good offensive line.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Well then maybe we should just line up with Locker and Polk
If Locker is the god you all make him out to be and if Polk is as great as you all are making him out to be, then why don’t we just align both of them on the L.O.S. and play them against an 11 man front. Good heavens people, their is more to having a decent running game then the guy toting the ball. It’s a no brainer that our offensive line needs to get better, but why trash it for pete’s sake?
Our O line is doing the best job they can right now, with the subpar coaching they received before Sark and Coz, some guys were forced into action earlier then expected and some were considered patch jobs (converted D linemen). But all the members of the O line have accepted their roles on the team and are doing the best job they can for us. The last thing they want to see is Locker or Polk get hurt. And if one of them doesnt’ get up from the turf, all the blame goes on them.
Never said our O line was great, but I believe they played as well as could be expected coming from where they came from. Chris Polk is a good RB and will even get better as he matures, but he doesn’t pick up a yard if no one blocks, it’s rediculous to think otherwise.
All I saw was purple
We already know that won't work . . .
all of last season we lined up with just Locker and Polk, and it only got us five wins. I bet if we line up 11 guys we’ll be national champs!
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
I don’t disagree with what you’re saying here. What I’m disagreeing with is the idea of giving a disproportionate amount of credit to the O-line for Polk’s 1,000 yards last year. I think our O-line was below-average last year, and way below where we used to be on a consistent basis under DJ and most of the Lambo years. You were implying that the line deserved a lot of credit for Polk’s success. I think it’s more like Polk did an amazing job of making something out of nothing.
I do think they showed improvement, especially against Cal, and I do think they’ll get better with more time spent with Lewis. I have no idea if Cozzetto is all that much better than Denbrock, but hopefully that’s a plus too. Simply transforming their bodies from where they were under the Ty regime to where Sark wants them to be with the supervision of Lewis should be a major step forward. So will recruiting higher caliber players, which Sark appears to have done with the 2010 class.
I agree
The line gets some credit but Polk should get the lions share. He made his own yardage many times and I was surprised he was able to take contact so well. I guess I always thought of him more as a speed back
by cougfan on Mar 5, 2010 1:04 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I guess I always thought of him more as a speed back
That was my assumption too. I’m actually a little surprised to hear some Dawgman staffers say he lacks breakaway speed – I guess I’ll have to attend some Fall practices and get a look myself.
I was very surprised myself to see how tough of a runner he was – I wasn’t expecting that either.
New Dawg!
Where’s the howling? The excitement? Wake up guys, theirs a new dawg today and his name is Evan Zeger. Welcome Evan.
Evan- Bring a friend with you.
As in a six foot three and a half inch defensive end by the name of Jalen Grimble.
Future Team Speed
Looks like Sark is already adding speed with the first two commits.
MAYBE
Five weeks to probation!!! Might make a difference especially if brother transfers out. We need to keep a few spots open just in case.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
