Buckeye Tailbacks - 2005 (official thread)

[Oh8ch]

crzy - I think that is a great quesiton. At one point we were all going nuts over M. Wells and how important he was to the program. Then Gwaltney entered the picture and we quickly drew this distinction between Gwaltney as a power back and M. Wells as a speed back. With all the speed on the team already we suddenly went gaga over the idea of a power back. No sooner did we lose Gwaltney than we landed C. Wells - our power back - just as M. Wells was mysteriously dropping in the RB rankings. I share your puzzlement as to why Maurice never recovered from that drop among Buckeye fans.

I am reminded a bit of 2002 when many thought Clarett would have a hard time beating Ross out of a job given Ross' performance in 2001. Granted, Wells does not have the size, but if we can spread the field and our O delivers on its promise he could be a great weapon. I know everyone is exicted about Pittman but he hasn't done much that Ross didn't do as a Frosh. Many folks are high on Haw (sorry, I couldn't resist) as well but he has done even less.

Finally, we have all seen reports where Pete Carroll told Maurice he was the best RB in his class. Granted, Pete will say anything to get a girl into bed, but he does pretty much limit himself to super models.

How you can recruit a kid like Maurice Wells onto a team with one experienced RB and have him come in as a sleeper is a good question - but it appears we are pulling it off.

 

[Pheasant]

.....
How you can recruit a kid like Maurice Wells onto a team with one experienced RB and have him come in as a sleeper is a good question - but it appears we are pulling it off.

I think a lot of that may have to do with how excited we all are at our talent on the outside. It's hard to get excited about backs with little (Pittman) or no experience at the college level when we have the best receiving corps in the country. At this point I think Haw is our best running back, but unproven. Pittman is very close, and IMO looked much better as a frosh than Ross did. I know very little about Wells or Russell, so I won't comment on their abilities. I'm not counting on any of our backs to take control like MoC did, but I do believe that all of us will be pleasantly surprised by the overall production out of the running game this year.

 

[Oh8ch]

Findlay - I think that is a solid argument that reflects what many Buckeye fans seem to think. What I find interesting is that we have a situation where for some strange reason our expectations of Wells are so much lower than the gurus. This is just very unusual and I still don't completely get it.

Just for shits and giggles I went back through his original thread. Here is part of his resume:

he was First team RB (along with Bobby Washington) in Florida's 6A- the biggest school division in Florida

Florida Mr. Football runner up (behind Xavier Lee) as a Junior

Florida State has now offered and they have told Maurice if he commits they won't recruit another RB in this class. (Same thing Petey told him.)

There is video of Wells now on Rivals. On a field full of Florida speed he is just at another level. He does look a little small but he more than makes up for it in speed, vision and cutting ability. Wow

(That was Bucknutty's assessment.)

BN- you are not kidding- tremendous cutting ability, vision and he just explodes in and out of the hole.

(Buckskin86 reaction to the same video.)

there was a Rivals article a while back that stated Conley offered Wells without JT ever seeing Wells on film.

Conley reportedly described hiim as the best RB he had ever seen.

 

[bukIpower]

good find Oh8ch

I'm definatly excited about M. Wells coming in...... I like him as a Reggie Bush type of player who is very exciting in the open field. We just need a running back to step up so that we can get our passing game going because teams will have enough pressure as it is trying to stop all our weapons at reciever. If M. Wells can be that man then we'll have one hell of a backfield in 06'

 

[zincfinger]

What I find interesting is that we have a situation where for some strange reason our expectations of Wells are so much lower than the gurus. This is just very unusual and I still don't completely get it.

O-Haitch, I think you're onto something here. I'd probably pick M. Wells as my #1 impact-potential frosh coming in, and that's not a disparagement to the other freshman. But there's nothing that unusual about a small-sized RB being a game changer. From my perspective, his combination of balance, vision, and top-end speed, make him a potentially very dangerous weapon. Guys like Pearson and Wiley were very solid go-to tailbacks for the Bucks (and admittedly, they ran behind good O-lines, as I think Wells will also). Where those guys were very good, I anticipate that Wells may one-up them.

 

[Taosman]

And, lets not forget a certain Georgia runningback/safety prospect! The coaches tried to sneak him in under the radar, but those in the know think we stole one out of the south!

 

[zincfinger]

And, lets not forget a certain Georgia runningback/safety prospect! The coaches tried to sneak him in under the radar, but those in the know think we stole one out of the south!

Good point, Taos. At an earlier time, it seemed that the staff projected Russell as more likely ending up in the defensive backfield, but maybe he'll get a good look at TB as well, given the opportunity that exists right now for a few guys to step in at that position. He may be an Ira Guilford type of kid, in terms of physical capabilities.

 

[Bestbuck36]

I think our early high hopes for Haw and Pittman were the reasons we haven't been talking about Mo Wells as much. Let's face it in a perfect scenario Haw and Pittman tear it up big time and Mo Wells redshirts. Again thats perfect scenario. Reality is Pittman is improving but not quite there yet, he may be by season. Haw isn't making good decisions. We have a FB position not quite settled and we aren't sure which QB will be starting. All of those things are now in the mix which is why I think Mo Wells is too. He said earlier this year he would be coming to Columbus for the summer to work out, which will only help him and if he does he's no worse than third string or "the spare" as of right now. He has the ability to come in here and shine. It all depends now on how hungry Maurice is on how much he gets to prove himself on the field.

 

[Buckin' A]

I think the kid will be great. I think some of the excitement may have fizzled on him after the Army All Star game. I was hoping to see him tear it up, but he never really got the chance.

Also, for some reason, I seem to get more excited about bigger backs ability to break games open. We just haven't had a small back recently who could change the game for us. Here's to hoping that changes soon....

 

[buckbystander]

bukIpower - I know Wells will do great things I wouldn't be surprised if he is the # 1 back by game 5. I don't believe his weight is a issue and I know the coaches believe he can be a every down back at his current weight. We're talking about a kid who played against 8-9 people in the box every week. Wells did suffer from a hip pointer that caused him to miss 2 games this season but has never had an injury problems. After missing 3 games (2 injury 1 hurricane) he still put up over 1900 yards in 9 games. Wells drop in rankings was simple, his coach never even after repeated request produced any game film or high lite tapes of Wells. I think we're all going to be plesently surprised when Wells hits the field.

 

[OsUPhAn]

Has Wells indicated what number he might wear? Im really looking forward to his speed. I think he can be a game breaker.

 

[Taosman]

Those who love conspiracy theories may wonder like I do if the coaching staff was thinking about Anderson Russell at running back all along ! They didn't want to scare off other big name running backs by saying he was a "safety" all along !

 

[BearBuck27]

Has Wells indicated what number he might wear? Im really looking forward to his speed. I think he can be a game breaker.

I read somewhere that he was going to wear #34, but I don't think that is for sure yet. I'm pretty sure that's the number he wants though.

 

[Taosman]

#34 is available! As is of course, 28 and 30!

 

[bukIpower]

buckbystander- No doubt in my I believe Wells can be our running back. I'm not doubting his abilities at all infact on his threads when we was recruiting him I went as far as comparing him to Reggie Bush in his abilities! I for one am excited because of wells speed and ellusiveness, and his size dont scare me off because just look at what Daren Sproles did at K-State. As for his hip pointer thanks for stating his injury cuz I had a buddy in high school who was a D-1 reciever pretty much going to Va Tech but had to settle playing baseball for the hokies because of a bad hip pointer that didn't allow him much movement.

Wells running for 1900 yards regardless of the injury is a testimony that what the experts say is wrong. lol I never said he wouldn't hack it but rather just stating some of the reasons other stated why his rankings might have dropped. For the most part I think all buckeyes are hyped to see this kid play!

Also Wells will be #34... Although I have to admitt that'd be sweet to see him with a low number for some reason like 3 or 5. Like Bush or something! Anyways I guess I won't really care what number he is because I won't be the one staring at the back of his jersey all night like most teams will throughout his career.