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RB Brandon "Zoom" Saine (official thread)

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Ohio State football: Saine's role more on receiving side
Published: Monday, October 11, 2010
By John Kampf
[email protected]

COLUMBUS ? The game plan called for Ohio State to get the ball in Brandon Saine's hands.

It didn't say how.

For the first time this season, the senior running back from Piqua wasn't used as a running back, but more as a receiver. Saine did not carry the ball once in the Buckeyes' 38-10 win over Indiana on Saturday, but he did catch four passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

There's no question Saturday was Saine's most productive game in a while. After opening the season with a nine-carry, 103-yard game against Marshall, Saine has been a non-factor in the OSU running game, totaling 80 yards on 35 carries in the next four games.

The bottoming-out point might have come the week before in Illinois, when Saine had eight carries for 14 yards.

The Buckeyes didn't run much, period, on Saturday, with quarterback Terrelle Pryor having a career day by throwing for 334 yards and three touchdowns. The running chores were handled primarily by Dan Herron, who finished with 12 carries for 71 yards and two touchdowns.

Could Saturday be a sign of things to come for Saine and the OSU offense? Could the move be permanent? Could Saine be used more as a receiver out of the backfield or out of the slot than as a running back from here on out?

"There's no saying," said Saine, who also played on OSU's kick-coverage units for the first time this year. "I think we did a good job today. I know the coaches are going to sit down, look at that and game plan from there."
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http://news-herald.com/articles/2010/10/11/sports/nh3152963.txt
 
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I just love the fact that Saine is making good out of a potentially tough situation.

Heck, with the rose Bowl footage from last year, and with continued success catching the ball this year, he has a good future in the sunday league, receiver, returner, 3d down back.

On top of his talents, he sounds like he has a good attitude.

Good work, Brandon.

Now go beat Wisconsin!
 
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Sunny side up
In whatever roll he's asked to play, Brandon Saine's positive attitude and pleasant disposition make him the consummate teammate
Friday, October 22, 2010
By Ken Gordon
The Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio State Buckeyes running back Brandon Saine (3) tries to get past Illinois Fighting Illini linebacker Nate Bussey (18) during the football game at Memorial Stadium in Champiagn, Illinois on October 2, 2010: Neal C. Lauron (Dispatch)
Jerry Whitaker was raking leaves when Brandon Saine made a unique first impression.

Saine was 17, a junior at Piqua High School, when he pulled into Whitaker's driveway. He was picking up Whitaker's daughter, Kylie, for their first date.

"He's got nice clothes on, and I can smell the cologne as he walks by," said Whitaker, who was about to drag a tarp full of leaves across his yard. "He turns around and looks at me and says, `Do you need some help?'

"I said, `No, you don't want to do this right now,' but that was the first indication for me that this kid was a little bit different than the rest of them."

Fast forward six years. Now a senior tailback at Ohio State, Saine on Oct. 9 against Indiana did not get a single carry for the first time in two seasons.

Clearly, his role had shifted from a potential featured ballcarrier to more limited duty as a receiver, blocker and special teams player.

Afterward, though, Saine showed not a hint of disappointment or resentment.

"I came here because of the great coaching staff," Saine said, "and they always make the best decisions for us. I'm 100 percent for whatever they decide. For me to get down about anything would be detrimental to the whole team."

This is not an act, this is Brandon Saine: Impossibly nice and relentlessly positive.
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/buckeyextra/stories/gameday/2010/week8/cover_story.html
 
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Make him the third WR and move him outside(he is better than our current third WR) to threaten that part of the field. With his size and speed teams would have to respect that creating more room for the other WRs.
 
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I realize that I'm no Mel Kiper. :biggrin: However, in my opinion if Brandon wants to play on Sunday next year his best shot is as a slot receiver, i.e. not as a running back. He's got the speed, hands, and size to cause some real favorable mismatches with the opposing defensive players. Brandon should be begging Tressel to play more as a receiver to improve his NFL draft status/position.
 
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Doc Tressel helped in building Saine?s confidence
Published: Friday, October 29, 2010
By JOHN KAMPF
[email protected]

COLUMBUS ? The first week of October was a tough time for Ohio State?s Brandon Saine.

Not only was the productivity of Saine, a senior running back, sagging, but so was his confidence.

After opening his season with a stellar game against Marshall, in which the senior captain from Piqua ran for 103 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 45-7 victory, Saine completely fell off the radar.

Over the next four games, Saine had 35 carries for 80 yards.

And his confidence was shot.

?I had a couple of games there where I had horrible yards per carry,? Saine said. ?One thing leads to another and you start thinking things. You might to start to think too much during the game.?

It wasn?t supposed to be like that. Not after Saine ran for 739 yards and four touchdowns and caught 17 passes en route to being named second team All-Big Ten in 2009.

Saine?s senior year was supposed to upstage that. And here he was struggling with his confidence.

Enter running backs coach Doc Tressel, who invigorated Saine with a little chat.
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http://morningjournal.com/articles/2010/10/29/sports/doc4cca436dcf34d589725908.txt
 
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I wonder if he could return kicks, too? Hall and Berry are doing an okay job but a kickoff, especially, his straight line speed might be an advantage.

But it's also nice to see him in the slot, doing different things.

And he's handling everything like a man.

Go Zoom! Go Bucks!
 
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Run Brandon Run

I was talking to someone from Piqua who saw our famous TB in HS, he felt Brandon Saine was being used incorrectly. He's too fast to be an off tackle runner, most of the time he hits the hole and runs into the OL before they can get off the ball. He was never an "up the gut runner"; he made big gains by getting to the edge and outrunning everyone in HS. He's was the 4th fastest 100 m prep runner in HS in the nation! Those other runners back then are all SEC players or in the NFL by now! He also has great hands - according to the Bio I just saw he started out as a WR in junior high but got the nod as a RB when the other RB got hurt . So why not bite the bullet and say he's a WR and use him that way. Line him up with the other WRs and run them deep down the field. Let them run the DBs into the ground and see what happens. The result should be a completion to an open WR no doubt. When's the last time we saw the wheel route that he ran so well in the past? Come on man, let's give Boom more carries and sneak Berry, Hall and Hyde into the backfield. Let Brandon run free.
 
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utgrad73;1814324; said:
I was talking to someone from Piqua who saw our famous TB in HS, he felt Brandon Saine was being used incorrectly. He's too fast to be an off tackle runner, most of the time he hits the hole and runs into the OL before they can get off the ball. He was never an "up the gut runner"; he made big gains by getting to the edge and outrunning everyone in HS. He's was the 4th fastest 100 m prep runner in HS in the nation! Those other runners back then are all SEC players or in the NFL by now! He also has great hands - according to the Bio I just saw he started out as a WR in junior high but got the nod as a RB when the other RB got hurt . So why not bite the bullet and say he's a WR and use him that way. Line him up with the other WRs and run them deep down the field. Let them run the DBs into the ground and see what happens. The result should be a completion to an open WR no doubt. When's the last time we saw the wheel route that he ran so well in the past? Come on man, let's give Boom more carries and sneak Berry, Hall and Hyde into the backfield. Let Brandon run free.
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I agree with that. Brandon gets a clear lane thru the line and he's gone. This year's O-line doesn't blow open big holes off the snap, and Boom is better at waiting for lanes to develop. Saine had some nice carries against PSU later in the game. Boom is the type of back that can get tough yards and open up the game for others. At this point, I like Saine as a passing threat (like Havilli for USC), then he can be a change of pace RB once the offense settles in. Saine is an impressive athlete, just not the type of RB who can establish the run with this O-line.
 
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