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RB Maurice Wells (Official Thread)

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MililaniBuckeye said:
Wells is better than Schnittker at TB, hands down, so he should be the #2 TB. And the only way to get him "ready" is game experience.

Schnittker isn't near what Joe was a TB. Joe didn't fumble, had at least some vision, and broke a ton of tackles. Schnittker has fumbled twice inside opponent's 5 yard line, finds holes only if they're Holland-Tunnel big, and doesn't break anywhere near the tackles Joe did. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Schnittker, but he is simply not a tailback, and he's a so-so fullback at best.
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i agree with the lack of impressiveness at the tb position with schnitker. but the fumbles this season is kinda nitpicky. yes, he has put the ball on the ground twice inside the 5. but the first one was him trying to do to much. stupid mistake expecially when you factor in that it was first down. but when it comes to making mistakes, if your going to fuck up, do so aggresively. thats what he did so i can accept it to a degree. his second fumble... his progress was stopped and he was being held up. hodge stripped the ball out of his hand same as was done to ginn. you expect your tb to hold onto the ball in those situations. but a slow whistle can kill you. if your going to fault schnitker, you have to fault ginn as well.

i don't disagree one bit with getting wells as much experience as possible. i have 0 problems with him seeing the field as much as he has. i think he has earned it. but if pittman gets hurt or for whatever reason isn't capable of carrying the load through an entire game... i don't think wells is ready physically to handle that kind of a beating for multiple games. thats not a knock on him in anyway. he's still young, he'll become more durable just like pittman has. so imo its a little conscerning to me to have haw so low on the depth chart unless we really want to consider schnitker a feature back. im with you in saying that isn't realistic.

im not saying schnitker should be the #2 back or that he is more capable than wells. im just not certain wells is ready to carry the load on his own should that be required of the #2 back.

bucktwenty, as far as compairing wells to an ex buckeye. i agree with ddott. he strikes me as a more polished version of michael wiley.
 
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I don't really like to compare NFL players to college players but I think he reminds me of Warrick Dunn.

I said it after the SDSU game I believe that once he gets the speed of the game down and can make his cuts a quarter of a second earlier we will see explosiveness, just like we did against IU. Against SDSU he got tripped up by the shoestrings trying to bust one outside, against IU he got to the outside.
 
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martinss01: Even if Wells is not ready for a 25-30 carry game in the Big Ten, I'd rather have him carry 15-20 times and Schnittker 5-10 times rather than the other way around. As for Schnittker's fumbles, playing aggressively is great, but their is absolutely no excuse for fumbling twice (and losing both) inside their 5-yard line in consecutive games. After that first fumble, he should've beeen carrying the ball like it's surgically connected to his chest once he's inside the red zone.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
martinss01: Even if Wells is not ready for a 25-30 carry game in the Big Ten, I'd rather have him carry 15-20 times and Schnittker 5-10 times rather than the other way around. As for Schnittker's fumbles, playing aggressively is great, but their is absolutely no excuse for fumbling twice (and losing both) inside their 5-yard line in consecutive games. After that first fumble, he should've beeen carrying the ball like it's surgically connected to his chest once he's inside the red zone.
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completely agree.
 
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Wells is not a typical frosh RB. Tressel raved about how he played like a veteran, picking up the playbook rapidly and being great at picking up blitzes (as highlighted by completely blocking an unblocked DE during the Ginn TD pass vs. Miami), and obviously has a ton of moves.

I think we will see more and more of wells, and he clearly outclassed Schnittker again (who if he were decent at all would have had more good runs against poor defensive talent like IU).
 
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In addition to being further down the learning curve, I think the artificial turf was a factor in Wells' performance. Pittman seemed to be a half step quicker but Wells really seemed to elevate his game on turf. I think he could really be a factor in Minnesota if given a chance.
 
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I'd argue he only had open field two times before that (on the nice near TD run to the 1 (vs miami?), and the SDSU run). Give him more good blocking, or get him the ball in the flats, and that trend will continue.
 
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I was at the game live with a friend who doesn't follow tOSU as closely as most of us, and he was floored by Wells. He raved about his speed and cutting ability, as well as his vision. I had to show him a program to prove he was a true frosh. I like the Darren Sproles comparison from a few posts back. There are definate similarities there. I've said this before...he's going to be special. :biggrin:
 
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I think that we'll see more and more of Well's as the season winds down. He'll end up with close to 10 carries per game I think by late season.

For what it's worth, I am starting to think that were going to be a serious running team next season, with Pittman, Wells, and Wells.......talk about a 3 headed monster.
 
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I'm excited about Wells and I love Pittman, and I thought I would be the LAST person to post something like this, but here are some numbers before we get too excited about OSUs running game:

Pittman: 699 yards at 5.1 per carry with zero TDs
Wells: 103 yards at 3.4 with zero TDs

Ringer: 584 yards at 6.9 with 4 TDs
Russel: 644 yards at 7.6 with 10 TDs (playing behind Maroney)
Sutton: 970 yards at 6.2 with 14 TDs

Don't get me wrong, I think we got the right kids. But Ross lit it up against IU as a true Frosh. Let's not start thumping our chests about a running game just yet.
 
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omitting Smith from that list of stats is a big oversight. Many saw potential in Wells earlier in the season, he just never had any holes.

and I'm pretty sure the main "thumping" was about next year when we have a big back to add to the speed of Wells/Pittman.
 
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Oh8ch said:
I'm excited about Wells and I love Pittman, and I thought I would be the LAST person to post something like this, but here are some numbers before we get too excited about OSUs running game:

Pittman: 699 yards at 5.1 per carry with zero TDs
Wells: 103 yards at 3.4 with zero TDs

Ringer: 584 yards at 6.9 with 4 TDs
Russel: 644 yards at 7.6 with 10 TDs (playing behind Maroney)
Sutton: 970 yards at 6.2 with 14 TDs

Don't get me wrong, I think we got the right kids. But Ross lit it up against IU as a true Frosh. Let's not start thumping our chests about a running game just yet.
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While I agree with you to not start thumping our chest yet, I think these are reasons to be optimistic. Especially since Tress would rather have a run first type of offense and with those 3 in the backfield it should be able to happen.
 
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