Running Back recruiting

[chinngiskhaan]

We haven’t had a good running back recruit since Ty Jordan. All of our high school recruits since then have either underperformed, or have not had a chance to perform.

We should be able to attract elite level running backs. What gives?

[ProudUte]

Too early to tell about last year’s group.

Unfortunately, Glover has not been what we had thought he might be. Hopefully, he can turn that around.

[UteBacker]

I was a little surprised to see our star safety come in and look so much better than any of our running backs (with the exception of a healthy JQJ). His vision coupled with his violent north to south running style was incredible. I guess I’ll just chalk this one up to Vaki being a freak of nature.

[Ute Dub]

The irony that Ty Jordan would still be here and the guys crying that we don’t have another Ty Jordan already.

[chinngiskhaan]

Nobody cried about anything. It’s just an observation. Care to prove me wrong?

[Ute Dub]

Yeah. Here’s where you’re wrong. When Tavion Thomas comes along and scores 21 TDs in a season, wins the PAC-12, and breaks the schools TD record and is coming back for another year, along with tier 1b RB Micah Bernard, your not going to have top tier running backs who want immediate playing time coming to Utah to be buried on the bench. They did have commits that were better, but those guys decommitted to go to schools with immediate playing time. Do you blame them? No, but you blame the Utah coaches. When Ty Jordan committed in 2019, Zack Moss was on his way out with the running back room wide open. So, with JJ averaging 6+ YPC last season Utah had optimism that they had their featured back and they weren’t going to sell a kid that the RB room was bare and wide open. JJ’s turf too has held him back this year. If you do your research, Utah had better RB’s committed. If JJ and Micah weren’t there they likely choose Utah. There you go.

[2008 National Champ]

Top recruits go to programs with incumbent starters every year. This fanbase needs to stop pretending that kids are afraid to come to the hill and compete. That they would instead rather go to a blue blood or higher profile program because it’s easier to find playing time.

Oregon stacks 4* RB’s up like cordwood and supplements with transfers. They have great backs every year and have kids lining up to play for them. Why would one year of Thomas scare kids off but they are willing to go compete with other top recruits?

[Ute Dub]

Utah has good backs every year, out rushed Oregon the previous 2 years, we get a little dinged up this year and we’re crying that we’re not Oregon, despite our rushing them most years. Also, I never said blue blood, I said immediate playing time schools.

[2008 National Champ]

Yes, I said blue blood and high profile programs. Utah is supposed to be the latter according to this board as they are 2 time defending conference champions, have played in back to back Rose Bowls.,,

What I can’t figure is whether Utah is the little engine that could, continually making more out of less, or are they such a juggernaut that everyone is afraid to come compete with them?

– Rising on one leg, 3 unproven backups: “no one would dare come compete with that”
– Kuithe on one leg, moving Miki from D: “we can only get undersized TE’s who aren’t ready to play yet because no one would dare come compete with that”
– RB room has a converted QB, 1B who transferred out/back, an undersized soph and a guy coming off season ending surgery: “we got 3 stud 4 stars! But we could have gotten better if the room wasn’t so loaded. And we always knew the 4 stars weren’t college ready”

[stbone]

We are a newblood program that is on a path that in 2-10 years could lead us to becoming the next Oregon. We aren’t a blue blood program, and anybody who thinks that is smoking something good.

But, we have a clear upward trajectory in performance and recruiting. (7 of the all-time top 25 recruits are on the current team). In the past 5 years we went from, when everybody is in perfect health, being able to occasionally beat Ore or USC, to the point that we can now match, position-by-position, their talent with our 1s and 2s. We aren’t the little-engine that could anymore, we are transitioning to being the grown-ass man with a chip on his shoulder.

In this position, we can’t quite compete for all of the top talent, but we can compete for the CPIIIs of the world – the top players that are missing a measurable, and we can compete for the 1B talent.

The frustration with this year, is that if we had been healthy, we would have had a good chance at the CFP and taking that next step. This year hasn’t been a waste, it just hasn’t been what it could be. Honestly, that has been the tale of the past three years as well, which probably points to the fact that while we are getting close, we don’t quite yet have the talent we need to be a top team.

[22Ute22]

Feel like Utah fans have been gaslit on so much. They think players are completely terrified about competition. A bunch of young, high testosterone men are afraid of competition lol.

We have been gaslit about WR’s too.

[Hellhound152]

“Jaylon Glover is deficient at ___________”

[Ute Dub]

YPC against a stacked box this year is 3.6, whereas last year his YPC was 4.5 against a non stacked box. What Chinggy doesn’t understand is that having a QB that can zing a pass for 15 yards on a line with accuracy and timing greatly opens up the field for running backs. That’s what gives.

[RedUte14]

Thomas was a good running back.
i would say Micah Bernard is a good running back.

[chinngiskhaan]

Thomas was a transfer, and he very nearly destroyed our team last year.

Bernard was recruited before Ty or possibly the same year, doesn’t count.

[Ute Dub]

Ty should still be here. Stop crying that we haven’t replaced him.

[chinngiskhaan]

Do you have anything to add to the actual conversation or are you just going to continue on with your straw man?

[Central Coast Ute]

The recruits haven’t been bad as far as star ratings go. Ricky Parks and Glover were both highly rated. More so than Ty Jordan. There are a few new guys who haven’t seen the field yet, so the jury is out.

[chinngiskhaan]

Yes, the jury is still out on Ganther’s ability to recruit players that are actually good. I do wonder if they are good though. If they were good enough to play, they would be playing. The fact that they got beat out by Glover, and and a safety for playing time says to me that they aren’t very good.

They could absolutely get better, it could just be a size/strength/physical maturity issue… but right now, they aren’t good enough to beat out defensive players for playing time at their own position.

[Central Coast Ute]

That is a fair point

[Extra Medium]

Ty Jordan was a unicorn. If that’s your standard you’re going to be disappointed for a while.

[chinngiskhaan]

Never said that was my standard. I said that all of our HS recruits since then have either underperformed or not had a chance yet.

[cj13]

Which is like nobody. We’ve had Jaylon Glover and Ricky Parks since then. We don’t know about our true freshman class yet. It shouldn’t really be a topic of concern yet honestly.

[stbone]

Devonte Booker – Transfer
Joe Williams – Transfer
Tavion Thomas – Transfer
JJ – Transfer

Ty Jordan – Recruit
Zack Moss – Recruit
Micah Bernard – Recruit

I don’t think there has been any drop off in HS recruiting based on recent RB success. Most of recent our success with RB has been via the transfer portal.

Also, regarding Jaylon, Zack Moss wasn’t a violent runner until something clicked in the USC game (I think in 2017). After that, Zack was a beast. Ty was a violent runner from the start. I am not giving up on Jaylon yet as that switch could also flip. If he starts running with violence, Jaylon will start looking very Ty Jordan-esque.

[chinngiskhaan]

I’m not sure what the point of your post is. It is only somewhat related to my post.

I didn’t claim there was a drop-off, never claimed our HS RB recruiting was ever good.

My point was that we haven’t had a successful HS RB recruit since we recruited Ty Jordan.

[stbone]

You say we should be able to recruit elite RBs. That seems to be an indictment on RB recruiting.

My point is we have never really been that successful at HS RB recruiting and most of our success has been from the portal. When the portal is taken into account, we are attracting elite RBs. Since Devonte Booker we have had an unbroken string of NFL level running backs.

This year sucks with injuries and all, but complaining about RBs and RB recruiting seems a bit ludicrous in light of recent RB results, and in light of the fact that JJ (if he stays healthy) will likely be another NFL RB.

Tied in to this, it is too early to judge if Jaylon pans out. Your initial post implies that he is a miss.

Lastly, assuming Ty lived and continued how he was his first year, the past two years would have been his show. His absence makes HS RB recruiting look worse than it is.

[chinngiskhaan]

I wasn’t complaining so much as making an observation. Our RB play hasn’t been bad. We have had guys to get the job done, but our HS rb recruiting has been worse than I would have expected from a team that focuses on the run so much, and is successful while doing so.

Yes, I did imply that Jaylon is a miss… and he may very well pan out, but it says a lot about his ability when he is passed up by two guys who don’t even play running back. The best actual RB on our team is 3rd string right now.

Yes, I know Ty was special. My post was wondering why we haven’t been able to land any HS running backs with real talent since him. The issue doesn’t seem to be the level of recruit, because we’ve been getting 4 star running backs consistently the last couple of years. The issue is that these 4 star recruits don’t seem to play like 4 star recruits… This has me wondering about our ability to assess RB talent at the high school level. I don’t know, maybe we aren’t any worse at it than anyone else, it just feels wrong.

[RedUte14]

do our posts have to be directly related? or can we reply with things that your posts makes us think about?
what’s good enough for you?

[chinngiskhaan]

IF you reply to my post with something that seems to be at least an attempt at contradicting what I said, I am going to refute your contradiction, or concede the point. Given that these posts are replies to my own post, I would think there is at least a rebuttable presumption that replies to my post fall in one of two categories: Agreeing with me, or disagreeing with me (or maybe a mix of both).

If I don’t understand where someone is going, or if it seems like someone misunderstood the intent of my post, I am going to seek clarification.

If seeking clarification or refuting you when you are wrong hurts your feelings, then you’d be better off not responding to my posts.

[2008 National Champ]

don’t forget John White IV who was also a transfer.

[Charlie]

In 2021 Utah brought in Parks from HS and Pledger and Curry as transfers. Every reason to believe that was a good RB group. 2022 brought Glover from HS and no transfers. I don’t recall when Thomas transferred in. 2022 was impacted by Thomas. 2023 was impacted by Jackson moving over to RB. No reason to think 2023 was to have a RB issue, Curry was expected back, Bernard and Jackson were proven. Randle and Stanley are very good development options. Also consider Utah’s history is development of great RBs as opposed to recruiting 4 star RBs. I don’t see a recruiting issue or a slow development issue. I do see key impact from injury issues. Turning over the RB coach generally generates some impact as well.

[The Miami Ute]

I’ve said this before. You can forget about Glover being a star. RBs, more so than any other position, are either good early or they’re not good at all.

[RustyShackleford]

You’ve seen enough as a sophomore to determine that? He averaged 4.6 ypc when we had a competent QB.

[The Miami Ute]

Come on Rusty…it’s isn’t like Glover hasn’t gotten plenty of opportunities this season to excel and provide some complementary offensive support to the team. Compare Glover, a natural RB, with JJ and Vaki, converted RBs, who have played with the same QBs. Where has the production been? Glover is completely undependable and another version of “just a guy.” Sometimes it takes the spotlight to separate the wheat from the chaff. I’m afraid that, with Glover, what we’ve seen is what we’re going to get.

[RedUte14]

you should go to reddit. you’d fit in.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Outstanding discussion. Lots of valid points. Let’s all respect each other’s opinions even if you disagree.”Nobody’s right if everybodys wrong”. Buffalo Springfield would say.

My 2 cents is we have seen the most success over the years with power backs. TT JJ Moss Booker etc. Why recruit smaller running backs that have different styles and expect them to be the same.

I can see some change up like Bernard. Nobody can replace JJ that’s been proven. Ty was an anomaly.

[mfaulk80]

For high school recruits, since Ty, we only have:

Ricky Parks: COVID recruit. If you look through rankings, there were a lot of misses by absolutely everyone that year.

Jaylon Glover: Decent, but not elite.

All of the 2023 recruits: All 3 weren’t meant to come in and compete. The word from the beginning is that they all need to bulk up, and they weren’t expected to contribute until 2024.

I think it’s waaaaaaay too early to say that recruiting has been poor since Ty. You could argue that we should have picked up another 1-2 in Glover’s year, but I’m guessing we had other needs.

If we can actually sign Lamar Radcliffe (2024 commit), then I’ll feel pretty good about our room next year. He’s flown under the radar because he was injured his junior year. He’s a big, fast back, and he’s tearing it up this year.

[chinngiskhaan]

Why is it too early to say it’s been poor since Ty? The two guys we’ve had for long enough to make a determination as to their talent have not been good enough to supplant a backup QB and a safety on like two weeks of practice at RB.

our RBs from HS have not been good since Ty. That is a verifiable fact. Whether there has been 2, or 2,000 it’s still true. It certainly isn’t that big of a deal since it has only been 2… but that doesn’t make it false or not worth discussing.

I’m not claiming the sky is falling. I’m not claiming our coaches suck. I’m not even complaining. I just thought it was an indictment of Kiel McDonald’s high school recruiting that we haven’t had a good HS running back since Ty.

Don’t know why everyone thinks I’m bent out of shape about this. Ya’ll need to learn how to read without interjecting your emotions into everything. Not everything is a controversy. It’s just a conversational thought.

[Rick]

Chin,
I think we don’t know yet. I tend to agree with those that are critical of Glover. With or without good QB play this season I think he’s had ample opportunity. I do think the kid cares and works so hopefully he gets better. What I don’t know is how the freshmen ‘backs this season we’ll do. I’ve been told the same thing that others have posted today – we signed them knowing that it would probably take a year of development before they’d be ready – especially Randle Jr. and Stanley. If just one of them is contributing next year that’s a win. I hate to keep coming back to injury but, Glover aside, we can’t blame the coaches for thinking that a running back room of Jackson, Bernard, Glover and Curry would be enough. It’s crazy to think that three of the four have been afflicted with injury like this.

[Charlie]

Ganther is in his second year as RB coach. I think his start is the three Freshmen RBs that I think came in in the fall. Too soon to see how he develops them. Is your point McDonald left the cupboard bare?

[chinngiskhaan]

Not bare, but more so than it should have been. I’m not putting any blame on Ganther.