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Tom "the turtle" Herman [Lame Duck or greatest 5d chess player ever?]


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11 hours ago, Bruh Man said:

Scipio absolutely destroys the coaching staff for not running the ball on the final possession versus Maryland's 3 man rush like we did successfully at the end of the 1st half. A lot of us were calling for this in the game thread. The offense is a total clusterfuck with Beck. 

It seems to me that when you run from multiple formations, you make it that much more difficult (complicated) for a young QB to call audibles based on the defensive alignment. Not only that, but lining up in multiple formations shows a tendency to the defense on any given play. If you were to say line up with two in the backfield on every single play, the D would have to use a more generic set because they don't have a clue what it is you are going to do.

 

That's where you can take full advantage of sweeps, swings and screens - any kind of running play. Plus, if you need to, you always have at least one man in the backfield to stay in and block on passing plays. That makes blitzing riskier. Of course, if you can more effectively sweep the ball, blitzing it risky, period.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that QBs are smarter than ever, as a whole, but the offenses we run often don't allow them the flexibility to use their judgement.

 

We sure as hell ought to have our best running back in the game at crunch time. Instead we insist on putting all the pressure on a young QB.

 

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Mac Engel at the FW Star-Telegram taking his turn.   He may as well because, with this, there are no penalties for piling on. 

Wow, "Tommy Boy"?  Shit. 

If it makes you feel any better about your own job,

 Tom Herman’s compensation increased by $250,000 this year.

When he was hired away from Houston, Herman was made the sixth-highest paid coach in the nation with a five-year, $28.75 million base package from Texas; included in that contract is a $250,000 increase every year.

Also, please don’t forget that winning the highly coveted Texas Bowl over SEC power Missouri last year netted Coach Herman $75,000. Worth noting UT won that game mostly because of its punter.

Sorry, Tommy Boy, you earned this. All of it. And I’m not talking about the money, because no one earns checks of that size; they steal those.

No coach in recent memory thrust out his chest, strutted, smacked that bubblegum, scowled and tried to intimidate the masses while acting as if he owned the place without having done a thing on this level more than Tommy Boy Herman.

Weird is in the process of being priced out in Austin, but Karma maintains its residency at DKR Stadium.

The UT job requires the ego of Nick Saban, and his coaching prowess, too. Herman is long on one, and just a bit short on the other.

Texas’ season-opening loss against a Maryland team that is beset with scandal, tragedy and an interim coach was surprising, only until it wasn’t.

The money is as staggering at UT as are the losses. We now expect Texas to lose.

No matter, per Tommy Boy, UT’s second-consecutive season-opening loss to national-championship contender Maryland was much different.

So I asked him how.

“We are much more cohesive; the results in the two may appear similar to the general public, or fan; they felt much different than that to me or the staff or the team,” Herman said on the Big 12 Coaches’ Conference call.

He’s right. They do look the same because, in the end, they are the same.

“This year’s team, the reason we didn’t play well early in the game is because we wanted it so badly,” he said.

Maryland, which was playing in honor of a teammate who died earlier in the offseason,didn’t want the win quite so much.

Whatever the reason Herman is selling to the media, his players need to buy it. He doesn’t have a quarterback, and his defense won’t be as good as it was last year when it was actually a solid unit that simply was on the field too much.

Herman knows he could lose this bunch, and a slew of games, if this crew gets dejected.

He warned of the dangers of growing accustomed to losing; a lot of his players are used to losing.

After Texas hosts Tulsa on Saturday in Austin, the Horns have No. 15 USC and No. 16 TCU the next two weeks. Then they go to Bevo-killer, Bill Snyder and Kansas State. Then it’s The Red River Beatdown against Oklahoma.

You would think UT will win a few of those, but no one will be shocked if Bevo starts 1-5.

Herman is in his second season in Austin, and Bevo looks the same as it did under Charlie Strong. Under John Mackovic. Under David McWillliams. Under Fred Akers.

In the modern era, two people made Texas special: Mack and DKR. The rest were guys stealing those burnt orange checks, and playing plenty of golf.

Tommy Boy has plenty of time remaining to reverse things, and is due such a large sum that AD Chris Del Conte could fend off angry boosters from forcing him to fire his football coach. Thus far, however, Herman has Bevo charging down the same path to Overpriced, Tex., he’s been on since 2010.

Tommy Boy is another tough guy coach who looks and sounds the part, but in the end we realize there are only a few men on this planet who can win at this job.

Right now that number stands at two and holding.

There is a reason why Ohio State didn’t fire Urban Meyer.

Texas struts as if its Alabama or Ohio State, when in fact it’s neither.

Sorry, Texas, Nick Saban ain’t walkin’ through that door. You’re stuck with Tommy Boy.

 

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We know how it goes.

First, we still have our goal of big 12 championship.

Then they lose more games- we just want to get these seniors to a bowl game. Herman will throw out stats, it’s been x amount of years since Texas went to bowl games back to back.


Lmao wow it just hit me THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS has not been to back to back bowl games in awhile. All I can do is laugh to numb the pain.

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12 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Mac Engel at the FW Star-Telegram taking his turn.   He may as well because, with this, there are no penalties for piling on. 

Wow, "Tommy Boy"?  Shit. 

 

 

But can what he said be disputed? That's the part that gets me. Nobody really ever challenges these million $$$ coaches, until it is quite obvious they will be fired.

Herman has a lot of things he should have to answer for.

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14 hours ago, MOODY said:

What, the truth hurts your feelings?

How is the football team great in your so enlightened mind?  Were you alive to even see Vince play, or Cedric, Ricky, Earl, so many more.  You have been on my nuts since my first post so I guess you have something to prove.  I don't.  I am upset with the performance of this football team since 1985 when I enrolled at this school.  Do you remember route 66?  I do so leave me alone to bitch.

 

I was there for all that.

We are not now, not will we ever be, aggy.

Nor will we ever want to be them.

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1 minute ago, Hammock said:

I'm late to the party. 

Herman is a fucking fraud. I've always thought something was off about him but I couldn't pin point it. Now it's glaringly obvious - He doesn't know what he's doing as a head coach. 

G'damn, I miss Sterlin Gilbert. 

What would thoughts be of having Virginia Tech head coach Fuente & staff, coaching the incredible athletes at Texas..?

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2 minutes ago, kopp0e said:

What would thoughts be of having Virginia Tech head coach Fuente & staff, coaching the incredible athletes at Texas..?

He'd forget how to coach cashing that $5.5 million dollar check like all the other coaches do. Need to stop paying these fools so much damn money and make them earn it. 

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2 minutes ago, Hammock said:

I'm late to the party. 

Herman is a fucking fraud. I've always thought something was off about him but I couldn't pin point it. Now it's glaringly obvious - He doesn't know what he's doing as a head coach. 

G'damn, I miss Sterlin Gilbert. 

Good luck next week against Clemson!

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2 minutes ago, kopp0e said:

What would thoughts be of having Virginia Tech head coach Fuente & staff, coaching the incredible athletes at Texas..?

Can he "align" better than Herman? 

Like someone said earlier, Herman got lucky with the QB at Houston who could win some games against "highly" ranked opponents.

UT got rope-a-dope'd.

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1 hour ago, BurntEyes said:

Uh.. Sean Mitchell (?) Was at RB over Priest and Ricky. Shea Mortinz (sp?) Over James Brown.

Look, relatively speaking these issues may seam minor, but they are not in a bigger picture. You can't look at his O in a vacuum and compare them to the offense since... 

You can criticize Mackovic for a lot of things but none of this. Priest Holmes missed the entire 1995 season due to injury. That was Shon Mitchell's first year at Texas -- a year when he rushed for more than 1,000 yards at 6 yards per carry. Ricky was a true freshman and nearly got to 1000 yards himself. Shea Morenz was the #1 QB recruit in the country and was playing pretty well before fucking up his knee that awful night in Houston in 1994. James Brown played the next week against OU and the rest was history.

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12 minutes ago, UTEX_ME said:

He'd forget how to coach cashing that $5.5 million dollar check like all the other coaches do. Need to stop paying these fools so much damn money and make them earn it. 

A staggered pay system honored by merit of earned wins could be used...

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6 minutes ago, C-Man said:

You can criticize Mackovic for a lot of things but none of this. Priest Holmes missed the entire 1995 season due to injury. That was Shon Mitchell's first year at Texas -- a year when he rushed for more than 1,000 yards at 6 yards per carry. Ricky was a true freshman and nearly got to 1000 yards himself. Shea Morenz was the #1 QB recruit in the country and was playing pretty well before fucking up his knee that awful night in Houston in 1994. James Brown played the next week against OU and the rest was history.

Agreed.  For all of his faults, I don't recall any serious complaints with Mackovic's personnel choices on offense.  And his decision in the 1996 Big XII title game to give the bulk of the carries to Priest Holmes over Ricky Williams -- our leading rusher by far with over 1200 yards and a 6.2 average -- turned out to be a stroke of genius. 

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13 minutes ago, Hammock said:

Can he "align" better than Herman? 

Like someone said earlier, Herman got lucky with the QB at Houston who could win some games against "highly" ranked opponents.

UT got rope-a-dope'd.

That was the same case with the Strong hire, I don't remember the quarterbacks name, but I do remember he was a hell of an athlete...

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2 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

Uh.. Sean Mitchell (?) Was at RB over Priest and Ricky. Shea Mortinz (sp?) Over James Brown.

Look, relatively speaking these issues may seam minor, but they are not in a bigger picture. You can't look at his O in a vacuum and compare them to the offense since... 

You obviously didn't go to Texas during the Mackovic years.  First off, Shon Mitchell was a badass.  He averaged 6 ypc for God sake.  Second, Shon started in '94 because Ricky was a true freshman fullback, Priest was out with a knee injury and Shon was a highly touted JC transfer (also, originally committed to UT out of HS).  In '95 Ricky was the featured back, with Shon and Priest sharing carries.  Contrary to your revisionist recollection, Priest was not a beast at Texas.  Not all of it was his fault, often being injured and the unexpected emergence of Ricky Williams didn't help his cause.

Similarly, James Brown was a true freshman with horrible throwing mechanics during Shea's final year. 

Not sure I'd ding Mackovic for either of those decisions.

Edited by DixonHur
C-Man already covered it
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1 minute ago, PatSolitanojr said:

Is Texas the hardest head coaching job in America? 

It's a tough coaching job, but there are others that have their own challenges. Imagine taking over State Penn after the Sandusky thing.

Your question, though, demonstrates one of the challenges of coaching at Texas. We're convinced that we're the ultimate in whatever it is we're talking about. 

Expectations are too high on an annual basis, and BMDs interfere. The spotlight is harsh. On the flip side, money's not a problem. Recruiting a kid to Austin has to be easier than recruiting them to Little Rock or Stillwater. Texas will get the benefit of the doubt in rankings over TCU, for example. 

If there's one thing that, IMHO, is the toughest thing about coaching at Texas, it's that the program has become more of a reality TV show than a football team. Sometimes it seems like football is just icing on the cake of the "game day experience." If Herman, or whoever, is going to make the team successful, they're going to have to isolate the players from the carnival atmosphere that has taken over pretty much since Colt got knocked out of the championship game. 

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29 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

I swear to God that some of you have never, ever experienced disappointment or adversity in your lives.

 

Yeah that's a nice little pithy statement, until you consider the fact that adversity isn't an issue.  

Herman and Co. had seven months to prepare for that "adversity," and they failed miserably.  

They had seven months to prepare, and they fucking failed it.  Against a bottom-feeding Maryland team.

So don't give me some bullshit about "never experienced disappointment or adversity." 

This was simple failure.  It was unprepared failure that was then trotted out not as failure, but "wanting it too much." 

Kiss my ass with that garbage.  

Edited by Ghost of Shag
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Just got around to punishing my ears by listening to Hermans presser from yesterday.
Lil mack kept saying
-we played a “Power 5” opponent to make mary land seem like some tough top op team (just scares you to death)
-called the players “kids” several times after I thought he never used but always called the men
-played in a “pro stadium” like that increased the nervousness of the players
Then made the if sun not coming up wed all be in trouble quip and all the pussy reporters giggled like fingering your fat lil girlfriends

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6 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

You obviously didn't go to Texas during the Mackovic years.  First off, Shon Mitchell was a badass.  He averaged 6 ypc for God sake.  Second, Shon started in '94 because Ricky was a true freshman fullback, Priest was out with a knee injury and Shon was a highly touted JC transfer (also, originally committed to UT out of HS).  In '95 Ricky was the featured back, with Shon and Priest sharing carries.  Contrary to your revisionist recollection, Priest was not a beast at Texas.  Not all of it was his fault, often being injured and the unexpected emergence of Ricky Williams didn't help his cause.

Similarly, James Brown was a true freshman with horrible throwing mechanics during Shea's final year. 

Not sure I'd ding Mackovic for either of those decisions.

Slight correction:  Shon started in 1995, and in 1996 Ricky was the featured back with Shon and Priest splitting the rest (and really, Priest was more of the garbage time back as it was his first full season back from knee surgery).

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3 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

Perhaps the best pure coaching job (Robinson, not Mack's terrible indecisiveness) I've ever seen at UT.  Robinson was put in an impossible situation and made chicken salad out of dogshit that year.  

And I’d put Harsin at a solid #2.  He had shit to work with and managed to cobble together a respectable offense.  But he knew things were gonna get worse and bolted for Arkansas State.  The writing was on the wall with that move.

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1 minute ago, Jive Turkey said:

And I’d put Harsin at a solid #2.  He had shit to work with and managed to cobble together a respectable offense.  But he knew things were gonna get worse and bolted for Arkansas State.  The writing was on the wall with that move.

I agree that Harsin probably learned the Texas program was not as healthy on the inside as it looked from the outside.  But I also can't fault him for taking the head coaching job.  At the time, Arkansas State was a decent platform for some one-and-done coaches who parlayed the gig for a better job (Hugh Freeze followed by Gus Malzahn).  And it obviously worked out well for Harsin since he landed the Boise State job one year later. 

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10 minutes ago, williemackgarza said:

Just got around to punishing my ears by listening to Hermans presser from yesterday.
Lil mack kept saying
-played in a “pro stadium” like that increased the nervousness of the players

He actually said that?   Jesus.

Didn't seem to impact the Maryland players too much, and they played exactly zero games at FedExField in 2017.

 

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Norvell taking the broken pieces of Watson's tinker toys and assembling something close to an offense.  Honorable mention.

Maybe Herman could take a page from 2015.  Or from his own success at other stops with run-pass QBs. 

They need to tear up whatever dumbshit 4" binder full of sideways passing plays Beck put together during the off season.  This shit offense is fooling nobody.  The QB clapping sequence is a massive power down.

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15 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Slight correction:  Shon started in 1995, and in 1996 Ricky was the featured back with Shon and Priest splitting the rest (and really, Priest was more of the garbage time back as it was his first full season back from knee surgery).

Gracias...it all starts to blend together after a while, haha.  I was a huge Shon fan.  I used to go watch him play at LBJ.  His upright running style reminded me of Dickerson.

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5 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

OK....i don't think Fire Herman yet.

 

But did he really compare this football team to a character from a book that is big and slow(stupid), keeps accidentally killing small animals, eventually kills a real human woman, and has to be put down?

 

Was that an actual comparison that was made? Lmao

Yep, in explaining that most of our early mistakes were because the kids just wanted it too much.  Apparently much more than the team that was playing for their dead teammate.

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53 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

I swear to God that some of you have never, ever experienced disappointment or adversity in your lives.

 

Adversity? Adversity is having one of your teammates die and having your head coach suspended because of it.

What we’re dealing with is the symptoms of incompetence and dysfunction rear their ugly heads once again. 

You were extremely slow to connect the dots in the CS era, and you appear to be following the same path now. Hope it works out for you better this time around.

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39 minutes ago, PatSolitanojr said:

Is Texas the hardest head coaching job in America? 

No but it's got a unique set of challenges.

For example, note the lack of any scandal coming out of Alabama, or LSU, or Florida prior to Urban's departure. Look at how Ohio State and Penn State have weathered their scandals. All of those schools close ranks around issues and their conferences and the political machinery of their states gives them a nice assist. The ACC is mostly the same.

The Big 12 eats its own. It dates back to the SWC/Big 8 days and the ugly scandals that rocked the SWC in the 80s and 90s - and the resentment that some schools snitched (UT) and some got away with it (OU) while others were hit hard by sanctions. When the Big 12 formed it brought that distrust and simmering anger with it, and added a bitter Nebraska to the mix. 

None of the Big 12 schools trust each other and all constantly hawk each other for a whiff of scandal and pounce when they find it. This is exacerbated by the ugly Texas-aggy rivalry - not to mention Baylor, TTU, TCU, Houston - that has spilled over into more than just athletics.

While SEC schools unofficially allow paying recruits with benefits and even cash, a Big 12 school that tried it would find no shortage of whistleblowers running to the media. Remember Phil Fulmer and Alabama? Big 12 is all Fulmers and no Alabamas. 

And this is to say nothing of PEDs. I don't have any hidden evidence or first-hand accounts to produce here. But have you noticed how some schools have monster athletes up and down the roster that can't be explained merely by recruiting? Here's a nifty article about it: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/8765531/steroids-loom-major-college-football-report-says

Combine that with the toxic environment at Texas where even the boosters hate and jockey with each other for power, and you have a maelstrom of disorder that's impossible to master and difficult to deal with. It requires a politician's skill as well as coaching chops. That's probably why Mack did so well.

Not to say Texas will never be great again. It's just going to take a coach with some special skills and a little bit of time. If nothing else, I believe Herman will get the roster ready for the next coach. At the moment that is our biggest problem.

/lengthy lunch break shitter post/rant

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53 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

And I’d put Harsin at a solid #2.  He had shit to work with and managed to cobble together a respectable offense.  But he knew things were gonna get worse and bolted for Arkansas State.  The writing was on the wall with that move.

agreed.  He cobbled together a run game with a sub-par OL through sheer scheme and coaching alone.  I loved watching his offenses run the ball.  He also had nothing to work with at QB.  

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5 hours ago, tjhooker said:

Don't criticize Makovic for his O.  It was normally pretty good.  His D was the worst fucking thing ever.  When we fired him I remember joking can we keep.him on as O coord?

I will fucking criticize his O as much as I damned well please.

The greatest play call he ever got credit for worked because the quarterback did the opposite of what Mackovic told him to do. "Steelers Roll Left," remember that one? That everyone gushed over? Fucker told James Brown, whatever he did, DON'T THROW THE BALL.

He DID have some nicely-designed running plays. But then he put the wrong personnel into them and would forget that he was in college and didn't need to try to outsmart his opponent if they weren't able to stop a given play.

Hell, Greg Davis was refreshing after JM, if only because he wasn't ever afraid to make the obvious play call. (Of course, that's what bit GD against Stoops later on, but I digress. Or is that a digression? I can't even tell any more.)

We've had exactly two good OCs in my lifetime; Bellard and Harsin The rest are mediocre to bad.

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58 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

And I’d put Harsin at a solid #2.  He had shit to work with and managed to cobble together a respectable offense.  But he knew things were gonna get worse and bolted for Arkansas State.  The writing was on the wall with that move.

Can you imagine what Harsin would've done with a time machine and the 2001 squad?

He might've even been able to teach Chris Simms how to read a linebacker dropping into the flat.

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6 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I graduated in 95. I recall the Preist injury issues but the roll over with Mitchell. However, Ricky was the #1 RB in the nation coming out of college and there was no excuse not to give him reps as an RB, despite production of Mitchell.

You clearly don't remember Shea's mechanics if you felt them far superior to Brown's. More importantly he couldn't move at all, and was not a good pocket passer locking up on one receiver. Not only that but he was a huge prick.

 

Ricky was a "fullback" in name only especially by the end of his first season. Shon wound up with 10 more carries than Ricky by year's end -- 176-166. And, again, playing Shea (prick or not) in 1994 was a no-brainer especially if you apply your same argument (that being that Ricky was the #1 RB in the country -- I don't recall him being #1 BTW but that was 20+ years ago) to the Shea situation. You might also remember that James Brown (mechanics LOFL) was never a very good practice player but that changed once the "lights came on." Mackovic and staff had no idea what they had going into the OU game when Brown made his first start.

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3 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

I will fucking criticize his O as much as I damned well please.

The greatest play call he ever got credit for worked because the quarterback did the opposite of what Mackovic told him to do. "Steelers Roll Left," remember that one? That everyone gushed over? Fucker told James Brown, whatever he did, DON'T THROW THE BALL.

He DID have some nicely-designed running plays. But then he put the wrong personnel into them and would forget that he was in college and didn't need to try to outsmart his opponent if they weren't able to stop a given play.

Hell, Greg Davis was refreshing after JM, if only because he wasn't ever afraid to make the obvious play call. (Of course, that's what bit GD against Stoops later on, but I digress. Or is that a digression? I can't even tell any more.)

We've had exactly two good OCs in my lifetime; Bellard and Harsin The rest are mediocre to bad.

Don't get me started on that one game in Lubbock where Texas is backed up inside the 5 to start the game and Mackovic called a slow-developing pitch wide that was blown up for a safety. We got murdered that afternoon IIRC.

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11 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I graduated in 95. I recall the Preist injury issues but the roll over with Mitchell. However, Ricky was the #1 RB in the nation coming out of college and there was no excuse not to give him reps as an RB, despite production of Mitchell.

 

???  Ricky didn't get reps as a freshman?

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