Let me put it this way. Benson will be the best NFL RB. And I think McGee (sorry for spelling) will be a close second. Im just not impress with the Clarett. He reminds me alot of Damien Anderson who ran for 2,100 yards at Northwestern. Sure his stats were good but he couldn't make anyone miss on the NFL level. I think he is a backup for the Cards. And Boston was the same size as Rodgers at Ohio State.
Far from it. Boston played at Humble HS, and was a QB, RB, WR, pretty much everything. Not many RBs will be Rogers' size. As for Benson, he doesn't really make people miss. Most of his yards are when he has a hole. I admit that he's very good at finding the seams to run through, but if he has no blocking, he's not capable of turning nothing into something. The closest he gets to turning nothing into something is when he falls forward for an extra yard or so, upon getting tackled. In the NFL, you need to be able to go both East-West and North-South. The 2 backs who I know can do this are Onterrio Smith and Greg Jones.
But would you take Greg Jones over Ced Benson? Benson reminds me of Fred Taylor and Jones reminds me of Ed James. Both should be stars in the NFL but I would lean towards Benson.
Wow. I never saw a comparison between Benson and Taylor and Jones and James. Benson doesn't have the breakaway speed of Freddie T. Benson reminds me of a smaller Eddie George. Greg Jones reminds me of TJ Duckett from last year. Or maybe even Ricky Williams. Jones doesn't have the hands of Edgerrin. Maybe Jones is Stephen Davis with more speed? Benson's a very solid RB, but I just don't see a superstar in him. He's a classic run behind a good OL RB. In a way he's similar to Emmitt Smith. He has a little more power than Smith, but is nowhere near as quick.
According to the medi that I have read and listen too the reason Chriss Simms can't win a big game is because Texas can't get a running game going. Cedric Benson isn't even in MC class. Each week teams load up and key on Clarett and each week he delivers. He had 30 carries for 133 yards against Wisconsin and when he had to, he moved the chains running out the clock for the Buckeyes to get the win. With Penn State and Heres a good article about him for those interesred. http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no22clarett.html
Each week? like all 3 or 4 of them? I think we need a bigger sample size before we pronounce him god. I watched him this week and while he looked ok, he definintely didn'tlook nfl ready. He was clearly outplayed by anthony davis from Wisconsin. He didn't seem quick enough through the hole and was really hesitant at times You know what happens to a power back that likes to dance behinkd the line in the nfl? he becomes Ron dayne.
Wisconsin = Great OL Ohio State = Average OL Davis looked quick but did nothing except run thru holes. Maurice Clarett is big enough to run over LBs. Granted he did not have a great game but he did get his 130 yards against a defense playing 8-9 guys int he box. I'll take it
You must have watched a different game than me. Davis usually didn't get touched until he was 3 yards downfield (usually the first guy to have a shot was Doss, Nickey and finally Wilhelm started playing in the 4Q), Clarett usually had a d-linemens arm to run through and a LB. Wisconsin's OL is very good. Ohio State's is VERY average.
I would not say Ohio States line is "average". They average 5.1 yards per carry. Wisconson only averages 3.8 YPC. Also, Wisc has given up twice as many sacks as OSU, 32 to 16. I think there is a pretty strong case for the OSU O-Line being better than Wisc. A case can be made for MC being very impressive nontheless though, he averages a full yard better per carry than the OSU team (at 6.1 YPC). Take MC out and OSU averages like 4.3 YPC, substantially better than Wisc and still very good overall but a far cry from Claretts 6.1. That said I still don't see evidence to put Clarett in Greg Jones class. Jones has put on the most impressive college running display since Ricky W IMO. BTW it is OSU's defense more than Clarett that is carrying them. Huge test this week, the jury is still out to me whether they are a legit top 4 team. PSU is real good though, if OSU beats them I'll say OSU deserves their ranking over Georgia.
I still argue OSUs line is average, it;s Clarett breaking tackles which gets the 5.1 YPC. As far as the sacks OSU (beginning of the year) never had to throw the ball, so no opportunities for sacks. As for the D, it was suppose to be great but Wisconsin showed some holes. D-line was not very good without Will Smith. Matt Wilhelm was invisible for 3Q, not sure what happened to him. Donnie Nickey missed a few tackles and Doss got burned playing safety. So lot of question marks, but with the game on the line they stepped up. Again the Defense iss the strength of this team, just Wisconsin exploited a lot of things.
Well, Ohio State's DL and LBS are better than wisconsin's. I saw Davis hitting the hole and going upfield. I saw Clarett trying to cutback and freelance like he was Barry Sanders and get swamped, particularly on a 3d and inches play that he really should have known better. It wasn't until the 4th quarter when he finally started running with authority that he would just hit the hole and go. Look, he's a fine back. But NFL readY? he believes his own hype. If he can do it against a legit D that would be one thing, but he hasn't yet.
This aint the NBA. Guys don't just come out of school early, ready for the NFL. A guy needs time to develope physically, and playing the most physically demanding position on the field, he would only be risking serious injury. The guy needs to stay in school, before he ruins his career.
Is Greg Jones out of Florida State entering the draft next year? Wow, this guy is a power runner...someone the Texans could def. use.