Winning PAC-12 offensive freshman player of the year is pretty awesome, but doing it as a true freshman in a shortened season is remarkable. I have no idea why the running back gods have been smiling on Utah over the past 10 years, but it’s pretty, pretty good.
And, before the inevitable post complaining that we had good backs before, I agree. It’s just that we have had a consistent stream of NFL caliber backs since joining the PAC-12 (John White being the only outlier, due largely to his size imho).
Utah has had no problem churning out All-Conference, NFL-caliber running backs, defensive backs, and defensive linemen. Special teams has almost always been very good. For some reason, Utah has lagged behind with WRs and with pass blocking and QB play (most years).
The line of good running backs has been impressive. In my estimation, Utah has had very good or great RBs every year since 1991 except for in 2000, 2006 and 2013.
I think it’s obvious. Since Utah can never attract the very top tier QBs and WRs, out of necessity the offense has had to rely heavily on plays focusing on running backs. This must be very attractive to recruits who have NFL aspirations. Thus, Utah can compete more easily in recruiting backfield talent.
We don’t run AirRaid or Run N Shoot, or high-level pro-style, but the first two schemes work well with really athletic “smurf” WRs. USC now runs Air Raid, but historically they just pull 5 star WRs every year with a QB who can sling it.
Just as we’ve just recently been successful with getting LBs to the NFL - with Lloyd being an obvious next candidate - I think with the array of QBs Ludwig has coming in, at least one will be able to distribute the ball to make the throw game more capable than it has been.
As we see with the NFL game, a really accurate QB can overcome really tight coverage, so I think even if we don’t have Steve Smith-like athleticism and ability to separate, an accurate QB will put the onus on Enis, Thompson, Covey, et al, to make tough catches in tight coverage. They’re up for that challenge.
Success in the throw game will take pressure off the run game, help the OL look better, and we’ll be getting looks from elite WR recruits.
You have to basically create your own pipeline. As long as we’re not turning the ball over too much, Whittingham will trust Ludwig to open things up. Whit would love to have the offense we had with Alex Smith throwing the ball all over the field.
I would love to see some of you rank the top 10 or 15 Ute RBs of all time. It’s far too early to put Jordan there, but if he stays healthy, he could top such a list by the end of 2022.
For fun, here is my crack at it:
1- Zack Moss
2- Eddie Johnson
3- Devontae Booker
4- Carl Monroe
5- Del Rodgers
6- John White IV
7- Chris Fuamatu-Ma-afala
8- Mike Anderson
9- Tony Lindsay
10-Quinton Ganther
Others: Brandon Warfield, Jamal Anderson, Juan Johnson, Dameon Hunter
I’d try to get Brandon Warfield somewhere in the Top 10 because he was such a warrior, he basically won a BYU game by himself.
Others worth mentioning - Keith Williams, Charlie Brown, Joe Williams, gotta reach back & include Ute great Ron Coleman, who became a U of U VP in academics.
Packs a punch not unlike Moss, a little less. He doesn’t have the same mass, but has great leverage from that stature.
I didn’t realize he was a 10.5x 100m guy, which is what they said on the broadcast. I thought he was more in the high 10s.
Joe Williams was the fastest RB we’ve had - 10.49 100M, the UCLA game was Joe’s own personal track meet. Jordan is fast enough to run away from many DBs in the PAC, but not all of them, and it depends on angle, etc. I’ll take the acceleration over the top end.
I think he reasonably compares to Edwards-Helaire in the league of KC, who is also just 5-7, but about 205 and packs a nice punch for that size.
EDIT: Looks like Ty’s PR in the 100 is 10.52, which is crazy good for somebody who is a 5-7 bowling ball, basically a tie with Joe Williams. Damn, we have a seriously talented back.
My favorite to date is Joe Williams 2.0. Like Chrissy Matthews, when I watched him I got this thrill going up my leg. As dynamic a back as we’ve had. Having said that, if TJ can manage to stay healthy for four years, he’ll be Utah’s clear-cut GOAT.
I am not sure he was better than any of those guys. He was good. Maybe very good. But he is lower than those guys when you look at the stats. Granted he did share time with Darrell Mack in 2008 and Eddie Wide in 2010. But don’t get me wrong, I liked Asiata. He went to the same high school as I did too.