Work Horse Backs

[Aggie Monster]

I thought this might be a good topic. Since this has been a theme for us from about 2000 on.

"Work Horse" running backs, who was the last work horse running back that went injury free throughout their college career. By "Work Horse" I mean a between the tackles runner that carries the ball 20 plus times a games. not a Reggie Bush style back.

And do you think its smart to run your RB like a WH even though he's good. I say Hell NO, save your WH for situations where he's definitely needed and find other ways to move the rock. Your WH, if he is good, will still get close to 20 carries just in the flow of the game. I've seen running backs ran into the ground when they are good only to blow a knee, maybe not that year, but the a year or two later. Thomlinson and Holmes are a couple of the few WH backs left in the NFL. Look at Alexander after he was ran like a dog.

Oh, and Hicks is a perfect example. he was A&T offense for 1.5 years. The reason it was 1.5 instead of 2. Hicks left, Hicks right, Hicks off tackle, etc, etc.

[DOOMS]

You know, it's weird. You never know who'll get injured and how. When I read this the first back I thought of was a guy that played for Butler University in the 90s named Arnold Mickens. He was like 6' and 225lbs or so and had over 400 carries for over 2000 yards his junior year. He actually had 20 carries in a quarter in one game. I was salivating to see what he would do his senior year and he fell off quite a bit.

Then I thought of Troy Davis from Iowa State. He was every bit of 5'8" and 185 lbs but he ran for 2000 yards two years in a row.

And of course Adrian Peterson (the Georgia Southern one) comes to mind. He carried the ball a lot, but so did the qb in that offense.

I figure you run with the horses that brung ya. When we had Hicks he made the other guys behind him better. When Hicks got hurt we could barely run the ball for some reason. When your star back clearly eclipses the backups I think you have to run him until he tires or until you have a good enough lead (or you're far enough behind) to allow some others to get some playing time.

[Aggie Monster]

I agree somewhat, but If you know your RB is great you still have to pace his carries in my opinion. I believe in resting your star and it pays dividends in the end.

I'm surprised Adrain Peterson(GS) can still walk as much as he carried the load. He would be my best example of a WH back that went the distance as well.

[DOOMS]

There was a skinny little guy at VMI named Thomas Haskins and a really little guy at Va Union named Andre Braxton that both carried the rock a whole lot over their careers.

The one difference is that Adrian Peterson was the fullback in that triple option and usually the opposing team wasn't sure whether he had the ball. He was generally the one doing the tackling as opposed to being tackled, if you know what I mean.

The best run in college football history (I know it's blasphemy to claim anybody did it better than Mo Hicks, but damn!):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFFN9mPIDY

He scored on the following play.

[Aggie Monster]

The stiff arm to the last kat was hilarious. I actually think he's a better back than Cedric Benson, but Benson has the contract so the Bears would never sit him in place of Peterson.

[aggielove]

Peterson ran for 100 yds a game every game his entire career, except for like 1 or 2 games. It's funny - the way he ran in college he looked bigger in college than he does now in the pros.
Forgot to mention, there's this (white) RB in Nebraska - i think at a D2 or D3 school - that will soon break the all-time all-divisions rushing record. Can't remember his name but I saw the story on him a few weeks back.