Zips Christmas Wish, Per Fox

[Captain Kangaroo]

We're #1! Alphabetically.FYI - I believe Dennis Kennedy was 37th overall in NCAA rushing this season. Of the top 80 NCAA D-1 rushers, he was dead last in yards/carry. That means no big gainers. I hope we get someone that can go the distance in our backfield next fall.

[Blue & Gold]

Actually, I think that alphabetically we're #2.But I agree. DK didn't break many long runs, and broke no tackles. Didn't juke at all either. Generally a RB either breaks tackles or jukes, but DK did neither. Here's to Alex Allen's recovery! Here's to Gary Pride coming in next year! Here's to (cross your fingers!) Morgan Williams giving us a verbal!!!

[TXZipFan]

Amen to that...

[GP1]

I hope we get someone that can go the distance in our backfield next fall.

So do I. Early in the season, he looked much better than he did at the end of the season. He needs to stop trying to break every run to the outside and run in the middle more. He was continually running 25-30 yards to gain 2 before being pushed out of bounds. Over the course of a year, all that running adds up. #29 was a much better runner between the tackles than Kennedy was at the end of the year. They should have played him more. Kennedy needs to prove he can run between the tackles and not get hurt.Also, if the question was asked about the best receiver the past three years, a lot of people would say Dom. That's a good answer, but not the answer. The best receiver we had was Biggs out of the backfield. As little as he was, he made people miss and had a great straight arm. Kennedy is not a good straight arm user or an illusive runner in the open field."If you try to run outside, you'll never get there. If you run inside, you'll get outside." --Former Detroit HS great, former Notre Dame great, former Pittsburgh Steeler great, Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis. Listen to the advice Dennis.

[zip81]

We're #1! Alphabetically.FYI - I believe Dennis Kennedy was 37th overall in NCAA rushing this season. Of the top 80 NCAA D-1 rushers, he was dead last in yards/carry. That means no big gainers. I hope we get someone that can go the distance in our backfield next fall.

I hope your wish comes true.Number 1 is Air Force...I think.

[RACER]

that's a fair statement, but kennedy was not the same back at the begging of the year as the end.maybe he was hurt alott worse than anyone knew? also no one could run behind our offensive line.the only problem next year on paper the o-line does not appear to be much better.on a positive note i don't know how they could be much worse.hopefully we can find another back who can make some long runs to make up for some bad blocking.

[skip-zip]

During the course of the season, people really started to notice Kennedy's weakness as a power runner. He appears to be a good open field runner, but may lack breakaway speed. All of this together really makes me question his future as our #1 back, but I sincerely hope that his perceived liabilities were only due to his injury problems.

[74ZIP]

what!!!??dennis can't run inside...how long did that take? Biggs...old news i know...HE could run inside...i miss him...so did JD and Luke...give the ball to the fullback a few times...it works

[UADavid]

...give the ball to the fullback a few times...it works

If their blocking ability is any indication, I say skip the fb run and just pass it every down.

[GP1]

give the ball to the fullback a few times...it works

I agree 100%. I told someone this same thing earlier in the year and he told me I was crazy, but the truth is we do need to run the FB 2-3 times a game. Every other team out there does it and if you can do it, it takes pressure off of the RB. The FB needs to be more than just a guard in the backfield. If you can get your FB to average 3 yards per carry, he becomes an effective weapon and someone the defense must pay attention to. On a quick hitting play, 3 yards can turn into 15-20 like that (finger snapping). WVU's FB ran for 50 on the first play of the game yesterday on a quick hitter. In order to do this though, the FB must be in the game.I watched a lot of bowl games this year and my wife and I even went to the Music City Bowl when we were in Nashville on vacation and I have to say that those kids from the southeast love to run east and west because they all think they can out run everyone. Kennedy is from the southeast.....do the math. Biggs was from the southeast also, but he was toughened up by some good midwestern football at a JC in Kansas.Maybe this is another topic, but I think every 3 spring practice seasons need to be a boot camp. This team needs a boot camp this year to see who wants to play physical and who doesn't want to play physical. We are a talented team that doesn't play physical. At the end of the day, football is a game of aggression. Boise State is a hard hitting team with talent who the announcers said had a real hard hitting bowl practice season. How did they do last night?

[UADavid]

The FB needs to be more than just a guard in the backfield

If they were a guard in the backfield I would be happy. Our two fullbacks were awful at hitting anything in the opposing team colors. Two or three runs a game will do nothing but make it second and long. If we had a fullback I would change my mind. Can they improve? I hope so because their play was very weak. They certainly contributed to Getsy's poor play, as did the line blocking, wr drops, plays called, and the qb.

[Zips#1Fan]

I am not really worried about the RB spot next year. I believe that AARIS REED will start over DK and ALEX ALLEN i watched that kid last year during camp and he could hit the hole every time and he had some killer jukes. I heard he runs a 4.3 that kid can help us out a lot this year and i think he will.