The long and short of it
While watching UCLA running backs go through a ball-protection drill - Moses attempted to punch the ball from their hands and the backs had to run then through a shoot - I noticed how many of the bigger tailbacks and fullbacks had to work harder just to maintain a lower center of gravity.
Made me think of big Christian Ramirez, all 6-foot-2, 220 pounds of him, and whether his size might be a detriment.
A quick glance at UCLA's top-5 career rushers made me wonder if Ramirez is a bit too big:
Gaston Green - 5-10, 189
Freeman McNeil - 5-11 216
Karim Abdul Jabbar - 5-10 194
Wendell Tyler - 5-10, 198
Skip Hicks - 6-0, 230
But No. 6 is Theotis Brown.
6-foot-2, 225-pound Theotis Brown...
Not to mention MJD: 5'7" and a shade over 200 lbs.
Jon, welcome back!
Any recruiting news (both FB and BB) out there?
Theotis Brown was a monster back. When he got trucking, it was VERY hard to bring him down.
James McAllister and Theotis Brown. Now, there were a couple of great backs from my era!
6'2 is pretty darn tall for a RB. center of gravity is huge in football at any position.
What the list proves is that you have to have a cool and unique first name to be a great running back at UCLA. Boring names like Raymond and Aundre weren't going to cut it.
Don't forget that Bigfoot had a pretty good foundation to compensate for his higher center of gravity.
This post validates why Anthony Barr's future college position probably wont be RB. He's 6-4.
The NFL's best running back in Peterson is 6'2" and the best power back in Jacobs is 6'4". Eddie George was 6'2". There are plenty of backs who are 6'2"+ that seem to do just fine.
yeah, Eric Dickerson really sucked.
And if I was Barr, I wouldn't want to be a Bruin if lavsmousse was anywhere near the program.
RB 1 Knowshon Moreno SO 5-11/207/- Georgia Middletown, NJ
RB 2 Chris Wells JR 6-1/237/- Ohio State Akron, OH
RB 3 Donald Brown JR 5-10/208/- Connecticut Red Bank, NJ
RB 4 LeSean McCoy SO 5-11/210/- Pittsburgh Harrisburg, PA
RB 5 Rashad Jennings SR 6-1/234/- Liberty Lynchburg, VA
RB 6 Andre Brown SR 6-0/224/- North Carolina State Greenville, NC
http://profootball.scout.com/a.z?s=127&p=9&c=12&nid=83&lnid=124&rc=4&pid=11&yr=2009
How about:
Jim Brown 6'2" 238 lbs
OJ Simpson ...oops...well, at least he wasn't small
Bronco Nagurski 6'2" 225 lbs
Marion Motley 6'1" 240 lbs
or
Earl Campbell, John Riggins, Jim Taylor, Franco harris...hey, weren't they ALL pretty big dudes? I guess it proves that it's the size of the fight in the dog not the size of the dog in the fight that really matters.