Newton to RB?

[GTmorris1970]

After practice today Spurrier said Newton has yet a new position, and would not be the backup QB. He would not say what position it was, but RB is about all that is left. He also said the is going to start punishing players who make mistakes and commit penalties. He is running them this week, and starting the Vanderbilt game they may be suspended, for at least a half. As far as Johnson is concerned, he said if the charges are true, he is through. :cool:

[USC2001]

I like the idea of Syvelle running the ball. I say do whatever you have to get him the ball the most. We are fairly deep at received so put him where ever he is comfortable and can impact the team the best.

[GTmorris1970]

I like the idea of Syvelle running the ball. I say do whatever you have to get him the ball the most. We are fairly deep at received so put him where ever he is comfortable and can impact the team the best.

I agree. He mentioned how Syvelle has the natural instinct to know where to go with the ball, and how he ran almost 40 yds. without being touched against Kentucky. :cool:

[rabidcock]

I agree. He mentioned how Syvelle has the natural instinct to know where to go with the ball, and how he ran almost 40 yds. without being touched against Kentucky. :cool:

As I said in another post today, as a senior, he was the fourth leading rusher in the state (as a mobile QB, mind you :D ) behind the state's top 3 RB's. Could this be a portent of things to come? And, get this, it was his ELUSIVE QUALITY that garnered those stats! ;)

[scfan5338]

Hope fully he can hold on to the damn ball. We have fumbled the ball so many f**kin times this season.

[Dr. Pepper]

Maybe he is going to play one side of the defensive line. :D

[WayzUp]

There was an article I read by some NFL offensive lineman who was good enough that you knew his name but not a Hall of Famer, if you know the type. Kinda like Mark Schlereth or Lomas Brown...anyway, doesn't matter who...they made the point that consciously or not, they noticed that they blocked better (read: played harder) when there was someone running the ball or playing QB that they had confidence in than when they had some rookie or some locker room distraction type carrying the ball or calling the plays.

I don't know if that holds true for the college game or not but think about it a second; how much more defined are the passing lanes when Mitchell's in at QB instead of Heffner? Granted, Blake's still running for his life half (most?) of the time but he still has a decent pocket to work with where I can't remember Heffner getting anything more than 2 seconds to do something before he's forced to soil himself and fumble.

I guess my point is maybe if our line knows they're trying to open holes for Newton instead of some freshman that the new coaching staff brought in (after they kicked off 2 of our best RBs), they'll subconciously (consciously??) open better and bigger holes for Newton to run through.

We're all human & like it or not, we have our favorite people and more of us than would admit don't like change too much. Maybe all these personnel changes, Spurrier's hand being forced or otherwise, have caused our O-Line to not lay it all out. Maybe half of them were great friends with Boyd and/or Summers. Maybe they're pissed, justly or not, that those two are gone and they now have to instead block for these two newcomers and the guy that did nothing but get wasted in five points for the better part of his first two years.

Moving Syvelle to RB might be the move that pushes an offensive line into playing better. Newton's ability alone will make one little hole seem like a big one...he doesn't need THAT MUCH room to make a play....

[GTmorris1970]

There was an article I read by some NFL offensive lineman who was good enough that you knew his name but not a Hall of Famer, if you know the type. Kinda like Mark Schlereth or Lomas Brown...anyway, doesn't matter who...they made the point that consciously or not, they noticed that they blocked better (read: played harder) when there was someone running the ball or playing QB that they had confidence in than when they had some rookie or some locker room distraction type carrying the ball or calling the plays.

I don't know if that holds true for the college game or not but think about it a second; how much more defined are the passing lanes when Mitchell's in at QB instead of Heffner? Granted, Blake's still running for his life half (most?) of the time but he still has a decent pocket to work with where I can't remember Heffner getting anything more than 2 seconds to do something before he's forced to soil himself and fumble.

I guess my point is maybe if our line knows they're trying to open holes for Newton instead of some freshman that the new coaching staff brought in (after they kicked off 2 of our best RBs), they'll subconciously (consciously??) open better and bigger holes for Newton to run through.

We're all human & like it or not, we have our favorite people and more of us than would admit don't like change too much. Maybe all these personnel changes, Spurrier's hand being forced or otherwise, have caused our O-Line to not lay it all out. Maybe half of them were great friends with Boyd and/or Summers. Maybe they're pissed, justly or not, that those two are gone and they now have to instead block for these two newcomers and the guy that did nothing but get wasted in five points for the better part of his first two years.

Moving Syvelle to RB might be the move that pushes an offensive line into playing better. Newton's ability alone will make one little hole seem like a big one...he doesn't need THAT MUCH room to make a play....

Good thoughts, and certainly something to ponder. Newton could be dangerous catching the ball out of the backfield as well. :cool:

[scunyon]

Newton is just a bad moe-foe :D

[GamecockDieHard]

I think we've just recently seen leadership emerge for this team. Syvelle and Blake together give everyone alot of confidence. Mitchell is no one game wonder, he is a playmaker. The OL gets alot of smack, but Mitchell's numbers wouldn't be as good as they are if those guys weren't effective. Syvelle has shown that he will not quit and will not accept others that do. Rice has thrown a monkey-wrench into Def. Co-ordinators plans for the rest of the year. KO has broken out. We've got players starting to learn what good teams knew earlier in the season. It seems to me that we've turned a corner and it happened during the halftime of the Kentucky game. I know, it WAS Kentucky. We'll see, but I can't wait 'til the Vandy game. If we dominate, run and stop the run, this season could turn out better than we thought. None of the teams remaining are unbeatable. I hate it when ppl say we have no chance. We definitely have a chance to win any of them.

The cool thing about rebuilding is seeing results. Often we get it stuck in our heads that results only show up during the next season. I expect more players to step up and show us they belong before this season is over.

[rabidcock]

I think we've just recently seen leadership emerge for this team.

The cool thing about rebuilding is seeing results. Often we get it stuck in our heads that results only show up during the next season. I expect more players to step up and show us they belong before this season is over.

These are some good thoughts. I hope we've seen ENOUGH leadership emerge, at this point, to win 3 more games. You are right; we have had some leaders to emerge, though it seems Ko has been there all season. He's just wherever the ball is and seems to take part in every tackle. I hope that Syvelle can be the spark that gets the running game into gear. I'm afraid our D-line is just too light to successfully stop the run, as we lost our entire front-four from last season, including two guys just shy of 300 pounds, although our aggressive attitude lately has forced some turnovers. I think the defensive philosophy from here on out should be to strip the ball on every play.

[GamecockDieHard]

... I'm afraid our D-line is just too light to successfully stop the run... although our aggressive attitude lately has forced some turnovers. I think the defensive philosophy from here on out should be to strip the ball on every play.

From what Spurrier has been saying about our defense, it sounds like some of our problem has to do with a lack of confidence. We haven't been aggressive enough to shoot in there and hit hard. It's like we're waiting to make sure we're hitting the right guy. If that's true and we can correct that part of the defense, then we could see a marked improvement in our performance. It could quickly turn around . You've probably seen it written in some articles as lacking "swagger."

I say let's get a second wind and go for it. This season isn't over by a long shot and our players shouldn't be looking for next year until it gets here. We need to start every game projecting in our minds that our opponents are going to lose!! If we get blown out, then re-set, readjust and go at the next game with the same attitude. Damn the torps, full-speed ahead! ;)

[rabidcock]

From what Spurrier has been saying about our defense, it sounds like some of our problem has to do with a lack of confidence. We haven't been aggressive enough to shoot in there and hit hard. It's like we're waiting to make sure we're hitting the right guy. If that's true and we can correct that part of the defense, then we could see a marked improvement in our performance. It could quickly turn around . You've probably seen it written in some articles as lacking "swagger."

I say let's get a second wind and go for it. This season isn't over by a long shot and our players shouldn't be looking for next year until it gets here. We need to start every game projecting in our minds that our opponents are going to lose!! If we get blown out, then re-set, readjust and go at the next game with the same attitude. Damn the torps, full-speed ahead! ;)

More good thoughts. You know, even in our 0-11 season, the defense had this "swagger" (and they were good). Even though the offense (ours) kept them on the field too long, thus tiring them to the point of being less effective by the end of the game, they never gave up. I would like to see this turnaround, using our speed and being confident enough to drop their backs behind the line of scrimmage (or, at least, for a gain of only one or two).

This next game should be a barometer of whether we are "coming to play" or not. [They played with the energy of zombies from the very first play in the Auburn game.]

[GamecockDieHard]

I agree completely. We need to pack out WB. Be loud on every defensive play and show the team we like what we see. They are NOT the same team that played 'Bama or 'Burn!