He’s 20 pounds heavier and has been out of action on that side of the ball for more than a season now, but, according to Marc Weiszer, Richard Samuel may be a candidate for running back again.
Does anybody remember why he was moved to linebacker in the first place? How likely is it that those problems are fixed?
It’s a bad idea to keep jerking this kid around. It’s also the kind of decision-making that’s gotten the staff into trouble before. I just don’t see the point. (And I won’t even go into what we might expect if the worst happens with the Jarvis Jones situation.)
Get The Picture 
Maybe he’s another Hines Ward or Champ Bailey?
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However, that’s all we need, a 240 pound running back who goes down when your shadow gets close to him.
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Right, and apparently that is NOT how he plays LB. On that side of the ball he brings the wood they tell us.
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I understand the thought process, but it should never evolve beyond a dumb thought. The kid simply is not an SEC back. And what does this say about the rest of the crew at RB? For everyone’s sake, I hope this does not happen. The 2011 season is rapidly crashing down on us before the first game is played. I sure hope the good news will develop during the season.
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Please explain to me how he is any worse than the third best RB on the team. It’s a shame that we find ourselves here, particularly for Richard, but we are here.
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But if we move Samuel to RB, that would free us up to put Bean at ILB.
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Oh, and by the way, if this does happen… God forbid… will the people who sugarcoated King’s departure as “good for the team” please spin Samuel’s move back to RB in the same way? I have a feeling the justifications will be fun to read.
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Well, now it’s official.
This tells me that the coaching staff has reservations about either/both Boo or/and Crowell.
Richard Samuel taking one for the team. DGD.
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+1
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Please, no, I don’t want to see Samuel at tailback again. He looked like a fish out of water doing what the coaches thought was best for the team. I want to see him play a lot at linebacker and on coverage teams. He’s where he needs to be to give us the best chance to win.
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You know if the damn staff would at least recruit to the minimum number of recruits each year we might not be in these situations. Hell Big John played TB in high school let’s screw up his career and throw him into the mix. If I was Richard I would cheerfully tell the coaches “Hell no I won’t go”.
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The thing is, I always thought the reason he ran the rock before was because he wanted to. What if he wants to again, and that is why it is being brought up? I think most of us agree. It isn’t a good idea, but if he does, it pits the coaches in a tricky situation – they can’t say they don’t need a back.
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If he wants to move back it is most certainly the coaches job to look at him and say, no, you are not suited to play there in the SEC, even if we are down to 1 RB. They might not say we don’t need a back, but they can say we don’t need you back there.
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69Dawg is spot on about the signing limit. Considering CMR said he knew Mayes wouldn’t qualify, we could have signed an extra RB or FB (or DT), and still been within the limit. It’s stupid mistakes that cost us on the field, and it’s going to make McGarity pull his hair out.
And Samuel should stay with the D. The D is going to win or lose games for us anyway. RB’s Crowell, Thomas, Malcome, Harton is enough for now. How many RB’s does a team need to run play action fakes?
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“The 2011 season is rapidly crashing down on us before the first game is played.”
IMO it crashed down about the time UCF started celebrating their bowl victory over us.
I understand the preseason optimism and i agree there are plenty of things to be optimistic about, but we have major deficiencies (not just a lack of depth, but deficiecies) at TB, WR and OL.
Our defense is completely built around jenkins being the next mt coty/cody. We bemoaned our secondary lasT year yet now itis somehow a strength, our LBs are good on paper but completely unproven, and our coaching staff is severely suspect based on the trajectory of our program
It is nice to hope for a run at the east, but anything more than hope is pure fantasy in my opinion. There is not much confidence inspiring about this staff’s ability to deliver with the hand they are playing this year. A real shame because it is there for the taking
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Because we should always judge an entire season on how prepared our team is for a crap bowl game. Now if we were playing in the Sugar Bowl and got slapped around like we didn’t belong I could see this. Really, do you think the team was pushing it to the limit for UCF? If you watch the game you see several plays where Green was already taking plays off, running out of bounds and what not. When leaders of the team are taking plays off it resounds through the rest of the guys.
Also…no one is talking up the secondary. The hope is that we got 2 5 star Freshmen who might be able to replace our crappy secondary if they keep sucking. Next the LB corp is improved as we brought in Ogletree, who proved he was at least good enough to start safety as a Fresh and Jones who was good enough to start for USC. Also Ray Drew is a 5 star recruit who seems to have the play style and attitude to get some starts at LB. The D-line is expected to be better then it was last year. Namely the fact that we have all of our D-line back from last year + Jenkins. Also we now have 2 viable DTs, instead of 2 DE converts. As anyone with Football knowledge knows, having a good front 7 makes your back 4 look 100x better. If the QB and running game are getting blown up by the front 7 then the back 4 and play aggressive and not get burnt so much.
I am not predicting a 12-0 or better season, but I still see at least 8 wins or more for the team.
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Excellent analysis, Merk.
You know why it was so good? Because not once did you mention a Offensive player as it pertained to the 2011 season. This season’s success or failure rests with the Defense completely.
I truly don’t know what to expect from any unit other than the D-line, which I expect to be at least slightly better than last year just by default. The LBs have enough experience and raw talent to get the job done, though it may take a few games for them to get the feel for it 100% (I would think after Coastal Carolina they will be firing on all cylinders). The secondary can only benefit from the D-line, and even if they improve only slightly on tackling but don’t allow themselves to get burned deep then they can keep us in games better than last year.
I’m not asking for the world from our D, I’m just asking for them to play better than they have gotten used to playing over the past few years.
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If they think Samuel is better than Thomas and malcome then you you make the move. You don’t do it for him to be 3rd string.
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I agree. He is still needed at LB. He can play ILB or even OLB. I do not think that he is the answer at RB, Even the walk-on from Reidsville is a better alternative.
The OL & the running game remain my biggest concern;but, moving him to RB would not change that in any way. Other than that I am still optimistic. GATA.
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The highlight of his UGA career at RB was 16 carries for 104 yards at Arky. Problem is 70 of those yards came on one run where he ran straight up the field and was never touched.
I hate it for the kid being bounced around. Based on the comment on his twitter page, the coaching staff has put the decision in his hands. Whatever he decides, I hope it works out – the kid just wants to play. Based on what we saw at RB before, LB seems to be where any future for him lies.
These types of situations happen when you have a desperate coaching that is focused almost entirely on the short-term because of the situation they have put themselves in.
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Great title for the post. If only Kiante had another season of eligibility, we could try him at kicker.
Samuel has the potential to be an all SEC LB. He has the potential to be a third string running back. To me the decision is easy. We have 4 RB’s, plus Smith and Malcolm Mitchell (I think?) to throw back there from time to time. Sorry one of our RB’s is a walk on and the other is undersized, but we can’t screw Samuel up any worse than we did his first three seasons. Remember the kid took a redshirt to learn the 3-4 LB position properly. Don’t move him, even if that’s what he wants.
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Samuel is the personification of all that has been squandered over the last 3 years.
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Ahem. He’s still a few position changes behind me.
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+1 This is pure gold.
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