Comments on: Football: Training camp storylines — Who will get in line behind Shane Vereen?

By: ddc

ddc — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:26:21 +0000

I still believe Yarnway should be the fullback — like when Greg Zomalt blocked for Russell White, but but was a threat in his own right. If he can’t block, he won’t get on the field anyway, right?

By: charlie

charlie — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:26:58 +0000

If Sofelel hits the hole hard and fast, why couldn’t he run between the tackles? He weights 186 lbs. That is 9 pounds less than Vereen and Best weighted last year. However, at 5’7, Vareen packs a lower center of gravity that a 5’10 – 5’11 RB. Sofele is not much smaller/lighter than Igber or Forsett.

Please explain why we are assuming he can’t run between tackles? Last year Sofele weighted 176 lbs and was inexperienced.

By: rollonubears

rollonubears — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:18:44 +0000

if our fat guys can make a hole or two, for once, sofele can slip through. the great thing about him is, he can adjust to the play when the hole closes up because he still has enough speed to make a secondary dash outside. he can also catch, as can vereen. we have a massive amount of offensive weapons. i just hope tedhead doesn’t make the offense so confusing, that nobody knows what the hell is going on. it sounds like he’s saying he’ll do all the things we wanted him to do last year, finally. pressure the qb and let riley throw more short passes. if we can execute, we’ll be solid. i still think the first 3 games mean nothing, though, and i hope a lot of guys get a shot to play. davis doesn’t suck. they’re better than sac state, almost every year, and even beat stanfurd a couple years back. remember that? colorado will probably suck. nevada will be decent, but they have no defense, so we should win that one 55-21. go bears.

By: abe

abe — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:06:52 +0000

…jpf…

i don’t necessarily think that our running game will be predictable. With Vareen, well nothing needs to be said, he can ran it inside, has the speed to burn you on the outside or can catch the ball out of the back field. Sofele, yes inside running doesn’t look probable but there is a variety of ways to to run the ball on the outside, sweeps, reverses, double reverses, end arounds, especially with two back sets…etc. Yarnway, sure short yard situations seems to be the best fit but then dont forget about the play action pass, remember its not about the predictability of the run but rather the offense as a whole. so if you have an effective short yardage running game with Yarnway then you got the defense guessing b/c you can run it or pass it.

By: dball

dball — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:39:27 +0000

Pretty excited about Will Kapp starting at FB, and Stevens backing him up…they’re both close to 230/240lbs and have the ability to block. Debo’s no slouch at TB either, he’s big guy and if he works on his blocking will provide the QB some solid protection.

By: Tedhead94

Tedhead94 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:16:30 +0000

Interesting that Yarnway did not do well in short yardage and goal line situations. From the videos that I have seen of him in high school he ran far too upright for me to be convinced that he would be a beast in this role. All I keep hearing from people is how great he will be in these scenarios. I’ll believe it when he lowers his center as he hits the hole. He certainly has the body to do it, he just needs to put the mechanics into it.

By: Fair Weather Fan

Fair Weather Fan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:11:38 +0000

I’m not worried about finding a #2 RB that can spell Vereen – I am worried about finding an RB/FB that can pick up a blitz. We got blitzed like crazy by everybody last year because we had no effective counter. No RB/FB who could block a 240 pound LB, no effective screen pass, and no effective “hot” read short passes to take the pressure off. It seemed like the only thing we tried was holding in an extra TE to block or a QB draw – and nobody feared Riley’s legs.

These blitzes made the OL look bad and made Riley look even worse. Tedford even said Utah was blitzing Cal’s run packages. Why not? If you can’t make a defense pay for blitzing, then there is little downside

By: CALfansincebirth

CALfansincebirth — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:55:38 +0000

I think Shane will get 25 carries a game and is fast strong and durable. here a look at the back up options:
Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson: He is an all around rusher but does not excel at much.
Isi Sofele: Fast, good agility, and is very elusive.
Dasarte Yarnway: Strong pretty fast, will truck guys and can get the yards you need.
Trajuan Briggs: Great potential, fast, strong and built a lot like lynch.

I think the depth chart should read, Vereen, Yarnway, Sofele, DeBoskie-Johnson and Trajuan Briggs will redshirt.
Because CDJ isn’t really anything special, he’s good at best while the others excel at what they do.

By: Cal93

Cal93 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:38:28 +0000

History shows that we’ve been the best with a good 1-2 punch on the running backs. How many dual 1,000 rushers did Tedford have early on? How many have we had lately? If we rely on Vereen just as much as we relied on Best the last couple of years, we’ll get the same. The back-ups need 10, better yet, 15 touches per game. Ideally, we’ll see Vereen with 20-28 carries and a back-up with 10-15 meaningful carries. Those carries need to come in the quarters 2 and 3. Then you have two somewhat fresh sets of legs in Q4.

By: jpf

jpf — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:22:04 +0000

I’m concerned about the backups being overly typecast. If Sofele is on the field, you can pretty much forget anything up the middle. Yarnway? It’s coming downhill. Deboskie-Johnson hasn’t shown down-to-down consistency or an ability to catch the ball well in space (unlike Shane). I fear that our run game will be VERY predictable and/or ineffective this year. It’s going to be really easy for defenses to key in our play calls based on the packages. Ludwig hasn’t shown enough creativity and flexibility to mask his play-calling. This puts a lot of pressure on Riley to make his throws (and we all know what Riley + Pressure yields).

This has the potential to be a real disastrous year for the Bears. I hope I’m wrong.