Kirkwood or Weisman - who would you rather have as your RB?

Mick Turition

Piss 'On Wisconsin'
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IMHO very strikingly similar runningbacks. Both power backs with subpar vision. Today one had bigger holes to run through than the other.
 

I think Donnell has more wiggle, but I'd choose Weisman. He has enough power to break tackles about 50-60% of the time if you get him one-on-one with LB's. It seems to me that Donnell only beats LB's with power/wiggle once per every 4-5 chances.
 

Weisman has a chance to be really good-maybe already. Kirkwood is a good back.
 

Weisman. He reminds me of Gerhart when he was at Stanford - very hard to bring down, but with some shiftiness, too.
 

Weisman. It's not like this kid came out of absolutely nowhere. Sure he walked onto Iowa, but he originally went to Air Force, who, as most of the country knows, has a terrific running game.
 


not even a question. Weisman is one of the 4-5 hottest players in all of NCAA football right now. (Note, I didn't say the best, I said the hottest right now)
 

Weisman, but let's not get carried away. He's a straight line guy with a low center of gravity. I didn't really see that much shiftiness. Maybe has an NFL future as a short-yardage guy, but I see him as too limited to have a lot of success at the next level. A lot will depend on system. He's not as good as John Clay was at Wisconsin.

Agree with previous poster that he's "hot" right now and he's a great story.
 

Both backs are a lot like Leroy Hoard.
 




Weisman wont even stiff the NFL. Iowa is just going with what works for right now.
 

I think it is time to admit that Iowa seems to have a system that showcases running backs. No matter who they play at RB, they seem to produce. Imagine if Minnesota got down to its 4th or 5th choice at TB. I don't think Mike Henry would have the same success.
 

I would take Iowa's offensive line and the holes Weisman was running through. If you're 230 pounds and you have a ten yard head start on practically every carry before anybody touches you, you're going to be able to pick up a lot more speed and thus be able to run over some people.

Weisman is playing well right now, but Iowa's offensive line is on another planet compared to ours on all fronts - strength, technique, and familiarity/knowledge of their system. I'm not saying they're Iowa's best line ever, but they are really, really good - or at least they were this past Saturday against our DLine and Linebackers (the LBs were getting demolished nearly every play, by the way).
 

I would take Iowa's offensive line and the holes Weisman was running through. If you're 230 pounds and you have a ten yard head start on practically every carry before anybody touches you, you're going to be able to pick up a lot more speed and thus be able to run over some people.

Weisman is playing well right now, but Iowa's offensive line is on another planet compared to ours on all fronts - strength, technique, and familiarity/knowledge of their system. I'm not saying they're Iowa's best line ever, but they are really, really good - or at least they were this past Saturday against our DLine and Linebackers (the LBs were getting demolished nearly every play, by the way).

This.

Iowa's offense had a hat on a hat, man on a man, on every running play it seemed. Extremely well executed offense. Weisman was plowing through what any other running back would have done. He DOES fall forward for the extra yard or two, which not all backs are able to do, but Iowa put on an absolute clinic on run-blocking Saturday.
 



I would take Iowa's offensive line and the holes Weisman was running through. If you're 230 pounds and you have a ten yard head start on practically every carry before anybody touches you, you're going to be able to pick up a lot more speed and thus be able to run over some people.
Weisman is playing well right now, but Iowa's offensive line is on another planet compared to ours on all fronts - strength, technique, and familiarity/knowledge of their system. I'm not saying they're Iowa's best line ever, but they are really, really good - or at least they were this past Saturday against our DLine and Linebackers (the LBs were getting demolished nearly every play, by the way).

Two Words - Ron Dayne. Take a big back, put him behind a very good to great O-Line that will give him time to get moving, sit back and enjoy. I don't think Iowa has a great line or that Weisman is as good as Dayne overall as a college player but that is the recipe they are going with and against our crappy run defense it worked like a charm.
 

I'll take Kirkwood. I could have run through the holes the Iowa OL was opening up on Saturday. Weisman will regress to the mean soon enough.
 

I would take Iowa's offensive line over ours with Kirkwood as the tailback. Weisman doesn't have Mike Alstot's speed although people are comparing him to Mike Alstot. Against better front seven's Weismans steam is going to drop off and you will see him stuffed a lot more.

Against teams like Northwestern and the Gophers he will roll and have his 200+ yards. There is no comparison of backs, Alstot was a starter in the NFL, Weisman will play no tailback in the NFL.
 

He's white so he's Alstot. Any decent back would have had similar numbers to Wiseman's. Kirkwood is strictly a straight ahead runner. We need to get better backs. I think a Big Ten school has no excuse for not having a very good back. There are a ton of them out there and they all want carries. Tell a kid we can give you twenty touches a game and it shouldn't be that tough a sell. As this young offensive line matures I like the potential of our running game.
 

Our OL is struggling and so did the LBs on Saturday, but regardless I don't think Kirkwood can make people miss and doesn't look comfortable navigating once he reaches the secondary. Weisman helped make our LBs and DBs look much worse than DIAA, MAC, MW teams did. Syracuse exposed those positions. I'd take Weisman, and Ferentz got really lucky considering the turnover at the position and how he fell into his lap.

Hell, I think Garmon starts at Minnesota.
 

He's white so he's Alstot. Any decent back would have had similar numbers to Wiseman's. Kirkwood is strictly a straight ahead runner. We need to get better backs. I think a Big Ten school has no excuse for not having a very good back. There are a ton of them out there and they all want carries. Tell a kid we can give you twenty touches a game and it shouldn't be that tough a sell. As this young offensive line matures I like the potential of our running game.

This. I don't want to make it look like I'm dumping on Weisman, but a lot of posters on this thread seem to have the same impression as me. Weisman is a very good straight-ahead runner who was running behind a line possessed on Saturday against a defensive line that has been having some problems stopping the run. That said, I expect him to be a very good Big 10 RB.

People tend to forget how good Alstott really was. Alstott was a lot bigger than Weisman and probably a step faster.
 

Oh, I don't know -- Weisman had 21 carries for 177 yards, Kirkwood 12 for 33 yards. I guess I'd go with Weisman if I weren't such a homer.
 

In an ideal world, I wouldn't want either as my featured running back.
 

It's impossible to be a great running back without a great O-line. Every great running back ran behind a greater O-line.

I like Kirk. Kid runs really hard and he's been improving. However, at the moment Weisman is better.
 

I will take Kirkwood any day. One game does not make a season. Kirkwood more upside.
 




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