Who will lead the 2016 Gophers in rushing yards?

Who will lead the 2016 Gophers in rushing yards?

  • Shannon Brooks

    Votes: 34 35.1%

  • Rodney Smith

    Votes: 46 47.4%

  • Mitch Leidner

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Kobe McCrary

    Votes: 9 9.3%

  • James Johannesson

    Votes: 5 5.2%

  • Jonathan Femi-Cole

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    97
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Who will lead the 2016 Gophers in rushing yards?
 

Barring serious injuries, I hope it looks something like this:

Brooks - 1300 yds
Smith - 800 vds
Leidner - 300 yds.
McCrary, JJ, or Femi-Cole - 300 yds.
 

Smith gets it by a hair as the grinder we need to finish games in the big ten. Brooks with more ypc though
 

brooks is the man! 1,000 yard season here we come.
 

I would pick Brooks but who knows if he'll even run at all this year. Smith will squeak it out.
 


I put brooks but am now doubtful with his injury. Rodney i think gets it

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Smith because he'' have two or three extra games at a minimum.
 

No way to know for sure how much action Brooks will miss, or what kind of a work-load he'll have when he returns. I suspect the Gophs are going to use a lot of backs this year, and no single back will put up eye-catching numbers, but a lot of guys will wind up with a decent number of yards each.

The potential plus is that, assuming Brooks comes back 100%, he should be rested with no wear-and-tear. Let Smith and McCrary be the pounders, and bring in Brooks as a change-of-pace to try and break a long run.
 

I picked JJ. One more dinged back gets him PT and never gives it up.
 



Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Barring serious injuries, I hope it looks something like this:

Brooks - 1300 yds
Smith - 800 vds
Leidner - 300 yds.
McCrary, JJ, or Femi-Cole - 300 yds.
Click to expand...

If Brooks is out 3-4 games, which is very likely, you think he'll rack up 150 yd/gm? Gophs will gain 700 more gross yards than last year too?
 

Yeah, that might be a bit optimistic for Brooks, as I also think he's going to miss at least 3-4 games. Not outside the realm of possibility, but unlikely this year.

The second part is certainly easily doable - rushing for 2700 team yards. We ran for 2800+ in 2014 and the really prolific offenses can rush for 4000+ yards. That might be a bit optimistic for us but if we can break 3000 rush yards I wouldn't be surprised at all.
 

Another thought, if Mitch Leidner is our leading rusher we probably had a REALLY interesting year.
 

I may be forgetting, but I think JJ looked the most impressive in the Spring game by far (regarding RBs at least). I am hoping he gets game time early, to see what he can do.
 



Like others have said, the rock is really going to get spread this year. I think this could be some kind of record setting year for the Gophers running game, maybe I am just overly optimistic but I think we will run for over 3000 yards this year. You heard me!
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Yeah, that might be a bit optimistic for Brooks, as I also think he's going to miss at least 3-4 games. Not outside the realm of possibility, but unlikely this year.

The second part is certainly easily doable - rushing for 2700 team yards. We ran for 2800+ in 2014 and the really prolific offenses can rush for 4000+ yards. That might be a bit optimistic for us but if we can break 3000 rush yards I wouldn't be surprised at all.
Click to expand...

More than a bit, would have put him #2 in the country last year in YPG. I'll give you the 2,700 rushing as a stretch goal...if Mitch still gets 2,700+ yards passing. Would make them a top 60 offense.
 

I went with Rodney due to Brooks' limitations early because of injury.
 

PMWinSTP said:
If Brooks is out 3-4 games, which is very likely, you think he'll rack up 150 yd/gm? Gophs will gain 700 more gross yards than last year too?
Click to expand...

The last I had heard Brooks might be available by the third game at the latest. I hadn't heard that he would be out longer. As always injuries are a big factor as I noted in my OP. I do feel that if you give Brooks 11 games (including bowl game), he's capable of that type of production. If he's available for less than 10 games I'm not that optimistic. As for your second question, I expect a ground game that will push the 3000 yd mark this year. I like how the OL is shaping up as long as it stays healthy and the very favorable schedule.
 

PMWinSTP said:
More than a bit, would have put him #2 in the country last year in YPG. I'll give you the 2,700 rushing as a stretch goal...if Mitch still gets 2,700+ yards passing. Would make them a top 60 offense.
Click to expand...

This team should be better than a middle of the road offense IMO.
 

With the addition of the quality JUCOs on the OL it still comes back to injuries. Running for 3000 years with a quality D bodes very well for us. We will accomplish that with a reasonably healthy OL. I expect the ball to be spread around more than usual, which hash''t been much.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
This team should be better than a middle of the road offense IMO.
Click to expand...

Getting top 60 would be a gigantic leap for them...to go up 50+ spots in the ranking. They've basically only cracked the top 100 (out of 120) once in the past 6 years. Definitely where they need to be. It's achievable, but absolutely a stretch goal this season.
 

PMWinSTP said:
If Brooks is out 3-4 games, which is very likely, you think he'll rack up 150 yd/gm? Gophs will gain 700 more gross yards than last year too?
Click to expand...

Is there a possibility that if all the running backs produce that Brooks could be red shirted if he has to sit out 3 or 4 games. He is only a sophmore. The danger is that when his senior year comes he would opt for the NFL.
 

Rog said:
Is there a possibility that if all the running backs produce that Brooks could be red shirted if he has to sit out 3 or 4 games. He is only a sophmore. The danger is that when his senior year comes he would opt for the NFL.
Click to expand...

Oh, for sure. I think they do just that if he is not 100% with ample practice time by Iowa.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Getting top 60 would be a gigantic leap for them...to go up 50+ spots in the ranking. They've basically only cracked the top 100 (out of 120) once in the past 6 years. Definitely where they need to be. It's achievable, but absolutely a stretch goal this season.
Click to expand...

Got to start somewhere. If an offense with a projected NFL draft pick at QB, a pair of talented RBs, an emerging receiving corp and an expected shored up OL can't be near the top third with such a favorable schedule, there is little hope that we'll ever see anything resembling a big time CFB offense with this coaching staff.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Got to start somewhere. If an offense with a projected NFL draft pick at QB, a pair of talented RBs, an emerging receiving corp and an expected shored up OL can't be near the top third with such a favorable schedule, there is little hope that we'll ever see anything resembling a big time CFB offense with this coaching staff.
Click to expand...

Not saying I disagree but expecting that verses having it as stretch goal are two entirely different things since there really is nothing in recent history that would point to that kind of jump. They have the potential but I don't expect that...
 



Looking back at the initial projections, they were on target. Final rushing yards:

Rodney Smith: 1158
Shannon Brooks: 650
Mitch Leidner: 366
Kobe McCrary: 242
Carlton Djam: 33
Rashad Still: 8
Drew Wolitarsky: 6
 

Whatever happened to JJ? I was way off on my prediction as I don't think he ever got a carry.
 

PJ Fleck. That dude is fast.

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