Just out of curiosity but how do you guys feel we would have faired the last two seasons with Jordan Hall as the feature back? As crazy as it sounds now in the beginning I was all for Jordan Hall taking over for Carlos Hyde. Of course that stance is completely laughable now.
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I thought Hall would have a bright a career. He had some good moves and was pretty elusive. After cutting his foot, he never seemed to move the same. Don't know if it was physical or mental or something else.
Hyde just kept getting better and better from the beginning of his Junior year on, until he was the best back in the country.
I wonder if Hall would have done better as the hybrid if he didn't get hurt. On that note, I wonder how we would have done with Braxton at the hybrid and Kenny G at QB??? Not to 2nd guess Urban and the record setting offense last year.
I think we would have won another game last year with Kenny.
Obviously the sample size for Kenny is small and all the memories are good, so it's hard to tell if you can extrapolate it to an entire season.
I think with the O Line that they had, Hall would have done well. Not as well as Hyde - he's a straight up monster, but Hall could have succeeded. He was killing it during Hyde's suspension. In the B1G championship game, he got one run & made it count. Had he been given more chances, I think it may have been a good 1-2 punch...with Hyde as the very...very clear cut punch #1.
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I know that it wasn't against the best competition, but Hall killed it in the first few games. I was pretty surprised that we didn't try him out at the H more, it would've been fun to see him as the pitchman in a Brax/Hyde/Hall triple option.
But, alas, when you have a stable of backs, the solid, well-rounded backup isn't going to get much playing time. Dontre was faster and more explosive, and Elliott was bigger, better between the tackles and probably a bit quicker.
Jordan Hall may be the most well-rounded back that we had, but he didn't have that one outstanding trait that the other guys seemed to have.
I thought Jordan Hall did very well when he was given a chance, and I would've liked to see him get more carries, especially after he came back for a 5th year, but it's too late to complain now. I wonder if he'll get a shot at a undrafted free agent contract?
When I walked in this morning and saw the flag was at half mast I thought, "Alright, another bureaucrat ate it." but then I saw it was Li'l Sebastian. Half mast is too high. Show some damn respect.
I definitely think he would have excelled in the Hybrid position. Not as fast or explosive as Wilson but Hall had great vision and made his touches count.
The Legend continues
After El Guapo's game against Nebraska in 2011, he never should have seen the bench again (albeit notwithstanding his nightclub troubles). If Urban was coach in 2011, Herron and Hall are reserves from that point forward (maybe even earlier). The talent gap was obviously immense. Hyde is a much stronger runner with more speed than Herron and as much as Hall. Granted he handled himself poorly after being benched again, but it turns out he was very right in feeling slighted.
the kids are playing their tail off, and the coaches are screwing it up! - JLS
I thought Herron was very good and even better than Hyde in 2011. Hyde 2013 skews the memories of 2011 imo.
Herron ran really hard and had a way to get lots of extra yards.
I think you're downplaying how effective Boom was despite missing 6 games. Without him, Ohio State wasn't beating Wisconsin.
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Agreed. Boom in 2011 > Hyde in 2011
And its not really even close.
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How can you say that for certain? I argue that Hyde would have made all the runs Boom did and even gotten more out of them. For example, against Nebraska that year, Guapo housed a long TD and wasn't close to being caught. Against Wisconsin, Herron was caught from behind on a long run, and failed to get in to the endzone on a couple goal-to-go's from the 1 on that same drive (which was a consistent thing with Herron throughout his Buckeye career). Braxton converted the eventual TD on 4th and goal. Boom was a great leader for OSU (if you ignore tatgate), but I'm sorry, his ability doesn't touch Hyde's, even in 2011. Give me a 240-pounder that's faster than a 195-pounder any day. Boom was a one-cut and down (maybe run one guy over) back, and we all know what Hyde did. He just didn't get a chance to prove it in 2011.
the kids are playing their tail off, and the coaches are screwing it up! - JLS
I think Hall should have had more of a role in the H-back than he did after Hyde came back. He excelled in the open field outside the tackle box. Unfortunately, between the tackles you sneezed on him and he went down.
He would have been good enough. He was shifty but there was no speed or quickness.