Today a closer look at the small-sized RB’s……(Johnny, Barry, Tuc and Elijah)
We have been promoting heavily here at the site since back in the summer months about the year of the QB in GC(Guilford County)…..Summers, Heavner, Adams, Pawlowski, Cunningham, Scarfone/Downing, Thompson, Sims, Dick, Willis, Swinton, Simpson……And we could go on. Lately, in fact over the past couple of weeks the RB’s have been stepping up with Gaylord, Fields, Rogers, Smith, Kellah, Logan, Pauley, Baxter, Haynesworth, Knight, Monk, Davidson, Dillon, Ples, Martin……
But the key may be the small-sized RB……..Just look at these “little”, let’s say smaller guys and if you have been reading the site and following the games, you know what they have been doing and that they have been very busy and successful this season…..
RB Johnny King(Northeast Guilford) 5’4/135
RB Tuc Phan(Page) 5’5/170
RB Elijah Jordan(Smith) 5’7/155
RB Barry Brown(Ragsdale) 5’7/180……..
Tuc Phan and Johnny King will meeting face-to-face, one-on-one tomorrow night at NEG, when Page visits the NEG Rams…..
These “little dudes”, have been getting it done, while on the run, this season in Guilford County….Jordan last week hit for 306 yards on 44 carries and 4 TD’s…..Brown had 122 yards and 1 TD……King had 88 yards rushing and 1 TD and Tuc had multiple yards on offense and was playing nose guard on defense…….
A true “fearsome foursome”……
you are right andy these rb’s are small , makes you wonder can they handle getting hit all night against good defenses. with the exception to the kid from page he is very strong and built like a rock. he can probably handle the hits but king and jordan i dont know. when you carry the ball 44 times thats a horse but we all know you run a horse to death they get tired. can he handle getting hit all night by dudley defense, and page defense. thats going to be a test and i hope they all do great. these guys are tough and they deserve the best , the heart of a lion but dont run them to much, save some for the play-offs.
a lot of these little running backs are getting hit by 160 lb safeties and 180 lb linebackers. I know there are exceptions but it’s not like they are getting smacked by Ray Lewis every night.
I remember what it was like being one of those 155lb DBs seeing a kid the size of Michael Fields (220 and 4.5 speed) coming at you in the open field. My thoughts were always the same. ‘Lord help me…technique…technique…don’t get ran over…don’t whiff…don’t get embarrassed…get em’ on the ground.’
I’ve been on both sides of this thing. I would rather be the small running back taking on a 200lb LB than the small DB taking on the beast at RB. But 44 carries is a lot for any running back. I don’t care how shifty you are. You may only get hit straight up about 10 times, but that’s a lot of times to get taken to the ground. That’s going to add up, especially at 155. I personally think that’s too much. I would never run a kid that much and no coach would run my kid like that. I love the game of football, but I think that borders on abuse. These are still growing kids.
Yes, I do remember when Fritz ran Dion Bratcher like that (35 times a game). He was listed at 5’9” and 180, but more like 5’7” 170. He was built like a rock, but still too many carries for a high school kid.
#Dion Bratcher – Southeast Guilford – 384 – 2,551 – 28 TDS.#
He had more carries than any kid in the state that year. SEG almost ran him to a state championship, but I felt and still feel he was ran too much.
Maybe we are just falling in line with the President’s Plan and we are seeing a major trend toward downsizing…
I bet some of those defensive line coaches are still saying, “we need to get some stops from our big boys along the line of scrimmage”.
Dont forget about Muhammad Khellah from Northern, he is a little guy too. When they played Dudley he took some VICIOUS HITS!!. But he is a tough little guy.
Mark,
Not when they play DUDLEY, there getting hit by 235lb LB’s and company also getting hit by DL which are close to 280-290…I give it up to these kids there tough…lol
Right you are. Dudley D is exceptional – problem for opponents is those 235 lb LBs are fast too. Can’t get a corner on them and they’ll still knock you into next week. But as a rule most defenses around here are stocked with 220 lb linemen, 180-190 lb LBs and 150-160 lb DBs. Teams give up size for speed – they may have some big boys on the sidelines but if they can’t run they can’t play. Of course there are more than a few of these “undersized†defenders that can bring the pain.
The relatively small size of high school defenders is one of the reasons why it was so fun to watch a “kid†like Toney Baker when he was at Ragsdale – he was fast enough to run away from people and big and tough enough to smack people into the turf. Wish I could have seen what he could have done against a defense as good as Dudley.
Man that kid from Smith (#7) is awesome. He reminds me of Noelle Devine who plays for West Virginia, or Devin McCluster. I don’t know if he is quite that fast, but he sure doesn’t shy away from contact. I want to see what he does agaist Dudley, if anything!!!
Point well taken. That Elijah Jordan kid, from Smith, is something and he is a little dude with a big heart and big dreams and the reality part is not so far away for him and his teammates….
Thuc Phan has legit 4.3 speed. He has been electronically timed at multiple college camps and combines under 4.4.
So why does such a small kid with legit 4.4 open field speed line up at Nose guard? makes no sense…
Because he is around a center and sacking a QB is less then 2 seconds sometimes. He only plays there 5 snaps a game.
4.3 speed doesn’t make you quick – it makes you fast. As in running away from DBs into the end zone fast. I still say it’s a waste of a stud offensive players energy to line him up at one of the most brutal positions on the field.
Hey Mark,
Why don’t you let the coaches at Page worry about where Thuc Phan plays? I mean, I know that we are all arm chair QB’s, but I’m sure the coaches have their reasons. And if you haven’t noticed how QUICK Thuc is, then you really need to pay more attention during games.
The games that I’ve seen he makes three to four tackles for losses, and yes I believe Pager is right, I don’t see him in there the whole game at nose. From all the games that I’ve seen there seems to be a three man rotation at nose.