Is Weisman a 25 carry per game back??

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
Iowa's running back is ranked 2nd in the Big Ten in rushing after two games and he is 9th in the nation with 280 rushing yards and his 50 carries in two games is tied for 4th most in the nation. 50 carries in two games is an average of 25 per game, even I can do that math. More math tells me that is a pace for 300 carries is 12 games this year. Is that too many for Weisman? Shonn Greene toted the ball 307 times for Iowa in 2008, but he was Iowa's featured back. Jewell Hampton had a few carries per game but it was primarily a Shonn Greene affair, en route to his Doak Walker award winning season which was also one for the Iowa record books.


Is Mark Weisman that kind of guy?


He has a punishing running style and is one of the strongest players on the team, but I worry about his durability because of how he runs. Greene took some hits too, but not to the percentage that Weisman does considering Weisman's running style is more vertical than was Greene's. I also worry a bit about Weisman's fatigue factor making him more of a target. I'm not saying Greene was in better shape, but there have been times during certain drives this year where Weisman's tongue has been wagging a bit on some carries given Iowa's uptempo offense -- it's still odd typing that -- and the number of plays per game they are running.


HawkeyeGameFilm, who is presently doing scouting work for an NFL team, tweeted this last weekend:


https://twitter.com/hawkeyegamefilm/statuses/376487343034998784


In two games, Iowa has run 167 plays; 80 plays vs NIU and 87 against Missouri State. The Ferentz era average plays per game is around 65, so we're talking about a huge increase in volume here. Given Iowa's strength is going to come from the rushing game this year, if they average 75 plays per game for this season and they run the ball around 65% of the time, that's 49 carries per game. The temptation will be there to keep feeding Weisman the ball 25-plus times per game. That still leaves over 20 carries for everyone else, which includes Damon Bullock, Jordan Canzeri and LeShun Daniels. I think Daniels is going to keep climbing the ladder and he'll wind up with second most carries this year, as long as he hangs on to the football. There's room for Canzeri in the mix Kirk Ferentz said during his Wednesday night radio show that he could get more and more carries as the season goes along.


I like Weisman and I love seeing his power displayed on the field. I was chatting with a friend of mine that while I like Weisman and while there is a place for him to be sure, he has little home run potential and this offense needs someone in there who is a threat to take the ball to the house, just to take some pressure off of the passing game. Weisman is never gonna be that guy and perhaps Iowa doesn't have that guy on the offense; they are what they are and grinding it out is just going to be a part of the process for these Hawkeyes. There's little one can do about it right now and look for a healthy dose of Weisman this Saturday in Ames, which is the best thing to do given how the Cyclones gave up nearly 200 yards to UNI's running back two weeks ago.


Weisman is going to get a lot of carries this year...I just hope he can make it to the finish line. Even Shonn Greene was knocked out of a game during his record setting season.


LINKS
What are the keys to winning Cy-Hawk game? Fox Sports 1 analyst tells us | Hawk Central
Chizik leaving ISU sent Valley grad Boffeli to Iowa | Hawk Central
Ferentz radio — Room for all four RBs | TheGazette
Iowa feels good about its King | TheGazette
Renewing Iowa-Iowa State rivalry for ’77 wasn’t easy | TheGazette
Ulis to make announcement Friday | TheGazette
OMG! Big Ten has good slate of games Saturday | TheGazette
 
He's good, but nope. I'd say around 15 carries the way he runs. Otherwise, he's gonna get hurt. Even if he was super durable, he wouldn't be the main back for most schools because he lacks break away speed.
 
I fully expect(hope for) Daniels to shoulder more of the load as the season goes on.

Greene was funny. he would get up slow after the first carry of the game like he was already hurt/gassed, but when they snapped the ball, he was ready to go.
 
Iowa is not going to run the ball anywhere close to 65% of the time.

Weisman may average just over 20. He may not have home run potential, but he'll hit a lot more doubles and triples than the rest of the RB on the team. Its not an accident that he keeps breaking off 20+ runs.
 
The problem is he is a fullback and not a running back. Yes his stats are big now but becuase of his work load and less than stellar defensive opponents. Come conference time where the players are bigger faster and they know Mark all too well they will be stuffig him and his numbers will drop. He did a more than great job of filling in last year and it was a surprise but now its time to put him back where he needs to be playing. I know everyone will give me crap for saying this. Put Daniels in and let Mark block for him and watch the making of the next great Iowa RB. I think Mark would be so much more effective getting the ball about 3 yards closer to the line of scrimmage.
 
Didn't we question the same thing about Shawn Greene?

With that being said, I don't think Weisman is as durable as Greene based on last year's injuries. Also, unless there are injuries to other RB I don't think he will continue to see 25 plus carries per game.
 
If we had another option Id say no. But the truth is that the other three backs are not really B1G quality backs. Daniels MIGHT be, but he is a Freshman. Bullock and Canzeri are not gonna feed the bulldog.
 
Weisman has a career 5.2 ypc on 209 carries. He destroyed conference opponent Minnesota. He averaged 4.5ypc on 26 carries against Michigan State, who had the 8th best rushing defense in the country last year. He did struggle some after his injury, but is back to averaging 5.6ypc this year.

But, lets ignore all that and complain about him.
 
I think weisman will eventuallybe used more as a decoy. With him in there it should open up the passing game.
 
ICHawk24 said:
Iowa is not going to run the ball anywhere close to 65% of the time.

Weisman may average just over 20. He may not have home run potential, but he'll hit a lot more doubles and triples than the rest of the RB on the team. Its not an accident that he keeps breaking off 20+ runs.
Click to expand...

teams use the 'preseason' to work on the running game. so what we see displayed now is not necessarily how the season will play out.

fry did the same thing - he says in the video linked below: teams win games with defense and the running game - go to 6:30 on the video clip.

Hayden Fry - Bitchy Press Conference - YouTube
 
Watching Hayden just now on that video I said to myself, "My goodness what it used to be like when the Iowa coach showed fire". Is he ********? Yeah, but at least he's acting like a man instead of a acting like a little spoiled rotten kid that cries when any reporter asks him a real question.
 
No. He gets punished or doles it out on nearly every run. Even 20 carries of that kind border on excessive. I don't care how rock solid you are...physiology, physics and biology always win.
 
FreedComanche said:
Watching Hayden just now on that video I said to myself, "My goodness what it used to be like when the Iowa coach showed fire". Is he ********? Yeah, but at least he's acting like a man instead of a acting like a little spoiled rotten kid that cries when any reporter asks him a real question.
Click to expand...

Hayden was and always will be the man, time for him to have a statue outside Kinnick.

Also, he proves the point you don't have to stay within the family to get a good coach. He was a texan who had never been to Iowa and became a legend here. I hope the search committee remembers that when the time comes.
 
Honestly, I'm with Peoria. I thought last year was mostly about the competition(or lack of) #45 put the big numbers on. But MSU, was different. Proved me wrong. What's the saying - do it once its a fluke, twice its trend, three times its the truth. Maybe that says more about my lack of confidence in the Iowa offense scoring 24 each week.

They really do need to hit some big plays. a la Damian Sims spelling Albert Young.
 
Can he carry 25-30 times. Sure he can. He's done it a few times already. Could he stay healthy all year doing it?? I don't think there is a good reason to find out the answer to that. I agree with those suggesting 15-20 is plenty since there are 3 other backs that are capable of carrying the ball. The only logical reason to not split the carries up more would be if Weisman was as good as Greene or Sedrick Shaw or Tavian Banks someone that's an absolute game changing stud. I don't see that much of a difference between the top 3 guys other then their styles of play and how the coaches prioritize what they'd like to do more of. If Iowa was more of a spread team Bullock and Canzeri would be out there more then Weisman. It can be a long year for running backs. It will be interesting to see how they distribute carries now that Daniels is clearly in the mix too.
 
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