Akrum Wadley 9 68 7.6 0

[MelroseHawkins]

For those of you that think Wadley is a great running back or even a very good one, what games are you actually watching? He falls down without getting touched and fumbles a lot. Like every other running back on this team, he looks ok and not much better than that.

Maybe stating the obvious, and I like MW when we are near the goal line and how hard he works, but watching Iowa running backs and then flipping to watch almost any other team in the conference, including crappy teams like Illinois, is kind of sad.

Weisman has not had a 100yrd game in 17 games. Wadley had it the first game he played. His 2nd game he got 68 yrds on 9 carries. I'm no rocket scientist, but ..........??? So what, you give Wadley more carries & it doesn't go as planned then back off a bit. The guys getting around 7 yrd per carry, NW game & last Saturday, so it's worth a try, IMO.

 

[DJL]

For those of you that think Wadley is a great running back or even a very good one, what games are you actually watching? He falls down without getting touched and fumbles a lot. Like every other running back on this team, he looks ok and not much better than that.

Maybe stating the obvious, and I like MW when we are near the goal line and how hard he works, but watching Iowa running backs and then flipping to watch almost any other team in the conference, including crappy teams like Illinois, is kind of sad.

7 YPC, and he gets to the hole quick and fights for extra yards. He's not a world beater yet, and has to clean up the fumbles, but he is very young and explosive. I like the way he runs. He's not Melvin Gordon, but he's certainly more dynamic than MW or DB. He needs more carries earlier in the game.

 

[mysteron]

At one point MW had 11carries for 17yards and Wadley didn't get the call until I believe around 3 minutes left in 2nd quarter. Is this correct?

I read on some post-game analysis, I forget where, that MW was stopping a lot before contact. It's strange. He CAN be a powerful runner but he also is guilty of this. And after contact. Maybe he is banged up??

I always thought Coker was guilty of this as well at times. Kind of like they freeze. Not out of fear but maybe just not natural or instictive runners??

Coker over 1500 offensive yards his final yr as a Hawkeye. 15 TDs. Bowl MVP in 2010. Yep, he sucked.

 

[doclee]

Check out the Gamefilm blog on Iowa's O vs MN; he has a good analysis of Akrum.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I agree. Iowa is not winning the field position game with Weisman between the 20's. Problem is that when he does come in on short yardage or goal line, the other team will know that. But, he still seems to find a way to get it done. I think Wadley could do well moving the chains & help give the D some rest. Also, he may bring a receiving component/threat. Weisman is kind of like a "type-cast" actor, in a way.

Yup. I like Weisman as much as anyone - but IMO he should be more of a situational back, or a change-of-pace type of guy that you can use later in the game when the opposing D is tired and you're salting the game away and just want to pound it. I love him in short yardage situations - 3rd or 4th and short, 1st and goal from the 3, etc. He's darn near impossible to stop for a loss and nearly always gets it done in those spots.

On the flip side, you're not usually going to get more than 5-7 yards or so out of one of his carries, either, with rare exceptions where there's a huge hole and he gets 5-10 yards past the LOS before anyone touches him.

Just no real offensive explosiveness with him carrying the ball every down. 3 yards and cloud of dust.

I haven't enough of Wadley to make a judgment.. I was on vacation last week missed the NW game unfortunately, but seems like he should get some carries, especially given that he's our only 100 yard rusher on the season.

 

[HawgEyeState]

He and Andrew Stone both had great games outside of the fumble. It is good to see that Iowa is building more depth at those positions.

What I didn't understand was the decision to NOT play Akrum Wadley until the last drive of first
half, when we were already down by 3 TDs

Why wouldn't you have planned to alternate the RBs to keep MN off balance a bit.

Holy Crud