Nate Meier

Foval21 said:
you are right being on pace to break the career rushing record doesnt equal flourishing.
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He was above average. He received a **** ton of carries, and therefore a ton of yards.

Coker averaged 4.9 ypc, which is nothing to sneeze at, but nothing spectacular, either (especially since he padded his stats nicely against crap defenses).

Shonn Greene averaged 5.5 ypc in his first two seasons at Iowa. Then he exploded upon returning in 2008, averaging 6 ypc on 307 carries. That, my good friend, is flourishing.

But then again, it's not really fair to hold Coker, or any back, up to Greene's standard. So let's compare Coker to some other backs we've had recently.

2009-2010
Adam Robinson averaged 4.6 ypc as a sophomore, and had the same average for his career. Brandon Wegher averaged 4 ypc as a true freshman the same year.

2005-2007
Albert Young averaged 5.4 ypc in his sophomore season, and 4.8 for his career (after all the injuries). He also averaged 8.9 yards per reception (on 79 receptions), compared to Coker's 7.8 yard average (on 23 receptions).

Damian Sims averaged 5 ypc in his first year of being the second half of our RB tandem, and averaged 5.4 for his career.

2002-2004
Fred Russell averaged 5.8 ypc in his first season as a starter, and 5.3 ypc for his career.

Jermelle Lewis averaged 5.8 ypc in 2002, and then after the injuries his career average sunk to 5.1 ypc.

Summary
That's every starting running back or duo mate going back to 2002 (with the exception of 2004, for obvious reasons). Coker's numbers are much closer to those of Robinson/Wegher than they are to those of Greene/Young(2005)/Russell. And Robinson is the guy who got written off, more than anyone in this group, as being average at best.

But if you gave Robinson 281 carries, with his average, he'd have put up 1293 yards. Give Young (2005) those 281 carries, he'd have 1517 yards. Sims would have had the same numbers with his career average. Lewis and Russell would have had 1630 apiece in 2002 (1433 and 1489 yards, respectively, using their career averages). And Greene would have had 1686 in 2008.

Coker was a solid back, but he was nothing spectacular. Not even close.
 
averaging 5 yds per carry when teams know you are getting the ball with the number of carries he got is great. robinson running against 8 and 9 man boxes couldnt put up those yds. i am not saying coker is the greatest thing since sliced bread but remember he really had no back up to spell him and played every down. even greene had hampton in his yr as a starter. backs wear down and coker did but he wore down less than those other backs (outside of greene) would have had with the same work load.
 
Foval21 said:
averaging 5 yds per carry when teams know you are getting the ball with the number of carries he got is great. robinson running against 8 and 9 man boxes couldnt put up those yds. i am not saying coker is the greatest thing since sliced bread but remember he really had no back up to spell him and played every down. even greene had hampton in his yr as a starter. backs wear down and coker did but he wore down less than those other backs (outside of greene) would have had with the same work load.
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We had a QB throw for over 3,000 yards last year. Vandy wasn't the most efficient passer, but our passing game with McNutt was far more respectable than what we had in 2008. Back then, EVERYONE knew Greene was getting the ball.

And Young could have easily held up to 281 carries. He had 249 in 2005. We're talking about 32 carries spread out over 12 games. That's not much. And he didn't really hit his stride until the Big Ten schedule started. He got better as the year went on, much like Greene did in 2008.

Like I said, Coker's nothing spectacular. He's a solid back, but hardly irreplaceable. I'm not worried about the running game at all. I couldn't say the same when Greene left, or when Young/Sims left.
 
Greene obviously is the cream in this topic but he also had one of the two if not even the best offensive line in the Ferentz era. Not to mention Moeaki and Myers for tight ends. Not to mention he was young for a sophomore. No, Coker isn't sliced bread but he was pretty darn good considering all things. Young also had Drew Tate as the QB, Scott Chandler as TE, Tom Busch blocking for him as well as a viable backup (Simms.) Its hard to say what may have been with Coker when all was said and done but is also hard to dismiss what he did do.
 
shuman346 said:
Greene obviously is the cream in this topic but he also had one of the two if not even the best offensive line in the Ferentz era. Not to mention Moeaki and Myers for tight ends. Not to mention he was young for a sophomore. No, Coker isn't sliced bread but he was pretty darn good considering all things. Young also had Drew Tate as the QB, Scott Chandler as TE, Tom Busch blocking for him as well as a viable backup (Simms.) Its hard to say what may have been with Coker when all was said and done but is also hard to dismiss what he did do.
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To totally dismiss what Coker did would be wrong. But it's also not really true to say he flourished. He had flaws that were obvious, and they only became more clear with the heavy workload.

Didn't have quick feet or great speed (certainly not great acceleration). Didn't have outstanding vision (this was his biggest weakness, IMO). Didn't make many guys miss, but then he didn't just bowl over them very often, either. He had a lot of carries that most of the backs I mentioned would have gotten more out of; whether because they were faster, or more slippery, or could run over the man in front of them, or had the vision to get around them (Greene had all of those traits).
 
Valid points but if I'm not mistaken Coker was also 19 years old last season. Young was 20 in his second year and Greene was I think 23 in 2008. For a 19 year old true sophomore... pretty darn good.
 
coker also was without a decent fb until rogers got back. and rogers is solid but he is a hit or miss guy. he throws his body at 1 guy and doesnt usually make more than 1 block. he had flaws of course so do all backs but to say that others would do the same or better in the situation (except greene) is false because none of them had the workload he did. remember he also needed to control the ball with coker because the defense was weaker than most iowa defenses. and the fact that you can have that high of ypc with that many carries is impessive considering the more carries usually the lower the ypc will be.
 
Again, its hard to say what may have happened next year but he was a young sophomore. Last season Iowa had a void at TE and a deep threat. Greene as I said had a Soph QB but he also had two stud TEs and a GREAT offensive line. Bringing Russell into this is a far cry. He also had the runner up Heisman finalist, All American TE, a GREAT offensive line and good WRs.
 
If he's going to be on offense, how about make Meier a fullback who actually touches the ball instead of the traditional plow that we've seen?
 
shuman346 said:
If he's going to be on offense, how about make Meier a fullback who actually touches the ball instead of the traditional plow that we've seen?
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many thought that would happen when rogers got moved to fullback. and it hasnt fingers crossed for this yr. i think meier ends up on defense in the end with that speed and size he will be a force at lb or de (if he adds weight).
 
Foval21 said:
many thought that would happen when rogers got moved to fullback. and it hasnt fingers crossed for this yr. i think meier ends up on defense in the end with that speed and size he will be a force at lb or de (if he adds weight).
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I agree I'm just thinking that may be where he would need to be for him to stay on the offensive side of the ball.
 
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