Dameon Pierce, the player I'd most like to see IF we get a nice lead on the Doremats. You?

GatorTom85

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Mar 22, 2016
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If he was that much better bet your ass he would be playing more. He's a hell of a ball carrier who's time will come.
For the time being watch him get better as he keeps the pressure on the guys in front of him.

Exactly! I'd 3ven say his time is starting to come now but, given it is a process to build a gifted RB into an elite RB, we should try and be as patient as our coaches are being in trying to make that transition with him. Maybe with his continued development and landing a couple of the top RB prospects we are trying to close this recruiting cycle we can add RBU to our curriculum!
 

Marine1

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Dec 20, 2015
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Wow! Some of you guys totally amaze me!

We just had a game where our team fell behind by 18 and came back with the best offensive performance in a meaningful game since Tebow and it was done largely on the strength of the running game. We had not only one but two 100+ yard rushers and one of those had another near 100 yd. receiving performance as well. There were also major contributions made by everyone's favorite up and comers in Toney and Pierce and all some of you seem to want to do is complain! Need I remind you how much we have sucked offensively for the last decade?

Let me try and take a step back and try and evaluate the RB situation from a more holistic perspective. Coming into the season we had 5 RBs whom we all felt would give us a strong running attack. Unfortunately, the already questionable Oline struggled up front with an entirely new blocking scheme making them very ineffective in run blocking which seemed to be their only area of competence last year. On top of that Davis looked to have lost a bit from his injury and then got reinjured and so we were down to only 2 experienced backs. Meanwhile, Scarlett also seemed to have lost something over his year of penance but was at least still a beast as a pass blocker and was showing strength as a short yardage option. Perine, on the other hand, was our lone consistent contributor and has literally been getting better and better every week. That left the two new Freshmen RBs one of which, Lemons, who had showed massive potential in the offseason and then completely melted down once it began and the other, Pierce, who started showing serious potential when the season started albeit against the other team's 2nd team after the early games were in hand.

Once Davis went down, however, the RB position shrunk down to 3 with Pierce being thrust into the 3rd string position. Fortunately, at the same time, the OL started to gel to some degree and we started to have some success in the run game and the offense as a whole albeit moderate and intermittent. At that point Scarlett and Perine (and Franks to some degree) were largely on point in the running game due to their familiarity with the offense, their demonstrated ability to manage all the blocking schemes and their abilities catching the ball out of the backfield. Pierce remained in the late game closer role but was increasingly impressive with his raw skills of elusiveness, accelerating at the point of attack and surprising power after contact even though he is significantly smaller in stature and build than the other two. These trends have continued through each game until this week when Pierce started getting significant real playing time especially in the two back sets which were definitely a new wrinkle.

So, what does this all indicate about where all the RBs are relative to the coaches plans? To me it indicates that Scarlett and Perine have established themselves as the core RB group based on their experience, maturity, physical development and especially their overall grasp of the system. It also shows that the coaches have super high confidence and expectations for Pierce to the point that they are starting to be willing to put up with his inevitable freshman mistakes with missed blocking assignments and such and with his lack of physical maturity as evidenced by his fumble which was a result of his being man handled. The fact that they put him right back in and gave him the ball after his fumble says as much to me about their desire to help him grow into his bright future as anything because they need for him to learn from his mistakes and move on if he is going to learn to become the full contributor he seems destined to be. I therefore think the coaches are totally on top of this situation and the results since the KY game and especially this week clearly show we are heading in the right direction. I am therefore happy to chill, trust the coaches and celebrate the growth and overall results.

Good stuff. I would point out his power should not have been a surprise. He rated as one of the strongest players on the team. I was more surprised with his breakaway speed to be honest. I also can only recall one missed block all season. It appears to be a strength as is his work on special teams.

I think your analysis of Scarlett and Perine is spot on. Scarlett is way better than many were giving him credit for. He is a complete back. Perine is starting to exemplify the new Gator standard. He just keeps digging.

Pierce in another time or another place would be the rare 1000 yd rusher as a freshman. As it is he has 300 yards in just 5 games and just 35 carries and should end up with somewhere around 500-600 yds as a 3rd back. That would be awesome. My point has always been that he should be involved earlier. To use the same logic we’ve heard about him....look at how much stronger JS and LM looked late in the game. That fresh legs deal. I agree that Coach is on it and if we fall behind early he may continue to insert him earlier.
 

Ancient Reptile

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Mar 4, 2015
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Making a comparison by subtracting the long runs for Perine and Scarlett while not subtracting the "long" run of Pierce (all 8 yards of it!) is just dumb. Sorry to be so blunt, but there is not another accurate word. I have admired many of your posts but on this subject I fear you are blinded by passion.
 

Marine1

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Dec 20, 2015
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Making a comparison by subtracting the long runs for Perine and Scarlett while not subtracting the "long" run of Pierce (all 8 yards of it!) is just dumb. Sorry to be so blunt, but there is not another accurate word. I have admired many of your posts but on this subject I fear you are blinded by passion.

Good point. I agree we shouldn’t subtract the long gains. In fact that is where Pierce stands out the most...the ability to take it to the house and why he averages more yards per carry than most RB’s in the nation.
 

GatorStud

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I like the fact DM fed Pierce the ball again subsequent to the fumble. A combo show of confidence and not ending his carries on a bad vibe.
:cool:
 

Marine1

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He doesn't want to talk about Pierce's numbers on the year, just about his fumble yesterday. When he fell and cracked his back on the tackler's helmet, and the ball got jarred loose. That should've smartened folks up about Pierce, he says. lol! Mullen was so "smartened up" by it that he gave Pierce another carry on the next drive. Which he took for six yards - longer than Scarlett and Perine's YPC on the year.

What about Feleipe Franks? "Did the fumble smarten anyone up?" :rolleyes:

Kind of an odd discussion but I look at it this way. Scarlett has taken a lot of heat this year but is actually playing quite well all season. Perine had a tremendous breakout game against Vandy but has been very consistent all year. Now Pierce is catching some heat from a few but going into the game had the most 4th qtr yards and highest 4th qtr ypc in the nation and as a freshman no less. What a tremendous problem to have if you are Coach Mullen.

The debate basically exists due to some red herrings in the mix. Inferences that Pierce is a substandard blocker, he puts the ball on the ground, he cannot deliver vs. a fresh defense and does not have the confidence of the Coach. My position is the more opportunity he is given the more he will demonstrate his unique abilities. No way he should start over two producing upperclassmen. I favor the approach of mixing in some first half touches for him and took note of how strong the other two looked late game as a result of their fresher legs.

At any rate Coach has done a superb job countering any oline issues with great play calling and rotating 3 very good backs. What a strength this position group has been.
 

GatorMan5K

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Whatever. You’re going to be very disappointed in his success. He is an outstanding back and our leading rusher in ypc after 7 games. I suspect you don’t want him on the field. Great. I think Mullen used him perfectly today.
He may be over all the games, but with 10 carries against vandy, he was at the bottom.
Mullin sees his tallent, but he isn't going to ruin him by giving him the whole load all at once
 

Daryl

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While we all love Pierce, Id like to point out that maybe his YPC is higher because Mullen plays him in the 4th qtr after the other 2 bruisers have worn the opposing defenses down for 3 qtrs. Yes, he's going to be a good one, but we currently have 2 other good ones ahead of him as well.
 

Ancient Reptile

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Mar 4, 2015
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So did Jordan Scarlett's fumble today "smarten anyone up"? :rolleyes:

Point being, any ball carrier is liable to fumble once in awhile, ONE fumble is not a pattern, Dameon's Pierce's fumble a few weeks ago was not indicative of anything, and @Ancient Reptile's comment to the contrary was dumb.
With a cap your point might not be noticed. I won't point out all of the complications and nuances you are overlooking.
 

Marine1

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So did Jordan Scarlett's fumble today "smarten anyone up"? :rolleyes:

Point being, any ball carrier is liable to fumble once in awhile, ONE fumble is not a pattern, Dameon's Pierce's fumble a few weeks ago was not indicative of anything, and @Ancient Reptile's comment to the contrary was dumb.

Pierce had one fumble in 4 years of HS with a heavy workload. There is no worry there. Mullen has said as much.

I’d give him more work the rest of the way to further his development. Bottom line though is the RB position is loaded. Plenty of carries to distribute.
 

Ancient Reptile

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Mar 4, 2015
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So did Jordan Scarlett's fumble today "smarten anyone up"? :rolleyes:

Point being, any ball carrier is liable to fumble once in awhile, ONE fumble is not a pattern, Dameon's Pierce's fumble a few weeks ago was not indicative of anything, and @Ancient Reptile's comment to the contrary was dumb.
The discussion was a freshman vs upperclassmen. Scarlett fumbles 1.3 per cent of the time. Perine hasn't and Pierce 2.6 per cent. So Pierce has fumbled twice as much as Scarlett and more than four times as frequently as the upperclassmen. With your ability to spin and lack of logic you could be a big help to Elizabeth Warren. If you can regard 0.6 per cent as equal to 2.6 per cent, perhaps you can reverse the procedure for Pocahontas.
 

maheo30

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The discussion was a freshman vs upperclassmen. Scarlett fumbles 1.3 per cent of the time. Perine hasn't and Pierce 2.6 per cent. So Pierce has fumbled twice as much as Scarlett and more than four times as frequently as the upperclassmen. With your ability to spin and lack of logic you could be a big help to Elizabeth Warren. If you can regard 0.6 per cent as equal to 2.6 per cent, perhaps you can reverse the procedure for Pocahontas.

:burn2:
 

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