The underused excuse gets thrown out the window because he went to Rutgers, got a ton of playing time and was still average. I will agree with your last sentence, though. He was not a good fit for our offensive scheme. The reason he’s been a better professional player than college player is because of the system he plays in now is better suited for him than most college offenses.
Also, when you claim to be a “power back” but you get stopped in short yardage situations easily, it kind of makes it hard for the coaches to play you.
Again, it's a perception vs reality thing. This isn't aimed at you DTP - I'm just looking at how the narratives sometimes don't match the reality.
Narrative - Walton has a nose for the end zone was great in short yardage, and Gus was terrible.
Reality - Gus was as good or better in those situations.
Narrative - Gus was only good against bad competition.
Reality - If anything, that applies much more to Walton. Walton's performance against bad teams wildly skewed the perception of his overall ability. It's seems weird that people would apply that logic to Gus and not Walton, but I think that's where the South Florida bias comes into play.
Carries inside the 10 yd line:
Walton - 53 carries 15 TD's - 28% TD Rate
Gus - 48 carries 13 TD's - 27% TD Rate
Carries on 3rd or 4th with 1-2 yds to go:
Walton - 16 for 34 yds, 2.1 ypc
Gus - 26 for 126 yds, 4.8 ypc
Vs P5
Walton - 283-1,081 yds, 3.8 ypc, 11 TD's - Scored a TD every 26 carries
Gus - 259-1,071 yds, 4.1 ypc, 10 TD's - Scored a TD every 26 carries
Vs Non-P5
Walton - 111-914 yds, 8.2 ypc, 15 TD's - Scored a TD every 7 carries
Gus - 91-619 yds, 6.8 ypc, 8 TD's - Scored a TD every 11 carries
This is a classic case of how to miss on an evaluation
Walton - When you focus only on the positive and dismiss all the negative - you miss in your evaluation.
Gus - When you focus only on the negative and dismiss all the positive - you miss in your evaluation.