Joseph Yearby Freshman Highlights

One last thing though. Not saying he's Edgerrin James or anything. Edge didn't break too many long runs and I considered him the best back that ever played here and he's up there for NFL when he was in his prime too. He never broke too many long runs. Edge had top notch vision and patience.

While Yearby has reminded me of Dunn in some ways in the past it's not necessarily saying he will be as good as Dunn was either.
 
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Geo, I am not sure if your last name is Yearby but I just do not see it. Heck look at the highlights, where are the broken tackles? Where is the elite speed? Most of those highlights were against NOBODY and he could have driven a truck through most of those holes. The Cooper comparison is spot on. Cooper was quick not fast, both were one (great) cut backs. They both had good hands. I am telling you this kid will get hurt if he gets too many touches in big games. Look at the highlights how many times did he get near a few guys and just cover up? I saw at least two or three and thats on the 'highlight' tape. We need to stop comparing him to any pro backs because I doubt he even gets drafted. I think he will be a third down back here and possibly end up behind Gray and Gus this year and then splitting with Gray and Walton in the future…. and to anyone that wants to even try to compare him to Duke is fuggin NUTS!
 
Geo, I am not sure if your last name is Yearby but I just do not see it. Heck look at the highlights, where are the broken tackles? Where is the elite speed? Most of those highlights were against NOBODY and he could have driven a truck through most of those holes. The Cooper comparison is spot on. Cooper was quick not fast, both were one (great) cut backs. They both had good hands. I am telling you this kid will get hurt if he gets too many touches in big games. Look at the highlights how many times did he get near a few guys and just cover up? I saw at least two or three and thats on the 'highlight' tape. We need to stop comparing him to any pro backs because I doubt he even gets drafted. I think he will be a third down back here and possibly end up behind Gray and Gus this year and then splitting with Gray and Walton in the future…. and to anyone that wants to even try to compare him to Duke is fuggin NUTS!

spot on
 
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He's a good RB. Nowhere near Duke, Dunn, Cook, but he's a good one. Graig Cooper is a more accurate comparison.

Yearby is a way better back than Cooper and it's not even close. Cooper didn't play any competition near to what Yearby did in Dade. Cooper was ok here and quite a bit overrated coming out.


While it's premature. Dunn is who Yearby reminded me of when watching him at Central. Although I think Dunn was a bit faster.

While I do believe Cook is better than Yearby and has the higher ceiling. Yearby is no slouch and is a top flight back.

Yearby what stands and stood out about him is his footwork, cutting, explosion in the first few yards and his ability in the passing game.

While I don't think Yearby will break the records Duke did here. Duke was special. I think Yearby will be a great back and I can see him getting over the 1000 yard mark during his time here at least once or twice.

My only knock on Yearby is he needs a little more meat in his thighs which is what will help him bust through more tackles. His lower body is what he needs to work on.


Yearby is not slow, he has good speed but he is not a burner either.


He'll give you consistent 5-10 to 15 yarders and the occasional 50 yarder every now and then. You don't need to be a home run threat to be a great back.

Too many peeps are enamored with speed a bit too much though. Yes I like speed just as much as everyone here but speed is not everything at all. It's about your technique, patience, vision. It's the little things. For every speedy back you list I can list you backs who were not burners who are/were just as good.

Here's my very long winded thing with Yearby:

IMO - he falls into the same category as Graig Cooper and Tyrone Moss. Both were good, productive RB's here, but their talent level was a bit overrated coming in. They're kind of hated on because they didn't live up to their hype, but they still were good RB's. Yearby is the same.

Moss - the comparison was Gore/McGahee. Cooper - the comparison was Reggie Bush. Yearby - being compared here to Duke/Dunn. It's just not realistic, and kind of unfair to throw out those comparisons.

Here's why:

HIGH SCHOOL & RECRUITING:

A large reason why Yearby rushed for so many yards in Dade is because he got so many carries. Take any really good Dade/Broward RB, and Yearby had about a full seasons worth more of carries during his career. There's probably 20 or 30 So Fla RB's that could've had similar total yards if they had gotten as many carries as Yearby did. If you look at his per carry numbers - they weren't that special.

Yearby was kind of a victim of his early success - rushing for 2,000 yards as a Sophomore. That caused his recruiting rating to be inflated early, and no one ever brought it back down to a more realistic/accurate level. The same kind of thing happened with Charlie Jones and Kylan Robinson when they rushed for 400 yards in one game.

PRODUCTION

Freshman Year:

Yearby - 86 carries - 509 yds - 5.9 avg. - 1 TD
Cooper - 125 carries - 682 yds - 5.5 avg. - 4 TD
Dunn - 68 carries - 500 yds - 7.5 avg. - 4 TD - 350 rec yds - 6 rec TD

Yearby's numbers are similar to Cooper, but Dunn was just WAY more explosive. Cooper actually backed up Javarris James his freshman year, much like Yearby was backing up Gus Edwards this year. Lamar Miller jumped ahead of Damien Berry his freshman year. Duke jumped ahead of Mike James.

Gus Edwards was hurt the FSU and UVA games, but when he came back he started over Yearby and got more carries in the Pitt in South Carolina games. If Yearby was going to be "great", that wouldn't have happened.

Yearby had 62% of his carries 67% of his yards in 4 games - FAMU, Ak St., Cinncinnati, UNC. He had zero carries against Louisville and Nebraska. Yearby's numbers are a bit inflated against bad opponents whereas Cooper was shouldering a bigger load against better opponents, on a less talented Miami team.


SPEED:

Yes speed isn't everything, but Dunn was a 4.3 guy while Yearby is a 4.6 guy. HUGE difference. And if you're a small RB that's not going to be breaking tackles, speed becomes that much more important.

Yearby had 86 carries, and only 3 went over 15 yards, and he only had 1 TD.

It's not just that Yearby isn't a home run hitter, he's not even hitting doubles. If you look at any Miami RB, and I do mean ANY - on a per carry basis, they were breaking long runs and scoring TD's a much higher % of the time than Yearby. I literally think Lee Chambers is the only exception here. If you did the same with his high school stats vs other top Dade/Broward RB's, same results.

Yearby is lightning quick, and will avoid the first guy, problem is he just can't get away from the 2nd guy.

Yearby to me doesn't look like he has the frame to put on much more weight. It worked out for Duke because he had speed to spare. Duke could afford to go from a 4.4 to a 4.5. But Yearby can't afford to go from a 4.6 to a 4.7.

FUTURE:

Graig Cooper's Soph Year - 171 carries - 841 yds - 4.9 avg. - 4 TD.

I think that's a realistic stat line for Yearby this year, but I'd put that on the high end. He's pretty even with Gus now, and if Gray continues to get better and with Walton coming in - I just don't see him as head and shoulders above those other guys to get the majority of the carries. I wouldn't argue against him being the best of that group, but he's not THAT much better. It's pretty close.

As far as Miami RB's - I think he's in the Tyrone Moss, Graig Cooper, Damien Berry Tier. Again, if you want to argue he's the best of that bunch, I have no problem with that. But they're all just good, productive RB's. They're not 1,000 yard, 1st Team All-ACC types (3rd team ACC maybe).

IMO - people want to either over rate him and make him the next Duke/Dunn, or under rate him by saying he's a bust and he sucks. I don't agree with either. He's just a good solid player, like a lot of guys on this roster. This board seems to always want to make a player out to be great or terrible - but has a problem when someone is just "good".

Tyrone Moss busted cause he ate too much and was really really out of shape.

Cooper was extremely overrated. That dude ran way too much east and west and danced too much and got nowhere. He was OK. He was not good at all, he was ok but he was the only thing we really had.

Damien Berry was a tier above Cooper. He was good, not great but he was good.


If we are talking about stats in high school. Yearby averaged 8 yards a carry in high school career which is just like stat lines of other great backs that have come out recently or over time. He averaged 10 a carry his senior year and missed 3 games to end the playoffs if I recall correctly.

Duke and Cook are the only backs I remember in recent history that had averaged 10 yards a carry their whole high school career. They were special.

Yearby runs north and south. Not east and west like Cooper.

In the low 4.6 to high 4.5 range in his forty yard dash.

While I didn't compare Yearby to Duke or Cook as I think both are better than him. I do believe he will be a great back here.

Yearby reminds me a bit of Dunn in his style when I had watched him at Central. And as for LuCanes comment on it. More like that yes. As Dunn was faster.

I will say though if you believe Dunn ran a legitimate 4.3, I doubt it. 4.4 yes, Dunn had the long speed that Yearby doesn't posses though as he was very good in track and ran a 100 meter in 10.3


I do recall many times where Yearby was brought out to the field before Gus. Yearby wasn't given many opportunities near the goal line though as Gus did. However Yearby was more effective in more touches and yards and plays he had. You can make the argument Gus has done good against bad competition as well.

*** Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but Yearby was a great back in high school too, I don't see what you're trying to discredit him from there. Running for 10 yards a carry your senior year against top 8A football in dade and 8 for your career is pretty good.

We'll see what unfolds this season.

I'm not trying to discredit Yearby at all. I'm just trying to show reasons why I think Graig Cooper is a more fair and accurate comparison than Warrick Dunn.

Some points to add to why I think this:

YEARBY vs. EDWARDS

Look at the FAMU, Ark St., Cincinnati, and UNC games

Yearby vs. Edwards.jpg

- 60% of Yearby's carries came against these 4 teams. 30% of Gus's carries came against these 4 teams.
- Gus's 3 TD Runs were 15, 27, 40 yds. Yearby had 3 runs over 15 yards all year.
- Outside of these 4 games, Yearby had 32 carries - 165 yds - 0 TD's
- There were 10 games when both were healthy. RB that got the first carry in those games - Gus 7, Yearby 3
- Gus was ahead of Yearby on the depth chart for the last 2 games, after having missed the last 2 1/2 games with injury
- Gus ypc - 5.7. Yearby ypc - 5.9. With Gus getting goal line and short yardage carries where he's only expected to get 1 or 2 yds, you'd think Yearby would have a significantly higher ypc

That's why I say if Yearby was going to be a "great" RB, there would be a bigger gap in these numbers. I also think Edwards isn't given enough credit though. I think they're both "good" RB's.

YEARBY - HIGH SCHOOL

Here's a comparison of recent Central RB's careers, and you can see they're pretty similar (except Cook).

Yearby - Central RB's.jpg

Saying Yearby averaged 8 ypc and Cook averaged 10 is kind of misleading - it's a bigger gap than that.

Central is a powerhouse, so these guys were running behind D1 offensive lineman. If you plug in a decent RB, you're going to put up big numbers.

But on a per carry basis you can see Cook was special, and Yearby wasn't. I'm sticking to Yearby put up such big numbers because he got SO MANY more carries.

YEARBY - COOPER/DUNN

I get wanting to compare a current player to a great player. It's more exciting that way - but I also think it's over the top a lot of times. Yearby is small and quick - so he's Warrick Dunn. Berrios is small quick and white - so he's Wes Welker.

To me it's kind of like saying "Darrel Langham is 6' 4" and plays the ball well in the air - he reminds me of Randy Moss". Langham is nowhere near the athlete Moss is, like Yearby is nowhere near the athlete Dunn was.

As for Cooper - here's what I see that he shares with Yearby:

Both are small/thin, and I didn't see either as having the frame to put on more weight. Both are quick/jittery is their style, running through tackles is not. Both will hit a big play every once in a while, but both are more consistent chunks of yardage type players. Both have decent speed. Both can be used in the passing game. Cooper was even a little faster and more versatile - he was used on returns as well. Both came in a bit overhyped. Both will end up productive Miami RB's, but fall short of their hype.

What I really think is similar is - when both get in the open field, they're still looking for a make a cut. That's their game.

There's always comments in Yearby threads like "Yearby makes one cut, and he's gone!". But he's not gone. That's just not his game. That's not Cooper's game. That's Warrick Dunn's game.

Because of the hype and comparisons which shouldn't have been made (Reggie Bush, Warrick Dunn) - using Cooper as a comparison is now somehow an insult? Cooper wasn't a bust - he was just rated too high coming in. Expectations were too high. He came in as a 5 star #1 RB in the country in 2007 when really he was the same 3 star #30 RB in the country that he was in 2006.

Cooper gets a bad rap. He was better than "ok". He's 6th on the all team Miami rushing list. He really only played 3 years. He played with Javarris James and Damien Berry - more "good" RB's that were able to stick in the NFL a couple years. Miami wasn't loaded, but it wasn't like they had "nothing".

Here's some Cooper Highlights - he was good

[video=youtube;rnspJ-2Jd3I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnspJ-2Jd3I[/video]
 
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One last thing though. Not saying he's Edgerrin James or anything. Edge didn't break too many long runs and I considered him the best back that ever played here and he's up there for NFL when he was in his prime too. He never broke too many long runs. Edge had top notch vision and patience.

While Yearby has reminded me of Dunn in some ways in the past it's not necessarily saying he will be as good as Dunn was either.


Edge definitely used to be a burner - he ran a 4.38 at his pro day. He sort reinvented himself as a patient RB after tearing his ACL.

Here's an interesting stat - from the last 15 years, look at the Miami RB's career college YPC.

It's pretty dead on for how you'd rank them. Makes me appreciate Duke that much more

Miami RB YPC.jpg
 
Lol kid broke his leg 8 months before D1 ball... He is a dade county legend. He needs weight but he is going to be a very good college back.

Graig cooper comparison?? Coop was a nice back but had no balance... See one of the 10 or so times he tripped over grass.

Yearby can be a close approximation of Giovanni Bernard... Not quite as explosive but a **** good college back
 
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