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Kevin Smith: Elite Feet and Elite Eyes

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77cane said:
Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore had great careers because of vision and great feet. Before Frank Gore's injury I thought he was going to be a faster version of Emmitt Smith.
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Beat me to it

Watching Gore with the 49ers was an absolute pleasure to see how a RB can use his eyes and feet and be dominant
 
JHallCanes said:
Didn’t Rex Ryan say that…

Oops
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Future superstar. Gonna be a battle to keep him on staff after he lands an elite stable of guys the next year or two. He’s gonna be naming his own price.
 
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brock said:
Rooster needs someone like kevin smith to help him improve his game even more. Great move getting him
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100% agree. You can see Knighton has a different level of speed and burst just by watching the spring drills clips. He looks like he's gotten bigger too. I hope he plays in the 195-200 lb range.

The vision & IMO decision making has been a struggle for Knighton so far - so I'm hoping Smith can help him start seeing & process things he's missing.
 
I can't knock anyone's vision as a running back, least of all Knighton.

You ever try running behind a line that can't consistently block anything and someone gets blown up every single play? That's no fun and it changes you as a back because you're wondering if the hole will be there or if it's going to be cleared when you get there. It cause you to overthink things, hesitate, and gets you killed on some plays.

We'll be improved here, then we can see what's up.
 
SayWhat said:
I can't knock anyone's vision as a running back, least of all Knighton.

You ever try running behind a line that can't consistently block anything and someone gets blown up every single play? That's no fun and it changes you as a back because you're wondering if the hole will be there or if it's going to be cleared when you get there. It cause you to overthink things, hesitate, and gets you killed on some plays.

We'll be improved here, then we can see what's up.
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It’s one thing to not get any push.

It is an entirely different animal having offensive linemen pushed into your lap two and three yards behind scrimmage as often as our backs have.
 
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TruCane81 said:
It’s one thing to not get any push.

It is an entirely different animal having offensive linemen pushed into your lap two and three yards behind scrimmage as often as our backs have.
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Here's just a couple examples (but there's a good amount more) of where Knighton's vision/decision making can improve.

OL opens a big hole, but Knighton just runs straight forward into the defender who's 5 yards away without attempting any type of move.

I'm not trying to say Knighton sucks here, so please don't take it like that - I'm just showing what I'm hoping Smith will help Knighton get better at.

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bshaw28 said:
Here's just a couple examples (but there's a good amount more) of where Knighton's vision/decision making can improve.

OL opens a big hole, but Knighton just runs straight forward into the defender who's 5 yards away without attempting any type of move.

I'm not trying to say Knighton sucks here, so please don't take it like that - I'm just showing what I'm hoping Smith will help Knighton get better at.

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The first one, he should've turned north on that one after faking down.

The second one, that's some of what I mentioned. You literally have a blocker right there and what's he do? He moves out of the way and comes down to block inside.
 
SayWhat said:
The first one, he should've turned north on that one after faking down.

The second one, that's some of what I mentioned. You literally have a blocker right there and what's he do? He moves out of the way and comes down to block inside.
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You talked about the OL getting blown up - but here they open a big hole. This is different - it's an example of downfield/2nd level blocking.

I won't argue if Mallory does or doesn't make the right decision here - but a wider angle shows there's 2 defenders and he has to choose 1.

But say Mallory chooses wrong. The end result is he leaves Knighton 1 on 1 with a LB and 3-4 yds between them. This is a matchup we should want. But again, Knighton runs straight into the LB with no attempt at a making a move.

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I can post multiple examples of Knighton doing this on runs, passes, and kick returns where there's plenty of room and Knighton makes no move.

I understand people not liking me as the source - so I'll show this post from Lance Roffers last year which is another example of Knighton needing to improve his vision - completely independent of OL/Scheme/Play calling.


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bshaw28 said:
Here's just a couple examples (but there's a good amount more) of where Knighton's vision/decision making can improve.

OL opens a big hole, but Knighton just runs straight forward into the defender who's 5 yards away without attempting any type of move.

I'm not trying to say Knighton sucks here, so please don't take it like that - I'm just showing what I'm hoping Smith will help Knighton get better at.

View attachment 180621


View attachment 180625
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I have been highly critical of Knighton’s vision. That and keeping his feet after contact are his weaknesses. I think as a smaller back he is too anxious to prove his physicality. because he can cut but tries to run guys over instead.

People called for him but he wasn’t on Cam’s level yet.

Now post some pics of when there was nowhere for the back to go. There was a lot more of those plays.
 
bshaw28 said:
You talked about the OL getting blown up - but here they open a big hole. This is different - it's an example of downfield/2nd level blocking.

I won't argue if Mallory does or doesn't make the right decision here - but a wider angle shows there's 2 defenders and he has to choose 1.

But say Mallory chooses wrong. The end result is he leaves Knighton 1 on 1 with a LB and 3-4 yds between them. This is a matchup we should want. But again, Knighton runs straight into the LB with no attempt at a making a move.

View attachment 180636


I can post multiple examples of Knighton doing this on runs, passes, and kick returns where there's plenty of room and Knighton makes no move.

I understand people not liking me as the source - so I'll show this post from Lance Roffers last year which is another example of Knighton needing to improve his vision - completely independent of OL/Scheme/Play calling.


View attachment 180637
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I have no reason to dislike you as a source, not do I know why anyone would. Missed whatever that made you say that and truthfully wouldn't care either way.

The Carolina one, he just didn't make someone miss and likely thought the guy that eventually tackled him would be blocked. He then wasn't and the play was over. All the blocking issues change a runner, they will overthink things and for lack or a better term, hesitate and sometimes freeze.

The Lance one, sure looks like he needed to run outside there. Even matchups inside as well and for all I know, maybe the coaches emphasized running inside, trust your blockers, or some other crap. Either way, I'm mainly just saying that inconsistencies in blocking can change a back.

Fix what's going on in front, keep the D guessing, we'll see better results. Does he have elite vision, probably not. Is it a problem, I don't think so.
 
TruCane81 said:
I have been highly critical of Knighton’s vision. That and keeping his feet after contact are his weaknesses. I think as a smaller back he is too anxious to prove his physicality. because he can cut but tries to run guys over instead.

People called for him but he wasn’t on Cam’s level yet.

Now post some pics of when there was nowhere for the back to go. There was a lot more of those plays.
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100% agree with you. Knighton is a 190 lb RB who runs like he thinks he's 230. It's admirable, and he's tough as ****, but it isn't the smartest way to run.

Everyone here knows our OL needs to improve - so need to post pics of runs that are getting stuffed. No one thinks differently.

The point of my posts is - what does Knighton (or any RB) do when he does have space to operate? There's a ton of examples where he has space but needs to make better decisions.

Maybe Coach Smith helps make it click for Knighton, maybe he doesn't. Maybe the OL opens more opportunities for Knighton to 1 on 1 with a defender and 5 yds to work with this year. But in the end it's on Knighton to make changes in order to take advantage of those opportunities.
 
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SayWhat said:
I have no reason to dislike you as a source, not do I know why anyone would. Missed whatever that made you say that and truthfully wouldn't care either way.

The Carolina one, he just didn't make someone miss and likely thought the guy that eventually tackled him would be blocked. He then wasn't and the play was over. All the blocking issues change a runner, they will overthink things and for lack or a better term, hesitate and sometimes freeze.

The Lance one, sure looks like he needed to run outside there. Even matchups inside as well and for all I know, maybe the coaches emphasized running inside, trust your blockers, or some other crap. Either way, I'm mainly just saying that inconsistencies in blocking can change a back.

Fix what's going on in front, keep the D guessing, we'll see better results. Does he have elite vision, probably not. Is it a problem, I don't think so.
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I could post pics of 30 runs and we could break down if the blocking correct or not. The blocking is somewhat irrelevant to my points.

My points would be this:

1) There's too many examples where it's not "He didn't make someone miss" - it's that he didn't even "try" to make them miss. He's just running straight into the defender. He's not hesitating or freezing - he's running full speed ahead with no plan. It's weird.

2) If a RB can't average 4.0 ypc in his first 2 years, regardless of where they're playing, it's much higher odds that's on the RB more than the OL & Scheme.

#2 goes for any RB on any college team. The adjustments you're talking about will make the OL and our production better - but it's not making Knighton any better.
 
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