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Most explosive Miami rb ever?

LuCane said:
Came here to write this. That Syracuse game was like watching an alien. The first 8 yards were from another planet. And, he ran toward corners like the great backs do.

Mcgahee is in the debate. Edge is in the debate. Clinton Portis. Ottis Anderson.

This is a matter of how you define explosive, I think.

Lamar Miller isn't in my Top 5 for how I see explosiveness. Really, really fast in a straight line? Absolutely. Perhaps the fastest. In my view, your explosiveness is questionable when you have average balance, average wiggle, and minimal YAC.
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Agree with everything here. "Explosiveness" can be defined different ways, and there's no right or wrong answer

Here's a cut up of all of them, but I'd say:

McGahee - Run at 2:50 - has nothing then puts a foot in the ground and is gone. You see the same thing at 3:30 & 3:50. Just erases angles
Frosh Gore - This would be my answer because he could win runs in every way. Speed, power, and how quick he made multiple cuts was insane.

Any run with Gore wearing #32 is incredible - but just watch vs Syracuse at :40 & 4:25 and vs WVU at 1:56 & 3:03

 
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Tweed said:
Edgerrin James might not have been the "fastest", but he was always getting 25-50 yard chunks.

Only RB that I can think of that had a better YPC than him was Duke.
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People sleep on Edge's speed but he ran a 4.38 at the combine.

He wasn't a pure blazer due to his sheer size, but he was an absolute workhorse back & had the best running gait of any UM back I've ever seen.

McGahee was the most explosive IMO, but Edge was the most complete back, his combination of power, speed & balance was special.
 
bshaw28 said:
I seems the Dolphins have adopted a policy of not giving RB's a 2nd contract

Miller left in FA
Ajayi & Drake traded before their 2nd contact

Just keep drafting RB's and sprinkle in vets on short deals like Gore & Howard
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Yeah OK, is that working?
 
Liberty City El said:
People sleep on Edge's speed but he ran a 4.38 at the combine.

He wasn't a pure blazer due to his sheer size, but he was an absolute workhorse back & had the best running gait of any UM back I've ever seen.

McGahee was the most explosive IMO, but Edge was the most complete back, his combination of power, speed & balance was special.
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Edge is the best RB in UM history imo His speed was effortless and consistent, so it looked like he wasn't really blazing, but he was turning defenders all day.
 
Liberty City El said:
People sleep on Edge's speed but he ran a 4.38 at the combine.

He wasn't a pure blazer due to his sheer size, but he was an absolute workhorse back & had the best running gait of any UM back I've ever seen.

McGahee was the most explosive IMO, but Edge was the most complete back, his combination of power, speed & balance was special.
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Edge’s vision was superior. Same thing with Portis.

There’s a difference say between Edge and Miller. Miller will hit that open seam in a nanosecond - so fast he gets through it.

But how is Miller’s vision compared to Edge when he’s running sideline to sideline or straight ahead and trying to pick the right hole?

Don't get me wrong, I love Miller, he’s just a different type back. Edge in my mind was the most complete. Him, McGahee, and Gore - most complete
 
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OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Edge’s vision was superior. Same thing with Portis.

There’s a difference say between Edge and Miller. Miller will hit that open seam in a nanosecond - so fast he gets through it.

But how is Miller’s vision compared to Edge when he’s running sideline to sideline or straight ahead and trying to pick the right hole?

Don't get me wrong, I love Miller, he’s just a different type back. Edge in my mind was the most complete. Him, McGahee, and Gore - most complete
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Very well said.

An underrated aspect of Edge's game was his wiggle or shiftiness, because he was such a big back you would think he would be stiff, but Edge actually had great ability to weave through traffic & was such a patient runner, he almost always made the first defender miss with his subtle juke move setting guys up to lunge outside & he would quickly glide back in, basically dead leg'em. And when he lowered his shoulder he was clearing whoever was in front of him.

He had a great center of gravity & his burst through the hole was uncanny. He would allow the blocks to develop while still moving his feet, but once the seal opened up he exploded through & looked like he was straight ice skating into the 2nd level.
 
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brock said:
Yep only 3 rbs at Miami averaged over 6.0 ypc in their career at miami
duke 6.7 ypc
Edge 6.0 ypc
Travis homer 6.0 ypc
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Edge did that pre-spread days. It's far more impressive when teams had 3 LBs on the field and a Safety in the box.
Ottis averaged 5.7 his senior year. He did it when the entire defense was in the box.
Portis averaged 5.7 for his career while running I-Form and Coker T.
Gore had 5.7 for his career and 9.1 (60+ carries) his Frosh year running same stuff Portis ran.
Mcgahee had 5.9 for his career and 6.2 (282 carries!) for what should have been a Heisman year - all while running counter and power runs.
 
Cooper did not have much speed - he just moved his arms a lot.

He was clearly slower than a Miami RB.

He was okay, nothing more.

KOOLAID4L said:
What ever happen to Coop from Memphis? Coop had the speed/shiftiness, but I think he use to get the turf bug. My fav running back at Miami was Edge and Mcgahee.
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LuCane said:
Lamar Miller isn't in my Top 5 for how I see explosiveness. Really, really fast in a straight line? Absolutely. Perhaps the fastest. In my view, your explosiveness is questionable when you have average balance, average wiggle, and minimal YAC.
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Explosiveness to me is the ability to accelerate and then maintain speed.

Balance, wiggle and YAC are all separate categories. They are as important (or more important) to success as a RB, but distinct. If Lamar had those, he would be up there with the greats. His explosiveness is the reason he has had the success he's had.

Another example would be CJ Spiller. He had terrible balance, YAC and wiggle in traffic. That's why he went bust in the league. But nobody would question his explosiveness.
 
Cray thing is we don't have anyone running track at Miami and doing football like they use to do? Unless someone knows something I don't. Last people I know doing that was lamar, travis Benjamin and Lingard I think.
 
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LuCane said:
Edge did that pre-spread days. It's far more impressive when teams had 3 LBs on the field and a Safety in the box.
Ottis averaged 5.7 his senior year. He did it when the entire defense was in the box.
Portis averaged 5.7 for his career while running I-Form and Coker T.
Gore had 5.7 for his career and 9.1 (60+ carries) his Frosh year running same stuff Portis ran.
Mcgahee had 5.9 for his career and 6.2 (282 carries!) for what should have been a Heisman year - all while running counter and power runs.
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Yep for me the most impressive season for a cane rb was mcgahee’s year he should have won the heisman. And then easily the 2nd best year was duke Johnson in his junior year on 242 carries he averaged 6.8 yards per carry(1652 rushing yards) plus 400 receiving yards
 
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supersaiyanshel said:
Edge is the best RB in UM history imo His speed was effortless and consistent, so it looked like he wasn't really blazing, but he was turning defenders all day.
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He's my favorite RB in school history.

McGahee, Gore, Portis, James Jackson & Duke are all close as well love them, but Edge was just my personal favorite.

Guys like Albert Bentley, Highsmith, Melvin Bratton, Cleveland Gary etc, we're all great too, but I was pretty much a baby for most of their time at Miami so I didn't really get to see them during their heyday.
 
LuCane said:
Edge did that pre-spread days. It's far more impressive when teams had 3 LBs on the field and a Safety in the box.
Ottis averaged 5.7 his senior year. He did it when the entire defense was in the box.
Portis averaged 5.7 for his career while running I-Form and Coker T.
Gore had 5.7 for his career and 9.1 (60+ carries) his Frosh year running same stuff Portis ran.
Mcgahee had 5.9 for his career and 6.2 (282 carries!) for what should have been a Heisman year - all while running counter and power runs.
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Good points. The wide open offenses today feature tons of guys who average over 6ypc. 20 years ago it was a superhuman feat. Offenses then featured a lot of I formation, two back sets going up against base 4-3 defenses where there was always 7 men in the box unless you went to nickel in an obvious third and long situation. It was a much lower scoring game at the time and “3 yards and a cloud of dust” was still in vogue. It was even worse 30-40 years ago. How a guy like Ottis Anderson averaged over 5 ypc in the 70’s is ridiculous. Passing was almost non existent and every opponent knew he was getting the ball.
 
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