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RB Damien Martinez enters the Portal

The U is back to work said:
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Its Over GIF
 
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mirvin88 said:
People say he looked better in ‘22. Could this be partly caused by better teams loading the box since DJ doesn’t move the needle much at QB?
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The top rush defense he faced was UCLA, which was #10. He rushed for 6.0 yards per carry, for 90 yards. I personally don't think total yards rushing is as important as yards per carry as the RB can't control the play calling or how many carries he gets. The next top D was Utah, #13, he rushed for 4.1 yards per carry. Not spectacular, but still solid. OSU won that game 21-7, was a pretty good defensive battle. SJSU was the next best at #42. He rushed for 8.1 yards per carry (145 yards). Nat champ runner up UW, was #96 in rush D and he ran for a very good 4.7 yards per carry (123 yards, 2TDs). I think he's only going to get stronger his junior year. I personally think he is one of the top RBs in the country, but more importantly compliments what Mario does on offense extremely well.
 
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mirvin88 said:
People say he looked better in ‘22. Could this be partly caused by better teams loading the box since DJ doesn’t move the needle much at QB?
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I’m not sure how they can say that. Lol.

1. QB play improved exponentially w/ DJU. The entire QB room (3 QBs) went for 2,473 yrds, 16 TDs, 13 ints & sacked 14x. DJU went for 2600+ yrds 21 TDs, 7 ints, & sacked 11 times.

2. I think those who r saying that r remembering how Martinez ended the 2022 season by going for, iirc, 6-straight games of 100+ yrds. To his credit, 3 of those games came against solid rush defenses that year (WSU, Oregon, Washington) & 3 came against **** poor rush defenses (Colorado, Arizona State, & Cal)

3. I just think sometimes freshmen come on to the scene & catch teams off guard, & now there’s game film so adjustments are made. The proverbial sophomore slump; but, in this case, he actually better production for the season rushing for more total yards, & more TDs, while avg. his same 6.1 ypc. He still had those same six-100 yrd games like he did the previous season, they were just spread out.
 
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The big thing to me is the YAC. He’s one of the best in the nation at bouncing off arm tackles. He is going to punish defenses and wear guys out because you can’t bring him down easily.

He’s also going to be attacking lighter boxes because we have Cam and his ability to take you deep.

He’s a top 10 RB in the country and would elevate this offense to another level. Would I rather have Judkins or Hampton? Sure. But this is no slouch at all, there aren’t many more I’d want over him.
 
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