If Spurrier doesn't kill the kid from overuse, Marcus Lattimore will be in New York for the Heisman ceremony. Lattimore already has 87 carries on the season and 96 total touches through three games. He has 534 yards rushing and 7 TDs along with 66 yards receiving. Last season, he finished with 1197 yards and 17 TDs rushing combined with a stunning 412 yards receiving and 2 TDs.
Granted it's obviously a small sample, but he's currently on pace to rush for about 2,300 yards and 30 TDs (not including the SEC title game in either stat). Even though the pace will cool...he's the Return on Investment Player of the Year.
I'm trying to remember the last back with Lattimore's size and speed who caught the ball as effectively out of the backfield as well. Any one have some thoughts?
Spurrier may have a lot of flaws, but he knows how to get his best player the ball. Compare that to Mark Richt who waited til Boykin's fourth season to even try getting him the ball on offense, and we STILL haven't seen Branden Smith on offense again despite being the biggest homerun threat on the UGA sideline.
So much of coaching is player utilization. Remember the 2003 Auburn at UGA game when Cadillac Williams had about 3 carries in the first half as the Tigers were obliterated in Athens? There's an object lesson in there somewhere with Hugh Nall's picture next to it.
I always point to the 1994 UGA at Alabama game as the shining example for player under utilization. We had Hines Ward at RB, Robert Edwards at CB, and Terrell Davis was sitting on the bench. If you don't put your assets to maximum use, you end up in the Fried Chicken or investment business. I'm very curious to see how things continue to unfold here. We've seen progress here, but why is it like pulling teeth to get Richt to implement some of the more obvious fixes?
PWD
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