CFN Top 25 Running Backs

[MeanGreen61]

Top 25 Running Backs

1. Reggie Bush, Jr., USC

2. Adrian Peterson, Soph., Oklahoma

3. Laurence Maroney, Jr., Minnesota

4. DeAngelo Williams, Sr. Memphis

5. Andre Hall, Sr., South Florida

6. Mike Hart, Soph., Michigan

7. LenDale White, Jr., USC

8. Leon Washington, Sr., Florida State

9. Lynell Hamilton, Soph., San Diego State

10. Gerald Riggs Jr., Sr., Tennessee

11. Marshawn Lynch, Soph., California

12. Garrett Wolfe, Jr., Northern Illinois

13. Cornell Brockington, Jr., Connecticut

14. Taurean Henderson, Sr., Texas Tech

15. P.J. Daniels, Sr..

Georgia Tech

16. Chris Barclay, Sr.,

Wake Forest

17. Patrick Cobbs, Sr.,

North Texas

18. Wali Lundy, Sr.. Virginia

19. Maurice Drew, Jr., UCLA

20. Pierre Thomas, Jr., Illinois (KR)

21. Jamario Thomas, Soph., North Texas

22. Cory Ross, Sr., Nebraska

23. DonTrell Moore, Sr..

New Mexico inj.

24. P.J. Pope, Sr.,

Bowling Green

25. Jerious Norwood, Sr., Mississippi State

CFN All-American Running Backs

Cobbs & Thomas make "Watch List"

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2005/Pr...unningBacks.htm

[UNTLifer]

That list is B.S. JaMario is Top 5. Look at the list and tell me who you think listed from #5 on is better than Thomas?

[untgirl04]

Considering that JMo won the rushing title last year and broke the record of consecutive 200+ yard games by a freshman, that list is full of crap.

[taynt7]

yeah, total BS. oh well, they'll both put up 1500 and we'll see what they say next year.

[catman12]

Or could it be that Patrick and Jamario benefit from our system much like Texas Tech quarterbacks benefit from their system? Although Texas Tech quarterbacks put up more passing yards than anyone, nobody considers them to be Top 5 quarterbacks. Almost every starting running back for UNT the past 5 years has put up pretty nice rushing stats. Does it hurt the respect of Patrick and Jamario that they won the rushing title in consecutive years? Many might believe that any running back could have run for 170 yards/game in our system?

I'm not saying I believe this to be true, just a thought as to why many might believe they are not Top 5 backs in the country. There might be something to that.....

[SilverEagle]

Or could it be that Patrick and Jamario benefit from our system much like Texas Tech quarterbacks benefit from their system?  Although Texas Tech quarterbacks put up more passing yards than anyone, nobody considers them to be Top 5 quarterbacks.  Almost every starting running back for UNT the past 5 years has put up pretty nice rushing stats.  Does it hurt the respect of Patrick and Jamario that they won the rushing title in consecutive years?  Many might believe that any running back could have run for 170 yards/game in our system? 

I'm not saying I believe this to be true, just a thought as to why many might believe they are not Top 5 backs in the country.  There might be something to that.....

Well, I'm not saying that I agree with you. But the last game of the season featured James Mitchell, and he got 166yrds.......in less than ideal conditions.

[greenminer]

Or could it be that Patrick and Jamario benefit from our system much like Texas Tech quarterbacks benefit from their system?  Although Texas Tech quarterbacks put up more passing yards than anyone, nobody considers them to be Top 5 quarterbacks.  Almost every starting running back for UNT the past 5 years has put up pretty nice rushing stats.  Does it hurt the respect of Patrick and Jamario that they won the rushing title in consecutive years?  Many might believe that any running back could have run for 170 yards/game in our system? 

I'm not saying I believe this to be true, just a thought as to why many might believe they are not Top 5 backs in the country.  There might be something to that.....

Forget about his season stats that "come from our system": there's 3 things Jamario does that gets me:

!) nearly 250 yards against Colorado. Have we forgotten that they came into that game with a top-5 rushing D?

2) Anyone else notice that at the beginning of every one of Jamario's games last season, he busted a 40+ yarder on one of the first two series? That says something to me. I would guess, including Colorado, they had NO CLUE a player of that caliber and speed would need to be accounted for.

3) I'm going to take off my green-tinted goggles for a sec: I don't have the video to review, but I seem to recall the USM front 7 pretty much destroying our offense in last years NO Bowl. I honestly think Jamario's 96 yards in that game were just as impressive as a couple of his 200+ yard games earlier in the season. I couldn't believe the balance he showed on a couple of those runs.

Am I alone thinking these things? Whether or not he's top 5 on that list, I think it's ridiculous that neither Cobbs nor Thomas made top 25.

-gm

[untgirl04]

They did make top 25:

17. Cobbs, Patrick Sir

21. Thomas, Jamario

I think the real shame is that they didn't make top 10 - or top 15 at least. Most of those guys will never be heard from again, but mark my words: JMo and PC are special. They'll be starters in the big show.

[greenminer]

They did make top 25:

17. Cobbs, Patrick Sir

21. Thomas, Jamario

I stand corrected: I meant top-10.

Most of those guys will never be heard from again, but mark my words: JMo and PC are special.

I haven't heard of the Minn/USF backs...I'll keep an eye out on them.

-gm

Edited July 22, 2005 by greenminer

[Got5onIt]

If Michael Hart makes teh top 10, Jamario should be there as well.

The list is full of pigeon feces. How in the world can they rate Taurean Henderson, Chris Barclay, & Cornell Brockington over Super J & PC???????????? Outrageous.

[GreenBat]

Jamario is listed behind a dude that is a kick returner.

20. Pierre Thomas, Jr., Illinois (KR)

And both of them are listed behind a Texas Tech RB

14. Taurean Henderson, Sr., Texas Tech

[pawgal02]

Its great that JMo and PC made the list, but I agree with ya'll, they should be ranked higher on the list.

[Legend500]

I think they correctly figure in competition. Our boys are good, but it's the competition they regularly face (UL-Wherever and Florida Extraneous Univeristy) has a big role in their success, and doesn't match the competitive level that a Reggie Bush or even a DeAngelo Williams faces on a weekly basis. Having said that...I still think our boys are better than #17 and #21, respectively.

[NCMeanGreen]

BULL SH*T!...

[MeanGreen61]

Jamario is listed behind a dude that is a kick returner.

And both of them are listed behind a Texas Tech RB

Jamario & Henderson were the running backs in DCTF's All Texas College team. DC's also had Jamario listed as the best runner in Texas Is there another school that has TWO on this top 25 list?

Edited July 22, 2005 by MeanGreen61

[adman]

Forget about his season stats that "come from our system": there's 3 things Jamario does that gets me:

!) nearly 250 yards against Colorado.  Have we forgotten that they came into that game with a top-5 rushing D?

Not to take anything away from J-mo. I think he's fantastic and I'm thrilled he plays for NT, however, I think a few people get carried away with his stats for the CU game. Granted 240+ yards is phenomenal against any team but the fact that everyone say's: "...and at the time they played, CU was a top 5 defense against the rush." Granted they were "rated" top five then but how did they finish the season? Is it possible they were "top 5 rated" because they had played PASSING teams up until they played us?

The 240+ is huge but leave it that.

[NCMeanGreen]

Not to take anything away from J-mo. I think he's fantastic and I'm thrilled he plays for NT, however, I think a few people get carried away with his stats for the CU game. Granted 240+ yards is phenomenal against any team but the fact that everyone say's: "...and at the time they played, CU was a top 5 defense against the rush." Granted they were "rated" top five then but how did they finish the season? Is it possible they were "top 5 rated" because they had played PASSING teams up until they played us?

The 240+ is huge but leave it that.

Traitor...

[FirefightnRick]

More example of sports writers spouting about something they know nothing of. I'd bet a weeks salary they never saw J Mo play. They just looked at who he played against, saw the 2 carries for minus 2 yards against Texas and stuck him in for arguements sake.

Pathetic!

Rick

[eeally]

This list is so BS. Put them behind a BCS Line and yet again they would compete for a rushing title.

[UNTLifer]

I think they correctly figure in competition.  Our boys are good, but it's the competition they regularly face (UL-Wherever and Florida Extraneous Univeristy) has a big role in their success, and doesn't match the competitive level that a Reggie Bush or even a DeAngelo Williams faces on a weekly basis.  Having said that...I still think our boys are better than #17 and #21, respectively.

Hey, I loved our OL last year, but put J-Mo or PC behind USC's line or OU's line and I guarantee you get the same results.

[MeanGreen61]

Amazing Jamario TD stats.

17 TD's scored

10 were from 25 or more yards with 3 over 50! (70,58,57)!

Only 5 were under 10 yards!

The remaining 2 were 15 & 17.

70

58

57

48

42

33

31

27

25

25

-----

17

15

-----

6

4

2

1

1

One word .... INCREDIBLE

[Eagle-96]

Guys,

We play in the SunBelt and it is all about the respect the rest of the country has for our conference. And that is ZERO. The simple fact is that we play against some of the worst college football teams in the country, year in and year out. J-Mo and Cobbs have gotten yards against some BCS teams but a vast majority has come against the Belt(although we have a SunBelt O-line). It's gonna take time for NT to gain respect around the country but we will get there.

[gangrene]

And both of them are listed behind a Texas Tech RB

Yeah, I noticed that too...WTF is up with that??

[adman]

Traitor...

Hardly. I just think all you need to say is: J-Mo rushed for 240 + yards against CU. No need to say what their D was ranked at the time he did it.

Going into the NT game CU had given up very little rushing yards but that was because CSU, their first game of the season, threw for 403. Wash State threw on them for 387 the next week. (They also only attempted 15 rushes) After the NT game CU gave up 228 rush yds to Mizzu, 236 to OSU, 238 to A&M, 326 to UT and 236 to OU in the Big 12 Championship. (doesn't sound like a stellar run D does it?)

Again I'm not trying to take anything away from him. He is, quite possibly, a once in a lifetime running back. But to spout out CU WAS A TOP 5 RUN D when he did it doesn't say much when you look at the whole of CU's season.

Now when he runs for 240 PLUS on LSU this year and LSU goes on to dominate the SEC by having a top 5 D at years end. That's when the world will take notice of the stew that's brewing in Denton.

[GrandGreen]

I think the lack of respect is apparent by the majority of the media. However, I wonder about NT fans that also imo underrate J Thomas. Agruments of the system or competition make me wonder if these fans have watched him play. DD's style of play does pad the statistics but the plays that Thomas continued to make last year were as good as anyone including the running back at OU. IMO Thomas had a very special freshman year and although Cobbs is a very good back, I can't conceive how many rate him above Thomas. Nt is indeed blessed at running back and this year should be very interesting. Most years at NT I would have been happy to have someone at the talent level of Mitchell, Moore or Bishop carrying the ball.