🏈 Julio in the Backfield (Idea)

[alagator]

In the thread about LSU moving Shepherd from QB to WR, someone casually mentioned that LSU should/could line him up in the backfield on passing downs. And this caused me to thinking - dangerous I admit.

Everyone complains that Julio is always double-teamed on passing downs - something I think is a little over stated, and one way we can surely solve that problem is by moving him around some. Line him up as the SE some, the flanker some, and in the slot some.

And an even better way is to sometime line him up in the backfield on passing downs. This will of course limit some of the routes he can run, but will almost assuredly result in either single coverage by a LBer (and we would take that match-up all game long) or a safety - or cause opponents to use zone coverages. All to our advantage.

As much as some (well, me mostly) complained about Mal Moore as an OC - he did have the foresight to do exactly this some with David Palmer. And I remember when Shula and Radar did the same with Prothro the game we routed South Carolina in Columbia. Julio is a different type player than either Palmer or Prothro, but the results should be comparable.

 

[psychojoe]

At least as far back as Bryant's pre-wishbone years he was moving receivers around like that to get matchups he liked. The tackle eligible wasn't the only thing he had up his sleeve. Along in the 67-68-69 period he had a wr that weighed maybe 160 soaking wet, but the kid could fly. He'd line him up at tight end or fullback and get some very nice matchups.

 

[UAgrad93]

If you go back and look, Julio lined up as the 2nd TE in some sets. His one big catch in the TITLE game came off of one such formation with him lined up at TE.

 

[alagator]

If you go back and look, Julio lined up as the 2nd TE in some sets. His one big catch came off of one such formation with him lined up at TE.

Frankly, I believe if Julio would put on about 15-to-20 pounds, his NFL career would be more certain (regarding premier success, not merely making a team and making a contribution). And longer lasting.

That would put him in the smaller TE role (like Clark at Indianapolis) or in a larger H-Back role. While he might lose a little speed, he will still be at the top-end in that category for either of these two roles. And I see him having greater success competing against NFL LBer or SS types than against Corners. He already blocks well enough to fill those roles.

With this weight gain, and a change in roles, I can see Julio having an NFL career like Ozzie (someone else who moved from a SE at Alabama to a TE in the pros). Emulating a Hall of Famer is not too bad either.

 

[JoshB]

If you go back and look, Julio lined up as the 2nd TE in some sets. His one big catch came off of one such formation with him lined up at TE.

and what ONE would that be? the 70 yard TD catch against State? no sir, he was lined up out wide. The 50 yard catch he had against Arkansas he was lined up in the slot. But they did line him up at TE several times later in the year.

 

[UAgrad93]

Birdman, I was referring to his catch in the title game against Texas. I was thinking a little faster than my typing would allow.

I corrected my mistake!!

 

[LBS]

Intriquing on some levels. On the one level I'm concerned that him being in the backfield would necessitate removing Ingram/Richardson, which would remove forcing the Defense to honor the threat of a draw to a Beast of a RB. On the other hand, with our growing ability to put talent on the field at WR/Slot, it makes it difficult for a Defense not have to address Julio with a LB. Further working against us is that it makes Julio going deep or breaking a long one that much less likely in the it puts him right into the heart of the strength of the Defense.

In the end, with the talent that we have, I like the fact that having Julio on the field nets a one-man advantage for us in that the Defense trade two of theirs for one of ours.

Here is another way of looking at it. Should CNS put both Ingram and Richardson into the backfield at the same time, a double team would not be possible against Julio thus he would run wild. So we are (what's the opposite of "picking your poisen"?)