What we really need to do is add a consistent complement in addition to TG. He is what he is: a solid scatback with explosive play ability.
terry grant needs to run up the middle. he will get stronger. if he is used as a specialty back. the defense will expect a certain set of plays when he is in and ignore the inside run. they need to get grant and coffee on the field at the same time. and block somebody dad gummit ! lets play ball tonight! roll tide!
Injured, as he has been for some time...
TG may develop his body further as he matures in college, but he will never be a bruiser.
I think it has more to do with how TG runs than his physical size. He doesn't run hard. He gets knocked off his feet and tackled very easy. There have been a lot of backs his size that have had very good success at big programs but the difference was their running styles. Warrick Dunn comes to mind and even Shaud Williams. Smaller backs but just had a physical slashing running style.
Up to this point TG (even in his "good games") doesn't appear to have that aggressive running style. Arm sweeps and initial contact seem to take him down.
My impression was the opposite but ... I think we would have had a better running game last nite w/him in there some of the time. Hope he fully recovers over the off season.
It would have been interesting to see. It seemed like we tried to run a lot between the tackles rather than sweeping outside runs, which may have been because that's more Coffee/Upchurch's running style... I don't think Colorado's D could have caught TG if he turned the corner past big Andre. At any rate, I thought Coffee and Upchurch both ran hard last night and my hat is off to them. :BigA:
They ran very hard there just were not many holes after the first series or so.