I don't mind people arguing about the positives and negatives about the RB room on here. It's the fucking football board and people are talking about football. Color me shocked. Even the straight up bad takes getting posted are also getting corrected, and there's value in reading the corrections. So why are we complaining about people talking about football? Because it should go in a different thread? It's better than all the other tangents that go completely off base. I don't fucking care how much nurses get paid or about Surly's thoughts on the best mexican place south of the river.
All of that being said, I'm not 100% sunshine on Baxter and Blue. Both RB showed their upside and can be expected to improve, but y'all act like improvement is guaranteed.
Blue seemed (emphasis on seemed) to have a lot of attitude problems coming into the program. Do we know he's gotten over them? Success can trick guys into thinking their work is done, and Blue seems like a sucker in that regard.
I'm more optimistic about Baxter improving - freshman can improvement the most from year-to-year and he was banged up for most of the season anyway. His contact shyness may have been the result injury. If Choice can coach him to run lower and protect himself better, he should have a better year. But the dude definitely ran soft. I've watched his highlights and he crumples upon contact. That needs to get better.
All of that being said, I'm not panicking about the RB room at all. My concerns about Baxter and Blue only exist because Sark has raised the standard. We now have championship aspirations. We're not just trying to beat OU and avoid embarrassment.
I think both Baxter and Blue are good RBs, but the question is whether they'll be great, not merely good. Hard to be upset about the standards being higher.
Plus they're not the only RBs in the room - Wisner and Red are both a step back from them, but both have looked good at times. Serviceable in a pinch. Wisner may be an improvement over Robinson as a gadget guy.
And the two early enrollees, Clark and Gibson, are apparently studs who already won over the 9.95 crowd. Clark's legs look like fucking tree trunks.
On top of all that, we have probably the best RB coach in the nation in Tashard Choice. Every RB whose played under him has said that he's not only a great recruiter but a great coach. I know that RB is the position that probably needs "coaching" the least, but he definitely seems to get the most out of his players.
Ultimately, I'm just happy that these are the conversations we're having. We're not wondering who's going to start at RB because we have no one who's worth a damn, we're wondering who will start because there are so many good options. That's a great problem to have, and whether you agree with @Codaxx's pessimism or @Red Five's optimism, I welcome these kinds of debates because the alternative is our collective nightmare of the last decade-plus.
Now feel free to argue about mexican food because I was dumb enough to mention it and of course we have to.