There has been a lot of banter about that tooth pick legged goofball from Arkansas being the greatest runner since grass on a football field. The talk has gotten so out of hand that people have even risked Bolts of lightning from 2 Huge Bo Jackson Fans ( Who just happen to have the powers of Pharaoh’s around here… See the Ten Commandments for further understanding of how Moses was banished to the desert… J/K

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In all seriousness… Justin Fargas is better suited for our blocking scheme. The zone blocking system requires a RB to read his blocks and make a sharp decisive cut where the defensive linemen are most vulnerable. Most of the time that type of move goes against the flow or requires some kind of backside cut. In other words the offensive linemen create the illusion that the play is going outside and the running back allows the play to flow to the outside but makes a cut into a seam where a defensive lineman has vacated. This requires a tough minded and explosive runner who is not prone to stutter stepping or dancing like an elephant at the LOS. Justin Fargas is great at running laterally and then getting square to the LOS. How does he do it??? He has the ability to plant his feet, lower his hips and explode towards the LOS without hesitation. This is why fargas rarely got stopped behind the LOS… Unlike Lamont the dancing elephant!
Jordan had some success in our ZBS but he never really could break the habit of tip toeing through the tulips. On occasion he ran with abandon but not enough for kiffin to allow him to keep the starting job. Jordan has good feet but he makes moves while standing still unlike Fargas, Rhodes and Bush. Rhodes is like fargas with better open field moves and quicker feet. We saw how he could dominate in this offense when he got the chance to play. Not much to say about Rhodes because he needs more touches which brings me to Michael Bush.
The kid has the best feet out of all the RB’s that we’re discussing. This means he makes moves while moving forward and he’s square to the LOS. He will make players miss in the open field and he will punish tacklers. Bush can make all the cuts in the ZBS... This leads me to Darren McFadden…
McFadden has great speed to the outside which will be good for stretch plays… (BTW we don’t run many stretch plays) McFadden has good north south speed. Get him in the open and he could go all the way. However, He does not plant and make decisive cuts. He rounds out his runs unless there is a gaping hole. He can’t plant and cut because he doesn’t lower his hips and get square. McFadden is used to outrunning his opponents to the outside. Because of his running style, he will have many runs where he is stopped behind the LOS. If he rounds out his runs, he allows defenders to react to where he is going. Defensive linemen will be able to shed the block and stone him at the line. The ZBS is designed to exploit over pursuit instantly with hard sharp cuts and downhill running.