Darrian Kirkland, Jr.
Former CB commit Gareon Conley: Conley made 1 tackle in Ohio State’s 38-12 win over Western Michigan.
Former RB commit Damien Harris: Harris had 4 carries for 23 yards, along with 1 tackle, in Alabama’s 34-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe.
Former RB Justice Hayes: Hayes did not play in Southern Miss’s 36-28 loss to Nebraska.
Hit the jump for updates on several other former Wolverines.
Former TE/DE Keith Heitzman: In a 27-24 near upset win over Minnesota, Ohio tight end Keith Heitzman caught 2 passes for 42 yards and had a 24-yard fumble return.
Former LB commit Kellen Jones: Jones, who arrived at Michigan, went to Oklahoma, transferred to Clemson, and then ended up at Wisconsin this summer, is no longer on Wisconsin’s roster. What a weird non-career that guy has had.
Former LB commit Antonio Kinard: Kinard made 1 tackles in Cincinnati’s 53-46 loss to Memphis.
Former LB commit Darrin Kirkland, Jr.: Kirkland made 5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 sack, but Tennessee lost to Florida by a score of 28-27.
Former RB/WR/KR Dennis Norfleet: Norfleet did not play in Tuskegee’s 41-14 win over Lane.
Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez’s Arizona Wildcats worked their way up to #16 in the rankings, but they got trounced by UCLA in a 56-30 game. Starting quarterback Anu Solomon got knocked out of the game with an apparent concussion, and backup Jerrard Randall – a week after scoring two 70+ yard touchdown runs – came in to go 4/16 for 45 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He did have 128 yards on the ground and 1 touchdown, and running back Nick Wilson topped that total with 136 yards. Unfortunately for Arizona, UCLA threw for 284 yards and ran for another 213. Arizona is now 3-1.
Former DE commit Darian Roseboro: Roseboro made 3 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks in North Carolina State’s 63-13 win over South Alabama.
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I’ve been keeping a casual eye on Damien Harris at Alabama. He’s played some, which means (I think) he ineligible for redshirt.
Alabama has good RBs ahead of Harris, so I doubt they “need” Harris this year. What do you think is the strategy here? Maybe get him some limited game action as a true freshman so he’ll be able to produce as a true sophomore or junior if needed?
If memory serves, the SEC doesn’t tend to redshirt much. I think Urban Meyer said that at Florida … something to the effect that good players don’t want to redshirt so you play the talent you have and just recruit to keep the pipeline full.
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I think there’s two benefits to redshirting: 1. developing young players before they see the field, and 2. having more experienced players in their fifth year.
If Harris is developed enough to earn playing time, I doubt Bama is worried about how their running back depth will look in another 4 years’ time. So they probably don’t see a benefit to redshirting him.
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Players are often promised a chance to play as freshmen. Alabama does this with their running backs. They have a good starter (and sometimes a backup), and then they groom the next guy with some carries when he’s young. Derrick Henry might leave after this year and Kenyan Drake graduates, so then Harris has some experience for next season when he could potentially start.
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There’s very little reason to ever red-shirt a RB unless he simply is too far buried to get carries (a la Higdon). And if that’s the case, he’s probably not going to see carries when he’s a 5th year senior either.
Promises are a big part of it, but the other part is that RBs don’t generally improve that much. You either have it or you don’t. Chris Perry was a rare exception.
Using 5 years of scholarships for 4 years of production is no different than using 5 scholarships to get 4 players. The red-shirt is only useful if there is a huge difference between year 5 and year 1. For RBs that’s usually not the case.
That’s especially true with grad transfers available to anyone who wants to use it.
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Wish we could have kept Roseboro & Kirkland
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I do, too, but Roseboro hasn’t done anything yet this year until NC State played South Alabama. I’m not saying he won’t, but he hasn’t proven himself yet. It seems like Kirkland can play, though, because he’s been doing a solid job as a true freshman backup this year.
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Is Heitzman playing both ways? 2 receptions and a fumble recovery…
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He was on the punt team. Ohio punted to Minnesota, whose returned fumbled the ball. Then Heitzman picked it up and returned it for 24 yards.
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