Drake Johnson

I watched the UM/Maryland replay on B1G channel tonight when Drake went off on them, behind a decent (not good) OL. When he hit an opening, he HIT an opening and kept moving!! Unlike the others, he does not stop just because someone hits him. I really hope and pray that Drake can come back healthy from the knee injury. He was NO DOUBT the best RB on the UM team, including 5* Green. Based on last year and the Spring game, unless Issac is an All American I don't see anyone who is a better back than a healthy DJ for 2015. Obviously the health of his leg will be very important, but I find it incredible just how good he will be behind a good to great OL!! All IMHO!

Fire away!!

Go Blue!!

I;m hoping that just the little bit of coaching that takes place over the5 next 3 weeks will bring out the 5-stars that were talked about in Green. Green always looked hesitant to me, he needs that killer instinct to attack the hole and if one is not there you make one yourself. I'm hoping that the reason that Green didn't do that before is because Brady & Co. didn't preach it. They just clapped and said "Good try young man" and left it at that. You know that Wheatley and Harbaugh won't tolerate that lackadaisical attitude.

BTW, picture day is tomorrow! It's coming together,

In my very limited knowledge based opinion Drake Johnson was the ONLY zone read RB we had on the team. I know everyone is going to laugh at this but Drake was as good at finding the holes as Denard was. He just doesn't have Denard's level of god gifted talent.

With Harbaugh implementing gap blocking and Drevno coaching up the OL to accommodate it I have a feeling that every Back in our stable could hit 1000 yards as a starter and that is not me just being a UM homer that drank the koolaid. I really do believe that.

I fully expect the starter to be around 1100yds and 11+ TDs this year and that's just our starter. 

Unfortunately it doesn't look like Drake will be healthy for the start of the season. My guess is that Isaac or Green will get the nod. Green has put on 18lbs of muscle and is finally looking college ready according to the coaches and a few scouts. my guess is that we will also see a RB by committee until the opening of B1G play. Isaac is the biggest guy at 240-ish and is also the shiftier of the two. But if Green stays healthy then UM will have one hell of a 1-2 combo. Think UW of the last few years.

sandyeggo_blue wrote:

In my very limited knowledge based opinion Drake Johnson was the ONLY zone read RB we had on the team. I know everyone is going to laugh at this but Drake was as good at finding the holes as Denard was. He just doesn't have Denard's level of god gifted talent.

With Harbaugh implementing gap blocking and Drevno coaching up the OL to accommodate it I have a feeling that every Back in our stable could hit 1000 yards as a starter and that is not me just being a UM homer that drank the koolaid. I really do believe that.

I fully expect the starter to be around 1100yds and 11+ TDs this year and that's just our starter. 

Unfortunately it doesn't look like Drake will be healthy for the start of the season. My guess is that Isaac or Green will get the nod. Green has put on 18lbs of muscle and is finally looking college ready according to the coaches and a few scouts. my guess is that we will also see a RB by committee until the opening of B1G play. Isaac is the biggest guy at 240-ish and is also the shiftier of the two. But if Green stays healthy then UM will have one hell of a 1-2 combo. Think UW of the last few years.

I'm not laughing, rather nodding in agreement. Drake isn't your traditional RB, he looks too fragile (although yes he has talent). I'm thinking H-back when he gets healthy? What does everyone think about that (assuming of course he can catch).

I still think you have to plug Drake in at RB.


Let's face it, the UM OLine did perform much better in 2014 than they did in 2013. In 2013 the two signature offensive plays were Devin scrambling for his life or the RB getting tackled in the backfield for a loss. So while 2014 saw some major leaps forward, I still believe they were poorly under coached and they underperformed.


Like I mentioned above, the zone block scheme to me was useless because they were just so damn confused half the time. Cases in point would be that on more occasions that I care to remember there were two OLineman blocking the same defensive guy while leaving one defensive guy untouched to make a play. Even though this was the case, Drake easily showed the most promise down the stretch last year. He was able to find holes in the line, make the cut and gain positive yards. Green and Smith could not seem to do that on a regular basis as Drake did.


Bring in a the Man/Gap/Drive or whatever else you want to call it scheme, and now the RB knows EXACTLY where the hole is supposed to be. He knows exactly where to run to. He knows exactly when to cut and turn on the burners. You basically take out the last second stutter-step-split-decision-cuts that Green and Smith were not good at and now they have a hole to hit and hopefully we should see them thrive a bit.


This of course all relies  heavily on the OLineman making his assigned blocks. Key word is assigned. The OL will know exactly who to block now instead of moving to a spot and blocking whomever comes their way.


I haven't given up on the OL yet. I think we have plenty of talent there. I think it's going to be a breath of fresh air to watch the run game this year.