 TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
|
By Brian Nowicki 
Toledo is known for having a tradition of good running backs. Trinity Dawson, Chester Taylor, Wasean Tait, Casey McBeth, Eddie Harris, Arnold Smiley, and so on and so on. This year is a little different though. The Rockets are flat out loaded at running back. We are not talking about one or two guys that can share the load, we're talking about a bunch of guys.As Spring practices take place at the Glass Bowl, I can't help but look on the field and believe that we have four running backs out there that would be starters at most MAC schools. And what's even more amazing is that none of them are seniors so we get to watch these kids for at least two more years. As Spring has rolled around, junior Jalen Parmele appears as the #1 running back on the depth chart. Jalen, 6-0 and 222 pounds, rushed for 294 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 4.6 yards per rush last season despite battling injuries thoughout most of the season. He played in 11 of the Rockets' 12 games, but did not start any of them. Jalen has recovered from those injuries and he looks stronger and faster than he did last Spring. Scooter McDougle rushed onto the scene late in 2004 with big games against Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, and then Miami in the MAC Championship game. Then late in the 2004 MAC Championship game, McDougle broke free on a 28 yard run down to the Miami 30 yard line. At the end of the play, McDougle came down hard on his knee and had to be carted off the field. After missing the Motor City Bowl and 2005 Spring practices, Scooter tried to come back last season. However, he just wasn't ready yet and the coaches decided to petition to the NCAA for a medical hardship waiver (redshirt). So now we enter Spring of 2006 and Scooter is back on the field and ready to go. "He has been cleared by doctor's to play," said Coach Amstutz. Through a handful of Spring practices, Scooter has looked pretty good. The 6-1, 245 pound back looks like a freight training coming at you. He looks to be running hard and should be a huge factor at running back this fall. Right now he is listed #4 on the Spring depth chart. Sophomore Richard Davis, 6-0 and 200 pounds, is the speed back in the group. Last season he rushed for 256 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 7.1 yards per rush. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown and averaged 22.8 yards per return. Davis has exceptional speed, but also has a nice mix of power to go with it. Once he gets into the open he is hard to bring down. He is currently listed #2 on the Spring depth chart. Redshirt freshman DaJuane Collins, 5-10 and 200 pounds, came to Toledo last season as a highly regarded recruit. One recruiting service even had him listed as one of the top 50 running back recruits in the country. DaJuane redshirted last season while he learned the offense. He looked very impressive in practices and there is a lot of optimism about him this year. "We are really excited about him. He is every bit as tough as we thought he was gonna be," Amstutz said. He concluded, "I expect good things out of him." And so far this Spring I have been impressed with his running ability in practice. He reminds me of Lance Moore a bit, in that he looks like everything is so effortless and easy. He doesn't look like he is running that hard, but he really is because the defense can't catch him. He has a knack for finding the open hole and he has cutting ability I haven't seen at UT since Wasean Tait in his prime in 1995. DaJuane has started Spring practices #3 on the depth chart. All four of these backs will be expected to play in Toledo's offense this fall. Head Coach Tom Amstutz likes to keep cycling in new backs throughout the game in order to keep them fresh. Doing so this fall should be pretty easy, as I don't see a drop off at all between the #1 and #4 guy. It's hard to name one guy the starter over the other three, and Amstutz doesn't look at it like that at all. He told me before that they don't have a true starter and use a running back by committee approach. Toledo also signed two running backs back on February 1st and they are expected to enroll this fall and be true freshman. One of them is Bruce Frieson, 5-8 and 185 pounds, from Cleveland Glenville. Glenville high school is a hotbed for Division I-A football recruits and it was nice to see Toledo bring in Frieson. Rivals.com had Frieson rated in the top 60 recruits out of the state of Ohio. He rushed for 1,428 yards and 21 touchdowns last season for Cleveland Glenville. Rocket tight end coach Chris Hedden said that Frieson reminds him of a young Wasean Tait. The other running back signed in February was Dontae Jones, a 6-0 and 210 pound back from Evans high school in Orlando, FL. Jones rushed for 1,200 yards as a senior last year. Scout.com had him ranked as the #22 running back in the South and #88 running back in the country. He also made the Orlando Sentinel list of top 100 players in the state of Florida. During his recruitment to Toledo, Jones asked the Rocket coaches to see all of Chester Taylor's rushing records at UT. After looking at them, he said he was going to break all of his records. He even bought a Chester football card as motivation. Have a question or comment for Brian? Email |