so, is everyone else seeing the 2020 conundrum with Palmer next year?
I mean, let's face it. He's our best back.

i don't think there is anything wrong with Percy or Juwan. Both are #1 backs and i'm more than comfortable with either of them out there.

But Palmer is special.

so what do we do? usually, seniority wins. Which means Percy/Juwan get 80% of the touches. But it seems clear Palmer needs to be involved from the beginning of the game. not just as a closer.

Do you put him out there as the #1 back from the beginning? or let him continue to bide his time for another year?

it's a good problem to have for sure. We are absolutely loaded at RB (Solomon had his moments all year too).

(01-13-2020 10:39 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  so, is everyone else seeing the 2020 conundrum with Palmer next year?
I mean, let's face it. He's our best back.

i don't think there is anything wrong with Percy or Juwan. Both are #1 backs and i'm more than comfortable with either of them out there.

But Palmer is special.

so what do we do? usually, seniority wins. Which means Percy/Juwan get 80% of the touches. But it seems clear Palmer needs to be involved from the beginning of the game. not just as a closer.

Do you put him out there as the #1 back from the beginning? or let him continue to bide his time for another year?

it's a good problem to have for sure. We are absolutely loaded at RB (Solomon had his moments all year too).

It's obviously going to be something to watch, but if it were me, I'd try to get more creative with Jawon and leave the Percy/Latrele combo as is. For the record, Percy was fantastic this game. I also think using Latrele as the hammer later in games only adds to his effectiveness. In other words, losing Polk and Riley, my guess is we're going to see a whole lot more of Jawon and/or VanHorse in the passing game next year.

And regardless of the rotation, even if I want "more" Palmer, I do think Cignetti's philosophy of lots of guys rotating was proven to be a good one as everyone was fresh and ready when it counted the last month.

yea, i'm not knocking Percy with this. I think he's an All CAA back for sure.

it's just.....Palmer.....whoa !

I haven't been this excited for a JMU player since Arthur Moats and Rodney Landers. It's still way too early to know which direction his career goes but I am on board the Palmer bandwagon and he could end up being one of the most dominant players to ever play that position for JMU.

PALMER SHOULD HAVE PLAYED MORE SATURDAY and should have been handed the ball there at the end of the game. As far as I'm concerned he's our #1 back, seniority or not.

Keep balancing the backs that we have.Palmer is a studd but also runs a style where he will take hits- keep him fresh next year and it will pay dividends in his Junior and Senior seasons when he is even more of a feature back.

(01-13-2020 10:46 AM)PurpleStreamers Wrote:  

(01-13-2020 10:39 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  so, is everyone else seeing the 2020 conundrum with Palmer next year?
I mean, let's face it. He's our best back.

i don't think there is anything wrong with Percy or Juwan. Both are #1 backs and i'm more than comfortable with either of them out there.

But Palmer is special.

so what do we do? usually, seniority wins. Which means Percy/Juwan get 80% of the touches. But it seems clear Palmer needs to be involved from the beginning of the game. not just as a closer.

Do you put him out there as the #1 back from the beginning? or let him continue to bide his time for another year?

it's a good problem to have for sure. We are absolutely loaded at RB (Solomon had his moments all year too).

It's obviously going to be something to watch, but if it were me, I'd try to get more creative with Jawon and leave the Percy/Latrele combo as is. For the record, Percy was fantastic this game. I also think using Latrele as the hammer later in games only adds to his effectiveness. In other words, losing Polk and Riley, my guess is we're going to see a whole lot more of Jawon and/or VanHorse in the passing game next year.

And regardless of the rotation, even if I want "more" Palmer, I do think Cignetti's philosophy of lots of guys rotating was proven to be a good one as everyone was fresh and ready when it counted the last month.

Agreed. I think you need to move Hamilton into the slot and get him some open space.

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The rbs could be more featured in the passing game also because you lost Dylan Stapleton at TE. Late in the year he was a big part of the offense.

(01-13-2020 11:26 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  Keep balancing the backs that we have.Palmer is a studd but also runs a style where he will take hits- keep him fresh next year and it will pay dividends in his Junior and Senior seasons when he is even more of a feature back.

I’d agree with this. Give the most time and carries to whoever shows to be the best, which might very well be Palmer(and I’m a huge Percy fan), but keep spreading it around. These guys are all too good to not feed them plenty and it’ll help keep them all fresh and healthy. When Percy and Hamilton are gone we’ll still be loaded with Palmer and Vanhorse, not to mention whatever other great RBs continue to come along in the meantime.

I could see Hamilton having a role like John Miller from a few years ago.

Palmer is a beast. Even as a freshman he checks all the boxes. He's got size, strength, speed, and enough moves to make people miss. Didn't see him on enough snaps to see how he was in pass defense, but man...if he's not destined for the league I don't think we'll ever have another back that is.

I would say if Hamilton and VanHorse (and Douglas) don't want to be in the slot full time, we run two-back sets. On any given play you can have them stay in to block or go run a route (or be a delayed dump off opportunity). I don't care who our QB is...if you have any combo VanHorse in slot along with Percy and Palmer in the backfield...who are you going to key in on. I'd bet Cignetti isn't losing too much sleep over our offense next year with those four guys returning. Oh, and Douglas. I think it does complicate it if neither VanHorse or Palmer want to RS and everyone wants to play RB exclusively and not split out. However, if the coaches and players are willing to get a little creative, we could do some stuff to really keep the opposing defenses off-balance.

(01-13-2020 10:39 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  so, is everyone else seeing the 2020 conundrum with Palmer next year?
I mean, let's face it. He's our best back.

i don't think there is anything wrong with Percy or Juwan. Both are #1 backs and i'm more than comfortable with either of them out there.

But Palmer is special.

so what do we do? usually, seniority wins. Which means Percy/Juwan get 80% of the touches. But it seems clear Palmer needs to be involved from the beginning of the game. not just as a closer.

Do you put him out there as the #1 back from the beginning? or let him continue to bide his time for another year?

it's a good problem to have for sure. We are absolutely loaded at RB (Solomon had his moments all year too).

Yeah, it's hard not to walk away from that game being very excited about Palmer's career at JMU. There is no one I'm more excited about next year.

It's interesting -

Jawon averaged 5.5 yards a carry this year, and transferred after starting 11 games for a ranked & undefeated UCF.

Percy averaged 4.7 yard a carry this year.

I just feel like Percy is the better back. I feel he just needs a little more down hill slant like Palmer and he'd blow up his college stats. Obviously Percy gets more of the short yardage carries.

Like others have mentioned on this thread, I don't feel like we are properly utilizing Jawon.

(01-13-2020 03:45 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  Palmer is a beast. Even as a freshman he checks all the boxes. He's got size, strength, speed, and enough moves to make people miss. Didn't see him on enough snaps to see how he was in pass defense, but man...if he's not destined for the league I don't think we'll ever have another back that is.

I would say if Hamilton and VanHorse (and Douglas) don't want to be in the slot full time, we run two-back sets. On any given play you can have them stay in to block or go run a route (or be a delayed dump off opportunity). I don't care who our QB is...if you have any combo VanHorse in slot along with Percy and Palmer in the backfield...who are you going to key in on. I'd bet Cignetti isn't losing too much sleep over our offense next year with those four guys returning. Oh, and Douglas. I think it does complicate it if neither VanHorse or Palmer want to RS and everyone wants to play RB exclusively and not split out. However, if the coaches and players are willing to get a little creative, we could do some stuff to really keep the opposing defenses off-balance.

Van horse and douglas will have both used their red shirt. Don’t see how you can red shirt Palmer unless he gets injured. Just distribute the carries with Palmer in an increased role. Play the long game. Most games Palmers work load can be managed and we can still dominate on the ground against the opposition. Keep in mind that the OL will be one year older and better as well.

Thought I heard Douglas got moved to DB?

Palmer should have been our surprise for NDSU...should have had 15+ carries in the game

He did.

In the game:
Palmer had 8 attempts, average of 5.5 yards.
Percy had 18, average of 4.1
Hamilton had 8, average of 2.9

I wish we had run more in first half, we seemed to go more to the pass after one of our drives fizzled out and bizon got the lead.

Also felt in the first half the extreme cold and winds did not favor us with passing or field goal attempts. It was miserable outside until second half.

Waiting until my emotions settle and have a chance to watch the game on dvr to dissect things more.

I’m surprised at how few triple option/diamond formation looks we had this year.

Other big factors are an 11am start...after all of our last two playoff games were at night. did NDSU have any 11am starts? Plus we had slower starts following our bye week and the first round bye...I know we scored on the opening drive but we had a much better second half than the first!

On our tour of AT&T stadium...I asked a bison fan if they were sick of playing in the same venue...it would be more fun for me to have to at least rotate or be played in a different city every year...It’s got to be old going to the same place that many years in a row.

What did they say?