Cody a TBorFB yes, TE hmmmmm.

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baoklhorn

1,000+ Posts
With the losses of Jerimichael Finley, who was and might have given David Thomas a little run for the money, and now Josh Marshall, who was just beginning to demonstrate some pretty good pass catching skills, now gone from the roster, we find ourselves mighty thin at TE.

What makes it even tougher is that we have a lot of offense that Greg Davis runs out of a one and sometimes two tight end set.

We are, and I hate to use the word "desperate", for a fourth tight end to back up Irby, Harris and the newly developing Greg Smith who also doubles as an OT.

Its begining to seem very logical to put Cody, who averaged 9.8 and 9.9 YPC his last two years in HS respectively, at the tight end position. Who else could fill the huge void left behind by Thomas and Finley. Cody is a solid 255 with 4.7 speed and it drops to 4.4 when his weight drops toward 225. I would venture to guess this beast of a man has great hands and block down abilities. This would put him on the field as a WMD for more plays then at TB/FB. And I am not saying he could not line up at those spots also. Sorry for the double negative.

I loved the words of GD when he said and I am paraphrasing " he runs into the pile and you think he got nothing and then you realize the WHOLE PILE moved forward".

Can you imagine him dragging opposing linebackers around like rag dolls as he catches Colts short to intermediate range passes behind enemy D-Lines??? Did'nt Finley do that last year in the RRS? Duh yes

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Too short.

Irby will be very solid as a pass catcher. And you forgot to mention Ullman, who, while not much of a receiving threat, will see a good bit of playing time as a blocking tight end.
 
Josh Marshall is probably medically gone this season.

We still have TEs Blaine Irby SO-1L, Peter Ullman SR-3L, Mac McWhorter JR-2L who's spent a lot of time on STs, Ian Harris FR-RS, and William Ruefle JR-TR. Some people have added Ahmard Howard currently listed at DE because he also played TE in HS. Greg Smith has been mentioned. That's seven bodies. We're not thin at TE.

Cody's gonna work best out of the backfield doing what he does best in lieu of a second TE. You'll see.
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I think he could be a very nasty run blocker at TE and I think he's fast enough. His height is the only downside I see. And to the above poster, it's not the number of TE's we have, it's the talent of those players. I look at them right now and don't see anybody (with the exception of possibly Irby) as being a good TE this year. We are DEFINITELY thin talent-wise, IMO.
 
Maybe not full time at TE, but it would be an interesting option. When we break the huddle the defense wouldn't know whether we were going to be in a 2 back set or a 2 TE set.
 
David Thomas, Pat Fitzgerald and Lawrence Sampleton are the yardstick others are measured by at The University, IMO. They were all greatness.

After Finely bolted early, talented Blaine Irby is projected by most to be the starter / front-runner in a one TE set, in a 2 TE running play formation, our TE receiving threat drops off if Ullman is in IMO. The other TE's are no doubt talented but question marks until we see them in game action.

I like your theory / speculation about Cody... don't know if Mack or anyone on the staff will think of that scenario, but I would like to see it experiemented with. Hell, why not? We lived with the Henry Shelton
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experiment at RB for almost 2 years!
 
PFD

you are probably right but we are dealing with a situation that requires some drastic moves. Distribution of the best possible talent to a position of need is what is demanded now.

If Cody is 5'10" and a little short so be it.
 
Gotta agree with poster who points out that RB blocking and blocking on the line are very different skills. Besides, if the kid can catch, he can catch as a FB or RB. We don't throw to the TE enough for this to be a panic inducer. Remember, Finley didn't feel loved because he didn't get enough touches. The big guys will handle the TE blocking assignments just fine. Irby needs to stay healthy, but never count out one of the guys behind him siezing the opportunity. Making RB/FBs into tight ends doesn't make sense to me.
 
But it doesn't require drastic moves, at least not yet. If Irby went down, maybe, although we still don't know how good some of the other guys are. If we have a two TE sight it will be Ullman and, of course, we lose some receiving there, but I expect we would be running probably anyway. He would be a much better option as a blocker than Johnson.

What we will likely do is run very few 2 TE sets. We didn't run many last year, and early in the year, Ullman was the second guy in most of those (later replaced by Irby). If your point is really to have the best skill personnel on the field, then it will be one TE and multiple receivers, because that's where more of our talent is.

And even though Johnson is a great athlete, taking him and playing him at a position as radically different as TE would actually do the opposite of utilizing the most talented players, as you alluded to. You are not making the most of his talents, and you are diminishing the offense as a whole by trying to fit the personnel we're left with, due to injury, into a preconceived system, rather than running with what we've got - a boatload of receivers and not many TEs. Let's see how Irby looks before we panic at TE.
 
If we're going 2 tight to run, then all is well. Most of the 2 tight set plays will obviously be runs. Davis has talked some about throwing out of 2 tight, and on a few occassions he has done that. If you are throwing to a TE our of a 2TE set, you really get more of the benefit of throwing out of a run first short yardage set (assuming a short yargage situation) by tossing it to a big ol boy no one considered a threat. Tweedie comes to mind, and he is a grad. ***'t this season.
 
God forbid something happens to Irby, but I wonder what ideas you guys would come up with then? Or do you have any ideas in that case?
 
this kid is rb all the way. i can remember his sr year in hs when he was playing w/ a shoulder (same one he had surgery on last year) and the staff popping it back into place more than once, and then inserting back in the game. he is tough and he's monster. he punished tacklers like earl. oh btw earl is his sports idol according to his bio. he's got some break away speed on the field believe or not and had a 35 yrd td run in the spring which opened the coaches eyes a bit. i think the staff will have no choice but to insert this monster into the game in the second half and let him eat from the hb position. jmo though!

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