Need for speed, Josh Johnson

stepha4

Member
May 3, 2006
108
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In reading Coach Mac's words Josh Johnson sounds like a Troy Davis back......hits the hole quick, always falls forward and never creates negative yards. Sounds fantastic. Also, once in a while Troy used to get caught from behind.

In the latest Rivals.com info. it lists Josh's 40 time as 4.67.........anyone hear what he ran in Ames......or any more recent time than last year? We'd all feel comfortable with another Troy Davis......but, better yet, Troy Davis that runs a 4.45?
 
I'd rather have a guy that hits the hole quickly and gets you five yards a pop than any other kind of running back.
 
I agree, no way this guy is Troy Davis, I mean he rushed for 2,000 yards back to back seasons and the rest of the team gave him zero support.
 
4.4 Troy Davis is Adrian Peterson. If I recall Troys time at the combine was upper 4's
 
Barry Sanders?

A Troy Davis that runs 4.45 is Barry Sanders.


Easy on the Barry Sanders reference. Troy was great for ISU, he was a springboard to national media for ISU. That being said anyone who gets 30+ carries when trailing a football game by 25 points against a prevent defense SHOULD get over 2000 yards a year.
 
Easy on the Barry Sanders reference. Troy was great for ISU, he was a springboard to national media for ISU. That being said anyone who gets 30+ carries when trailing a football game by 25 points against a prevent defense SHOULD get over 2000 yards a year.

Yes, comparing anyone to Barry is a stretch. However, suggesting that all or most of Troy Davis' yards came against scrubs is beyond a stretch; it's just plain wrong. That our teams were poor in those seasons is just more of a testament to Troy's abilities. Everyone in the stadium knew he was getting the ball most downs and he was still impossible to stop. There are reasons he was a Heisman candidate multiple times even though his team had losing records.
 
The 4.67 in the database is an electronic time and it was timed by impartial observers who had no stake in the outcome, unlike a high school time that is hand-held and taken by coaches who want to see their kids succeed in college. In other words, it's a true time. But you have to remember it was taken over a year ago AND it's electronic. If this were 10 years ago (pre-Nike camp times), he would have been timed with a stop watch and that time would be about .2-some seconds faster than an electronic timing. So, ironically, he actually runs pretty close to 4.45 hand-timed.

A guy who follows Oklahoma high school sports religiously has told us that Johnson is plenty fast enough and in one of the clips on Rivals, you can actually see him outrun Dominique Franks, a CB who is going to Oklahoma with a listed 40 time of 4.4.

This same Oklahoma high school observer called Johnson the best back to come out of Oklahoma in the past two years. That includes Felix Jones a freshman all-American kick returner at Arkansas, who also shared carries last year with another freshman all-American RB in the Hogs backfield. Jones will be starting the early games this year because the other RB broke a toe. It also includes Mossis Madu, the kid who signed with OU this year. That's some pretty high praise.

Johnson is a quick, nifty runner, but he can also run over you. He has great balance and vision and that low center of gravity just like Troy Davis had. He has legs like tree trunks. I would guess that's where most of his weight is. He's 5-10, but listed at over 200 pounds.
 
Hitting the hole hard would be great to see. His ball security and other intangibles must be good to get moved up the depth chart as fast as he did.
 
umm this guys josh johnson and not troy davis, so lets let him play it out.

So we're not supposed to compare one player to another? have you ever listened to sports talk radio? That's all they do. Is LeBron the next Michael? Is Pujols the next Bonds? Is Brady the next Montana? That's what these boards are for: to dsicuss sports among like-minded people.
 
Agree AAC....no one is saying he will be...most of us, perhaps all have not seen him take a practice snap at ISU. We are just comparing the descriptions of him to Cyclones of the past. Do we go overboard...of course...that is what fans do.
 
Easy on the Barry Sanders reference. Troy was great for ISU, he was a springboard to national media for ISU. That being said anyone who gets 30+ carries when trailing a football game by 25 points against a prevent defense SHOULD get over 2000 yards a year.

Slow down there. What TD did was amazing. And, if you look at the stats, he had almost as many yards in the first half of games as he did in the second. Everyone knew TD was getting the ball and he still racked up the yards.
 
Thanks AAC

For the research and info on Johnson. This kid appears to be thunder and lightning in one bottle. Would be great for RB to be a real strength this year for the Cyclones.
 
Watching the Iowa/ISU replay from last year, and i dont care who is the second string RB is, they are going to be faster than Hicks or Coleman. Can we please get someone that run north and south, hit a hole, and not pussyfoot around in the backfield? I hope they give plenty of RB's a try when the time is right.
 
Hey if Troy ran a 4.45 he would have been Barry Sanders like, whats wrong with that. And it's complete BS to say he got a lot of yards against prevent defenses. I saw many games when the box was stacked with 8 men and TD still couldn't be stopped and ISU didn't exactly have great OL either. He was a GREAT running back.
 
Hey if Troy ran a 4.45 he would have been Barry Sanders like, whats wrong with that. And it's complete BS to say he got a lot of yards against prevent defenses. I saw many games when the box was stacked with 8 men and TD still couldn't be stopped and ISU didn't exactly have great OL either. He was a GREAT running back.

I would consider the o-line during his time better than what we have had the past few years. Much better in fact. We had absolutely no defense back then.
 
Can we please get someone that run north and south, hit a hole, and not pussyfoot around in the backfield?


It's a little hard to hit a hole that doesn't exist. Most times when you see Hicks "pussyfoot" around, it's because he's trying to find something that resembles a hole.
 
I'm excited to hear that Josh Johnson is doing well, but I suppose he should take a snap before we put a whole lot of expectations on him. And as far as Troy Davis goes, his biggest games were usually closer games. I was at the Missouri game for the 378, and that was something like 45-31, and it wasn't really decided until late.
 

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