Last I had heard I thought this former Mizzou Runningback, Chase Abbington (who was a 4-Star out of the St. Louis area) had transferred to SEMO.
Some quick research showed that in his lone season there he rushed for 132 yards on 52 carries in 2016.
In searching the Westminster football roster for another player...I saw his name pop up there there for the Bluejays.
Another quick search showed that his past season at Westminster he was the 3rd leading rusher on the team with 434 yards and a 3.6 avg. per carry.
After the 2015 season Mizzou was supposed to have a "GLUT" of talent at the runningback position:
BELOW is how it was supposed to have looked heading into 2016 (and this didn't even count Marquise Dougherty, another 4* RB who should have been in the mix but left school early...he is now playing baseball at William Woods btw):
How 2016 RB Depth was SUPPOSED to have looked:
Starters: Ish Witter / Morgan Steward
Back-ups: Chase Abbington 4* / Travon Walters
Depth: Ryan Williams / Nate Strong 4*
Ish was the only one of the above group who stuck it out at Mizzou and ever really contributed.
Steward retired from football due to injury. Abbington is at Wesminster. Travon was oft injured and eventually dismissed after an arrest. Strong transferred out...and now Williams is also leaving.
I think Mizzou and Rivals perhaps both missed on their evalutions with these past Mizzou running backs.
GP's last two recruiting classes included three 4-Star RB's who never contributed much...and three other 3-Stars who also fell by the wayside and left the program early.
MY POINT? Being ranked a 4-Star does not gaurantee success...and our attrition at this key position has been alarming.
Odom has had to do some major re-building in his first two years on the job.
Maybe it's time we forget about the stars and the rankings and trust Odom's staff to do their own evaluations...no?
Some quick research showed that in his lone season there he rushed for 132 yards on 52 carries in 2016.
In searching the Westminster football roster for another player...I saw his name pop up there there for the Bluejays.
Another quick search showed that his past season at Westminster he was the 3rd leading rusher on the team with 434 yards and a 3.6 avg. per carry.
After the 2015 season Mizzou was supposed to have a "GLUT" of talent at the runningback position:
BELOW is how it was supposed to have looked heading into 2016 (and this didn't even count Marquise Dougherty, another 4* RB who should have been in the mix but left school early...he is now playing baseball at William Woods btw):
How 2016 RB Depth was SUPPOSED to have looked:
Starters: Ish Witter / Morgan Steward
Back-ups: Chase Abbington 4* / Travon Walters
Depth: Ryan Williams / Nate Strong 4*
Ish was the only one of the above group who stuck it out at Mizzou and ever really contributed.
Steward retired from football due to injury. Abbington is at Wesminster. Travon was oft injured and eventually dismissed after an arrest. Strong transferred out...and now Williams is also leaving.
I think Mizzou and Rivals perhaps both missed on their evalutions with these past Mizzou running backs.
GP's last two recruiting classes included three 4-Star RB's who never contributed much...and three other 3-Stars who also fell by the wayside and left the program early.
MY POINT? Being ranked a 4-Star does not gaurantee success...and our attrition at this key position has been alarming.
Odom has had to do some major re-building in his first two years on the job.
Maybe it's time we forget about the stars and the rankings and trust Odom's staff to do their own evaluations...no?
