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We do lose a lot with Shawnbrey gone, and we do have two very good true freshmen in camp That said, those that were at the 2008 game against Tulsa will recall that Butler was having a very good night before injuring his knee. In my opinion, the game changed with that play. His stats for the game to that point: 9 rushes for 95 yards, with a long of 38. He wasnt the same the rest of the year, and of course in 09 we had McNeal. I'm hoping a healthy Butler, with 3 years in JJ's system, can turn it up for us.

yeah, I remember Butler looking like he was going to have a great year, until that injury. I hope his rehab has gone well and he is as good as he was pre-injury.

that would definitely clear up one of the biggest question marks on this squad. i'm still really interested in seeing how this d-line situation plays out. regardless of how it does, with all of the movement in the positions, it seems that JJ is giving them a lot of options.

Butler knows the offense and has enough speed to make things happen. He has the potential to be a good back. The biggest issue is can he stay healthy ?

I would imagine by week three you will see a steady rotation of Fields, Line, and Pope.

Don't count out Butler as he has his speed back and knows the system well.

he seems fragile, hopefully he stays healthy this yr. we need him

Butler knows the offense and had a whole year to bounce back from his injury. He's a good guy and I hope he wins the job during camp. Who's been taking snaps with the 1st team?

Whoever wins the job they will have an O-line with 2+ years experience at every position. So they will have room to run.

I like Butler - great acceleration and lower body strength...

Most important, Butler brings maturity, understanding the offense, and talent to the first game against Texas Tech on National TV. I would think Zack Line will start and Butler will play after Zack Line. Don't get me wrong, I like these freshmen. Fields is going to be awesome and probably Pope too.

ponyscott wrote:Don't count out Butler as he has his speed back and knows the system well.

He also has been working like a madman in the weight room, according to strength coach Mel deLaura, and has jumped from 218 pounds to a solid 230.

That said, head coach June Jones said Tuesday that the race for the starting running back job likely will go down to the night before the Texas Tech game, but that the leader now is Zach Line, largely because of his blocking prowess.

Zach Line is going to play about half of the game I'm sure for blocking-but he ain't getting a bunch of carries either. I wouldn't be surprised to see Butler be the featured RUNNING back in the Tech game. Then you put Fields in situations you think he can succeed and see how he reacts to the environment of more than a 1000 people in the stands and DLinremen who weigh 300 pounds and can run. This ain't a great situation to break-in a freshman RB. Tech has dominate size over SMU's very small Offensive Line. Depth is gonna definitely play a role in this particular game

Butler looked like a muscle man today at the lunch. Thick and strong and I hope he makes it all year with now OWIES

Zack was in the game at least 40% of the time last year.

Stallion wrote:Then you put Fields in situations you think he can succeed and see how he reacts to the environment of more than a 1000 people in the stands and DLinremen who weigh 300 pounds and can run. This ain't a great situation to break-in a freshman RB. Tech has dominate size over SMU's very small Offensive Line. Depth is gonna definitely play a role in this particular game

Have you ever actually seen Fields? He's a lot skinnier than I would have thought. That, and he doesn't yet have nearly the stamina the vets do.

Right now your starters are Line (who IS actually running, not just blocking) and Butler. Getting the next most carries is Pope, mainly because Bryce Lunday may be a little dinged up.

Pope, IMHO at this point, looks more like a college running back. Although he doesn't have a top gear like Fields, Pope is PLENTY fast -- having come back from his injury he ran a 4.5 at 240 lbs.

My guess is that Fields, barring an injury, should get stashed away in the weight room for a year. Again, a lot can change between now and Texas Tech, but that's what it looks like to me.

I'm not talking about him carrying the ball much against Tech. In fact, I said its not a great situation for any freshman to break in. I think Tech is going to shut SMU's running game to a crawl. I think Tech's offensive line is going to dominate especially in the interior of the offensive line. Hopefully, they can break some delayed draws. For every freshman you play significant minutes he'll probably cost you a game. But SMU ain't going far this season without a better running game than Line or even Butler is going to give you. I like Line as a role player and think he'll play a big percentage of play in every game. But that's what he does-he plays a very important blocking back role in a passing offense. And you better believe that Texas Tech is going to aggressively go after Padron so Line is going to be quite busy