Running Back Styles: Comparing Shane Vereen to Jahvid Best

Someday I’d like to see a comparison of their running styles before starting at Cal compared to when they leave, just to see how they’ve improved under Ron Gould et al.

No pictures or vids to show us what you’re talking about?!

Defenders seem to find it harder to take down a guy who’s feet keep on hitting the ground rather than someone who requires more track strides, probably because

Still waiting for the conclusion to this thought! ;)

It’s as if the Millenium Falcon went from lightspeed to zero in barely under a second…and then went right back to lightspeed in that same instance of a second. Sometimes Best can pull off this maneuver, but he usually requires some open space between him and the defender to make this work.

I knew exactly what you were trying to describe the whole time, and I’ll say that I think Desean did this better than anyone I’ve seen. The end around against Tennessee when Hefney or whatever his name was (All-SEC safety) went flying by him….perfect example.

A few thoughts on Jahvid v Vereen. First, Vereen reminds me of Frank Gore in his running style. Efficient. No wasted steps. Always moving forward. Squeezes through holes. Falls forward, and can make something out of nothing. Jahvid is more like Chris Johnson with his blazing speed, vision and sheer athleticism, though I’m not sure he can break tackles well enough to be that kind of NFL superstar.

If the o-line is opening up nice holes for your back, Jahvid is the easy pick – the only other RB’s I can think of off the top of my head that even compare to him with space to run would be A Peterson and C Johnson. Given we haven’t had that kind of line play recently, I think Vereen might be the better back for us, especially against stronger competition. If the holes are smaller, the defense good and the big plays are going to be mostly stopped, I’d rather have the guy that can consistently pick up positive yards and help move the chains. I really like Vereen, I think he can replace Jahvid much the way Forsett (another guy Vereen reminds me of) repaced the more talented Marshawn, yet arguably outproduced Marshawn.

One more point I’d like to make – on my way home from work, I like to read ESPN’s chats on the train if they had chatters I found interesting that day. I occasionally read KC Joyner, “The Football Scientist”, and one of the points he’s made is how well a RB does on well blocked plays is really the biggest factor in how good a RB at the NFL level is – basically, the difference on plays where the blocking is bad really isn’t big between RB’s – and the maybe 1 ypc (I’m making that number up, the point is it’s smaller) difference betweent he best and worst on poorly blocked plays isn’t nearly as important as the 3-4+ ypc difference between the best and worst on well blocked plays. That seems to me to favor Jahvid, though who knows if the Lions will ever give him a line that can actually block well often enough for him to be successful. I’m not sure whether that translates to college, either, if it does, it might mean we should expect a downgrade to Vereen, though I do still think he’s talented enough to be another quality member of Tedford’s RB line. I also am not quite sure good how KC Joyner’s work is, though I do think he at least has the right basic concept for how to statistically evaluate players (but then again, he does work for ESPN!)….

I think the greatest strength of Vereen was exhibited in the Big Game. He gets us into those 3rd and manageable situations that make it easier for us to continue drives. Obviously the greatest benefactor of that was Kevin Riley.

shane ran the 100 m dash in 10.66 jahvid ran it in 10.31 i believe in high school. that is literally the difference between the two in terms of pure speed. maybe half a step.

shane is a better receiver out of the backfield than jahvid as well. more natural hands.

The comparison regarding 100m times in high school may not be a totally valid comparison. I believe Jahvid ran the 10.66 in the CIF State Championships. Shane pulled his hamstring in CIF Southern Section prelims, the first step in making it to the CIF State Championships. Had he not injured himself, he would have run in the Southern Section Finals and Southern Section Masters meets before meeting Jahvid at the CIF State Championships. I’m certain he was trained to peak at the CIF State Championships, or shortly before, so we really don’t know his best 100m time, as his season was cut short due to injury. Recall also that during their junior year of high school the two of them had the two fastest times for juniors at the CIF State Championships, but never met their senior high school seasons.

I’m never going to say Shane Vereen is a better running back than Jahvid Best, but he could be more consistent without having the same long runs. It’s one of those deals where you have to ponder this question: Do you want the guy who will hit a home run every five to six at-bats, or the dude who keeps on dinging singles and doubles once every two to three at-bats?

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i think shane may have a lot of long runs this year with a full load. i think vereen is actually the type of back that will ding singles, doubles and surprise you with a home run.