(12-20-2021 04:16 PM)BDB5yp Wrote:  I don’t believe it. He would have to sit out a year if he transferred unless he went down a level. He already sat a year. Would he want to do that again?

No. He would NOT be required to sit out a year…….eligible immediately.

There’s absolutely nothing from his or his dad’s social to indicate this for the record

(12-20-2021 04:31 PM)Huskies2006 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 04:08 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  If Jay is leaving for reasons not related to on field opportunities I’m in full support. Go do your thing. If he is leaving because of a crowded backfield I think it’s a mistake. NIU was 4th in carries behind only the 3 military schools whom I’m not even sure have QBs on their roster. No way Waylee gets the starting job back. Ratdog is gone. So if the carries go 50% Ducker, 30% Brown, 20% Waylee it would give Jay 250+ carries. He is exactly what Hammock wants at RB - wear down defenses and make them feel defeated because you can’t stop the run.

Anyway, I’m hoping he stays. But if not best of luck to him. I’ll follow his success wherever he may be.

Why wouldn't Waylee get the job back? Brown is impressive but so was Waylee. Ducker was solid too, but I didn't see him do anything that makes it obvious Waylee couldn't win his job back, he did it the first time.

I just think it’s matter of running styles. Hammock wants to control the clock and pound the defense. Waylee is the home run threat but not tough yards. Waylee wold be perfect on third down when you spread the O out wide and give him space. But 1st and 2nd is more between the tackles running.

What? Hammock is the one who made the decision in the first place, he picked Waylee. That's some weird logic, it's not like we had a different coach at the start of the season.
Do you think Hammock, a former running back and a former running back coach didn't figure out their running styles in practice before they played Georgia Tech? He knew who these guys were and Waylee is the guy he went with.

(12-20-2021 04:38 PM)7 Wrote:  There’s absolutely nothing from his or his dad’s social to indicate this for the record

yeah, but.....
Did you check with Shatone's girlfriend????

(12-20-2021 04:38 PM)7 Wrote:  There’s absolutely nothing from his or his dad’s social to indicate this for the record

That would be awesome if we had 8 pages of comments on something that isn't happening.

(12-20-2021 04:57 PM)Huskies2006 Wrote:  What? Hammock is the one who made the decision in the first place, he picked Waylee. That's some weird logic, it's not like we had a different coach at the start of the season.
Do you think Hammock, a former running back and a former running back coach didn't figure out their running styles in practice before they played Georgia Tech? He knew who these guys were and Waylee is the guy he went with.

All possible. This is just how I see it. Waylee was the defacto back by virtue of being the only returning starter. And he would have kept that job if it wasn’t for the injury. But I think Ducker turned out to be one of those guys you had on the bench who you didn’t realize how good he was until he got into some games. It’s happened here before.

It’s not to knock Waylee. But Hammock seems really big on his team having an identity. Ducker fits that perfectly. Waylee’s game might be better suited for an offense like Coastal Carolina or Kent st. And not that Waylee wouldn’t be successful as the starter. He proved that. But one of the main aspects of this offense is do not get into third and longs. You have to have positive yards on first down. Ducker will always get positive yards. I know Waylee can break one at any time, but he is also easier to knock back for a 3 yard loss.

Anyway, I hope we get a camp battle to see who Hammock chooses. Probably Brown..lol.

(12-20-2021 05:55 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 04:57 PM)Huskies2006 Wrote:  What? Hammock is the one who made the decision in the first place, he picked Waylee. That's some weird logic, it's not like we had a different coach at the start of the season.
Do you think Hammock, a former running back and a former running back coach didn't figure out their running styles in practice before they played Georgia Tech? He knew who these guys were and Waylee is the guy he went with.

All possible. This is just how I see it. Waylee was the defacto back by virtue of being the only returning starter. And he would have kept that job if it wasn’t for the injury. But I think Ducker turned out to be one of those guys you had on the bench who you didn’t realize how good he was until he got into some games. It’s happened here before.

It’s not to knock Waylee. But Hammock seems really big on his team having an identity. Ducker fits that perfectly. Waylee’s game might be better suited for an offense like Coastal Carolina or Kent st. And not that Waylee wouldn’t be successful as the starter. He proved that. But one of the main aspects of this offense is do not get into third and longs. You have to have positive yards on first down. Ducker will always get positive yards. I know Waylee can break one at any time, but he is also easier to knock back for a 3 yard loss.

Anyway, I hope we get a camp battle to see who Hammock chooses. Probably Brown..lol.

I think this is spot on, it might not be realistic, but I hope we can keep them all.

(12-20-2021 04:18 PM)Big Red Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 04:16 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 04:10 PM)NIUSAE Wrote:  Seems surprising but in this day and age not so much. Someone gets in his ear visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. Understandable from that perspective. He has good vision adequate but not breakaway speed. Still going to sting a little if true. Where were NU and Iowa during his high school recruiting. 1900 yards and not a peep. Maybe he doesn't want to compete................

It's the lure of the big P5 schools. This will forever be a problem for the G5 schools. All the P5s have to do is look at someone and they will come running.

I mean, if it's Iowa...ok.

If it's Nebraska...c'mon, really?

Nebraska is a sell.

"We got great fans and a big stadium. Also, we suck and we need you buddy. Really, really, really need you buddy"

(12-20-2021 02:42 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  I heard they came out with the spring depth chart showing Ducker third and he was not happy, understandably so. The coaches' choices were to create a depth chart, which they did, or say it would be an open competition next year with all three starting out equal. They probably felt that doing the latter would lead to an unpredictable result, not knowing who might leave. This way they made their choice.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet they didn't want to risk losing Brown so it came down to Ducker and Waylee. Ducker is Mr. Consistent, almost never losing yardage. Waylee has home run ability that Ducker lacks. Ultimately they chose the combo of Waylee and Brown.

This would be in direct contradiction to what Hammock has said. He has said multiple times over his tenure that he believes in going back to the beginning each off-season. Open competition at all spots, everyone gets equal reps, everything is earned, nothing is given.

He just spoke on this fairly recently, I will see if I can find it...

Nothing about this on the portal.

If this happens, this is a door opening for Blakemore. He's a lot bigger than Ducker and can be the pound it between the tackles RB that would pair perfectly with Waylee and Brown.

(12-20-2021 07:52 PM)MiamiHuskie Wrote:  Nothing about this on the portal.

This came from some guy who has a radio show in Nebraska. He claims he is friends with the Ducker family and they told him directly that Jay WIL be entering the portal. So just rumor at this point. But the guy did go public with the info so take it for what it’s worth.

(12-20-2021 07:45 PM)TXHuskieJA26 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 02:42 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  I heard they came out with the spring depth chart showing Ducker third and he was not happy, understandably so. The coaches' choices were to create a depth chart, which they did, or say it would be an open competition next year with all three starting out equal. They probably felt that doing the latter would lead to an unpredictable result, not knowing who might leave. This way they made their choice.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet they didn't want to risk losing Brown so it came down to Ducker and Waylee. Ducker is Mr. Consistent, almost never losing yardage. Waylee has home run ability that Ducker lacks. Ultimately they chose the combo of Waylee and Brown.

This would be in direct contradiction to what Hammock has said. He has said multiple times over his tenure that he believes in going back to the beginning each off-season. Open competition at all spots, everyone gets equal reps, everything is earned, nothing is given.

He just spoke on this fairly recently, I will see if I can find it...

I got this info from a parent who would know so I believe it's accurate. That doesn't mean Ducker won't change his mind or won't stay through spring or there won't be a competition. There's very little time for Ducker or anyone to find a new school before spring semester. He may well decide to stay through spring and see what things look like then.

(12-20-2021 08:33 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 07:45 PM)TXHuskieJA26 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 02:42 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  I heard they came out with the spring depth chart showing Ducker third and he was not happy, understandably so. The coaches' choices were to create a depth chart, which they did, or say it would be an open competition next year with all three starting out equal. They probably felt that doing the latter would lead to an unpredictable result, not knowing who might leave. This way they made their choice.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet they didn't want to risk losing Brown so it came down to Ducker and Waylee. Ducker is Mr. Consistent, almost never losing yardage. Waylee has home run ability that Ducker lacks. Ultimately they chose the combo of Waylee and Brown.

This would be in direct contradiction to what Hammock has said. He has said multiple times over his tenure that he believes in going back to the beginning each off-season. Open competition at all spots, everyone gets equal reps, everything is earned, nothing is given.

He just spoke on this fairly recently, I will see if I can find it...

I got this info from a parent who would know so I believe it's accurate. That doesn't mean Ducker won't change his mind or won't stay through spring or there won't be a competition. There's very little time for Ducker or anyone to find a new school before spring semester. He may well decide to stay through spring and see what things look like then.

If true I’d probably enter the portal too if I was Ducker. Maybe you can say Hammock is being upfront giving him a chance somewhere else because I doubt he expects Ducker to play third fiddle over the next 3 year. If Ducker couldn’t earn a top spot after this season Hammock will never see him as anything but a backup.

Disappointing if this ends up being true. New transfer rules will result in this happening much more. Even if there’s a depth chart issue, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be RB1 anywhere else.

(12-20-2021 03:30 PM)Big Red Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 03:28 PM)holybovine Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 03:16 PM)Schaefer Beer Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 03:08 PM)holybovine Wrote:  RBs are a dime a dozen anyway.

Too bad that your green birds can't afford a dime to get a dozen.

RBs aren’t our problem.

Agreed. Football is the problem at EMU.

You’re not far off.

(12-20-2021 08:33 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 07:45 PM)TXHuskieJA26 Wrote:  

(12-20-2021 02:42 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  I heard they came out with the spring depth chart showing Ducker third and he was not happy, understandably so. The coaches' choices were to create a depth chart, which they did, or say it would be an open competition next year with all three starting out equal. They probably felt that doing the latter would lead to an unpredictable result, not knowing who might leave. This way they made their choice.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet they didn't want to risk losing Brown so it came down to Ducker and Waylee. Ducker is Mr. Consistent, almost never losing yardage. Waylee has home run ability that Ducker lacks. Ultimately they chose the combo of Waylee and Brown.

This would be in direct contradiction to what Hammock has said. He has said multiple times over his tenure that he believes in going back to the beginning each off-season. Open competition at all spots, everyone gets equal reps, everything is earned, nothing is given.

He just spoke on this fairly recently, I will see if I can find it...

I got this info from a parent who would know so I believe it's accurate. That doesn't mean Ducker won't change his mind or won't stay through spring or there won't be a competition. There's very little time for Ducker or anyone to find a new school before spring semester. He may well decide to stay through spring and see what things look like then.

Hopefully this is false chatter from the other side. If he does leave, your running game will still be excellent. A lot of backs could run behind your line and do well…

If true, I can’t say I’m surprised. As I said a few weeks ago, one of them might feel the RB room is too loaded. Let’s face it, Waylee, Ducker or Brown could be the #1 feature back. With all 3 being FR this year (Brown was the only true FR) that means all 3 are going to be fighting against the other 2 for carries during their entire time at NIU (presuming all 3 were to stay). Waylee, Ducker and Brown were the super-stars in HS (or at least one of them), and Ducker was the Gatorade player of the year in Nebraska. Let’s also face that it isn’t easy for a super-star to not be in that spotlight and not seeing a clear path to being the #1 feature back with all 3 of them on the same team. I had a feeling that one of them could transfer to a team where they could be the #1 feature back.

Also, I recall that after Ducker’s first (or second) big game in the post-game presser coach Ham talked about him. I don’t recall the precise words, but coach Ham talked about Ducker being the RB for the opposing team in practice (I think coach Ham calls it the scout team?), he had a come to Jesus meeting with Ducker (not what coach Ham said, but what I sensed) and Ducker responded the right way. Could there be hard feelings? Coach Ham always talks about competition and practicing hard. Some players may not like the competition (and perhaps the practicing hard), which may be truer for former HS super-stars.

As to the depth chart in coach Ham’s mind, at the beginning of the year it was Waylee; period. Waylee got all the carries between him, Ducker and Brown. Maybe Ducker got a few carries before Waylee got hurt, but it wasn’t many. Unless Ducker or Brown surpassed Waylee in coach Ham’s mind during this season, Waylee is going to be the #1 RB (presuming he comes back 100%). If Ducker enters the portal, he could have been thinking that after the season he had it’s not fair that Waylee gets the # 1 spot back.

I’m not saying any of this is the case; just some thoughts. If Ducker does enter the portal, I still see that we have Waylee and Brown that could be the #1 feature back.

I'd be pretty shocked if this is true. Hammock always talks about recruiting his own (current) players. He also managed a great RB room at Wisconsin with multiple big names so he has experience.

I guess if he went P5 he could give it a shot but if 1 guy leaves I'm pretty happy with who is laft.