Over/Under AND Fact or Fiction: LaMichael James

Slightly over. I’ll say 1,325.

And no, he will not enter into the draft.

Over. In Boise State, he hardly had any play time, and he’s a smarter and faster player now. As long as he stays healthy, he’ll get plenty of yards.

And he will not enter the draft early. Education has been a priority to him.

He will stay as long as he still needs to earn his degree.

My guess is whoever is at QB will carry the ball slightly less often than Masoli did…whether that will or will not be the right read at the moment may regularly be in question.

I’m wondering what the over/under for LaMichael’s receiving yards should be? Dump off passes with Davis, Maehl, Paulson and B. Williams throwing blocks downfield could be huge, and oft-utilized by our inexperienced QBs. LMJ caught 17 for 168 last year. 300 yards receiving wouldn’t shock me.

although I hope I’m wrong. If he was playing in the NM game I would have voted over, but I have a feeling that the absence of the Masoli running threat will take a bit of toll this year. I know that both Costa and certainly Thomas can run, but I don’t believe they will be the same all-out running threat that Masoli was. So I’ll peg him at around 1250 yards this year.

I feel strongly that he won’t leave school after this year, although it’s possible that he’ll leave after his junior year, especially if he’ll be able to finish his degree at that point. I’ve read he very much wants to get his degree, and we know he has the grades (over 3.00 GPA as I undstand it) to do it pretty quickly.

Question: I’m thinking about Barner now – do kick/punt returns count in a player’s rushing yards for a season, or is it a separate category? If it’s included, I think Barner may go over 1000 as well, due to defenses keying in on LMJ in the absence of Masoli.

clearly over. thats too favorable a line. college running backs can easily have multiple thousand yard rushers, especially in such an offense, and i don’t see him having a decrease in 250 yards of production. he’s playing psu, and wsu. the qb isn’t going to be running as much either

Mostly because I see no reason not to have faith in our star player.

The draft is an interesting question though. I think it comes down to the labour situation. If there`s a lockout, he`ll definitely stay. There`s nothing to be gained by sitting out a year and he`s going to have a better go of it in Eugene than playing for scraps in the UFL or CFL for a season.
If a lockout is avoided by the time he needs to declare, I think he’ll decide to go. Running backs have the shortest pro careers, and the general rule is if your game is based on speed go as early as possible. Also his carries stand to decrease with the emergence of Seastrunk and Williams. I think his draft stock has more to lose than gain by staying.

I’ll join the minority and say under. Why? I just can’t forget the smile on Chips faces after a tough Rose Bowl loss when he said he’d have Barner “all of next year”. I think Barner will take some carries away from the Studmaster who, let’s face it, could use a break now and then after those 80 yard runs!

Under. I think that missing a full game, as well as seeing Kenjon getting s’more touches, I think Lamike will be in the 1200 range. Although, I sure do hope i’m wrong.

Bonus question: Lamichael will stay for his junior year and win Heismen that year.

Why is it assumed the Kenjon will be getting more rushes at the expense of James? Barner never had more than 10 plays from scrimmage that he touched the ball the entire season. James averaged 23.7 from the Utah game on (when he was the for sure starter). If Barner gets more touches, it will be most likely at the expense of the QB running the ball.

James touches will likely stay about the same, and would be surprised if it dropped below 18-20. Barner will get more, because I’d expect our QB to be keeping it less than before, and this will help ease the strains of a less explosive read-option.

James may have a few down games, as opponents try to key on him, but that’s not gonna last forever. The coaching staff has obviously thought about this always, and I’m confident they’ll have gameplans to take advantage of this defensive gameplan, which will then open up holes for James.

If James doesn’t get to 1300 yards, there will be something seriously wrong with our offense. It will mean that opponents will have been able to key on James, and the rest of our offense was unable to take advantage of the mismatches created by that defensive alignment.

3 out of your 4 paragraphs has “James” by the second word. 2 of those 3 have it as the first word. 1 of those starts and ends with “James” making it a James sandwich.

You clearly have a man-crush.