RB Concerns?

With Kenton Keith as the feature RB this season and no Holmes to take his place when he gets injured, should we be concerned about the RB slot this season?

Even if Keith stays healthly should we be concerned?

There were flashes of Keith's greatness last season, but for the most part Holmes was the man getting it done while Keith found himself eating turf with little yards gained.

Can someone else step up and dominate in this position? Dominique Dorsey?

Keith had more yards than holmes last season. and was only 0.5 yards per carry behind him.

Keith is the barry sanders of the CFL he can break it for a TD from anywhere on the field.

as for the second part yes DD is ready to go, and dont forget last season we didnt use Szarka as much as we could have and this season he has Hathaway pushing him for the starting position.

Also Shivers brought in a couple of other RB's who are supposedly doing just great and one of them (can't remember his name at the moment) is legitimatley fighting for the #2 RB spot. Roy sure knows how to find talent at RB

I think Szarka can do well, if we use him properly. He always seems to get lost in the shuffle in the Rider offensive scheme. Hughes has the potential to be a good back in this league, but he needs more time.

Hathaway is supposedly doing well in camp too, Szarka better not be too comfortable in his spot at starting FB because Hughes and Hathaway are knocking at the door. Hathaway is having a pretty good camp, he has great hands (Was brought in to Ottawa as a Tight End) so he can catch out of the backfield, he also can plow through the hoggies for some tough yards, the only thing Szarka beats him in his blocking ability. Szarka is probably one of the best if not thee best blocking fullback in the CFL.

Don't forget Joseph ran for over 1000 yards last year. This will give the opposing linebackers fits with Keith in the backfield and Joseph always a threat to take off.

Given that, I think the message Joseph will be given through camp is that he's NOT a running back, he's a quarterback. I just don't think Barrett will let him run amok.

8) [b]I watched CTV news a couple days ago, and they talked to Condell, the new Offensive Cooridnator. And he said that the Fullbacks, Szarka and Hughes and some other guy are going to have a bigger part in the offense and are going to have more roles and will be invovled more.[/b]

I really have no worries about the riders running attack. Condell will have the FBs pound a few up the gut, KJ will make the OLBs play QB contain which means you will see KK running off tackle where the bubbles are.

if KK stays health along with the rest of the Offence i wouldnt be surprised if KK is in the top 3 rushers. but those are two HUGE ifs

If I recall correctly Condell likes to have his runningbacks run into the flats on passing plays as check routes. If that's true Hathaway could get a decent amount of playing time if his hands out of the backfield are as good as I've heard.

Like Keith said in an interview, he only had one play last year and every time he lined up beside the quarterback and got the ball he had no room to break a big one.
He also said Condell had set up abouth twelve more plays for him.
The new guy in camp looks good as well.

I think they will be okay for a decent balance of run/pass this year. With a high power receiving corps, which most teams will be focusing on, and trying to contain Joseph, Keith will be a good mix to throw at them. Joseph can also get a few rushing yards too.

I have to agree about Hathaway having excellent hands and SlotBack speed , do you think he may be used more as a SB than blocker?

Does anyone here think that, with Hathaway and Joseph here, Szarka will no longer get the ball on the one yard line? How many times did he fumble last year on the opponents 1 yard line?

I agree, Danny told Nealon Greene the same thing and his effectivness went down the crapper in a hurry, I just hope that Barrett doesn’t do the same thing to KJ.

i can still see the riders giving Szarka the ball on the one, you have to it's the szarka train it's what he does. but think of what they have added to the mix. on the 1 yard line, joseph can run, joseph can pitch to keith, line hatheway up as a blocking fullback and give it to szarka or vice versa, line hatheway up as a tight end and play action. there is so much you can do with two bigger guys, and since they're both canadian, it makes it so much better. Also, i don't know why we didn't do it with nealon, but why can;t we run an option? we ran it a few times last year but not much, now with joseph, teams are going to have to committ to one or the other

One of the new running backs, Bracey (sp?) showed he is a good north south power back in the preseason.

I listened to the game on the radio so could not actually see the game play, but I heard Dorsey’s name quite alot in the beginning and it sounded good, did it look good?

I think both Coleman and Bracey looked better than Dorsey did, but it is only one preseason game so it's still pretty up in the air

i think it will be KK, DD, and Bracey. The reason is that obviously as it satnds, KK is our feature back. D. Barrett said he wanted DD returning kicks/punts. He said they will probabll keep 2 active and have 1 on the practice roster. Bracey is a big back - he can run over ppl unlike KK or DD... However, The riders do have Chris Szarka...

What about Armstead returning kicks? That was his role in Ottawa