The Bobcat Nation

Who does everyone think will be best, most productive back in 2005 in the Big Sky conference?

My pick & the obvious choice": Lex Hilliard-I hate to say this about any Friz, but I think this kid could play IA football. His size- power-speed ratio is one seldom seen in the BSC. Couple this with the fact that the Griz will have a contingent of unproven QB's and WR's next season, I think we could see Lex become a 20-30 carry per game back next year. One place the Friz are definitely not lacking talent, size, and experience is on their O-Line, which is going to probably going to be the biggest in BSC next year. We will see if they actually land that Idaho kid (Therien, I think his name is-6'7" 310) who is thinking about transferring there, anyhow the kid is a beast-projected as a possible 1-2 rounder in 2007. Nevertheless, without the Idaho kid or not, behind that size of O-Line, I could see a back of Hilliard's caliber, who will likely be expected to carry the offense next year, possibly have 1500+ yard season next year.

Let me know what you all think. Are there any other contenders????

I too think that Hilliard will be the dominant back in the BSC. However, baby hack will probably platoon his RBs and Hilliard will get overlooked. (Come on, let me dream) If hack hands Hilliard the ball 25-35 times a game, the rest of the BSC will be in trouble.

I am not cheering for Hilliard, he is just, flat out good.

I think that there will be a couple of boys in Bozeman that stand a chance of being really good as well.

Hilliard will have to stay out of trouble. I hope he does, I know his dad (Elvis) and he is a great guy. I still have my problems with the cats running game. We don't have that back that will just put his head down and get the yards we need. To much dancing around in the backfield. You need to trust that the whole will be there when you are. This could be a line problem as well..

I like Lex a lot but I don't see the Griz offense changing that much. We've had unproven receivers before and they became successful. I don't see the Griz changing to a run 1st offense.

That said, he should have a BIG year baring trouble and injuries. However, the Griz WILL develop some very good receivers!

It's nice to think the Griz will be lacking in areas, but we thought that last year too. True it took time for them all to develop into a cohesive unit, but they were still good enough to win almost all their games. I expect nothing but greatness from the Griz, please prove me wrong Hauck.

Anyway, here are my top 5 BSC runners, in order:

1. Hilliard
2. Mole (850 yards as a frosh last year)
3. Domineck (wishful thinking perhaps, but if he doesn't have his big runs called back on penalties...)
4. Barnett
5. Rubin

CelticCat wrote:Anyway, here are my top 5 BSC runners, in order:

1. Hilliard
2. Mole (850 yards as a frosh last year)
3. Domineck (wishful thinking perhaps, but if he doesn't have his big runs called back on penalties...)
4. Barnett
5. Rubin

I concur with these rankings with the exception of Domineck. He fumbles a little too much for my liking. Hilliard is something else.

Like I said, wishful thinking. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he has fixed his fumble problem. If I recall he fumbled less as the season went on, don't quote me on that. I also say this because I think our OL is going to be quite a bit better than last years as well.

I suspect with all the kids in California SAC has to choose from, Mole won't be their primary back before the year is over. We get to see the major conferences bring true freshmen in and have years like Adrian Peterson (may have been a redshirt), and I suppose we'll see more and more like Hilliard, Lulay in our conference within a very short period of time also. I was pretty impressed with the way Hammerschmidt was able to blend freshmen in with experienced players and I can't help but think we'll see more and more running backs getting the same play time.

Hilliard is good, but it's hard to tell just how good. He was the No. 2 guy coming into the season and UM also had Craig Ochs for other teams to concentrate on. He's no doubt a fast, powerful runner, but I'll wait to see how he does with defenses keying on him.

Last year was a down year for running backs in the Big Sky. There were no Chip Dunns, Charles Roberts, Yo Humphreys, Ryan Johnsons in the league. Chornous was the marquee back, if that says anything. As I recall people were surprised to see Hilliard walk off with 1st team RB honors. Or were they? He could run all over the place in 2005, but I think he'll be under his avg. yards per carry (5.1) from last year and not live up to expectations.

He got rolling midway through the season beginning with EWU in week 7 and peaked in the MSU, NWSU and New Hamp games. After that, he was shut down vs. Sam Houston and James Madison 26 runs for 64 yds. This tells me teams began keying on him more and he became a point of emphasis. Teams typically fear the UM pass attack. Before any UM fans get on here and get all snippy, I will say that UM did pass and run all over MSU. So who knows what MSU was keying on that day.

One of the threads in the "other" site discusses many of the same points ya'll just mentioned about Hilliard. For whatever reason, they're arguing with each other about their transfer qb. Although I know we won't have a full contingency in Great Falls, I'm anxious to see what they look like after a winter in the weight room

Anyone the EWU lines up at RB will probably have a very good year because everyone in the BSC will be playing pass defense against them.