It's change aplenty for the Cajuns — and that's good

[Just1More]

He is not a 20-25 carry type of back. He can't sustain that throughout an entire season. One or two games spread over 6-8 weeks sure. But we saw what kind of toll it took on him last season after the NMSU game.

We need to sling the ball around and provide Elijah more space to work with. If we run him into traffic too much, we're not very smart.

[Turbine]

He is not a 20-25 carry type of back. He can't sustain that throughout an entire season. One or two games spread over 6-8 weeks sure. But we saw what kind of toll it took on him last season after the NMSU game.

I wasn't thinking 20-25 although re-reading back, 15 extra carries would certainly put him there.

I was thinking with a successful passing game taking the load off, he could do 80% of the carries.

[zephyr]

I actually expect Eli's numbers to go down, because his abilities will end up opening the flood gates for others. The LeBron affect.

I don't know if I would expect them to go down but I don't expect them to go up all that much either. He will be used more but I think his yards per carry are going to go down a tad. Hopefully he will still be used extensively in the passing game.

[zephyr]

I'm really excited to see the effect Elijah will have on the offense now that he's the main guy. With Alonzo gone and no longer taking away a ton of carries, (don't get me wrong, I loved Alonzo and what he did for our offense) I see Eli prob gaining about 15 more touches per game. I realize we will prob still see a healthy dose of other backs getting carries. But I'll be shocked if Eli isn't in on 95% of all offensive plays, whether he's in the backfield or split out wide.

Also excited to see a change in defensive scheme and coaching. I kinda forgot about our new coaches from SEC schools that we hired. Hoping we can look more like the defense that showed up against Nevada and less like the defense that showed up against App State. I'm with Luke on this article, I think all this change will actually be very good for the team's chances of surpassing previous years' win totals. 10 or 11 wins is doable.

95%? I hope not. We will have a new starting RB by week 4 if that's the case. One of the biggest reasons for his huge success the past two years has been his ability to make huge plays late in games due to being fresh. I don't want to take that away from him. I don't know if he's a 20+ carry per night guy and if he is, his chances of injury go way up.

[CrappDaddy]

95%? I hope not. We will have a new starting RB by week 4 if that's the case. One of the biggest reasons for his huge success the past two years has been his ability to make huge plays late in games due to being fresh. I don't want to take that away from him. I don't know if he's a 20+ carry per night guy and if he is, his chances of injury go way up.

The biggest reason for his success is because he is usually the best athlete on the field when he's in. I wouldn't expect his numbers to go down in rushing and I'd expect they might go up in receiving.

[CajunAlum10]

95%? I hope not. We will have a new starting RB by week 4 if that's the case. One of the biggest reasons for his huge success the past two years has been his ability to make huge plays late in games due to being fresh. I don't want to take that away from him. I don't know if he's a 20+ carry per night guy and if he is, his chances of injury go way up.

Please re-read my comment. I meant that I expect him to be used as a WR as well as RB. Thus getting him more TOUCHES, not just CARRIES. I agree that he shouldn't carry the ball 20-25 times a game. He's not a bruiser back. But I think you're losing your mind if you don't think he deserves 20-25 touches. I foresee about 16-18 carries and 5-7 catches per game. I don't think this is unreasonable. He's been waiting to fully break out and this is his season to impress the NFL scouts.

[zephyr]

Please re-read my comment. I meant that I expect him to be used as a WR as well as RB. Thus getting him more TOUCHES, not just CARRIES. I agree that he shouldn't carry the ball 20-25 times a game. He's not a bruiser back. But I think you're losing your mind if you don't think he deserves 20-25 touches. I foresee about 16-18 carries and 5-7 catches per game. I don't think this is unreasonable. He's been waiting to fully break out and this is his season to impress the NFL scouts.

You also said you would expect him to be on the field for 95% of the offensive snaps. I don't care if its at WR or RB, that is a lot of snaps. Say we have 70-75 snaps per game which is about our average from last year. That would have him on the field for 67-71 snaps per game. I don't think that is ideal considering that the highest number of plays per game anybody outside of a QB saw last year was Greg Ward from Houston at just over 29 snaps per game. Like I said, that type of usage is not realistic nor is it healthy and good for us moving forward.

Even if I'm looking at the stats incorrectly, compare his potential usage to that of the highest plays played last year for a QB and that number would barely be 55 plays per game. Also, to your point, do you really think that any fan doesn't think McGuire "deserves" 20+ touches in a game? Of course not. I'd love to see him on the field toting the rock 30+ times and getting 10+ receptions per game but again, its not feasible especially for the type of back he is and what his strengths are.

[zephyr]

The biggest reason for his success is because he is usually the best athlete on the field when he's in. I wouldn't expect his numbers to go down in rushing and I'd expect they might go up in receiving.

And if he's seeing the type of usage that we want, he wouldn't be a player with the same burst and quickness that he is with limited carries, this is why I don't think you will see his yards per carry quite as high as they have been the last couple of years. With more carries, you inherently bring into the equation more short yardage runs and less big bursts. Its a law of averages. I can see his overall numbers going up a tad perhaps with the increased touches but not his averages per carry and catch which have shown his explosiveness over recent years.

[zephyr]

We need to sling the ball around and provide Elijah more space to work with. If we run him into traffic too much, we're not very smart.

Yes

[zephyr]

I wasn't thinking 20-25 although re-reading back, 15 extra carries would certainly put him there.

I was thinking with a successful passing game taking the load off, he could do 80% of the carries.

Turb, not sure about the logic here. First, not sure what the hell was in the first sentence. Second, you are saying that with a better pass attack, he could get 80% of carries? Assuming we run for a similar amount as we did last year which I suspect considering our depth and overall offensive philosophy, we ran roughly 400 times spread out over several different people outside of Terrance Broadway since he had almost 150 carries by himself. By your logic, your saying that McGuire should be able to handle 30+ carries per game or well over 300 carries in a season which I think is safe to say....hell no. I don't think we will run the ball less than last year but I do expect the workload share to obviously be changed but I don't see him getting over 18-20 carries per game. As it was pointed out before, we saw how he started to really fatigue later on towards the end of the schedule with his increased workload. This is a reason I don't necessarily think we will see his numbers go up, or at least not significantly.

[HoustonCajun]

Turb, not sure about the logic here. First, not sure what the hell was in the first sentence. Second, you are saying that with a better pass attack, he could get 80% of carries? Assuming we run for a similar amount as we did last year which I suspect considering our depth and overall offensive philosophy, we ran roughly 400 times spread out over several different people outside of Terrance Broadway since he had almost 150 carries by himself. By your logic, your saying that McGuire should be able to handle 30+ carries per game or well over 300 carries in a season which I think is safe to say....hell no. I don't think we will run the ball less than last year but I do expect the workload share to obviously be changed but I don't see him getting over 18-20 carries per game. As it was pointed out before, we saw how he started to really fatigue later on towards the end of the schedule with his increased workload. This is a reason I don't necessarily think we will see his numbers go up, or at least not significantly.

When are the players sizes reported following yesterday's reporting in? We have heights & weights posted from the spring, but curious as to what changed from then to now and at what weight did players just report in. Did Elijah put on weight? Is his body stronger now to handle more carries?

[Turbine]

Turb, not sure about the logic here. First, not sure what the hell was in the first sentence. Second, you are saying that with a better pass attack, he could get 80% of carries? Assuming we run for a similar amount as we did last year which I suspect considering our depth and overall offensive philosophy, we ran roughly 400 times spread out over several different people outside of Terrance Broadway since he had almost 150 carries by himself. By your logic, your saying that McGuire should be able to handle 30+ carries per game or well over 300 carries in a season which I think is safe to say....hell no. I don't think we will run the ball less than last year but I do expect the workload share to obviously be changed but I don't see him getting over 18-20 carries per game. As it was pointed out before, we saw how he started to really fatigue later on towards the end of the schedule with his increased workload. This is a reason I don't necessarily think we will see his numbers go up, or at least not significantly.

I am expecting more passing less emphasis on running, yet I do not expect running yardage to suffer.