I am a 24/7 Razorback fan and have followed Mcfadden since he was a 5 star athlete at Oak Grove H.S. in Little Rock.
So here's the deal on McFadden:
Great speed and big play ability
Great all around athlete (actually Arkansas wanted to play him at Safety FR.)
Can catch the ball
Great blocker
Great kick off returner
Team player
Fast healer and tough (played two weeks after "dis-locating his big toe and played with severly bruised ribs this whole year long and a sprained knee)
Not so good:
Poor vision at times (see below)
Not great cut-back ability
fumbled too much last year (but only last year for some reason - SO. year not so much)
Doesn't break enough tackles in traffic
From Little Rock and close to the gang culture of his family
gets a ton of ***
McFadden was hindered by the awful play calling of "OC in title only" David Lee (I'm sorry Parcells hired him... maybe he'll get the ladders out at camp :winkwink:) and of course the man who really called the plays... Houston Nutt.
Nutt would run McFadden right into the tackles three times in a row every series. Arkansas had no QB (unless you count Nutt favorite Division II QB wanna be Casey Dick - yes there's a joke there)... so the opposing D stacked eight ot nine in the box EVERY FREAKING PLAY. Only McFadden's God given ability got him big plays once every ten to fifteen carries.
Why was McFadden better the year befor? Innovative mis-direction and play calling of Gus Malazan. Once Nutt ran off Malazan... the O went back to three straight runs up the middle, or when things really got crazy a three yard pass to the fullback (Hillis) in the flat... when it was third and eight.
Nutt is, was, and will be a joke of a coach. He's a scum-bag and he almost ruined McFadden this year with his play calling and making him play hurt. So McFadden looked worse this year than last IMO because of Nutt.
So here's the deal on McFadden:
Great speed and big play ability
Great all around athlete (actually Arkansas wanted to play him at Safety FR.)
Can catch the ball
Great blocker
Great kick off returner
Team player
Fast healer and tough (played two weeks after "dis-locating his big toe and played with severly bruised ribs this whole year long and a sprained knee)
Not so good:
Poor vision at times (see below)
Not great cut-back ability
fumbled too much last year (but only last year for some reason - SO. year not so much)
Doesn't break enough tackles in traffic
From Little Rock and close to the gang culture of his family
gets a ton of ***
McFadden was hindered by the awful play calling of "OC in title only" David Lee (I'm sorry Parcells hired him... maybe he'll get the ladders out at camp :winkwink:) and of course the man who really called the plays... Houston Nutt.
Nutt would run McFadden right into the tackles three times in a row every series. Arkansas had no QB (unless you count Nutt favorite Division II QB wanna be Casey Dick - yes there's a joke there)... so the opposing D stacked eight ot nine in the box EVERY FREAKING PLAY. Only McFadden's God given ability got him big plays once every ten to fifteen carries.
Why was McFadden better the year befor? Innovative mis-direction and play calling of Gus Malazan. Once Nutt ran off Malazan... the O went back to three straight runs up the middle, or when things really got crazy a three yard pass to the fullback (Hillis) in the flat... when it was third and eight.
Nutt is, was, and will be a joke of a coach. He's a scum-bag and he almost ruined McFadden this year with his play calling and making him play hurt. So McFadden looked worse this year than last IMO because of Nutt.
