Interesting to follow A.J. progress. At this point in the season it is hard to make big changes in some stats, but, he is trying. Before NIU Stingily was 6th in the MAC at 78.4/game. A. J. was 9th at 70.2/game. After the NIU game A. J. is up to 76.6/game and Stingily has fallen to 74.9/game. Ninth to sixth, with lots of help from his mates on the O line not to mention the defense that shut down Stingily. No small thing that. Hope Miami sees the 100% healthy A.J.

He has been the major bright spot for this team this year. I believe that he has made the backfield a bright spot for the future. Now...if only our staff can go to a 2-back set next year with a platoon of Irons and Trae Williams and we'll be good to go. I'm convinced that Williams will be a stud.

As soon as possible Ohio needs to get back to redshirting freshmen. Williams needs to be allowed five years in the program. I believe Dorian Brown has shaken his ball control issue. I will refrain from use of the "f" word. I would like for him not to be "labeled." The Bobcats continue to get bigger, stronger and faster. Next season should be fun. Depth should be good across the board. I don't expect to replace Crutch and McCleod, but, the DL should be good enough. Oh, the team is not expected to convert every third down. The other teams will win their share of the time. They are working very hard too and deserve credit.

Yeah, blocking a linebacker. That can't possibly be done or developed.

You can't make this stuff up!

Those of you that say trae doesnt have a feature back body...trae is 6 foot..195 lbs..melvin gordon is 6-1..207 lbs..and trae makes Burrow able 2 be a big 10 guy. Without Trae Joe is ours.

L.C. you are spot on with your clarification about the difference between a featured running back and a lead blocker like Mitch, or Jason. We have not had a body type like that since those guys graduated !

To clarify what Billy is saying here, if the offense adds another player to the box, by replacing a wide receiver with a fullback, the defense similarly brings another player, or perhaps two players, into the box. That can be a disadvantage, or an advantage.

Let's says that when you bring in your fullback, the defense goes from a nickle to a conventional defense, and thus replaces a DB with a linebacker. If the linebacker is 6-1 and 220, while your fullback is 6-1 250, the additional road grader may help. Even then, though, it adds congestion at the point of attack, and that additional congestion may make it harder to get a big gain.

In the end it's a mixed bag. Both offenses can be used effectively. I have personally always been partial to having a fullback, yet if I go back and compare numbers, I can't argue against the fact that Ohio's average yards/carry actually went up significantly when they moved away from a fullback.

I don't care if you buy it or not Monroe, it's a fact. Defenses adjust their personnel to the offensive package. When you watch a game, you will see someone on the defensive side of the ball holding up numberd cards, that will read, 11, 12, 21, 22, etc.. that is the offensive personnel grouping, and the defense will adjust their's accordingly. If you watch an OHIO game at a dead ball COP, you will almost always see OHIO take the field with 12-13 defensive players. When they get the card, the package needed stays.

You are correct, in that people are changing how they defend the spread, however that does not mean they cannot add beef to their front via an extra DL, MLB, OLB or SS into the box. Football is about numbers and angles, and is really pretty simple from that perspective.

And please, I am not trying to belittle or demean you with this post, just explain the basics of that situation, and how defense's adjust their base.

At the end of the day, I love a good fullback. I enjoy watching teams with a fullback, I love the ISO, the old school double down and kick out. I love the Lead, the Load, and Wham. However that is not part of what this staff does, and I have no issues with them making the decisions the way they want to make them.

And your first comment proves my point, if we can line up and run over a 6 man box, how are we going to run over a 8-9 man box. We adjust personnel they adjust personnel. It's not rocket science.

Well since this post is about AJ OUellette I'm just going to say this kid needs a congrats for his 2nd offensive player of the week and was only the starter in 4 games, which out of those 4 games 3 of them were over a 100 yard games. I feel if they build this offense around him we'll go far.

As I said earlier, I won't be surprised if we see a few two back sets next year with Irons and AJ. This won't be an every down kind of thing, but something to keep the defense off guard. In these formations AJ might be the blocking back more often than not; however, from what I've heard Irons is very, very strong for his 6-0 211 frame. Maybe someone who has attended a few practices can give an update on how Irons has looked, but I was told when he was recruited that he had tremendous talent but needed a redshirt year to get used to our blocking scheme and other aspects of the game that are a lot different than what he was used to on his Canadian high school team.