Ok maybe 10 is a little low.
Again baring injuries to Gibbs and monty.
Over/under 30 snaps! Let alone carries it looks like for RB3. Just looking, when Gibbs and Month were both healthy. The rest of the team had 8 carries.
Unless hes all that and a bag of chips. Ill go with the under
The 2024 Godwin Igwebuike, who the Lions converted from DB to RB.
If you listened to what Brad said about him, they selected Vaki as a developmental RB who will play all 4 phases of Special Teams. If you watched the progression of his 2023 tape, he got his 1st carry in the Oregon State game. Next week against Cal, he ripped off 158 yards on 15 carries and 2 TDs- one housecall went for 73 yards. The following week at USC he rushed 9 times for 68 yds, and caught 5 for 149 and 2 TDs. Once Utah’s RBs got healthy again, Vaki’s usage went down and they got him back into the safety mix. Brad was intrigued by his instincts as a runner and receiver largely because he hadn’t been trained as a RB. Perhaps his versatility will enable the Lions to squeeze one more guy onto the 53 who wouldn’t have made it otherwise.
Unless we have injury problems that is. Rodrigo was playing both last year after Cabinda got injured. Absolutely no one predicted that before the season.
I think it’s important to remember the context. Takes three entire years off. Gets his feet wet as an older freshman. Contributes on defense and switches to offense and immediately becomes a dominant two way back despite only having a limited playbook and really sh!tty QB play.
Not that I expect him to be a star but I can absolutely see him becoming a better back than Monty down the road if he focuses just on offense.
That would be a star in my book. That’ a bold statement!
We shall see. His 2023 offensive play impressed the he’ll out of me.
As a high school player, he was quite the all-purpose player, but mostly a WR. His senior year:
1,684 all-purpose yards as a senior included 111 kick return (1 TD), 96 punt return, 75 interception return and 43 rushing (1 TD).
65 receptions for 1,359 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2018, averaging 104.5 yards per game and 20.9 yards per catch.
What seemed to blow Holmes away is the fact that he was able to walk in against Cal and rush for 158 yards and 2 TDs on 15 carries in the Utes win and, the next week, in more limited duty, perform well against Southern Cal with 9 carries for 68 yards.
He’s going to be a weapon in our special teams fake packages.
Very bold statement. David Montgomery is a 225 jackhammer. Vaki is hard nosed for sure, but if he becomes better than Montgomery, that will have been an incredible pick by Brad. To see a diamond in the rough over just a few games at the position…Degree of difficulty in that projection is extremely high. If it happens as you predict, then Brad will have really been showing off with this pick.
They did it once with Godwin Igwebuike, with some measure of success, but I think Vaki will be far better than Igwebuike, particularly as a receiving back.
Didn’t even think about that. He might be a bigger “Problem” for opponents than Houston.
In between the lines Vaki has WAY more juice than Monty. Plenty of power to boot. They aren’t one for ones stylistically.
I think a lot of fans are underestimating how difficult it is to do what Vaki just did. Only played football 2 of the last five years, switched position mid week and immediately looks like one of the nation’s most dangerous backfield weapons.
Yeah- pretty rare for a guy to do what he did. The catch against USC where he full stopped between 5 guys, cut back and outran everyone to the pylon was elite stuff. So we have another lottery ticket. Let’s see what happens.
Robert Edwards did it at Georgia during an offseason. He was going to be a star IMO. But Vaki did it mid week.
I wanna see Vaki do this
This comment really highlights something I love about the way Holmes and DC and staff are doing right now.
Vaki could be a home run.
He hit 21.5 MPH against USC.
He looked like a slot WR on that play.
He ran the angle route… hit the breaks, reversed field, and then accelerated past a bunch of DBs.
His testing was a “disappointment” with a 39.5 inch vertical.
Combined with his broad jump of over 10 feet…
those explosive numbers do more to instill more belief in his GPS time over his 40 time.
On the other hand….
if none of that excitement leads to a breakout career…
the worst case scenario looks to be a jack of all trades 4-phase special teams standout… that has the versatility to fill in on offense or defense occasionally without too much preparation.
In the late 4th round.
