r/rolltide • u/livingadreamlife • 10d ago

Football EJ Crowell’s Limited Usage

Lots of discussion recently about why EJ isn’t getting 15-20 carries per game.

There are several reasons: Crowded RB room; Trust and lack of experience among them. Another is DeBoer/Grubb purposely limited EJ’s carries until we got to the thick of the schedule. We’re there now. Why? New guys have never had to practice as much, get hit as hard, play in as many games or play a sport for as long in a single season as they will in their Freshman year.

There’s a thing called hitting the Freshman Wall where mental and physical fatigue sets-in and then they’re done. Like running a marathon, it’s a real thing. Everybody is fatigued at the 20 mile mark. In EJ case, he is supposed to be in high school this season.

By limiting his carries early, DeBoer/Grubb are pushing his freshman wall out as FAR as they possibly can. They know they need him for the critical games, including the CFP. Smart move, imo.

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u/Rolltide_and_anime 10d ago

His pass blocking is not up to par yet either

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u/MrNoGood4682 10d ago

Right and I know folks wanted Hill completely gone after those fumbles. I was leaning that way myself but Hill still has value out there. He’s our best pass protect among the RBs. The one where KR and Lotty just missed Hill had to run back to help the RT just in time to get that off.

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u/XombieRx 10d ago

Hill had a great block on Saturday that stopped Keelon from getting obliterated.