http://calfootballblog.com/2011/09/06/introducing-isi-sofele-keep-the-speed-lose-the-size/

What's your guys thought on Isi's performance? He obviously appears to have the top end speed, but is there any concern with him in short yardage situations or do you think another bigger back would be brought in for those times?

After watching the game, he reminds me of the RB from Gridiron Gang before the Rock helped him gain confidence. Bracing himself before he gets hit, and going down after first contact.

he showed that he was pretty fast, but he isn't op end. I have a lot of confidence in him, would like to get him the ball about 12-15 times a game, not 24. If he can get us 80 yards from those 15 carries and then we give CJ/CDJ the ball a combined total of 10-12 times i think that we will have a solid running game.

Isi has great acceleration for the first 10 yards, but lacks top-end speed. I think that's what people mean by great quickness without top-end speed.

Actually, Isi seems to have nice lateral quickness, with the ability to make a defender miss. But what he appears to lack is a superior burst through the hole or breakaway speed. Both his acceleration and straight line speed are below what we've become accustomed to with Vereen, Best, Forsett, and Lynch. He's an okay back but not special. Down the line one doesn't see him starting in any NFL games.

My problem is not with Isi, it is with the staff. Isi is what he is. He is a smaller back that gives you some quickness and experience. He is ok, but not special by any means. Cal may not have a special back this year (that they plan on playing anyway)but does look like they have a bigger guy (CJA) that may provide some different looks for the defense.

I would guess that CJA gets more touches on Saturday and for sure (barring injury) against Presbyterian. JT really wanted to win that opener and made few changes on offense. I look for a little more from CJA on Saturday. The team needs to get him some game reps to see if he can help this team.

Isi is a decent player, but I question giving 24 touches a game to a player of his ability, unless we know the others are a big fallback. We don't know that yet, so the staff needs to find out.

Mr. Anderson is the answer as a runner. But he needs to show that he can block, receive, and run the plays. We will see more of him, and I think that he will produce.

I hate being negative about fellow Bears so I'll say I don't think he's the answer and leave it at that.

tequila4kapp;561460 said:

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I hate being negative about fellow Bears so I'll say I don't think he's the answer and leave it at that.

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i agree. With all the talk about how Fresno State just wasn't a good opponent to measure ourselves against....I still wasn't impressed with RB play this wknd. Yes, he rushed for two TD's and 80+ yards, but I'm looking more at the YPC, and with the coaching staff needing to keep him fresh by not having him run as much in the beginning of games....it's not something we're used to seeing with premier backs like Jahvid, Shane, Forsett, and Marshawn.


I know he has the ability to be an EFFECTIVE back...but not our go-to guy. Hopefully some of the other bruisers on our rosters start producing so we can have a more balanced run game.

Personally, only one thing seriously concerns me about Isi's performance: the fumbles. He can't put the ball on the ground like that.

I think there is room for improvement in the running game with Isi. Unfortunately, with Will Kapp unlikely to play next week, I am not sure we're going to see it. Will had some really great blocks (as well as the 4th down quick-hitter conversion that we have been dying to see in recent years) and being down to our 3rd and 4th string FBs is very concerning.

I expect we won't see Will back until the Washington game, assuming he can't play this week.

He looked pretty good in the first half sans end zone fumble, particularly on his 2nd TD run. He goes 14 carries for 74 yards in 1st half. Not so much in the 2nd half when he went 10 carries for 7 yards. In general our offense sputtered in the 2nd half.

Is that because Isi got worn down by the number of carries? Is it because our passing game wasn't as threatening in the latter part of the game and the defense got to crowd the line? Or just random luck? I dunno, but I'm certain the Cal coaching staff has looked at film on this.

from watching on my computer(so,my 2 cents almost doesn't count) when he ran wide and the defense started to string it out, he didn't cut it back and hit the hole the way the last few backs did....but, I am happy to give him an incomplete, and let's see moving forward.
Number of carries I don't think matters all that much-the football isn't that heavy...seriously, I am surprised at the surprise: the Tedford regime has often been about one back getting the carries, here and there a decent amount to the back up, but that has often been about injury?
2006: Lynch-223 carries, Forsett-119
2007: Forsett-305, Best-29, Montgomery-36
2008: Best-194, Vereen-142(played one more game)
2009: Vereen-183, Best-141(4 less games played)
2010: Vereen-231, Sofele-69

drunkoski;561476 said:

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i think our oline wore down.

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Perhaps, but it looked like FSU just played much more aggressively on defense in the second half. Linebackers and safeties were shooting gaps and the OL could not cope. And, DT Harrell gave Cheadle, Galas, and Schwenke fits.

ball security. Isi put the ball on the turf at least a couple times. I thought that was a HUGE no-no with Gould/Tedford. Combine that with his less-than-stellar YPC and I really don't see the attraction. Makes me think the other backs are severely lacking in one or more of the other areas (pass protection, etc)

mbBear;561480 said:

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2006: Lynch-223 carries, Forsett-119
2007: Forsett-305, Best-29, Montgomery-36
2008: Best-194, Vereen-142(played one more game)
2009: Vereen-183, Best-141(4 less games played)
2010: Vereen-231, Sofele-69

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Interesting that Isi '10 had far more carries than Best '07.

Hopefully we'll see more read option as the base offense and something like:
2010: Sofele 250, Maynard 80, CDJ/CJA 50

The coaches have seen what Isi can do every day in practice. He's the #1 and that isn't going to change unless he's injured. Most people on this board really haven't seen all Isi's capable of.

Isi's not going to bowl over any linebackers, but he's going to make a lot of them miss, and we'll see plenty more touchdowns like the long one on Saturday. He did do a nice job (ala Forsett) of getting all he could out of a run by avoiding a head on tackle and diving forward into a little seam.

He's also going to get his body in front of blitzing linebackers and give Maynard time to scramble and find a man downfield.

pnaidu;561429 said:

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he showed that he was pretty fast, but he isn't op end. I have a lot of confidence in him, would like to get him the ball about 12-15 times a game, not 24. If he can get us 80 yards from those 15 carries and then we give CJ/CDJ the ball a combined total of 10-12 times i think that we will have a solid running game.

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Exactly. 9+ carries that should have gone elsewhere. Obviously the long td is great, but that also means 23 carries for 40 yards.

biely medved;561523 said:

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Exactly. 9+ carries that should have gone elsewhere. Obviously the long td is great, but that also means 23 carries for 40 yards.

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If you take away the long TD, you should also take away the TD run for 1 yard (Isi strolled into the endzone, that play could easily have gone for 5+ yards) and the "-6 rush" that was from Isi fielding the bad snap in the endzone that wasn't his fault (the fumble, of course, was).

Of course, the reality is, taking away long runs is stupid and a similar metric would make Jahvid Best a borderline Div-1 RB. Isi is no Jahvid Best but almost every back pads their average with a few long runs here or there. Last year the knock was Isi couldn't break long runs!

R90;561514 said:

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He's also going to get his body in front of blitzing linebackers and give Maynard time to scramble and find a man downfield.

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Unfortunately on Saturday he showed us that he's also going to get his body in front of blitzing linebackers when he's running the football. Other than the fumbles which are not entirely his fault - the whole mesh thing leads to more fumbles and it's still new to the offense so you better believe everyone else will have some of those as well - my biggest concern was that in one on one situations with LBs in open space Isi was tackled quite frequently. Shane or Jahvid would have gone for 200 yards on Saturday with that many open field opportunities. Isi made a few guys miss (one great juke on his long TD run) but otherwise he looked easy to corral.

Which fumbles are everyone talking about?

I remember the end zone/DEF TD which was him trying to lateral the ball to Jones. That's just an unwise decision but not a case of fumble-itis in my book. There was also a botched handoff when in the pistol but I'm not sure who's to blame on that one (have to see the replay).

The one play where I thought he just failed was the one where he was in motion and went to the LOS to become a receiver. He had a TE blocking for him but missed an easy catch. This is huge to me because we've been lucky to have RBs who could also catch and having that option (especially with a passer like Maynard) makes our offense that much better.

I recall last season where he missed a number of catches but they seemed like they were thrown over his head by Riley. I'm hoping that I'm wrong and that his catching improves.

I think the fair assessment is that he's harder to see behind the OL and has good speed / juking ability if he can find a hole. He's not a power back and not going to pull a Ross and carry a bunch of tacklers. He's not as good at shedding tackles like a power back such as Vereen or Beast Mode.

I think his being the #1 RB says we lack some depth in that position (sadly). Yes, we have CDJ/CJA but my sense is that they still need some work. CJA is still very new to the system and CDJ has not earned the #1 position. If there's any coach I trust on the staff, it's Coach G.

This is my big point. Go look at PRD's game film of the first quarter. Isi was given room to run and was gashing Fresno. He got stuffed in the second half because the OL got stuffed. If we had taken Isi out at halftime to give the backups some time, everyone right now would be praying that Isi wouldn't get hurt because the backups "obviously suck" since they would have been the ones getting stuffed instead.

I'm not a huge fan of Isi, and the ball security was a big problem, but he is getting blamed for the poor performance of the OL in the second half.

annarborbear;561441 said:

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Mr. Anderson is the answer as a runner. But he needs to show that he can block, receive, and run the plays. We will see more of him, and I think that he will produce.

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CJ did look pretty good on that 12-yard burst down the left sideline. It was sort of a "whoa! who is that guy?" moment for me.

If we can mix him in the RB rotation more often, I'm all for it.

Unit2Sucks;561543 said:

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Shane or Jahvid would have gone for 200 yards on Saturday with that many open field opportunities.

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I hate to break it to you, but Isi is not Shane or Jahvid. Neither are CDJ or CJA. Brendon Bigelow may be but he's not ramped up yet. Ditto for Lasco.

So unless you are trying to say that CDJ or CJA would have gone for 200 yards (which I consider to have no evidence to support it) I'm not sure exactly what the point of making the comparison is, since we all know that Shane and Jahvid are no longer on the team.

oaktownbear;561554 said:

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if we had taken isi out at halftime to give the backups some time, everyone right now would be praying that isi wouldn't get hurt because the backups "obviously suck" since they would have been the ones getting stuffed instead. [...]
i'm not a huge fan of isi, and the ball security was a big problem, but he is getting blamed for the poor performance of the ol in the second half.

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qft

Haas8388;561487 said:

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Perhaps, but it looked like FSU just played much more aggressively on defense in the second half. Linebackers and safeties were shooting gaps and the OL could not cope. And, DT Harrell gave Cheadle, Galas, and Schwenke fits.

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This.

Since we had the lead in the 2nd half, FSU knew by reputation we would try to milk the clock with a running game....and they responded by stopping/slowing down the run.

Any controversy in the starting backfield can be settled by using a RB-by-committee like USC for awhile.

This way, we can see who [U]may[/U] have the "it" factor in real-game situations, not at Cal practices.

I looked at every play on the PRD Youtube videos (I know they were editted to only include the 'good' plays) and the OL looked great. I watched every single guy (rewatching plays multiple times) and they were really doing a good job. I'm wondering if FSU just sent more guys to stop the run in the second half or did our OL get beat?

OaktownBear;561554 said:

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This is my big point. Go look at PRD's game film of the first quarter. Isi was given room to run and was gashing Fresno. He got stuffed in the second half because the OL got stuffed. If we had taken Isi out at halftime to give the backups some time, everyone right now would be praying that Isi wouldn't get hurt because the backups "obviously suck" since they would have been the ones getting stuffed instead.

I'm not a huge fan of Isi, and the ball security was a big problem, but he is getting blamed for the poor performance of the OL in the second half.

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Haven't watched it closely yet. Did it look like to you that it was the whole line struggling or someone in particular?

Well, since you asked, here are a couple of observations:

1. The fumbles are huge. That alone should earn him a spot on the bench. No, he was not trying to pitch the ball in the end zone, he just got drilled. The one Maynard recovered might have been a bad mesh but if you look at the way Isi takes that handoff, he's clearly at least part to blame. The one where the refs ruled him down by contact is just poor ball security, regardless of the ultimate result.

2. He is not elusive. In 24 carries I saw him make maybe 2 guys miss. He got absolutely drilled a half dozen times which tells me he's like a stationary target. If you made a highlight reel of FSU's biggest hits, most of them would be Isi getting pounded. For a small back, this is a problem. Successful small backs are elusive, hard to hit squarely. Some guys have a knack for ducking at the last instant and just getting a glancing blow. Live to fight another day. One reason Quizz fumbled so infrequently is that he rarely took the big hit. It's also a reason he broke so many tackles - defenders missing and only getting their hands and arms on him, not helmets and shoulder pads.

3. For a short guy, he runs so upright. He takes a lot of hits to the chest, which happens to be right about where he is holding the ball.

4. He dropped the one pass thrown to him (first play of the game) and though it's impossible to tell, if he catches it and makes one guy miss, he's off to the races. Oh yeah, assuming our guys get lined up correctly.

5. I like his quickness.

I wish I had some better things to say about Isi's performance because I started the day in his camp. But now I think CDJ deserves a shot at the lead back role, although frankly he was looking a little linebackeresque (big and slow for a runner). He used to look fast to me. I don't like his weight gain, whether or not it is muscle. Maybe it's optics, I don't know.

elpbear;561560 said:

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I hate to break it to you, but Isi is not Shane or Jahvid. Neither are CDJ or CJA. Brendon Bigelow may be but he's not ramped up yet. Ditto for Lasco.

So unless you are trying to say that CDJ or CJA would have gone for 200 yards (which I consider to have no evidence to support it) I'm not sure exactly what the point of making the comparison is, since we all know that Shane and Jahvid are no longer on the team.

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No sh!t sherlock, that was the point I'm making. Say what you want about poor line play, Isi just hasn't shown he's of the caliber of any of our last 5 starting backs with respect to rushing the ball.

MisterNoodle;561649 said:

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...

2. He is not elusive. In 24 carries I saw him make maybe 2 guys miss. He got absolutely drilled a half dozen times which tells me he's like a stationary target. If you made a highlight reel of FSU's biggest hits, most of them would be Isi getting pounded. For a small back, this is a problem. Successful small backs are elusive, hard to hit squarely ...

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Bingo - their defensive highlight reel will be 95% Isi.

you certainly are candid MisterNoodle...I like that....I agree with what you outlined but I wonder why the Cal coachinig staff doesn't use the other RBs....what little they are used they seem to be okay....

the problem with isi is that he really isnt the type of back needed with this type of offensive line. this line doesnt open holes and isi goes down on first contact, he looks like he is decent in the open field but with this line he will hardly see open field. you cant grind with isi behind this line because the holes arent there. they are going to have to go to cdj or cda that can hopefully move the pile regardless of whether the holes are there.

Obviously, the fumbling issue is a concern and hopefully the first game was just a fluke for Isi. Assuming that issue is corrected, I saw some pretty nice runs from Isi in the first game. He is quick but not as explosive as Best or Vereen and probably isn't a threat to take it to the house on every touch he gets. He can find the hole pretty fast if the Oline can make them and is good in open space but doesn't break alot of tackles at this point in time. I think if the Oline can do their job adequately, Isi can be a good work horse and will be just fine at RB, although I'm also looking forward to seeing what some of our other talented backs can do too!

Unit2Sucks;561728 said:

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No sh!t sherlock, that was the point I'm making. Say what you want about poor line play, Isi just hasn't shown he's of the caliber of any of our last 5 starting backs with respect to rushing the ball.

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I'm trying to understand what your point in making the comparison is. Our OL isn't as good as many of our past OL either. Our FB's aren't as good as most of our past FB's (particularly now that the top two are injured). Our TE's might actually be pretty good although it hurts to have our theoretical #2 out still. Our line and Isi can both play better and be solid, I believe. But they won't approach what we've been able to do in the past, even at their best (which I don't think we've seen).

Basically, I'm failing to see the point of making the comparison. Given what the FSU defense gave us last week, Aaron Rodgers would have lit them up for 400+ yards. How is it helpful to say that?

[EDIT] If the point is expectation management, I get it. It didn't seem like it when I read it though.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">Blueblood;561729 said:</div><hr>I wonder why the Cal coachinig staff doesn't use the other RBs....what little they are used they seem to be okay....<hr></blockquote>While I would like to see the other RB's used as well, CDJ had a grand total of one run where he was stuffed, CJA had one nice run for ~12 yards and one run where he was stuffed for -2 yards. So if by "they seem to be okay" you mean "they were better than Isi" then the clear answer is "no".<br /><br />Again, I'd like to see more opportunities for CDJ and CJA, hopefully we'll see that in this game. I expect we'll see more frequent subbing due to altitude (quick subs in and out while people catch their breath) if nothing else.

elpbear;561770 said:

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[EDIT] If the point is expectation management, I get it. It didn't seem like it when I read it though.

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My point is both expectation management and to quell any sentiment (which several have voiced) that had Isi been taken out at halftime with 14 carries for 74 yards people would be happy with his play. He had a few nice runs in the first half, but this would have been a major league blowout if Shane or Jahvid was still on the roster. Obviously we don't have a Shane or Jahvid right now so we're not going to have as dynamic a running game this year.

I'm beginning to wonder if Maynard got the QB position in large part because without him it would be impossible to generate a decent running game with the backs we have and we all know that Tedford loves balance.