Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

Looks quite a bit bigger(to me) than last year? And I know he didn’t start but I thought he looked pretty good out there

Well since this is a rather broad thread title I'll add some trivia.

Byron Caldwell led the PAC-12 conference in yards per carry in his true Freshman year in both Overall average 6.8 and Conference only 7.5 ypg.

Best YPG for Freshmen running backs true and redshirt with 50 carries or more since 2009 (might not change much for all-time):

DAT 10.82
**
Taj Griffin 7.40
Cardwell 6.84
+LMJ 6.72
Tyner 6.18
Barner 6.00
+Freeman 5.42
Dye 5.28
Marshall 5.14
+Verdell 5.04

** Brooks James averaged 9.0 but only had 32 carries, it wasn't a total fluke due to low carries though as he averaged 7.63 on 101 carries the next year and led the team in ypg 3 of his 4 years.
+ starter with over 200 carries

I like Cardwell as a patient runner, and think he can do a lot when the OL is handling the DL. I haven't seen a lot in terms of his ability to break or run away from tackles. Even though he's big, usually the first guy gets him down, and he's probably the 3rd or 4th fastest RB on the roster. I'm still in wait-and-see mode with him.

His running style is very aesthetically pleasing. All our RBs bring something different to the table though and the current rotation is a luxury. I’m enjoying the heck out of it, and we’ll appreciate it more as the season goes on a guys get dinged up.


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He's a very patient runner. He waits for the hole and then gets skinny to hit it.

He definitely doesn't have insane burst or strength though. He plays very similar to Royce, but about 20 lbs lighter

His style reminds me of Royce, Wittingham reminds me of LMJ.

Not saying either guy compares to that, just how I see their respective strengths as used in this offense.

Cardwell reminds me a bit of Saladin McCullough/Leveon Bell with that patient style of running.

duckfan96 wrote:Looks quite a bit bigger(to me) than last year? And I know he didn’t start but I thought he looked pretty good out there

I’m not sure how much higher he really is. Maybe more muscle less fat? He is listed at 205.

From what I’ve seen this year.
Best runner- Bucky
Best receiver - Dollars
Best all around -Cardwell
Shiftiest, Quickest- Whillington

Most upside-James

So Cardwell maybe faster than most of us assumed. Being tall for a running back and with a patient running style it may make him look slower than he is.

First I found that he ran track as a high school Freshmen and twice was timed at 11.34 which is actually pretty good for a 9th grader. Then I looked at Oregon speed coach Jarwarski Beckum's tweeter feed where he posted the top speed in MPH of Oregon's fastest players during August. The 3 RBs he posted were Sean Dollars at 21.4 MPH, Noah Whittingham at 22.03 and Cardwell @ 22.36 MPH. The fastest player at any position he posted was Khamari Terrell @ 23.4 MPH. Terrell ran a 21.06 200 and 10.72 100 in high school and has legit top end speed.

Because of his running style and the fact he shared the backfield with track guys like Tyner, Griffin and Brooks-James I always thought Royce Freeman was slow. When he finished 9th among RBs in the 40 at the NFL Combine it surprised me. Which is why I wondered if my impression of Cardwell might also be wrong.