CENTRAL INDIANA –It’s Week 5 of the Indiana high school football season and this has become the Year of the Running Back! Football fans can literally walk out of their front doors on Friday nights and be fortunate enough to see multiple Division 1 studs totin’ the rock and boy has it been fun to watch. Here’s what cool about it, they all have cool names or nicknames. It reminds me of the superstars of my youth.
There’s a dun named Sampson James (Ohio State commit) over at Avon that’s runnin’ all over the place. He doesn’t even need a nickname that’s cool because “Sampson” says it all. Why bother tryin’ to come up with something cooler than that? He’s already rushed for 596 yards and 5 TD’s through four weeks.
You’ve got to see the “War Horse” down at Center Grove but his birth certificate says Carson Steele. He’s only a sophomore and he’s been runnin’ wild on boyz since he was a freshman when he put up 1,700 yards in the M.I.C. last year. You do realize that it’s best conference in the state right? He’s tallied up 520 yards and 7 TD’s so far this season.
Since we’re talkin’ about horses don’t sleep on Warren Central’s Romeir Elliott (Southern Illinois commit) better known as “Secretariat from THE FAR EAST SIDE!” That’s a name I came up with because ole boy is literally gallopin’ all over everybody in his path. He’s already put up an amazin’ 815 yards and have popped 11TD’s in four games!!! Yeah playa, SIU will be lucky to sign him once he finishes runnin’ this marathon that he’s on this season. When I say that he’s runnin’ wild. He’s runnin’ wild!!! Ole boy hung 344 yards and 6 TD’s on Lawrence Central last week and he’s still runnin’.
Last but not least there’s Ben Davis’ Delbert Mimms III (Vanderbilt commit) that is a man among boyz!!! From now on I’m goin’ to call him “D Rock” because he’s runnin’ through defenses like a freight train and showin’ no remorse. He’s already put up 448 yards and 10 TD’s through Week 4.
It’s crazy to see what these Young Thunder Cats have been doin’ this season. It takes me back to old school football before everybody was speadin’ the ball around and throwin’ it on every play. Believe it or not, the running back used to be the most important position on the field.
When I was a kid growin’ up in the 1970’s and ’80’s EVERYBODY playin’ this game wanted to be a running back. Sure, the quarterback handled the ball on every snap but the running back or more specifically, the tailback, carried the ball darn near every play. Even the quarterback at that time was a glorified running back.
Schools like Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska were powerhouses runnin’ the Wishbone offense with superstars with cool names carryin’ them to national titles. OU had cats like Billy Sims, David Overstreet, Gregg Pruitt and the original Buster Rhimes!! Please understand that the rapper stole ole boy’s name and made millions off of it.
They had quarterbacks like J.C. Watts and Jamelle Holieway that ran the joint more than they ever threw it.
Texas had a backfield one year in the ’70’s that consisted of duns named Johnny “Lam” Jones, Johnny “Ham” Jones and A.J. “Jam” Jones!!! Nebraska had a cat named Isiah Moses Hipp better known as I.M. Hipp. Nobody in the game of football has ever had a better nickname than that. I.M. Hipp in the 1970’s, when all boyz used to say was “I’m Hip?” It doesn’t get any better than that.
USC used to be known as Tailback U!! Every year they had a stud tottin’ the rock from O.J. Simpson, Mike Garrett, Ricky Bell, Anthony Davis, Marcus Allen, Sam “Bam” Cunningham and the list goes on. It was all about the running back.
They weren’t tossin’ the ball around until Mississippi Valley State came along with quarterback Willie Totten and the great Jerry Rice in the early to mid 1980’s when they completely destroyed every NCAA passin’ record that existed. Then the San Francisco 49ers took the torch and Bill Walsh popularized what is now known as the “Spread Offense” which was literally what Mississippi Valley State invented. Now everybody’s throwin’ the rock and the running back has darn near become extinct.
Thank God for these young cats in Central Indiana for bringin’ back the glory of the running back. If you haven’t already seen them run wild this season you’d better get off of your butts and go see them play. If you love the runnin’ game you’ll love these guys. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!