I do agree about Marshall and Tyner not being anywhere close to as good as James and Barner. I'm not really worried about any RB but DAT.
Just dont' know how you come to this conclusion. Tyner is a true freshman and has shredded teams in very limited duty. Both of those guys are very good backs. I might - might - give you James, but Barner, good as he was, benefited from an open field. Both Marshal and Tyner are more powerful runners than either James or Barner, and both are faster.
And Thomas, at 80%, would be a COMPLETELY different player. He earns his bacon by cutting hard and often at full speed - something most people can't do. When you roll your ankle, you are vulnerable in precisely the last place you can afford to be vulnerable -the outside of your ankle.
I have no idea how bad the injury is - only he knows that. But if he's less than 100%, it will show big time. I remember when Santana Moss rolled his ankle the week before Miami came here to play UW, and he was a shell of himself. Same type of player - small, very fast and a hard cutter.
Sorry, but James and Barner were much better than Marshall and Tyner are at this moment. Tyner and Marshall might get there, but Tyner running wild on a couple of sub par teams in limited action doesn't really mean that much. Marshall is good, but I still think the old guys were better. I know Tyner is a really fast guy, but Marshall does not look nearly as fast as James or Barner. James and Barner did it week in and week out, no matter who the competition was. Marshall and Tyner are basically unproven backs, although they are very talented. I will eat my words if they tear us up on Saturday, but Barner and James were All Pac 12 backs, and James was a Heisman finalist.
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