Sox-n-Hawks":1unitgp5 said:
To appease my morbid curiosity... after seeing Penny don the #20 jersey I decided to compare his stats to another famous #20 from his junior and senior seasons.
Rashaad Penny as compared to Barry Sanders.
Penny's Junior season:
136 attempts for 1018yds averaging 7.5ypc for 11TDs
Sanders Junior Season:
105 attempts for 603yds averaging 5.7ypc for 9TDs
Penny's Senior Season:
289 attempts for 2248yds averaging 7.8ypc for 23TDs
Sanders Senior Season:
344 attempts for 2628yds averaging 7.6ypc for an EPIC 37 TDs
What am I getting at? Well, two RBs that were playing second fiddle to other RBs (albeit another hall of famer ahead of Sanders in Thurmon Thomas.) They put up fairly similar numbers and are on a number of different NCAA records together. They both logged 5 straight 200yd games as did Marcus Allen.
Total TDS for both:
Penny: 52
Sanders:55
Now I'm not saying they run the same, or even faced the same competition. I'm merely drawing an intriguing comparison between their statistics based on the number on the jersey. Here's to an interesting season. GO HAWKS.
Yes Penny split time with Donnel Pumphrey when he was a Junior and Pumphrey was a Senior. Pumphrey was a good college back. But he is more limited as a pro back because of his size. He doesn't have the size, speed, bulk, strength of Penny. He also is not as good of a receiver out of the backfield as Penny. He is nowhere near the return man that Penny is.
Coach Rocky Long defers to the Seniors. I'm not calling it right or wrong or good or bad. It's just what he does at San Diego State. Penny is the far the superior player. Certainly at the next level. But even at that level. Penny would have put up much bigger #'s as a Junior if he was the primary option. He put up over 1,000 yards being a secondary option. Which is pretty incredible.
The numbers and stats you posted are interesting. Yes like you said they really are totally different type and style of players.
But I think Penny will be very successful for you. He is far better than so many here believe. Like I said he needs to stay healthy and you need to put an O Line in front of him. Nobody can account for those variables. But if those are good I expect big things from him. He's a special athlete and special player.
