I feel really bad for the guy since in his year to shine, he wascut short by bad coaching decisions and bad blocking.

He is really a talented "finesse" type of player but Shula running him up the middle did not let him show off his true skill.

Will he get in the NFL?

I don't know if you can blame all of Darby's dissapointing season on play calls. He had the same person calling plays in 2005 and he did just fine. He also had an even worse o-line in 05 and still rushed for over 1000 yards. It seemed to me like he was a step or two slower this year. On the few break away runs that he had, the D caught up to him pretty quickly.

You are high on drugs right? or Maybe you missed the season all together. Granted, he had little help, but all I saw was a Fat, Slow, and Lazy Ken Darby run to the line of Scrimmage and fall down. The only bad coaching decision he suffered from was being in the game at all after the Second game of the year.

He was terrible and was not the Darby of old. Last year I was on the verge of naming my child Darby after him. After this season however, that name is Mud as far as I am concerned.

As for his prospects in the NFL, he had better study hard. If he gets drafted, he will be back on the bus before training camp is over.

I Agree. A ron Dayne in the making!

quote:

Originally posted by bamadog:
You are high on drugs right? or Maybe you missed the season all together. Granted, he had little help, but all I saw was a Fat, Slow, and Lazy Ken Darby run to the line of Scrimmage and fall down. The only bad coaching decision he suffered from was being in the game at all after the Second game of the year.

He was terrible and was not the Darby of old. Last year I was on the verge of naming my child Darby after him. After this season however, that name is Mud as far as I am concerned.

As for his prospects in the NFL, he had better study hard. If he gets drafted, he will be back on the bus before training camp is over.

I'd be shocked if he wasn't drafted. He was in Kiper's Top 5 RBs at the beginning of the season so it would be surprising if he went from Top 5 RB to not drafted.

He never seemed to get his footing this year, slipping/stumbling on a number of occasions

IMO, the problem with Darby was that he thought he was Barry Sanders. He wanted to break a 20-yard run every time he touched the ball when sometimes all we needed was three or four.

Ken had a very bad year. He was way off his game and the OL stunk it up.

That combined with dubious play calling at times made the whole thing just that much worse.

He was slow hitting the holes and once they closed up, he was too slow trying to get to the outside.

I am not saying Darby isn't to blame. I think he should be held accountable.

I am not sure on this, but I do believe I heard that his father was ill all year long. I even think I heard his dad passed away just days after the Auburn game.

Has anyone else heard this? I am positive I heard this somewhere. If it is the case, then his mind may have been somewhere else all year. Had to be tough on him, if it is true

Darby is the perfect example of why someone needs to have a strong hand on the staff, preferably the HC. He clearly didn't have the self-motivation to be in the best shape of his life for his senior season, and it doesn't appear that anyone on that staff was motivating (eg, putting the fear of God in him) to do so.

Good players are sometimes harder to coach than average players.

It took a special coach to deal with players like Peyton Manning who was already a good QB...David Cutcliff took him to another level...made changes in his game...caught bad tendencies...made continuous refinements...

Ken Darby changed his style in 2006...Making more moves and lateral adjustments before hitting the hole...He went too far and couldn't adjust...and didn't have the coaching corrections...

The same was true for JPW. Some of his tendencies to throw off balance, to take too much time, to not look-off his receivers...didn't improve through the year...That's a lack of coaching...

I think that the entire team will be better this year...Saban made a big point of "teaching" in his two press conferences.

Shula gave Darby every chance to succeed. If the truth were known it probably cost Shula his job. Every time JJ would touch the ball it was 4 or 5 yards. Shula just refused to bail on him. I think we got a coach now that will hold everyone accountable.

I know his father was sick during part of preseason practices and I think he was sick the entire year. I never heard anything about him dying. But my prayers do go out to him.

I agree that Shula gave him chances, in fact too many. But, he didn't give him any coaching.

quote:

Darby is the perfect example of why someone needs to have a strong hand on the staff, preferably the HC.

I don't know, guys, I think we gotta hold Sparky accountable for this one...

quote:

Originally posted by Cotera:
I feel really bad for the guy since in his year to shine, he wascut short by bad coaching decisions and bad blocking.

He is really a talented "finesse" type of player but Shula running him up the middle did not let him show off his true skill.

Will he get in the NFL?

Darby gained 10-15 pouds for the NFL, he's not a feature back, he's too small to carry the wieght,a nd it was dead weight...not muscle...
He was fat, slow, out of shape and not as fast and definitely not as quick...whose fault is that?

Darby, to a point...but Shulaball was in charge of conditioning, and he didn't beat his butt, but indtead ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGE HIM TO BECOME A FAT ARSE...

We mgiht have 2 more games with him in shape, but he still qould not have averaged a good YPC...4.5 and over....he would have been 4.2-4.3 still below average and in no way the 5.2+ good RBs get....

Darby never an well against the big boys....unlike say Jimmy Johns...