Just out of curiosity? I understand the bitter feelings towards Wesley and Whiting but the Utes seem to dislike Luke. Is it due to BYU fans overhyping him too much?
I think Luke is one of those type of performers who absolutely dominates inferior competition, but fails to produce against the top notch teams in an average manner.
However, he will get a couple of good teams to play this year with the Utes, MSU (if they wake up a bit), and a bowl game. I think he is talented I just will withold my judgement until he plays well against a team with db's and lb's who are comparitive to his size and speed and who will really hit him hard every time he carries the ball.
He certainly is not the type of back Utah has historically used. But I think his type of play would fit well with Ver Steeg's current approach.
It goest back to his first game against Washington in '99. After his dominating 48 yard performance, (albeit with 4 TD's) he sprinted off the field screaming, "We're for real. Me 'n Fahu are for real." All the media in SLC was abuzz with how great this kid was and how his potential was unlimited. Talk on the boards started mentioning Heisman. Meanwhile, the senior RB up the road a bit - Mike Anderson was the name - wasn't getting a word.
Later that year, Utah managed to beat BYU in Provo, but all I heard was how Utah wouldn't have stood a chance if Staley would have played. Staley ended that year averaging just over 49 yards per game.
Finally, in the middle of his second year, he managed to put up his first 100+ yard rushing game. At the end of his sophomore year, he ended with one more 100 yard game than I have. Nevertheless, with him fianally playing in the Utah game, all were talking about how he was going to show us what he would have done to us the previous year. He got 30 yards on 17 carries.
I don't think Staley is a bad back at all. Quite the contrary. He's big, quick, and has good hands. But he's been heaped with accolades based on what he potentially has the ability to do, but hadn't necessarily done yet. Now, this year, he's starting to prove something, but with all of the hype he got this offseason, you'd think he's put up the kind of numbers he's putting up this year for his entire career, and that's just not the slightest bit true.
It's kind of like why Zoobs hate Chris Burgess. He was heaped with accoladed before he had done anything, and then didn't really produce commensurate with the talk. The difference is that with Burgess, after his first year, the hype kind dropped a bit. With Staley, it continued to grow and grow and grow. Staley's looking like the hype this year, but we'll have to wait until he plays something resembling a defense first.
Just my thoughts. Oh, I also think it's funny that he shaves his legs and that only the right side of his mouth moves when he talks.
BYU fans had him doing all everything when he came in. His freshman year many of them were proclaiming him the greatest back in the history of backs, and he hadn't actually gained 100 yards in a game.
Plus BYU fans are really bugged when we call him Lady Remington.
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