[Treebound]

[quote author=CompSci87 link=topic=17989.msg212374#msg212374 date=1510519273]
I think it's more germane to compare our use of Love this year against McCaffrey last year and other recent Stanford RBs than against the Niners with Montana at QB.

McCaffrey is a great route runner with great hands and great moves after the catch. He could start at either RB or WR in the NFL as a rookie. So when we had him we took advantage of those skills.

Love presumably isn't so outstanding as a receiver and so we're using him more like we usually use RBs. He isn't necessarily bad at catching the ball out of the backfield; it just isn't the most effective way to use him. Instead we tend to keep him in for blitz pickup on passing downs and throw the ball to receivers.

Except that when Hogan was the quarterback, McCaffrey caught the ball 45 times for a 14.3 ypc average -- and Love caught 15 balls for a 16.7 ypc average, which was 1/3 of all of Love's touches.  He clearly can do it.
[/quote]

I've been surprised that we have not used the wheel route this year with Love.  It would/should get him the space to make guys miss and was a play we have often used in the past.  I'm hopeful that Shaw is keeping this in the back pocket for ND and ideally sc.  Love can make the catch and this route often will leave him with only one db to beat, if not a slow linebacker.  I can see it being used for big gains.  This route and not running more play action have been missing from our arsenal this year.    I hope Love is recuperating well this week and runs wild for Big Game!  I'm hoping for some ESPN highlight action this Saturday!

[Treebound]

[quote author=CompSci87 link=topic=17989.msg212374#msg212374 date=1510519273]
I think it's more germane to compare our use of Love this year against McCaffrey last year and other recent Stanford RBs than against the Niners with Montana at QB.

McCaffrey is a great route runner with great hands and great moves after the catch. He could start at either RB or WR in the NFL as a rookie. So when we had him we took advantage of those skills.

Love presumably isn't so outstanding as a receiver and so we're using him more like we usually use RBs. He isn't necessarily bad at catching the ball out of the backfield; it just isn't the most effective way to use him. Instead we tend to keep him in for blitz pickup on passing downs and throw the ball to receivers.

Except that when Hogan was the quarterback, McCaffrey caught the ball 45 times for a 14.3 ypc average -- and Love caught 15 balls for a 16.7 ypc average, which was 1/3 of all of Love's touches.  He clearly can do it.
[/quote]

I've been surprised that we have not used the wheel route this year with Love.  It would/should get him the space to make guys miss and was a play we have often used in the past.  I'm hopeful that Shaw is keeping this in the back pocket for ND and ideally sc.  Love can make the catch and this route often will leave him with only one db to beat, if not a slow linebacker.  I can see it being used for big gains.  This route and not running more play action have been missing from our arsenal this year.    I hope Love is recuperating well this week and runs wild for Big Game!  I'm hoping for some ESPN highlight action this Saturday!