2023 Only RB Preference: Nate Carter or Jalen Mitchell

[Chin Diesel]

For next season only, if you had to pick one RB only to carry the load (nice pun Chin) at RB, who would you want, Nate Carter or Jalen Mitchell? Even if you think there will not be a featured back or if you think there will be a different feature back, if you can only play one, who's your preference?

And no, there is no poll attached to this.

 

[DW1361]

Is this a trick question? Jalen Mitchell seems to be the logical choice all things considered. Jalen has the bigger body and likely will be able to sustain the pounding better. Jalen will also have other backs to compliment him. He hopefully will be the grinder that allows the ponies to run with fresh legs.

 

[JMick]

Carter. Dudes gonna be filthy.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Either I’m missing a joke or have some bad news for you: Carter transferred to Michigan State.

We will have a good RB by committee with Houston, Rosa, the UL transfer, possibly Mitchell, etc.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Is this a trick question? Jalen Mitchell seems to be the logical choice all things considered. Jalen has the bigger body and likely will be able to sustain the pounding better. Jalen will also have other backs to compliment him. He hopefully will be the grinder that allows the ponies to run with fresh legs.

Carter. Dudes gonna be filthy.

Boneyard unanimity at its finest.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Either I’m missing a joke or have some bad news for you: Carter transferred to Michigan State.

We will have a good RB by committee with Houston, Rosa, the UL transfer, possibly Mitchell, etc.

I understand Carter transferred. Rephrasing it, would you rather Carter have stayed and not have a slot for Mitchell, or are you okay with Carter leaving since the backfill is Mitchell.?

 

[UConnJim]

Both

 

[Waquoit]

I feel strongly both ways.

 

[uconnfan68]

For next season only, if you had to pick one RB only to carry the load (nice pun Chin) at RB, who would you want, Nate Carter or Jalen Mitchell? Even if you think there will not be a featured back or if you think there will be a different feature back, if you can only play one, who's your preference?

And no, there is no poll attached to this.

One is dead-to-me, so I'll take the one with a pulse.

 

[uconnbaseball]

I understand Carter transferred. Rephrasing it, would you rather Carter have stayed and not have a slot for Mitchell, or are you okay with Carter leaving since the backfill is Mitchell.?

Slightly prefer Carter, but it is close and we gained way more in the transfer portal than we lost overall IMO.

 

[Bongo Fury]

If it were a GM situation where you could trade one for one I’d say no. Maybe for one of the other backs. I hope Mitchell and the Huskies have great success.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Victor Rosa

 

[noeynox]

I think Carter and Rosa are close to the same type of back in terms of size speed and ability. Mitchell fills the role of bigger running back blocking back that Burns had.

So while I think Carter is a stud, for next year, Mitchell is the better fit for 1 year. I think the combination Of Rosa and Houston will make up for what you lose in production from Carter.

 

[uconnbill]

More backs are better. I like the rotation of running backs to keep them all healthy

 

[Hoophound]

The emergence of Houston really calmed by nerves. When you consider what he turned into, it makes the loss of Carter much more manageable. It could easily be argued that Mitchell better fits our needs considering that we have Rosa (all around back), Houston (a jet), Brewton (capable but small) and then Mitchell as our bruiser.

I'd rather we hung on to Carter only because he's a proven stud. We are just hoping Mitchell is a stud.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'd rather still have Carter. But it's relatively close.

 

[gioff2323]

I’d prefer Carter, but that’s b/c I’ve seen him in the system and he looked like he was gonna put up 1500 yards this year.

We only went to committee when he went down. And that committee became the equivalent of the 49ers QB “committee” situation by mid year. We were moving dbs to O for depth.

I like that we added to depth. I hope mitchell stays healthy and contributes. Especially if we have another year of futile passing.

 

[Luna]

In videos I watched on Mitchell… he looks like he will need a good offensive line to get big chunks of yards… on the other hand… i was at that Syracuse game… my god ..Houston just blow by everyone for that touchdown… that guy is a jet

 

[Chin Diesel]

I’d prefer Carter, but that’s b/c I’ve seen him in the system and he looked like he was gonna put up 1500 yards this year.

We only went to committee when he went down. And that committee became the equivalent of the 49ers QB “committee” situation by mid year. We were moving dbs to O for depth.

I like that we added to depth. I hope mitchell stays healthy and contributes. Especially if we have another year of futile passing.

Dilemma is Carter got hurt and we haven't seen him play since he got hurt.

My original post was because empirically Carter was the biggest transfer portal loss and it seems like UConn has backfilled the slot with a near equal.
If returning backs continue their incremental improvement and any new RB can contribute the position is fine. This in spite the position taking the biggest hit.

 

[Dizzy21]

Carter had 25 less touches in his career, but Mitchell scored 7 TDs to Nate's 3. They both had exactly the same yards per carry on average. Mitchell had better competition. Given all that, would have to go with Mitchell.

 

[DW1361]

I originally went with Mitchell due to having difficulty with a tricky scenario where the featured back choice was a guy on the way out and a guy just coming in. Had to go with the guy coming in obviously. Jalen has the potential to go with decent size, but until he can prove himself I believe Victor Rosa will be our man.

 

[Nostical]

All things considered, I’d rather have EJ Barthel.
Because of him, Rosa, Houston, Brewton (and Burns) had outstanding years. And they all credit Barthel for their improvement—but I’m going with Mitchell over Carter because he’s here.
As for Nate, I hope he has the kind of success at Michigan State that former Husky Joe Williams had when Kyle Whittingham gave him a second chance at Utah.
Joe was a promising freshman at UConn in 2012 but ran afoul of the law and as his sophomore season began he was dismissed from the team. The rest is history:
“Joe Williams had the most improbable season of any running back in Utah football history in 2016. Williams set the school record for rushing yards per game in a season (156.3). He torched UCLA for a school record 332 yards - the single game school rushing record. He carried the Utes on his shoulders against Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl, racking up 276 total yards and willing the Utes to a come-from-behind victory. Willaims finished his only year as a starter with 1,407 yards and 10 touchdowns in nine games.
Career Stats:
Rushing Yards - 1,884
Rushing Touchdowns - 13
100 Yard Games - 8
Receiving Yards - 191

Reading this account will take you down memory lane—lol.

VERNON, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut football coach T.J. Weist says he will not consider reinstating tailback Joe Williams, who was suspended from the team in August, until criminal charges against him are resolved.
Weist took over the head coaching duties last week following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni.

The sophomore was arrested on Aug. 9 after a stolen credit card was used to purchase an item that was shipped to his Allentown, Pa., home.

Williams, who got into nine games as a freshman, was expected to see significantly more playing time this fall as a backup to starting tailback Lyle McCombs.

The Huskies are currently ranked last in the bowl subdivision in rushing, averaging just under 46 yards per game.

Finally, here’s an interesting article from an Utah news outlet about his circuitous journey. Utah football: After trouble at UConn, Joe Williams gets a second chance

 

[Palatine]

I like the guy on out team.

 

[Blades]

With the offense continuing to run these 5+1 OL/ rugby scrum sets, I'd say it's imperative to have bigger backs like Burns or now Mitchell. Carter obviously has a lot of shimmy and speed, but IMHO, smashing these small backs into 2000lbs of beef instead of spreading it out and giving em' room in space, was a big contributing factor for the injuries to RB's like Brewton, Houston and even Carter.

 

[hardcorehusky]

With the offense continuing to run these 5+1 OL/ rugby scrum sets, I'd say it's imperative to have bigger backs like Burns or now Mitchell. Carter obviously has a lot of shimmy and speed, but IMHO, smashing these small backs into 2000lbs of beef instead of spreading it out and giving em' room in space, was a big contributing factor for the injuries to RB's like Brewton, Houston and even Carter.

I think you saw those sets due to personnel at QB. You will still see that, but not as often as the passing game improves.