Mark Ingram rushes for 1600 yards and 17 touchdowns while leading his team to a BCS national Championship and winning the Heisman trophy. 2010: Ingram is drafted in the first round, #28 overall to the New Orleans Saints and sophomore back Trent Richardson bursts onto the scene. 2011: Richardson rushes for 1700 yards and 21 touchdowns, leading to another BCS National Championship, is a Heisman finalist, and is drafted with the third overall pick by the Cleveland Browns.
Alabama running back Eddie Lacy has the misfortune of trying to follow one of the best acts in football. Being the next Alabama running back after Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson is like telling someone “Alright, you are going to be getting on stage right after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones warm the crowd up.”
Throw in the fact that Alabama also has the extremely exciting freshman TJ Yeldon breathing down Lacy’s neck, and you’re looking at a guy without a chance of separating himself from the others. And it’s not because he doesn’t have the talent.
Many with short memories will forget that, according to Rivals, Lacy was a four star recruit, 13th ranked running back, and top 120 prospect in the country when he came out of high school. Few people look at the 5’11″, 220 pound back and see the all-around skill set he possesses.
No, many just look at Eddie Lacy and remember how great Ingram and Richardson were, and dream about how good Yeldon could be.
But right now, Lacy is in the present, and the fact is that he is a very solid running back prospect that has true NFL potential. Much like Ingram and Richardson, he does not possess elite speed at the position. Ingram was a low-4.6 guy and Richardson was a low 4.5 guy. I think Lacy is closer to Richardson, and should post a time around 4.55. He isn’t as powerful as Ingram, but he is built very solidly and has very good balance for the position.
Lacy’s running intelligence is something that stands out to me when I watch him. Ingram was vaunted for his aggressiveness at the line of scrimmage and dedication to running north-south. Richardson was known for his light feet and change of direction ability combined with his immense physical skillset. Lacy gets his yards with patience and a great ability to read his offensive line. He is an ideal zone-scheme running back, in the mold of a guy like Ben Tate. He doesn’t have Tate’s second gear (Tate ran in the 4.4 range), but he has his patience in combination with his quickness once he sees the opening.
At this point, Lacy is a second day pick, and a guy who probably will be drafted into part of a rotation. I think he could be a star in a scheme such as the Redskins, but I am sure they are content with Alfred Morris and probably want to use their picks to shore up the defense. I could see a team like the Jets bringing him in as a rotational back because Lacy’s biggest concern is his ability to carry the load. He has never had more than 19 carries in a game (which he has done once), and before this season he never had more than 13 in a game.
I don’t envy Eddie Lacy’s position as the next in line in the Alabama running back lineage. I do think he has a potentially bright future ahead of him in the NFL, and I think he should go in the second day of the NFL draft.
2012年10月24日星期三
2011年5月17日星期二
Something Old
A wedding signifies different things to different people, including cherished memory, awkward intersection of family and friends, or the only time you've been to church in the past decade. When Kerry Jessica Brown Richards and Robert Ramsey Richards designed their wedding, held last December at the French Quarter bar Pravda, they added another item to the list: conceptual art project.
"(Our wedding) was definitely a reflection of how we feel about each other, how we feel about our friends, and our aesthetic," Kerry says. "We were very particular with everything — we wanted it to look a certain way, we wanted it to have a certain ambience."
Ambience is probably the first quality one could ascribe to Pravda, a dimly lit space decorated in intense maroons and Depression-era furniture. It is also a meaningful space for the couple. When the bar opened, Kerry helped create its design, and she met Robert there in 2007. These connections made it a natural choice for a wedding reflecting the pair's unique sartorial sense, which Kerry describes as a "dark-inspired vintage with a twist of theatrical."
"My wonderful partner in crime (and I) have the same aesthetic. ... I'm more flamboyant, he likes to wear old suits," she says.
Kerry, a costumer at Biloxi, Miss. costume shop Josette's who previously worked at Fifi Mahony's in the French Quarter, spent six months searching for her 1930s-era wedding gown. After acquiring and restoring it, she and Robert looked through Josette's collection of 1930s replica men's suits to find the perfect complement.
"One of the things that was pivotal in the wedding was ... what we were wearing," Robert says. "It was a really good contrast between me and her." The contrast and coordination shows in the details. Kerry's formal dress was offset by red-hued jewelry, crimson lipstick and the fascinator (a small headpiece popularized in the 1930s) adorning her long, dark dreadlocks. The groom's pinstripe suit appeared sober and elegant against her ornate accessories.
The couple made and installed most of their own decorations, using a beige, white and red color palette to tie in with the venue's color scheme and their outfits. Kerry says this saved money and granted them complete artistic control over the ceremony. When designing the ceremony's layout, they also emphasized something important to them: the inclusion of family and friends.
"(At some weddings) there is this great distance between the family and friends and the people getting married," Robert says. "We didn't want that at ours. We love our family and friends very dearly. We wanted them to be just as much a part of the wedding as we were. When you look at the seating arrangement, they were ... feet from us."
Deciding on these common values proved to be an important part of planning the ceremony. For a couple who desires an unconventional venue or wants their wedding to project a unique aesthetic, Robert suggests having straightforward conversations about functional and stylistic goals. Also, couples should know what elements they're willing to give up.
"(It requires) absolute honesty on both people's parts. (Fortunately) we both came to the table with the same kind of idea in mind. We had a very open dialogue," he says.
When considering atypical venues, Kerry recommends approaching the owner or manager as soon as possible because many businesses may not be able to accommodate such a request at short notice. Also, consider the needs of the establishment. At Pravda, the couple held their wedding during the week at a time the bar wasn't typically open, so lost business wasn't an issue.
Family resistance also can be a challenge when stepping off the beaten aisle. For this problem, Kerry again suggests honesty, paired with a healthy dose of tact.
"Be forceful but always polite," she says. "The parents mean well. (The) wedding is such a big part of our society; it's such a traditional thing. They feel like that's just how it has to be, and it's not."
"(Our wedding) was definitely a reflection of how we feel about each other, how we feel about our friends, and our aesthetic," Kerry says. "We were very particular with everything — we wanted it to look a certain way, we wanted it to have a certain ambience."
Ambience is probably the first quality one could ascribe to Pravda, a dimly lit space decorated in intense maroons and Depression-era furniture. It is also a meaningful space for the couple. When the bar opened, Kerry helped create its design, and she met Robert there in 2007. These connections made it a natural choice for a wedding reflecting the pair's unique sartorial sense, which Kerry describes as a "dark-inspired vintage with a twist of theatrical."
"My wonderful partner in crime (and I) have the same aesthetic. ... I'm more flamboyant, he likes to wear old suits," she says.
Kerry, a costumer at Biloxi, Miss. costume shop Josette's who previously worked at Fifi Mahony's in the French Quarter, spent six months searching for her 1930s-era wedding gown. After acquiring and restoring it, she and Robert looked through Josette's collection of 1930s replica men's suits to find the perfect complement.
"One of the things that was pivotal in the wedding was ... what we were wearing," Robert says. "It was a really good contrast between me and her." The contrast and coordination shows in the details. Kerry's formal dress was offset by red-hued jewelry, crimson lipstick and the fascinator (a small headpiece popularized in the 1930s) adorning her long, dark dreadlocks. The groom's pinstripe suit appeared sober and elegant against her ornate accessories.
The couple made and installed most of their own decorations, using a beige, white and red color palette to tie in with the venue's color scheme and their outfits. Kerry says this saved money and granted them complete artistic control over the ceremony. When designing the ceremony's layout, they also emphasized something important to them: the inclusion of family and friends.
"(At some weddings) there is this great distance between the family and friends and the people getting married," Robert says. "We didn't want that at ours. We love our family and friends very dearly. We wanted them to be just as much a part of the wedding as we were. When you look at the seating arrangement, they were ... feet from us."
Deciding on these common values proved to be an important part of planning the ceremony. For a couple who desires an unconventional venue or wants their wedding to project a unique aesthetic, Robert suggests having straightforward conversations about functional and stylistic goals. Also, couples should know what elements they're willing to give up.
"(It requires) absolute honesty on both people's parts. (Fortunately) we both came to the table with the same kind of idea in mind. We had a very open dialogue," he says.
When considering atypical venues, Kerry recommends approaching the owner or manager as soon as possible because many businesses may not be able to accommodate such a request at short notice. Also, consider the needs of the establishment. At Pravda, the couple held their wedding during the week at a time the bar wasn't typically open, so lost business wasn't an issue.
Family resistance also can be a challenge when stepping off the beaten aisle. For this problem, Kerry again suggests honesty, paired with a healthy dose of tact.
"Be forceful but always polite," she says. "The parents mean well. (The) wedding is such a big part of our society; it's such a traditional thing. They feel like that's just how it has to be, and it's not."
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