I saw this earlier this week and wondered what was up.
George Farmer has been taking reps at RB and the latest rumor is that he might play against Cal...
Farmer, the highly-touted subject of this week's Trojans Beat, has impressed the USC coaching staff so much since moving to the backfield last week that it's now a possibility he could play this season after all.
"We’ve got to look at it this week and see where we’re at now that he’s fully healthy and he’s doing some good things out here," Kiffin said Friday, after another USC practice in which Farmer shined and took extra reps at running back afterward. "So we’ll spend the week to figure that out."
It's not a promise he'll play, but it sounds like a seriously considered change. It also carries a lot of meaning for the rest of the USC offense -- especially two young running backs, freshman Amir Carlisle and sophomore Dillon Baxter.
Is this an indication that our running game is sub-par or is it something else?
Farmer is a tremendous athlete who has been rumored to have had some problems picking up the play book. Another angle may be that Farmer wants to play and not red shirt. If he was unhappy about not playing he could have left and caught on elsewhere...where the depth chart at WR isn't so stacked. Or he could have forced Kiffin's hand.
I think its hard to really know.
The running game isn't just about the current talent behind Barkley. We all know it is more about the guys right infront of Barkley...the O-Line.
I am fine with it. Farmer is not sticking around for five years. He has some tremendous talent, so why not get him on the field? He is fast and big 6-1, 205 and has run a 10.4 100 meters.
Now is the time to experiment. Red shirting top talent with the scholarship reductions about to hit is a luxury. I say take him out for a spin and see what you have.