Marcus Arroyo Talks Running Game Expectations

The legend behind Marcus Arroyo continues to grow during his time in Stillwater. He’s been known to be an excellent closer on the recruiting trail (see: Chuba Hubbard, JD King) and he continues to impress with his knowledge of the game, even beyond the X’s and O’s.

He talked with Robert Allen of gopokes.com a little last week about the progression of the running game, and also touched on some of the hot button topics like Chris Carson and the arrival of Barry J.

His takes were awesome.

“I think the one thing we have to be careful about,” Arroyo said, ” is building statues sometimes for something that hasn’t happened yet.”

Striking right where OSU fans are most vulnerable. After the Cowboys landed highly touted running back Chris Carson last year, who flipped from Georgia to OSU, he quickly drew comparisons to Adrian Peterson (even from teammates). But Arroyo knows the jump even from junior college to D1 is a big move.

“I’ll use Chris Carson as an example,” Arroyo continued. “A junior college kid coming into his first year with no summer training is not much different than a true freshman (like Jeff Carr) from a high school position.”

So maybe Chris Carson had way too high of expectations placed on him going into his first year of D1 football. And Arroyo was smart to recognize that, and, just as coaches tend to do, limit the expectations in the preseason. He knows first hand the pace of Division I and seems to be an excellent fit at his coaching position to ease guys in.

And of course, he talked Barry J., too.

“Having experience is so monumental at the running back position, because if there’s a guy inexperienced with 65,000 people when the lights come on, you can’t put that in front of them on a Monday through Thursday practice. Fortunately Barry has been through that. He’s been through a very successful program, comes from a good background. Behaviorally and mentally are the big things he’s going to bring to the table. Not to undermine his physical abilities, it’s just knowing how important football is, not having trouble off the field, no distractions… He may not say it out loud, but I think there’s an emotional investment for him that’s really special.”

Pretty cool interview with the second year running backs coach. You can listen to the entire interview here.