Christensen: Run Ronnie Run

By Todd Christensen, The Mtn. Insider
October 18, 2011
 
A mid-season report card reveals that things in the Mountain West are the status quo based upon preseason prognostications.  UNLV and New Mexico continue to be in a rebuilding phase.  Colorado State, Wyoming, Air Force and San Diego State are positioning themselves in hopes of a bowl game.  TCU, despite two losses, is still in line for a potential Conference title as they move toward that big game on the blue turf in Boise on November 5.  The Broncos may not be unbeatable, but their 50-point pasting of the Colorado State Rams would indicate that whoever does beat them would have to play the game of their lives.

From an individual standpoint, Deon Long of New Mexico is tied for the league lead in reception yardage with Josh Boyce of TCU despite playing for a winless team.  Nordly Capi of the Colorado State Rams was leading the nation in sacks going into last weekend.   Casey Pachall has proven to be more than an adequate replacement for Andy Dalton, now starring for the 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals, and it would seem that Offensive Player of the Week in the Mountain West could go to Kellen Moore almost every week.

But the best player thus far in the first half of the season would have to be Ronnie Hillman.  He’s not exactly under the radar after his breakout 1500-yard performance last year that led the Aztecs to nine wins and broke the former freshman rushing record set by NFL Hall-of -Famer Marshall Faulk.  Many believed that his numbers were the by-product of teams having to focus upon the NFL-caliber wide receivers in Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson, preventing opposing defenses from bringing down that eighth man in the box to stop the run.  

This year, however, he’s the featured part of the Aztec offense and eight-man fronts and run-blitz defenses designed to stop him are the norm and not the exception.   Despite this reality, Hillman continues to put up yeoman numbers.  He’s currently sixth in the nation, averaging just a touch under 140 yards a game and six yards per carry.  He leads the Conference in scoring with ten touchdowns.  But maybe his most impressive statistic thus far is that he’s averaging 24 carries per contest.  This is a 5'11" 190-pound back; we’re not talking about some 230-pound bruiser.  Rarely do tacklers get a good shot at him as his balance and vision are such that he’s able to avoid collisions.  His ability to be patient and wait for his blocks is something that is difficult to teach, and he may be the most-savvy back in the nation when it comes to such nanosecond choices in the hole.  

The Mountain West audience is fortunate to have someone so talented and eminently watchable who clearly is not superstitious donning the number 13.   It would appear that speed, quickness, balance and vision trump triskaidekaphobia every time!
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