A buddy and I were discussing Bobby Ray Tell, he was a hoss at Haynesville, but how do you rank his time at Tech. If Tech had a different running back during the Rattay years would have Tech been better?
A buddy and I were discussing Bobby Ray Tell, he was a hoss at Haynesville, but how do you rank his time at Tech. If Tech had a different running back during the Rattay years would have Tech been better?
I think he did good. That was back in the day when we had a hard time getting star high-school running backs. He and John Simon were all we had... we were 2 deep at RB.
He was a scampering back with good enough speed, but not blazing speed. I remeber watching a practice one time and he could not lift his feet over the blocking dummies laying on the ground... he tripped over at least 1 of them every time he tried it.
He was good enough to take pressure off the passing game... the defense had to be aware of him. In Crowton's offense, that was good enough. We didn't need a Ryan Moats in that offense, but he would have added even more pressure to the defenses. Would we have beaten Auburn and A&M with Moats? Probably not. But the Arkansas game that we lost 17-13, Moats probably would have been the difference between a win and a loss.
I rememeber at the Nebraska game, he would hit the holes and then it was like he was preparing to absorb the hit. It could have been intimidation, I dunno.
you are right, maybe I was just focusing on the Nebraska game.
10.0 on a richter scale.
I thought BRT was a very good back. If I'm not mistaken, BRT got hurt which took a step off his speed later in his career. However, the first Alabama win, I would say that he was critical in keeping them focused on our run game. He had several good little runs that they didn't expect. It helped that he was only 2 feet tall and they couldn't see where he was going to squirt out of. I really liked BRT and thought he was much better than he was allowed to show in our offense.
Bobby Ray Tell was very good. He came in at a time when we were doing something completely different offensively. We were throwing the ball about 80% of the time....frankly he didn't get a lot of opportunity to rack up rushing yards.
I remember he torched USL that one year in Lafayette. I think Rattay was injured (?)
Plus if folks remember -
During the first win we took the ball and ran BRT straight down the field to run out the clock on a good methodical drive -
BRT and Josh Bradley had as much to do with winning that game as Edwards and Rattay did....
BRT is STILL the best highschool player I have ever seen - any class....
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I remember BRT for two things: His running in our first victory over Bama and his inability to score the ball from inside the one against A&M.
I am not discounting BRT, he is just someone I forgot about. Sammy Seamster is the best high school running back I have ever seen.
No knocks on Bobby, but he was not the best we've had. He seems to be about on a par with Boom Boom Berteau, Garlon Powell, Joe Smith, and Cooper. I thought Moats was much better of course. Also, Quick Six, John Henry White, Arry Moody, and Jason Davis had more talent
i know i couldn't come close to tackling him as a 15-year-old in my very first high school jamboree. he was the quickest thing i saw on a football field in my short playing carreer. at Tech, he was a great pass-blocking back and a great pass-catching running back. he also had two or three monster games where he just went wild running the ball. he did seem a bit intimidated at times, though, and that offense was not built for running the ball.