Is Texans RB Carlos Hyde the new Frank Gore?

Running back Carlos Hyde is set to hit free agency. Does the Houston Texans running back have the same late-stage production of Frank Gore?

Running back Frank Gore is renowned for his ability to stay productive in his mid-thirties playing such a high-contact position at age 36.

Could the Houston Texans have a similar situation with running back Carlos Hyde, who is set to be a free agent when free agency kicks off on March 18? Michael Colangelo from the Touchdown Wire does and believes the former San Francisco 49ers 2014 second-round pick will hang around in the NFL as long as Gore has.

Hyde is going to be the new Frank Gore. Just when you think his career his over, he has a resurgence and shows he still has something left in the tank. Gore was obviously more consistent, but it feels like Hyde is going to hang around.

He was essentially traded for a bag of footballs. The Texans needed a running back due to injuries and all Hyde did was end up with 1,070 yards on the ground, and six touchdowns.

Aside from the 2010 season, Gore has played anywhere between 14-16 games a season, including a 112-game streak from 2011-17. Gore has also posted nine seasons of 1,000 yards rushing. Hyde achieved his first such season with the Texans in 2019.

The Texans have decisions to make at running back as Hyde, along with intended starter Lamar Miller, are about to hit the open market. Inevitably, Houston is going to have to get younger at the position, even though coach Bill O’Brien has shown a propensity to go with running backs in their mid to late twenties as feature backs.

What might be optimal for Houston would be to sign Hyde to a contract, but draft his successor, much like what the 49ers did with Gore in 2014 when they took a certain Ohio State Buckeye in the second round of the draft. The next season, Gore was with the Indianapolis Colts while Hyde now carried the full load for San Francisco’s running game.

Kaleb Wesson makes Citizens Naismith Midseason Team

Ohio State big-man Kaleb Wesson is one of thirty players still alive for the Citizens Naismith Award.

Ohio State big man Kaleb Wesson is still in the running for another national basketball award. The 6-9 power forward is one of thirty men still alive for the Citizen Naismith Trophy that goes to the Men’s Player of the Year. It is widely considered the most prestigious national honor for men’s basketball, and has been handed out annually since 1969 by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

The list announced Thursday consists of thirty players that are part of the Naismith Midseason Team. Just last week, it was announced that Wesson was a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as well.

Wesson has shown growth in his game this year. Not only does he lead the Buckeyes in scoring (14.1) and rebounding (9.4) per game, but he’s shown better conditioning, and has expanded his game to include a much more dangerous outside game — shooting over 40% from beyond the arc. Maybe most importantly, he has been much more disciplined with foul-trouble.

The trophy itself will not be handed out until the Final Four in April. But until then, congrats to Wesson for a pretty big honor.

 

Barry Alvarez interviewed Mel Tucker after Bret Bielema left in 2012

More on Mel Tucker

Mel Tucker, who played football for Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin in the early 1990s, did not become head coach of the Badgers. He has, however, become a Big Ten head coach, moving from Colorado to take the open job at Michigan State after Mark Dantonio retired earlier this month.

Barry Alvarez has had to fill multiple football coaching vacancies in his tenure as Wisconsin’s athletic director. He had to replace Gary Andersen when the former Utah State coach abruptly bolted from Madison and went to take the Oregon State job a few years ago. Alvarez tabbed Paul Chryst to replace Andersen, a move which has worked out really well.

A few years earlier, though, Bret Bielema left Wisconsin to coach Arkansas in the SEC. Bielema couldn’t resist the lure of coaching in the Southeastern Conference, apparently unsatisfied by the challenge of coaching in the Big Ten in a league with Urban Meyer of Ohio State and the aforementioned Dantonio at Michigan State. When Bielema left, guess whom Alvarez interviewed (among others) for the open UW job?

Yup. Mel Tucker.

You could look it up.

It is fascinating to wonder if Alvarez had looked around in December of 2012 and felt that Tucker, not Andersen, was the right man for the job. Consider the ripple effect this might have had on college football history over the next seven years.

Tucker doesn’t join Kirby Smart as defensive coordinator at Georgia, for one thing. Tucker probably wouldn’t have joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama before he moved to Georgia.

If Tucker had taken the Wisconsin job, first off, the bizarre actions of Gary Andersen never would have unfolded. The 59-0 loss to Ohio State in the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game — a clear product of Andersen having mentally checked out of the UW job because he had one foot already out the door — never would have happened. Maybe Ohio State doesn’t make the College Football Playoff under adjusted circumstances… and therefore would not have won the 2014 national championship.

Tucker didn’t coach Wisconsin in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Gary Andersen did. Now we will have to see how Tucker’s arrival at Michigan State changes the course of Big Ten football history.

You could look it up… in five years.

UFC on ESPN+ 25: Corey Anderson media day interview

UFC on ESPN+ 25: Corey Anderson media day interview

UFC on ESPN+ 25: Corey Anderson media day interview

Celtics reportedly hope to keep Hayward whether he opts out or not

In case it isn’t obvious, the Celtics like having Gordon Hayward around With Hayward able to opt-out of the final season of his current contract this summer, the possibility of a large offer sheet looms at a time when the Celtics will be jacking their payroll sky-high Jaylen Brown will see his extension kick in, and presumably the season after that, Jayson Tatum will follow with one of his own Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal

In case it isn’t obvious, the Celtics like having Gordon Hayward around With Hayward able to opt-out of the final season of his current contract this summer, the possibility of a large offer sheet looms at a time when the Celtics will be jacking their payroll sky-high Jaylen Brown will see his extension kick in, and presumably the season after that, Jayson Tatum will follow with one of his own Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal

Celtics reportedly hope to keep Hayward whether he opts out or not

In case it isn’t obvious, the Celtics like having Gordon Hayward around With Hayward able to opt-out of the final season of his current contract this summer, the possibility of a large offer sheet looms at a time when the Celtics will be jacking their payroll sky-high Jaylen Brown will see his extension kick in, and presumably the season after that, Jayson Tatum will follow with one of his own Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal

In case it isn’t obvious, the Celtics like having Gordon Hayward around With Hayward able to opt-out of the final season of his current contract this summer, the possibility of a large offer sheet looms at a time when the Celtics will be jacking their payroll sky-high Jaylen Brown will see his extension kick in, and presumably the season after that, Jayson Tatum will follow with one of his own Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal