Per Rocco Gasparro's increasingly crucial practice reports (crucial for sanity purposes), freshman Bilal Powell has already been switched from cornerback back to the running back position where he starred as a senior at Lake Gibson High School (Fla.).
Those of us who were at practice last week saw him struggle a bit, but surely that isn't the reason for the switch. Moving a kid away from a position because of poor performance in his first six collegiate practices seems like an awfully premature action. Powell averaged 9.0 ypg while rushing for 1,960 yards and 26 touchdowns his senior season, but he was recruited by U of L to play defense. Perhaps this is more of an indication of the strength of our cornerbacks in relation to the strength of our running backs than it is a reflection of Powell's practice performance to date.
So now we have a seventh name thrown into the mix at running back, and I'm extremely interested to see who redshirts out of the freshman trio of Powell, Dale Martin and Victor Anderson. With four upperclassmen fairly entrenched above them on the depth chart, carries are going to be hard to come by barring someone having an absolutely spectacular three weeks. This leads me to believe that two of these guys may very well be freshmen again this time next year. Or maybe all three will see time and catapult themselves to the top of the depth chart by the UK game, no one knows.
For anyone questioning whether Powell has a shot at being a big time ball carrier at some point in his U of L career, I present to you Exhibit A:
The kid finished fourth in the 100 meters at the State Meet...the Florida State Meet.