I was one of the biggest bashers of IC at the end of the season and looking back, it probably wasn't completely fair. First off, Orson Charles is probably one of the best judges of character on the team and if he says IC was legitimately hurt and saw how competitive he was as his roommate this past year, I'm inclined to believe him.
Fact of the matter is, doesn't matter if you're a true freshman or a redshirt senior, being the feature back in the SEC is about as close as it comes to toting the rock in the NFL. Trent Richardson was the class of the SEC this year and even he couldn't do it completely on his own...having Eddie Lacey to spell him every once in a while I'm sure did wonders for his overall production this year.
For as great of a DGD as Richard Samuel is, the truth is we came into the season leaning on a true freshman to be our only real threat on the ground and it caught up with us. Again, if OC says Crowell's head/heart's in the right place, I think we should all hope that he comes back with a full season/off-season of SEC strength and conditioning, film study, practice, and takes the starting spot for next year with little competition from Marshall/Gurley. Make Crowell our "Trent Richardson" and let Marshall/Gurley fill the "Eddie Lacey" spot by committee. Any way you slice it, I feel MUCH better about our stable of backs coming into 2012...let's just hope Friend gets the big uglies up front in shape to open up some lanes for 'em.
