Can Josh Harris be as good as Chris Barclay?
by RAJohnston on Jul 29, 2011 12:53 PM EDT
in Wake Forest Football
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Recently at BSD we have had a lot of articles that are heavy on facts and fairly light on opinions, especially about the upcoming football season. This article is the first in the a few over the next month that will basically be thoughts that cross my head during any day, that are then transposed to paper. Facts may be few and far between, but it gives me a good place to talk about things that I think people may or may not want to read about.
Aaaaaaand if you don't want to read my opinions I am quite alright with that too. There will be plenty of articles with more facts for you coming up soon as well. Enjoy!
Click through for a comparison of Josh Harris, and one of the best running backs to ever play at Wake Forest.
First of all, let me preempt any criticisms that I may receive by stating the following in big bold letters: I AM NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM STATING THAT JOSH HARRIS IS CURRENTLY AS GOOD AS CHRIS BARCLAY WAS PLAYING FOR WAKE FOREST FROM 2002-2005. I am merely going to take a look at their running styles, players around them, and similar freshman years to give a sense of how good Harris can be over the next 3 years at Wake Forest (barring injury or early exit to the NFL).
Now that we have set the parameters for this article, we need some statistics to beef just how good Chris Barclay was. See below:
Rushing Receiving Scrimmage
Year School Conf Class Pos Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
2002
Wake Forest
ACC
FR
RB
144
703
4.9
9
4
51
12.8
0
148
754
5.1
9
2003
Wake Forest
ACC
SO
RB
235
1192
5.1
12
11
53
4.8
0
246
1245
5.1
12
2004
Wake Forest
ACC
JR
RB
243
1010
4.2
9
21
118
5.6
0
264
1128
4.3
9
2005
Wake Forest
ACC
SR
RB
218
1127
5.2
10
26
159
6.1
0
244
1286
5.3
10
Career
Wake Forest
840
4032
4.8
40
62
381
6.1
0
902
4413
4.9
40
Here are a few of his accolades as well:
- 2005 ACC Player of the Year
- Three-Time All-ACC Selection
- Wake Forest's All-Time Leading Rusher (840 attempts for 4,032 yards...also the most in the ACC since 2000)
- Set 7 school records during his time at Wake (rushing yards, scoring, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, all-purpose yards, 200-yard rushing games, and 1,000 yard rushing).
- Barclay- 144 rushes for 703 yards (4.9 ypc, 10 TDs)
- Harris- 126 rushes for 720 yards (5.7 ypc, 7 TDs)
- ACC Play- Barclay- 78 rushes for 381 yards (4.9 ypc, 5 TDs)
- ACC Play- Harris- 81 rushes for 447 yards (5.5 ypc, 4 TDs)
| Rushing | Receiving | Kick Ret | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | School | Opponent | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Ret | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1 | 2002-08-29 | Wake Forest | @ | Northern Illinois | L | 5 | 37 | 7.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2002-09-07 | Wake Forest | East Carolina | W | 9 | 57 | 6.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 2002-09-14 | Wake Forest | @ | North Carolina State | L | 4 | 16 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 2002-09-21 | Wake Forest | @ | Purdue | W | 19 | 70 | 3.7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 2002-09-28 | Wake Forest | Virginia | L | 11 | 43 | 3.9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 2002-10-05 | Wake Forest | @ | Georgia Tech | W | 13 | 64 | 4.9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 2002-10-12 | Wake Forest | Duke | W | 8 | 54 | 6.8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 2002-10-19 | Wake Forest | @ | Clemson | L | 14 | 89 | 6.4 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 0 |
| 9 | 2002-10-26 | Wake Forest | North Carolina | W | 7 | 45 | 6.4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 10 | 2002-11-02 | Wake Forest | Florida State | L | 9 | 19 | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 2002-11-23 | Wake Forest | Navy | W | 14 | 76 | 5.4 | 0 | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 2002-11-30 | Wake Forest | @ | Maryland | L | 12 | 51 | 4.3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 4 | 42 | 10.5 | 0 |
| 13 | 2002-12-30 | Wake Forest | N | Oregon | W | 19 | 82 | 4.3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 13 Games | 144 | 703 | 4.9 | 9 | 4 | 51 | 12.8 | 0 | 10 | 146 | 14.6 | 0 | |||||
| Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | School | Opponent | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1 | 2010-09-02 | Wake Forest | Presbyterian | W | 6 | 74 | 12.3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2010-09-11 | Wake Forest | Duke | W | 12 | 50 | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 2010-09-18 | Wake Forest | @ | Stanford | L | 6 | 15 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 2010-09-25 | Wake Forest | @ | Florida State | L | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 2010-10-09 | Wake Forest | Navy | L | 14 | 46 | 3.3 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 | |
| 6 | 2010-10-16 | Wake Forest | @ | Virginia Tech | L | 20 | 241 | 12.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 2010-10-30 | Wake Forest | @ | Maryland | L | 10 | 27 | 2.7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 |
| 8 | 2010-11-06 | Wake Forest | Boston College | L | 19 | 67 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 9 | 2010-11-13 | Wake Forest | @ | North Carolina State | L | 7 | 20 | 2.9 | 0 | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 |
| 10 | 2010-11-20 | Wake Forest | Clemson | L | 9 | 38 | 4.2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | |
| 11 | 2010-11-27 | Wake Forest | @ | Vanderbilt | W | 18 | 138 | 7.7 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 |
| 11 Games | 125 | 720 | 5.8 | 7 | 8 | 69 | 8.6 | 0 | |||||
- 2002 WFU was much better than 2010 WFU. This led to more running in an already rush heavy attack.
- Chris Barclay's stats were hampered by his time share in the backfield with Tarence Williams, Cornelius Birgs, Nick Burney, and Ovie Mughelli. This cut down on his yards and touchdowns (Mughelli had 12 himself). It did, however, allow Barclay to come in and run against a tired defense, and learn from Mughelli and Williams.
- Harris had 241 yards in one game last year, which obviously inflated his yardage and also his YPC. Barclay was much more consistent, but they both had some low yardage games.
- The 2002 offensive line included Tyson Clabo and Mark Moroz. While Looney, Weaver and Godfrey (and really the entire offensive line) are huge and may get a chance to play in the NFL, they are not anywhere nearly as good as Clabo and Moroz.
| Rushing | Receiving | Kick Ret | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | School | Opponent | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Ret | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1 | 2003-08-30 | Wake Forest | @ | Boston College | W | 6 | 12 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2003-09-06 | Wake Forest | North Carolina State | W | 21 | 90 | 4.3 | 1 | 1 | -4 | -4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 2003-09-13 | Wake Forest | Purdue | L | 19 | 26 | 1.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 2003-09-20 | Wake Forest | East Carolina | W | 17 | 55 | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 5 | 2003-09-27 | Wake Forest | @ | Virginia | L | 15 | 65 | 4.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 2003-10-11 | Wake Forest | Georgia Tech | L | 19 | 124 | 6.5 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 2003-10-18 | Wake Forest | @ | Duke | W | 22 | 163 | 7.4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 8 | 2003-10-25 | Wake Forest | @ | Florida State | L | 16 | 50 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 9 | 2003-11-01 | Wake Forest | Clemson | W | 24 | 163 | 6.8 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 10 | 2003-11-08 | Wake Forest | @ | North Carolina | L | 35 | 160 | 4.6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 28.0 | 0 | |
| 11 | 2003-11-15 | Wake Forest | Connecticut | L | 13 | 41 | 3.2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | 0 | 4 | 83 | 20.8 | 0 | |
| 12 | 2003-11-29 | Wake Forest | Maryland | L | 28 | 243 | 8.7 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 19.0 | 0 | |
| 12 Games | 235 | 1192 | 5.1 | 12 | 11 | 53 | 4.8 | 0 | 7 | 149 | 21.3 | 0 | |||||
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Comments
I think he can be really, really good.
As far as reaching Barclay, it’s going to take some luck and a really good line. I think he could do it. I guess we’ll wait and see.
It is all about health
I have seen a number of impressive freshmen running backs. The difference between the ones that broke the records and those that didn’t was injuries. Here’s hoping Josh’s legs are as good in 2013 as they were in 2010.
Great Discussion!
I think that as far as comparison there has to be consideration to the effect of circumstance. Health and wellness are key, but system changes and the effect of a “system” may play a role. We have started to drift from a misdirection offense to a Zone-Spread feel and are trying at some lengths to improve our balance. His numbers in my mind will be just as good if he is able to get good amounts of touches since Harris is a great per-run average back.
I just hope he is because Barclay came in during a change in culture and helped introduced us all to winning and consistency. I’d love for Harris to “allow us to re-introduce ourselves”!
jfizzle86... Go DEACS!!
We are working on getting an interview with Chris Barclay in the next couple of weeks.
If we land it we will talk about this comparison, as well as the season overall.
Wake Forest '12
Mother So Dear
Does anyone know where Barclay is now?
Did anyone else notice that after the Vikings signed Rhett Bomar they beat the Eagles? We had our secret weapon all along...
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