The Back Alley Archives

Emmanuel Moody admits that it took longer that he thought. He never expected it to take him this long to get comfortable at Florida. Now in his second year of playing in Gainesville, the redshirt junior finally feels at home.

Of course, being healthy and contributing will always make a player feel more confident. After suffering from nagging injuries last season and throughout the preseason, Moody is healthy. And he’s running like it.

Moody has carried the ball 24 times this season for 230 years for an average of 9.6 yards per carry.

With all of his success, Moody has only touched the ball more than six times once this season, and that came in the season-opening victory over Charleston Southern when he carried the ball nine times for 86 yards.

It’s only natural to think what Moody could do with more touches.

“Of course I think about that at times,” Moody said. “I feel like maybe if I got the ball more, maybe I could have contributed more. We’re winning, though. If I get 20 carries and we’re losing, then the 20 carries mean nothing. Whether I get six, five or however many carries, it doesn’t matter. We’re winning, and I’ll be happier in Atlanta and Pasadena than I would be just getting 20 carries.”

The statistics aren’t something that is on Moody’s mind, however. Even though he has the highest yards per carry of any player who has run the ball more than once, his focus is on what he does every Saturday on the field.

“I just keep trying and moving my legs,” Moody said. “When the stats come out, it’s nice to see what you’re doing. I’m just trying to make sure I go hard.”

If there was one word to describe his running style, it would probably be “hard.” Moody has earmed a reputation of being a tough runner that teams have to tackle with two or three defenders if they want him to go down.

He moves the pile unlike any runner the Gators have right now. This was no more evident than Saturday night in Baton Rouge, when Moody was gang-tackled by LSU defenders but the pile still moved closer and closer to the first-down marker.

This style of running has caught the eye of head coach Urban Meyer. The Florida coaches have said multiple times over the past year that they intend to get Moody more involved, but it hasn’t seemed to happen yet.

“He tells me that, but I’m a guy who really doesn’t feed too much into it,” Moody said. “I just try to go hard. He just says work hard and be ready for when my number is called. In the heat of the battle, he’s not really thinking, “Moody needs 15 carries.””

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio has also noticed the improvement in Moody’s running. The issue of trust with Moody is now gone, as he has held onto the football since his fumble in the first half against Troy earlier this season.

Moody may be seen as the power running back out of the three-headed monster that also includes Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, but his elusiveness has caught the eye of Addazio as well. Moody’s sharp cutting ability makes him dangerous to pick up big plays on the ground.

“We’ve always had confidence in Emmanuel Moody,” Addazio said. “He’s a great runner. He’s taking care of the ball real well. He’s powerful and has great moves. He’s dynamic in space, but he’s also got power.”

The goal preseason was to use Moody on short-yardage runs to keep quarterback Tim Tebow from taking extra hits. He has taken some of those hits for the quarterback, but not as many as some fans would like. Tebow still ran the ball 17 times at LSU, fresh off a concussion, but Moody says that is a call that Tebow makes.

“Our offense is a spread that’s designed off making reads,” Moody said. “I don’t think Tim is purposely trying to be more conservative; it’s just that things were open so he gave up the ball. Tim is still going to be Tim, and we’re winning with him.”

As long as the Gators are winning, Emmanuel Moody doesn’t care about much else.

Thanks Todd. I hope to see him get some more touches as well. I like his running style.


This whole post is null and void if he's gets back to the fumble-itis that he has had in the past though.

I like his running too. I think he could easily be a 1000 yard back if he could hold onto the ball.

can someone comment on his 'ball protection' prowess? he kinda strikes me to be a fumbler...he definitely runs aggessively and just figured him to be a fumbler...anyone feel the same or no?

Fumbling can be fixed - see Tiki Barber a couple of years ago. He fixed the way he carried the ball and viola, no more fumbles.

two words...sticky gloves.

he has fumbled, but I don't consider him a "fumbler"

Moody is the greatest mystery of meyer era...I'm basically done bitching about it...it's not going to change, and we'll never really know why.

I am a Moody fan, but I'm also a Midwesterner. Run your best back 35 times. Bust the linebacker in the face. Walter Payton, Franco Harris, Chris Perry. Moody makes sense to me and I wish they'd put him on the field more.

i like the "change of pace" strategy...speedsters and hosses...imagine if we had a guy like dennis johnson or derrick locke or a dixon? or a glenn coffee or the kid from ole miss last year? why don't we have anyone like that?

anyways - moody to me is like a combo/meld of those two types of players...speed and endurance...demps and rainey are strong but not the typical between the tackles type of runner that can be consistent.

jacob hester.

yeah, if we're going to run the dive play 30 times a game, we need a back with a little more heft to handle that a majority of the time.

Moody is that guy, IMO, rad. They just don't...won't...use him.

Do you think he's a redheaded stepchild because he's a transfer, not a recruit?

Of the RBs on the roster, he's the NFL prospect. I mean, he's in the Fred Taylor mold. He'll bust you one. Rainey's disappearing.

Hey, whatever happened to Kestahn Moore?

I can't discount any reason right now, Toothy. There's no reason that makes sense. There's no reason that doesn't at least have some legitimacy, right now.

Kestahn Moore is probably on a scout team somewhere.

i don't doubt that moody can be that back...despite not seeing for our own eyes, i'd like a TRUCK hitting up between the tackles...moody's far from being a truck in the mold of a ben jarvis green or some shit like that.

again - i don't doubt moody can be that type of back if he wanted to be or needed to be...i'd just like to see a guy with more of a wide base and thick ass thighs...omar mf hunter.

You mean BenJarvus Green-Ellis?

yep...we need a power back like that...low to the ground runner who pounds it between the tackles...we obviously are long the lightning....we are in need of the thunder.