This continues our look back at grading the "5 Things I Want To See From The Cougars" at San Diego State. I covered the defensive tackles here, linebackers here, offensive line here.
What I Wrote:
Rickey Galvin holding up over 15-plus carries. Galvin's got 12 carries total. I'm almost certain he'll eclipse that tomorrow. Can he put up with a little bit of a pounding on his 5-foot-8, 172-pound frame? I think so, but I want to see him looking as explosive on carry No. 16 as he was on carry No. 1.
The Grade: B-
This one's going to be short(ish). I was tempted to give Galvin an "incomplete" grade, given that he only got 11 carries in the game. But I had to take into account the fact that he was held out of practice last week after getting -- and this is the official word -- "dinged up." Interpret that as you will.
Please note that the grade isn't a toughness grade. I thought Galvin was more than tough -- he took a lot of hard contact in the game, including a number of helmet to helmet shots while carrying the ball. Additionally, he stuck his nose into the line on repeated occasions to pick up blitzes. And he kept coming back for more, looking as strong on his final carries as he did on his first.
There's no way of really knowing if Galvin would have been available for more carries against the Aztecs if offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy had decided to call his number more often, but I suspect the answer would have been "yes." However, the fact of the matter is that after 11 carries, he had to take some time off.
The good news is that it sounds like the move was mostly precautionary, which is positive. And going forward, we can hope that his getting "dinged up" was a result of the hard shots that he took, which might not happen every week. Still, if Galvin wants to last at his size, it might behoove him to figure out a way to take fewer direct hits. This team needs his explosiveness, and the Cougars would be better off if the coaches didn't feel it necessary to have him in a time share with Carl Winston, whom he's clearly better than.
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