4. Set to receive more carries in 2017
I know what you’re thinking already. Yes, Scott’s workload increased by nearly 40 carries in 2017, but that’s nowhere near where it should have been. There was a four-game stretch in the early part of the season in which he had just 32 total carries. That’s not nearly enough for a running back of his caliber.
Scott had 20-plus carries in a game just five times in 2016. Each of those 20-plus carry games yielded a positive result as he accounted for at least 100 yards four times and then 98 yards the fifth time.
Michigan State was 3-2 in games that he carried the ball more than 20 times, revealing a relatively obvious correlation. Give the ball to LJ more and you can expect to win more games than you lose — or he will at least keep the game close.
Throwing it back to the Le’Veon Bell comparison, the two had similar workloads during their sophomore seasons before a big breakout junior year. Bell had 182 and Scott had 184. Bell then received 200 more carries during his junior season and while I don’t expect Scott to get that much of an increase with other reliable backs behind him, I will say he should be 80-100 more carries.
More carries means more yards which means more respect around the conference.