2010 Spartan Nation Football Profile: Edwin ROCK Baker RB #4

 Expectation: starting RB  Height:  5’9”  Weight: 204#  2010 Eligibility: sophomore  EXP: 1 letter  Status: starting RB Â

 

Rock Baker may have gotten that nickname for being hard headed, but when he accelerates he looks more like a jet. Photo courtesy of MSU SID

Expectation:Â starting RB

 

Height:  5’9”

 

Weight:Â 204#

 

2010 Eligibility: sophomore

 

EXP:Â 1 letter

 

Status:Â starting RB

 

Strengths: Rock is loaded with talent and watching him for most of 2009 not being able to play at his top level was disappointing for him as he recovered from an injury. The Alamo Bowl was the first game that he was 100% healthy and it showed.

 

One of his great strengths is that he knows who he is, what his strengths are, and doesn’t try to be what he isn’t. He isn’t a RB that will run over people like a Caper will. What he does do well we can see best illustrated in the Alamo Bowl.

 

In the first quarter with 3:58 on the clock at the Texas Tech 46 he broke a run for a 46-yard TD. Why? Because he ran straight north and south. He uses his incredible speed to run past people. He got a great block and was gone. So many backs try to be Barry Sanders and they aren’t. Rock gets the ball and takes off. He is one of the best north south runners that MSU has had in YEARS!

 

Weakness:Â He was recovering last year when the Spartans played PSU, but with a second and four at the PSU 48 he showed what happens when he gets away from that north south running ability.

 

When the DL got penetration behind the line he hesitated. That hesitation allowed the pressure to get up field and cost him two yards. Had he kept going, he would have had what appeared to be about a five-yard gain.

 

Again, he was still recovering from injury and it could have been that he was still trying to gain confidence mentally in his body. It doesn’t happen often, but when he hesitates that hurts him.

 

Final Analysis: Besides being incredibly talented, Rock is a fantastic young man. Funny and mild mannered, he is a great football player and person, and the Spartan Nation is fortunate to have him.

 

He and Larry Caper are much closer this year and have spent a lot of time watching film and being taught the little nuances of the position by Brad Salem. I wouldn’t be shocked for Baker and Caper to combine for 1,800 yards rushing. 

 

Next up: MLB Greg Jones