10:42 p.m.: In doing some research for a story about Western Kentucky tailback Bobby Rainey, I saw one reference to the 5-foot-8, 196-pounder as a “pinball.”
I asked Rainey in an interview if that was accurate and he laughed.
So what will Nebraska fans see of the WKU junior on Saturday night?
“Just a tough back,” Rainey said when asked to describe himself. “I’m not going to run over a 250-pound player, but if a 250-pounder is in front of me and I need 3 yards to get there, I think I’m going to get there.”
Rainey was almost a 1,000-yard rusher last season, something we’ll dissect more in a Wednesday story in The World-Herald.
His size is some of what makes him interesting. Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart offered a comparison to Jacquizz Rogers, the talented Oregon State back who goes 5-7 and 191 pounds.
Taggart also knows a little about good backs, having coached 2009 Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart the last three seasons at Stanford.
Is Rainey somebody with NFL potential? Taggart believes so, although that’s a ways down the road.
“More than anything, just because of how competitive he is,” Taggart said. “But games like Nebraska and these other BCS schools, he’s going to have to show it against those guys.”
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