that Charles is only a few games away from his Senior season, and the jury is still out on him.

I would characterize his complex career in this way: he has "disgusting" physical skills (speed, vision, agility), but his attitude has been inconsistent.

He was a warrior next to Vince, but has seemed indifferent at times throughout this season. Its been discussed a lot on this site, but to give JC the benefit of the doubt, I think he might have been frustrated running in a poor scheme behind an equally poor offensive line, and he let it get to him.

Perhaps now we are seeing the re-emergence of Warrior Charles.

I'm not a scout, but Jamaal's vision is 'disgusting' and way way above average! the ability to make cuts, I'm not sure, but vision ...

Three weeks ago, Charles was the goat of the team for fumbling too often (remember TX-OU?)  

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...seems kind of silly when you put in a historical perspective. Granted, the OU fumble was costly and extremely untimely, but this season has been relatively clean. Mack's teams have averaged 22 fumbles with 10 lost, per season.

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Season/Fumbles/Lost

1998. 22/12

1999. 23/12

2000. 18/11

2001. 13/5

2002. 13/6

2003. 30/18

2004. 23/7

2005. 35/9

2006. 25/14

Prior Seasons' Avg: 22/10

Current Year: 12/5,   On-pace for 16/7 - Full Season

Three weeks ago, Charles was the goat of the team for fumbling too often (remember TX-OU?)  Granted his performances in the last two games have been beyond incredible, but are we the type of fans that love a player one week and beat down the next?  Charles has awesome speed, and decent power, but I'm not sure his ability to make cuts or his vision are really even above average.  He's turned in a couple of nice runs, PB, but "disgusting?"

I think if you'll go back, we've loved Charles around here for a long, long time.

If you're "his ability to make cuts or his vision are really even above average", I maintain you've not watched him very much, or you're defining "average" as Gale Sayers-level.  And he's turned in more than just a "couple of nice runs" this year.

Even the two big fumbles that stick in everyone's mind - vs. UCF and vs. OU, came on truly outstanding runs.  That may have made them seem even worse.  But -  when someone (and trust me, there'll be more than a couple) puts together a YouTube video of Jamaal's highlights this year, they'll have a lot to choose from, and they'll look really, really good.

I think we have a tendency to get frustrated at blown up plays, and we forget that those happen to every single running back that ever lived.  Even the great Earl Campbell had some no-gainers.  Not many, since he had a much better run-blocking line than Jamaal has ever had (in college - I'm not talking about that abortion of an offense they stuck him in at Houston...), but I was there, and they did happen.  

The thing with Jamaal is he will never be an Earl, or a Ricky, or a Cedric Benson.  He won't break tons of tackles (although he's surprisingly strong and slippery), and he won't run over anybody.  If you give him holes to run through, he'll get you a ton of yards, but he does need the holes.  The runner he most reminds me of is Tony Dorsett.  Quickness, blazing speed, more power than you'd expect...  Tony was lucky enough to play for good lines too, of course.

If our young guys develop, and if they get good at run-blocking (even last year's line, although way more talented than this year's, was  a great pass-blocking line, but a mediocre run-blocking line.), I think you could see something truly special from Jamaal Charles.

Hey, if [Charles] had been able to do [use his average from the past 2 fourth quarters] every quarter the past two weeks, he would be averaging 682 rushing yards per game with 20 touchdowns.

the 682 yards is assuming you turn the fatigue setting off your NCAA '08, and put the quarter length up to 10 minutes.