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Class Impact: Malik Curtis to Miami

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Skip Cane said:
Numbers don’t matter when they are all projects. We need players.
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Some of the greatest players in the history of UM were *ATH/project* players. The kid is a playmaker, he's fast, and he's a baller. Easily a take at DB. That type of reasoning is why we end up swinging and missing at the 5* that's not coming, plus wind up with 4 scholly CBs during spring ball.
 
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CaneThang2020 said:
Some of the greatest players in the history of UM were *ATH/project* players. The kid is a playmaker, he's fast, and he's a baller. Easily a take at DB. That type of reasoning is why we end up swinging and missing at the 5* that's not coming, plus wind up with 4 scholly CBs during spring ball.
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He is not an easy take at DB at all. He has some speed, he has not even broken 10 seconds in the 100 meter dash yet. At CB he is a major project, and there are plenty of CB prospects out there that are fast. With that being said I like the take, he runs eerily similar to Travis Benjamin. Like who tf looks at his tape, which only has 3 defensive plays, and thinks CB.
 
twes.305 said:
He is not an easy take at DB at all. He has some speed, he has not even broken 10 seconds in the 100 meter dash yet. At CB he is a major project, and there are plenty of CB prospects out there that are fast. With that being said I like the take, he runs eerily similar to Travis Benjamin. Like who tf looks at his tape, which only has 3 defensive plays, and thinks CB.
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RUMP!
 
twes.305 said:
He is not an easy take at DB at all. He has some speed, he has not even broken 10 seconds in the 100 meter dash yet. At CB he is a major project, and there are plenty of CB prospects out there that are fast. With that being said I like the take, he runs eerily similar to Travis Benjamin. Like who tf looks at his tape, which only has 3 defensive plays, and thinks CB.
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This year's # 9 pick in the draft (projected to sign a 20.5 million contract with a signing bonus of 12.5 milliion) would be cornerback CJ Henderson [still bothered that he decommitted from us] who played almost exclusviely, if not entirely on the offensive side at Columbus. I see another site says Henderson played some DB in high school - maybe but I don't recall that, and his quote to ESPN after the draft was .... "I feel like I was a little underrated because I played offense all through high school," Pretty sure we recruited him as a DB too.

I also read somewhere that Henderson ran the 100 meter dash in 10,4 seconds .Travis Benjamin's 100 meter dash time in high school was 10.96 seconds. Sam Shields was 10.82 seconds. The fastest 100 meter dash in the world in 2019 was by an Olympian and was 9.85 seconds.

IMO its unrealistic to be critical of Malik Curtis for not running under 10 seconds and not having substantial experience as a CB [if the latter part is accurate].

I don't know if he is a major project at CB; havent seen enough of his play to pass judgment. If our staff has offered him as a CB, I seriously doubt they based it solely off 3 defensive plays on a highlight tape.

In the end I too like the take, regardless of what position he ends up playing.
 
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Cane47 said:
This year's # 9 pick in the draft (projected to sign a 20.5 million contract with a signing bonus of 12.5 milliion) would be cornerback CJ Henderson [still bothered that he decommitted from us] who played almost exclusviely, if not entirely on the offensive side at Columbus. I see another site says Henderson played some DB in high school - maybe but I don't recall that, and his quote to ESPN after the draft was .... "I feel like I was a little underrated because I played offense all through high school," Pretty sure we recruited him as a DB too.

I also read somewhere that Henderson ran the 100 meter dash in 10,4 seconds .Travis Benjamin's 100 meter dash time in high school was 10.96 seconds. Sam Shields was 10.82 seconds. The fastest 100 meter dash in the world in 2019 was by an Olympian and was 9.85 seconds.

IMO its unrealistic to be critical of Malik Curtis for not running under 10 seconds and not having substantial experience as a CB [if the latter part is accurate].

I don't know if he is a major project at CB; havent seen enough of his play to pass judgment. If our staff has offered him as a CB, I seriously doubt they based it solely off 3 defensive plays on a highlight tape.

In the end I too like the take, regardless of what position he ends up playing.
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Everybody is not a CJ Henderson, he makes up a very small percentage of CBs that have been drafted that play majority on the offensive side of the ball in high school. I'm not holding his 100 meter against him, it's just that the coaches are trying to justify the take at the CB position because he is fast, when there are plenty of CBs out there that probably have the same if not faster 100 meter dash time. He is so similar to a Travis Benjamin it would criminal to look at his tape and think CB.
 
twes.305 said:
Everybody is not a CJ Henderson, he makes up a very small percentage of CBs that have been drafted that play majority on the offensive side of the ball in high school. I'm not holding his 100 meter against him, it's just that the coaches are trying to justify the take at the CB position because he is fast, when there are plenty of CBs out there that probably have the same if not faster 100 meter dash time. He is so similar to a Travis Benjamin it would criminal to look at his tape and think CB.
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Agree that Henderson is unique. You can also look at a guy like Sam Shields as another example; was super fast and played offense here for first 3 years but then flourished when he switched to DB and parlayed that into playing in the NFL as a DB. But he could be another exception as well.

Would be curious to see how many NFL DBs played mostly offense in high school and /or began on offense in college.

Although staff does want more speed in the secondary, it just seems to me that isn’t the sole reason why the staff likes him as a CB. My guess is the staff has their “check the boxes” criteria and this kid must have checked all or a lot of the boxes (maybe he has good lateral quickness, has good burst, has good recovery speed, is good at flipping his hips - or whatever the other factors are that I see mentioned on CIS for CBs).
 
Liberty City El said:
I don't think it's an either or debate.

It's possible to recruit a CB with athletically ability in HS to play CB in college.

I don't think anyone has an issue with Curtis as an athlete, but he doesn't really project as a Corner on the next level. He has a pretty thin frame & physicality could/will be an issue for him at Corner, which would make him a project for a few years. At WR/KR/PR he can play immediately & make an impact.

Da'Quan Gonzales is an ATH that plays multiple positions, but is primarily a CB, a transition for him wouldn't take as long. Tyrell Raby is a WR/CB ATH too, but has the physicality & technique to go with good size where he projects easy as a CB on the next level.

There's no issue with recruiting athletes at CB, it comes down to the prospect, it's not a one size fits all situation. Every athlete doesn't fit at CB, some do more than others, among the ATH/WR/CB's we've offered Curtis is probably the last one that fits as a corner.

No problem with the take on my part, I like Curtis a lot, just don't see CB in his future. Hopefully it works out & the staff found a diamond in the rough to convert to CB.
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I honestly haven’t seen enough from Curtis to project him either way. All we’ve seen is a highlight reel. He already plays defense, which is a plus. His coaches told Shodell they think he’s a better CB prospect than WR.

My issue is people complaining about moving players to defense because they’re dynamic with the ball in their hands. It was a similar debate with Corn Elder. Our defensive guys should be dynamic. That’s where you get turnovers that turn into TDs.

People just like to criticize Rumph. If this guy or Clarke doesn’t make it at corner, you can easily move them to WR. But the only way to improve the playmaking at CB is to try playmakers at CB.
 
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DMoney said:
I honestly haven’t seen enough from Curtis to project him either way. All we’ve seen is a highlight reel. He already plays defense, which is a plus. His coaches told Shodell they think he’s a better CB prospect than WR.

My issue is people complaining about moving players to defense because they’re dynamic with the ball in their hands. It was a similar debate with Corn Elder. Our defensive guys should be dynamic. That’s where you get turnovers that turn into TDs.

People just like to criticize Rumph. If this guy or Clarke doesn’t make it at corner, you can easily move them to WR. But the only way to improve the playmaking at CB is to try playmakers at CB.
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I don't disagree with moving dynamic athletes to Defense at all.

Curtis just doesn't look like a CB. Clarke you can see it, Curtis just looks like a Return Specialist with some good Upside at WR.

Hopefully it works out in both situations, but the problem is when you miss on a lot of corners while having depth issues & then take a flyer on a kid that might not stick at the position for the long term it makes people start to scratch their head & ask questions.

I agree that Rumph doesn't deserve any criticism in this instance because this wasn't really his eval or his recruit, but no one can rationally argue that CB recruiting over the last 3 classes hasn't deserved some warranted criticism.
 
He wouldn’t be a take for Rumph. Look at the LaTech corner that got drafted. I think he is more inline with what Baker wants at CB.

and you recruit the best athletes and put them in the secondary. Been that way for years. Nowadays, there’s a premium for size at Corner. So you don’t see it as much and a lot of these slots in spread offenses would be on the defensive side.
 
Liberty City El said:
I agree that Rumph doesn't deserve any criticism in this instance because this wasn't really his eval or his recruit, but no one can rationally argue that CB recruiting over the last 3 classes hasn't deserved some warranted criticism.
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Rumph has definitely deserved criticism. The good thing for us is that he’s gotten lucky. The 2018 class was so loaded that we got two big, 4-star corners by default. In 2019, Christian Williams became available and Rumph did a good job closing the deal. Tecory Couch also improved a bunch over his senior year. Last year, the corner class was looking terrible until Isaiah Dunson came out of nowhere.

So now we have a CB room with five 4* CBs but no dynamic, take-it-to-the-crib athletes. I’m down to experiment with athletes there to improve the overall athleticism.
 
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CaneThang2020 said:
Some of the greatest players in the history of UM were *ATH/project* players. The kid is a playmaker, he's fast, and he's a baller. Easily a take at DB. That type of reasoning is why we end up swinging and missing at the 5* that's not coming, plus wind up with 4 scholly CBs during spring ball.
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We haven’t landed any of the top corners in South Florida in years. Thus, the results in the draft and on the field. We keep taking projects or undersized kids that are tweeners. We’re doing it again. Only earlier this cycle.
 
DMoney said:
I honestly haven’t seen enough from Curtis to project him either way. All we’ve seen is a highlight reel. He already plays defense, which is a plus. His coaches told Shodell they think he’s a better CB prospect than WR.

My issue is people complaining about moving players to defense because they’re dynamic with the ball in their hands. It was a similar debate with Corn Elder. Our defensive guys should be dynamic. That’s where you get turnovers that turn into TDs.

People just like to criticize Rumph. If this guy or Clarke doesn’t make it at corner, you can easily move them to WR. But the only way to improve the playmaking at CB is to try playmakers at CB.
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Our cb room is good enough to win the coastal imo....the problem has been recruiting a solid sec type front.... everybody looks at the losses but I don't care if we woulda landed Hendo, PS2 and TC....our pass rush has been garbage compared to teams they chose to play for...if Blades and Ivey played for those teams they would look much better to the eye....Miami finally has a solid front to make our DBs look good....
 
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No matter position, he's going to house more kicks/punts than anybody on our roster.

Plus, you'd think we'd take two more CB's in addition to him and Burns, right?
 
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Kansas Cane said:
No matter position, he's going to house more kicks/punts than anybody on our roster.

Plus, you'd think we'd take two more CB's in addition to him and Burns, right?
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Abso****inglutely. We need cbs. Ivey sucks, Clarke is a couple years away. Blades, Couch, and Williams would be our guys for possibly this year and 2021. Plus it would be nice to be able to redshirt a guy or two.
 
Kansas Cane said:
No matter position, he's going to house more kicks/punts than anybody on our roster.

Plus, you'd think we'd take two more CB's in addition to him and Burns, right?
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no, they said the class will probably be 23 so unless we're taking 1 safety and 2 WR then I doubt we're taking 4. If Dawson finally says he wants in then Burns will probably be processed out.
 
DMoney said:
Rumph has definitely deserved criticism. The good thing for us is that he’s gotten lucky. The 2018 class was so loaded that we got two big, 4-star corners by default. In 2019, Christian Williams became available and Rumph did a good job closing the deal. Tecory Couch also improved a bunch over his senior year. Last year, the corner class was looking terrible until Isaiah Dunson came out of nowhere.

So now we have a CB room with five 4* CBs but no dynamic, take-it-to-the-crib athletes. I’m down to experiment with athletes there to improve the overall athleticism.
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It’s Te’Cory Couch and then everybody else....

couch has the speed we want at CB. Once that weight room pays off, it’s a wrap!
 
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