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Don't let the speed leave

rustywalkedaway said:
Remember how many posters straight bashed Schwartz?
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I tried to tell a lot of know-nothings about Ant. Never ever saw the kid play but swore on every holy book that he was a one-trick pony track guy. I saw that kid make plays on both sides of the ball since he was 9. We let him walk. Thornton is another one like Ant who we should've made a higher recruiting priority than Ezzard...
 
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How do we keep them D$?

This is the dog chasing it's tail every year...

It's always "we can't let player X leave home" & that player always leaves to go to school elsewhere lol.

How do we keep these kids home? And if it's we gotta start winning, then what do we sell them in the meantime because we can't actually win until we play games, so what exactly is the strategy to keep these kids home?
 
Hmmmm....I think I've heard this before..
“Speed is the single most important ingredient for a football team,” Jimmy Johnson says.
 
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DMoney said:
Atwell was a layup. We didn’t put enough pressure on Thornton. And yes, we need to perform better.

Any problems we have at home become worse the further we get. Our only sell right now is location.
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I agree.

So how does this staff recognize their mistakes & correct them? If we never offered Tutu, didn't put enough pressure on Thornton, what exactly do they in terms of self inventory? Does the staff say to themselves, we fcked up, so let's make sure we don't do that again? Or do they just carry on as if business is usual?

And I'm not advocating for OOS in this scenario, I belive we should stay home, the question is how do our coaches convince these kids to sign?
 
Liberty City El said:
I agree.

So how does this staff recognize their mistakes & correct them? If we never offered Tutu, didn't put enough pressure on Thornton, what exactly do they in terms of self inventory? Does the staff say themselves, we fcked up, so let's make sure we don't do that again? Or do they just carry on as if business is usual?

And I'm not advocating for OOS in this scenario, I belive we should stay home, the question is how do our coaches convince these kids to sign?
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They took the most important step which is changing the offense. That’s going to make us much more attractive if things go as planned.

Second step is to take a systematic approach to recruiting speed like Baylor, Ohio State and Penn State. We need to know who the fastest players in the area are by track times/combine testing and prioritize them. I like Ezzard but he should never be getting more attention than a guy like Thornton or Atwell.
 
DMoney said:
Atwell was a layup. We didn’t put enough pressure on Thornton. And yes, we need to perform better.

Any problems we have at home become worse the further we get. Our only sell right now is location.
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I think things will turn around once we have an OC with a spread philosophy and is able to get the most out of his players. Give them confidence instead of being a downer like Enos. I know its pretty obvious, but hopefully he can help the offense like Manny helped the defense in Year 1. In Lashlee we trust.
 
DMoney said:
They took the most important step which is changing the offense. That’s going to make us much more attractive if things go as planned.

Second step is to take a systematic approach to recruiting speed like Baylor, Ohio State and Penn State. We need to know who the fastest players in the area are by track times/combine testing and prioritize them. I like Ezzard but he should never be getting more attention than a guy like Thornton or Atwell.
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I never wanted the Ezzard take either, he was a slow possession WR, but he was exactly what Richt wanted.

I agree that finally changing with the times & going full uptempo Spread/Air Raid will pay dividends for us in recruiting especially at WR.

And again, I've never been against keeping kids home, I've always wanted us to land the best locally, the problem is we just don't lol.

This year is a year to turn the tide, if we can get kids like Alexis, Brinson, or Lil Yul to stay home then I think we can actually make huge strides in local recruiting.
 
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rustywalkedaway said:
Remember how many posters straight bashed Schwartz?
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I'll never forget this. People made the mistake of thinking that because Schwartz wasn't as accomplished on the field as others were, he wasn't a take. I'll repeat this until the cows come home - you make room on your roster for elite speed like that. He's not a GREAT WR on the field - fine. Do what Auburn did and just find a way to get him the ball in spots. This ain't rocket science. Stock your roster with freaks.

@DMoney - Baylor was recruiting and signing freaks long before Rhule. I believe it was Kendal Briles that was the driving force behind his dad signing these freaks. They were signing big time/raw athletes.

Tyquan Thornton was a huge miss. I don't care how many other guys you have on your board - you make sure you sign the kid that can run a 10.4/10.5 100m.
 
DMoney said:
The 2018 WR class leaves a lot to be desired, in retrospect. There is still hope for Mark Pope in the new offense, and Dee Wiggins showed flashes. But it didn't work out with Brian Hightower and Marquez Ezzard.

What hurts is that 2018 was the most explosive group of WRs in South Florida, and we don't have enough to show for it. Specifically, two of the best track athletes in the state (Anthony Schwartz and Tyquan Thornton) and the best overall tester at the Opening (TuTu Atwell) were allowed to leave town. None of the three were huge recruits. Now, they all look like gamebreakers in college.

We need to do a better job of making sure that the most explosive players stay home. Baylor under Matt Rhule was not a high-profile program, but they recruited speed and put a ton of stock into track times and verified testing. We need to have a similar focus if we want to be a faster team.





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PlUS Elijah moore, who had an excellent season at ole miss last year with 850 yards 6 tds
 
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Again, I'm 100% in agreement with the point of the thread. But I also feel like we have more than enough speed and talent with Pope, Harley, Wiggins and now Redding. Harley has a 4.2 shuttle, Restrepo has a 4.16 shuttle. Heck, "The Tate" has a sub 4 shuttle.

What we've been missing is the right scheme, QB and OL to deliver the ball to them. Atwell would have found a way to be valuable regardless, because he's "that guy". Thornton and Schwartz would have been wasted.

Now that we have Lashlee King, and hopefully a vastly improved if still mediocre OL led by a quality OL coach in Justice, I think we're all going to be pleasantly surprised by how "fast" our current wide receivers really are. They aren't at Schwartz' level. But they will blow by Duke and Ga Tech defenders.
 
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Those players would be struggling here too with the previous coach, QB, o-line, scheme combination we had here. We had Pope, Thomas & Wiggins out there who have plenty of speed and got nothing out of it. The same WRs LSU killed everybody with in 2019 was the same group they used in 2018, guess what changed.
 
I don’t think 2 years ago anyone would’ve been lobbying for TuTu>Hightower especially after he scored against LSU in his first game. I also don’t think any of the kids mentioned would’ve been at their current stage with a new WR coach every year.
 
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