tl;dr -- TALL BOYS ONLY...here's why.
Just going to start this off by stating THE STANDARD. The standard is Clemson and LSU.
LSU's starting WRs followed by listed size followed by marketshare of YARDS / TDS
Ja'Marr Chase (6'1" 200) - 28% / 32%
Justin Jefferson (6'3" 192) - 26% / 32%
Terrance Marshall Jr. (6'4" 200) - 13% / 25%
*Racey McMath (6'3" 221) and Derrick Dillon (5'11" 183) round out contributors.
Clemson's starting WRs followed by listed size followed by marketshare of YARDS / TDS
Tee Higgins (6'4" 215) - 28% / 33%
Justyn Ross (6'4" 205) - 20% / 20%
Amari Rodgers (5'10" 210) - 11% / 10%
*Diondre Overton (6'4" 210) and Joe Ngata (6'3" 215) round out contributors.
tl;dr - There are likely four first round wide receivers in the mix here with a few more Day 2 picks. You can extend this to more high draft picks if you look at these team's recruiting classes. Clemson, for example has Frank Ladson at 6'3" 192 sitting on the bench and redshirting. This isn't a case of "well, they have a couple big wide receivers"...no man, their entire roster is filled with monster mismatch wide receivers. Why is this important? They get vertical, they make contested catches, draw pass interference, muscle through trash defensive back tackling, extend drives by fighting for extra yards, have wide catch radius to make up for any ball placement and inaccuracy issues your QB may have. If you have ONE of these guys...easy to cover. You have FIVE? Well, good luck.
If you look into the statistics...I've posted enough about marketshare. If this concept is new to you, google it, I won't make this a Marketshare 101 class. Just know...its a great indicator of future success. 20% is the magic number. The younger you get there, the more phenomenal you are. Its a great tool that gets rid of any of the "yeah, well...look at who you have at QB"...listen man, it doesn't matter what offense you run, who your QB is, who your OC is...Calvin Johnson was racking up like 40% marketshare with Reggie Ball as his QB. Its a metric that literally wipes its *** with your excuses as for why a player does not produce. WR is a very simple position to evaluate. You either are, or you are not.
Now lets look at our roster and contributors in 2019 before we move forward. Name, listed size, marketshare results.
KJ Osborn (6'0" 206) - 17% / 19%
Mike Harley (5'9" 169) - 15% / 11%
Jeff Thomas (5'11" 174) - 12% / 11%
Mark Pope (6'1" 172) - 8% / 7%
Dee Wiggins (6'3" 192) - 10% / 15%
...moving forward
Jeremiah Payton (6'1" 188)
Michael Redding (6'2" 190)
Daz Worsham (6'2" 190)
Xavier Restrepo - maybe (5'10" 186)
Marcus Clarke - maybe (5'11" 175)
Statistical takeaway for returning contributors...
Some harsh truths. No one here is any good. There are likely hundreds of wide receivers in FBS college football who could have matched this production. You could get this ratio of marketshare with literally ANYONE. Nothing special here. For returning players...a SUNY-Buffalo WR2 (whose QB and WR1 were not drafted NFL players) walked into the University of Miami and took your job on Day1 and outproduced you all. Thats shameful. The collective needs to evaluate their future.
Also, sans underachieving, thus far pedestrian Dee Wiggins...yall are midgets. Replacement level ******* midgets.
I liked what I saw from Mike Harley here and there and he has emerged as a leader, but the reality is, right now, he's been nothing special. A decent little guy. I'd tell you to move to DB, but you're too small for that, too.
Mark Pope needs to go beg someone to go play DB. You're 6'0", barely 180lbs, and have provided barely register-able contributions to this team so far through the age of 20. Go play DB where what little size you have may be an asset. Walk into whoever coach's office and don't leave until they switch you over.
Dee Wiggins...step up or go play innermurals, brother. There is no reason why a 6-foot-3, nearly 200 human being on a roster of midgets should be WR4.
Jeremiah Payton...you couldn't see the field with these jobbers in front of you? Maybe we need to re-evaluate you, bruh.
Moving forward...if you're floating around 6'0" and have a modicum of athleticism, go play DB. I like the potential of players like Xavier Restrepo and Marcus Clarke on offense...but the reality is, they are very small players. Special teams and defensive back is their best pathway to early playing time and long term success...but I concede, they'd be fun on offense because they bring some explosiveness and grit to a juiceless core of WRs. I particularly like Restrepo.
We've discussed Michael Redding in previous posts, but he's the only WR on the entire roster that can do some things that the Clemson and LSU WRs can do downfield with contested catches...unfortunately, he's like 75% of their size. The eytest says he needs to be more developed, but unfortunately, we may need him to step up immediately, but thats a tough spot. Daz Worsham has gotten bigger, but looks slow on film. He's a more seasoned wide receiver, but still limited. Either way...both of these freshman need to be ready to play. If they can't play with these jobbers in front of them, idk what to tell you.
What does this mean for recruiting moving forward...ENOUGH OF THE MIDGETS. ESPECIALLY if you ain't special...and I mean REALLY special. Not fringey four-star "special" (thats not really special). There needs to be a hard, steadfast recruiting rule moving forward. TALL BOYS ONLY. 6'3", 6'4" go straight to the top of the board.
Miami has missed out on guys like 6'2" Marcus Rosemy...nearly 6'4" Xzavier Henderson...6'4" Malachi Wideman...6'3" Darin Turner...6'4" Leonard Manuel...6'3" Rome Odunze...6'3" Ocho Cinco Jr...6'4" Kentron Poitier...6'3" Elijah Cannon...6'3" Ajou Ajou...6'5" Kaleb Long (still available)....6'5" Damien Alford...among others we didn't even offer. In many cases these tall boys were simply misevaluated, too. Even people here nitpicked them apart. I don't care. Numerous players listed there are like Plan C, D, E, F types to this staff that can't evaluate anyway. At some point...6'4" is 6'4" and if you're flawed, that is what coaching is for. You can't teach size.
To offset this horrendous recruiting effort...Miami needs to go out to the transfer portal once again..they need to go out and get some tall boys. I hate quitters, so I am passing on Brian Hightower. Tarik Black, Justin Shorter, Dee Anderson...listen man, these guys would be immediate WR1 here. Go get some of these guys. Its necessary.
Starting in this next cycle...complete reshuffling of our board with tall WR prospects moving straight to the top. I got no time for midgets anymore. The game has changed. If Miami is going to some sort of legit spread, they need big wide receivers to make it happen.
