Observations after a week of practice

[NicKane]

We need freak's at DE. Phillips and Rousseu are the last best examples and not that long ago. Love Bryant's attitude and effort but he is undersized.

We do have freaks at defense end, you make it sound like Bryant’s are only the D end. SMH Blount is a freak! Bain Is a freak! The freshman from California is a freak!

 

[NicKane]

Lots of Lofton hype. Where is he going to make an impact? Receiving, blocking, carrying, etc?

Last year he was the Rueben Bain of 2024 but didn't see it on the field. The hype has carried over to 2025, so I'm just wondering where he's going to line up and make an impact.

This isn't a troll post - just an honest question.

Lofton is going to make an impact in all three of those things you listed, do you know why, it’s because he’s a half back. And that’s what a half back does. He runs the ball like a tailback, he blocks like a tight end, and he routes people up like a wide receiver. I don’t know how many times people need to hear this, he is a half back! do people even know what that position is anymore? SMH

 

[NicKane]

I don’t like counting purely on unproven guys. Too much risk. Make them win the starting spot against better competition. If we think Wes, Chase and Aldermen are ACCCG LBs then fine. If we exit Spring ball with questions there, then you must bring in another top quality LB. I’d have started back channeling in November for one.

I don’t think you need to worry about this because, in the spring, we will be bringing in another linebacker, along with another wide receiver. Those two positions are almost guaranteed to be brought in via the spring portal.

 

[NicKane]

And that is the weakness. We could be FSU is Beck can’t go. Quarterback is the one area in high school recruiting that Mario hasn’t done well in.

2023: No blue chip (lost Rashada to ludicrous NIL deal)
2024: No blue chip
2025: Nickel

One blue chip player in three cycles.

I agree with this and that’s why we’ve gotten the number one quarterback out of the portal two straight years. This would’ve been a huge issue pre-portal but it’s not anymore. Emery and Judd are simply just depth pieces. Nickel and the kid next year both have the ability to start and win here. So at least Mario is getting better at the high school quarterback recruiting.

 

[DadeBaby]

Bryant had a LB body but was too slow IMO, he's a bust IMO. Too small and slow for DE as well, may transfer eventually or be here awhile like a Chase Smith. He is basically a depth piece and younger guys will pass him on the roster. That was a miss by the staff, it happens all the time even in the NFL draft.

How could this guy be a bust when he is who he was coming out of hs? Could your star ***** eyes not see that he was a Good pass rusher and didn’t play well in space as a lb?
It wasn’t a miss by the staff, they were just trying to improve your eyesight and show you the 247 Stars, even if they didn’t fit what we do.
Also, we need depth pieces that can produce 1.5 sacks as reserve as a “undersized” redshirt freshman and be a special teams contributor.
You’ve been identified as a part of the cesspool fanboys.
Good luck my friend

 

[grover]

I agree with this and that’s why we’ve gotten the number one quarterback out of the portal two straight years. This would’ve been a huge issue pre-portal but it’s not anymore. Emery and Judd are simply just depth pieces. Nickel and the kid next year both have the ability to start and win here. So at least Mario is getting better at the high school quarterback recruiting.

I have a different take on this. At first, I was 100% in agreement @DMoney with going the portal route when high schoolers like Manning and Iamaleva were getting 2M a year in NIL out of high school, even Rashada was promised close to that by UF. And it was clear most of the playoff teams were winning with transfers.

However, the reality is that the portal is too much of a crap shoot. We lucked out with Ward and Beck. Ward declared for the draft and only decided to return to college a few days before the cutoff. We would have been going with Poff if he had gone the other way. And we also lucked out with Beck who was in a serious relationship with Hannah Cavinder. In both cases, there were only a small number of other transfer options available that were playoff caliber and we weren't the top destination for them. Meanwhile, the price of those transfers will keep going up while the price of the top HS NFL QBs is flattening if not returning to Earth.

All that said, I love what we're doing with QB recruitment under Dawson. Nickel and Coleman are legit. Dawson was in on them when they were 3 stars, so that guy knows his QBs. As long as he's our OC/QB coach, I believe we'll be good with HS QB recruiting going forward.

 

[Coach Macho]

We're extremely talented at every position right now minus LB.

At most positions we have kids that everybody wanted. DE is absolutely loaded with freaks. DT has some studs. We're long and athletic as **** in the secondary. OL is one of the best units in the country. The top-2 RB's are guys that everybody wanted. WR room is young but athletic. Still need a burner there but we should be fine, especially with Lofton supplementing some of the workload.

We need to get longer and more athletic at LB in my opinion. At the very least, we need a guy like that playing the LB spot that lines up to the field. (don't know what Hetherman calls that position, could be Mike) You can hide a less athletic LB to the boundary. I think Pruitt is the guy that should play the LB spot to the field.

 

[C A N S]

We're extremely talented at every position right now minus LB.

At most positions we have kids that everybody wanted. DE is absolutely loaded with freaks. DT has some studs. We're long and athletic as **** in the secondary. OL is one of the best units in the country. The top-2 RB's are guys that everybody wanted. WR room is young but athletic. Still need a burner there but we should be fine, especially with Lofton supplementing some of the workload.

We need to get longer and more athletic at LB in my opinion. At the very least, we need a guy like that playing the LB spot that lines up to the field. (don't know what Hetherman calls that position, could be Mike) You can hide a less athletic LB to the boundary. I think Pruitt is the guy that should play the LB spot to the field.

It's interesting that it's almost universally agreed that LB is the weakest position on the team when 6 months ago many proclaimed that it was one of the most talented. A lot changes in a few months.

 

[grover]

We need to get longer and more athletic at LB in my opinion. At the very least, we need a guy like that playing the LB spot that lines up to the field. (don't know what Hetherman calls that position, could be Mike) You can hide a less athletic LB to the boundary. I think Pruitt is the guy that should play the LB spot to the field.

Bobby looked lighter than some Safeties. Is he able to handle that position outside of passing downs?

It's interesting that it's almost universally agreed that LB is the weakest position on the team when 6 months ago many proclaimed that it was one of the most talented. A lot changes in a few months.

Hence my argument you cannot rely on projected talent based on high school performance. Nearly all our LBs were Top 300 composite guys and they still aren't reliable enough. ABS -- Always Be Stacking.

 

[UMercury21]

isn't it practise?