2018 Northwestern DL McCrae one to watch

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Peter Ariz

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Miami Northwestern's resurgent season led them to the playoffs in one of the country's toughest districts. Along with their winning, the Bulls also seem back to their ways of producing countless division-1 prospects each cycle -- and they are only getting stronger.

Meet Davontae McCrae, a recent 2018 defensive line transfer from Jackson whose massive 6-5, 260-pound frame has college coaches excited about what he could become with some fine tuning. This was actually his first season playing on the defensive side of the ball, as he played center year and left tackle 10th grade.

"I try to use my strength and arm length to give myself an advantage," McCrae said. "My size helps me a lot because when I get put at end, they expect me to just over power them, but I can mix it up with some speed. When I'm inside at the high school level right now, there's not really anybody who can bring my speed and strength at this size, so it helps a lot."

McCrae's film shows that he has played both tackle and end on the line. That versatility could play a role in his recruitment. So what does he prefer playing?

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"It depends on the team, really. If it's a passing team, I want to be at end. If it's a running team, I like playing inside so I can make more plays," McCrae said.

The junior prospect said that coaches are encouraging him to play basketball for endurance and to compete in shot put and discuss to help his "upper body strength and explosiveness" as well as "learning how to turn my hips a certain way and move my feet". McCrae knows that people see his size already, but he believes he can show them that he's more than just a big body.

"I want to be able to use more speed and show more speed in my game," he said. "I want to show that I can move around better and use my hands faster."

When it comes to recruiting, McCrae was a former Louisville commit who recently opened his recruitment back up. He said he decommitted because "the communication started to get dry" and he didn't feel like he was a top priority for them.

McCrae added that five schools sticking out to him are Miami, Georgia, Florida, FSU, and Texas A&M. He explained why the Hurricanes have caught his attention.

"They have a lot of good kids coming this year, and next year it's going to be even more," he said. "I like Harley because he just has speed and it's fun to watch him play. Jeff Thomas, just get him the ball and let him run around and make a play."

"They got Navaughn Donaldson, who was the best tackle I went against this year."

McCrae said that his family is not opposed to him leaving the area, but that if the Canes came calling that it would be a difficult opportunity to turn down.

"My mom knows that if Miami offers that I will be very interested because they take care of their kids and I would get a great education."
 
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9 sacks and 3 batted down passes last season. I would definitely keep tabs on him.
 
Yeah, Kuligowski must hate recruiting down here in south Florida....

Looking forward to who we pick up in this cycle on the DL....
 
Love that the coaches encourage him to do some other sports to enhance his explosiveness and athleticism. Sounds intelligent too. Seems like the kind of guy Kool loves to pick up and coach up.
 
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I talked about him on another board recently...I may like him at OT a little better. And the versatility for either side never hurts. Not all in on him, but like Pete said nice frame. Light on his feet for a big guy and one to watch.
 
Pete, think a lot of offers to guys like Charlton, McRae and Abdullah go out at Junior day or are the coaches waiting for the spring/summer evaluation period?
 
Big dude at 6'5" 255. He looks shorter in this photo, but it is nice to see that a potential stud local DT and his family is favorable to the U. With upper body development and weight training he could be 310 easily at his size. Hope he develops into a beast that wants to be a Canes
 
Big dude at 6'5" 255. He looks shorter in this photo, but it is nice to see that a potential stud local DT and his family is favorable to the U. With upper body development and weight training he could be 310 easily at his size. Hope he develops into a beast that wants to be a Canes

That pic was from last year
 
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This young man needs spend every moment he can on campus trying to soak up as much knowledge as he can from Coach Kool. It will help McCrae improve his technique, which he needs badly to complement his physical stature.

Go Canes

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I actually like him at OT better...Problem is we are only bringing in 2 OL. Backup plan only at DT unless he takes a major step forward.
 
I actually like him at OT better...Problem is we are only bringing in 2 OL. Backup plan only at DT unless he takes a major step forward.

2 OL? Where did you read this? Cause this is utterly retarded UNLESS Milo, Johnson, Jones, and Brown are legit contributors. We should be bringing minimum of 4 OL otherwise. Our OL depth charts are mfing shaky with McD, Darling, Linder, and Odogwu gone after this year. People joke about how bad those dudes are but look at their backups. smdh.

OL are unpredictable. You need to bring in numbers to make up for this. It's much easier to strike gold on 5 out of 10 new recruits compared to 5 out of 7.
 
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I actually like him at OT better...Problem is we are only bringing in 2 OL. Backup plan only at DT unless he takes a major step forward.

2 OL? Where did you read this? Cause this is utterly retarded UNLESS Milo, Johnson, Jones, and Brown are legit contributors. We should be bringing minimum of 4 OL otherwise. Our OL depth charts are mfing shaky with McD, Darling, Linder, and Odogwu gone after this year. People joke about how bad those dudes are but look at their backups. smdh.

OL are unpredictable. You need to bring in numbers to make up for this. It's much easier to strike gold on 5 out of 10 new recruits compared to 5 out of 7.

I'd bet under 4 for my eyes...Where do you plan on getting this room at?

You don't have to "read it anywhere" just use some math.
 
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I actually like him at OT better...Problem is we are only bringing in 2 OL. Backup plan only at DT unless he takes a major step forward.

2 OL? Where did you read this? Cause this is utterly retarded UNLESS Milo, Johnson, Jones, and Brown are legit contributors. We should be bringing minimum of 4 OL otherwise. Our OL depth charts are mfing shaky with McD, Darling, Linder, and Odogwu gone after this year. People joke about how bad those dudes are but look at their backups. smdh.

OL are unpredictable. You need to bring in numbers to make up for this. It's much easier to strike gold on 5 out of 10 new recruits compared to 5 out of 7.

I'd bet under 4 for my eyes...Where do you plan on getting this room at?

You don't have to "read it anywhere" just use some math.

There's a shi* load of attrition to be had. If you don't see the deadweight, the early NFL, and discipine risks, you may be blind, bruh.

1 QB
2 or 3 RB
4 OL
4 WR
2 TE
3 or 4 DT
1 DE
2 LB
7 DB
1 K

This is the ideal class of 28 kids for 2018.

How do we make room?

5 current open schollies with Wright gone.
10 seniors leaving.

That's 15 open schollies.

Rosier, Langham, Dayall, McCray, Henley, Mayes, Choc Gray, Jones told to graduate. That's 23 open schollies.

Norton, Walton leave for NFL draft early. That's 25 open schollies.

At least 1 more kid dismissed for team rule violations, maybe James, hopefully not Haskins or Martin. That's 26 open schollies.

Then a couple kids are urged to transfer out for more playing time. Shirreffs, Knowles. That's 28 open schollies.
 
Honestly don´t see anything on his tape that suggests he could play DT at the level we want ours to play. No burst....gets pushed downfield.
 
I actually like him at OT better...Problem is we are only bringing in 2 OL. Backup plan only at DT unless he takes a major step forward.

2 OL? Where did you read this? Cause this is utterly retarded UNLESS Milo, Johnson, Jones, and Brown are legit contributors. We should be bringing minimum of 4 OL otherwise. Our OL depth charts are mfing shaky with McD, Darling, Linder, and Odogwu gone after this year. People joke about how bad those dudes are but look at their backups. smdh.

OL are unpredictable. You need to bring in numbers to make up for this. It's much easier to strike gold on 5 out of 10 new recruits compared to 5 out of 7.

I'd bet under 4 for my eyes...Where do you plan on getting this room at?

You don't have to "read it anywhere" just use some math.

There's a shi* load of attrition to be had. If you don't see the deadweight, the early NFL, and discipine risks, you may be blind, bruh.

1 QB
2 or 3 RB
4 OL
4 WR
2 TE
3 or 4 DT
1 DE
2 LB
7 DB
1 K

This is the ideal class of 28 kids for 2018.

How do we make room?

5 current open schollies with Wright gone.
10 seniors leaving.

That's 15 open schollies.

Rosier, Langham, Dayall, McCray, Henley, Mayes, Choc Gray, Jones told to graduate. That's 23 open schollies.

Norton, Walton leave for NFL draft early. That's 25 open schollies.

At least 1 more kid dismissed for team rule violations, maybe James, hopefully not Haskins or Martin. That's 26 open schollies.

Then a couple kids are urged to transfer out for more playing time. Shirreffs, Knowles. That's 28 open schollies.

Ya and last year we were a lock to take 30 and the year b before 23-24 huh?

Yup definitely will be attrition, no doubt about it...Will take a **** of a lot to get to 28 kids. You are assuming the most extreme scenario of attrition.

I'm thinking 25

1 qb
3 RB (God I hope 3 with Curry beating down our door)
4 WR
1 TE
2 OL
4 DT
1 DE
1 LB
7 DB
1 K

Maybe we have room for 1 more kid, or we take only 2 RB. So that's either 1 or 2 more from this group:
3rd OL
2nd TE
2nd LB
2nd DE

Also, an outside chance we skip or miss at QB altogether, although I agree we will get one.

Also have we heard something about James or Martin involving discipline? Where'd that come from? I know there's been talk how Haskins has been in the doghouse.
 
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