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3-Star Offensive Lineman Plazz Commits to Miami Hurricanes' 2024 Recruiting Class

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TheOriginalCane said:
You have GOT to be kidding with this question on Alonzo. You realize he was only in Cleveland for 2 years, right?

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Thank you first time I have seen that. I saw he was in GB but the years he was a senior executive not much. Wasn’t sure how much stock to put into his GB “success” or were others more in charge with the GM decisions. So he was a scout
 
Scrape into the C Gap said:
The stars thing should be a dead issue by now, especially with O Line. How many highly-rated guys have we gotten that didn't pan out? Even Seantrel, who is one of the highest-rated guys we've ever had at any position, didn't really reach his potential here. Instead, let's look at coaching and if you're looking for some assurance, look at the other two programs that recruited him hardest - Pedo and NC State - they have consistently put O linemen in the draft.

Derryc might be a 3 star but so what? Other top programs also wanted him, he's going to a proven O Line coach, will be surrounded and influenced by last year's monster O Line class and the veterans, and he's a big-time recruit despite playing in a bad HS program. We should be happy as **** he's coming here!
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Big difference in a Manny 3 star and a Cristobal 3 star.
We've been consistently smacked around by the mid tier teams who find these 3 star gems.

Time we stacked a few too.
 
BeastMode said:
I continue to ask this and not 1 person gives a response.

Seriously what did Zo prove with his “evaluating” in the NFL? What great rosters did he build? What championship teams Did he construct?

He wasn’t successful in Cleveland so why does everyone say every **** recruit is now a Zo eval?

This board is overstating what Zo is doing or maybe I just don’t get it but we won’t know for 3 years if this roster is built like the Patriots or ends up a **** like the Browns.

Btw I like that Zo has this position and I’m sure it helps but I think this board is putting a little too much stock in all these 3 stars as Zo evals like he is Jimmy Johnson or Butch Davis finding diamonds in the rough.

Butch is a better evaluator of talent than Zo is
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Does his time in Green Bay count?
 
BeastMode said:
Thank you first time I have seen that. I saw he was in GB but the years he was a senior executive not much. Wasn’t sure how much stock to put into his GB “success” or were others more in charge with the GM decisions. So he was a scout
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That's fine, I'm not trying to be negative, I just thought everyone knew that.

In his current role, he's got to combine the 13 years of scouting with the later years of front office organizational skills.

Alonzo definitely helped to build those great Green Bay teams. Even if people want to argue "yeah, but Green Bay was good from 1995-98 too", you also have to realize what the average length of an NFL career is, and respect that fact that NFL talent acquisition is an ongoing process. You can't take a few years off and rest on the laurels of the team that was built before you arrived.
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
That's fine, I'm not trying to be negative, I just thought everyone knew that.

In his current role, he's got to combine the 13 years of scouting with the later years of front office organizational skills.

Alonzo definitely helped to build those great Green Bay teams. Even if people want to argue "yeah, but Green Bay was good from 1995-98 too", you also have to realize what the average length of an NFL career is, and respect that fact that NFL talent acquisition is an ongoing process. You can't take a few years off and rest on the laurels of the team that was built before you arrived.
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I knew more about him n Cleveland which nothing amazing stood out. Like I said he is an asset but every 3 star recruit is now a Zo eval. I just don’t think that’s true and ppl on this board are justifying all these 3 stars by slapping “Zo eval” on each commitment like it’s all good to be loading up on 3 stars
 
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BeastMode said:
I knew more about him n Cleveland which nothing amazing stood out. Like I said he is an asset but every 3 star recruit is now a Zo eval. I just don’t think that’s true and ppl on this board are justifying all these 3 stars by slapping “Zo eval” on each commitment like it’s all good to be loading up on 3 stars
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Nah.

Alonzo is not solely responsible for 3-stars, and then not responsible for the rest of the recruits.

Alonzo participated in the 2023 evaluation efforts. #7 high school class (and would have been higher with Rashad and McClain and Jackson). #7 Portal class, and looking like most of those guys will be contributors.

As for 2024, we've got 7 3-stars in the Top 900. Five of the seven are Florida guys we tended to "overlook" in the past. Five are DBs, plus a LB and a RB, so they all play positions where they could rise with solid senior years. Only Mack and Day have less-than-ideal size at the moment.

Of the 5 3-stars NOT in the Top 900, two of them are OLs, so I'm going to trust Cristobal/Mirabal until proven wrong. One is a kicker and one is Judd. The only true unknown is Russell.

Let's see how this plays out. I do think that Alonzo is identifying guys who have tremendous potential, though I'd love to land more blue-chippers.
 
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BeastMode said:
I continue to ask this and not 1 person gives a response.

Seriously what did Zo prove with his “evaluating” in the NFL? What great rosters did he build? What championship teams Did he construct?

He wasn’t successful in Cleveland so why does everyone say every **** recruit is now a Zo eval?

This board is overstating what Zo is doing or maybe I just don’t get it but we won’t know for 3 years if this roster is built like the Patriots or ends up a **** like the Browns.

Btw I like that Zo has this position and I’m sure it helps but I think this board is putting a little too much stock in all these 3 stars as Zo evals like he is Jimmy Johnson or Butch Davis finding diamonds in the rough.

Butch is a better evaluator of talent than Zo is
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Well, I'll answer it this way. He had a long career as an NFL exec and could have taken an NFL job over the UM job. I don't think NFL teams are in the business of hiring poor performing executives. You have some, but they don't last.

The fact is that none of us are qualified to evaluate talent over Alonzo, Mario, and Mirabal, yet fans question what they are doing simply because some of the prospects the staff has recruited don't carry the high profile 4 or 5 star next to their name, which recruiting services have fans sucked into.

Let's leave the June recruiting titles to the gaytor fans. What matters is signing day.
 
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Lance Roffers said:
Frame, frame, frame. You would be hard-pressed to find a better starter kit of tools for an OT.

His hands are huge. Grip strength potential. Long arms. Shoulders wide and high.

Flexibility is something that truly pops if you watch full games and focus on him. Can really move. Looks like a TE when he moves but then you see how big he is.

He’s not a microwave guy. This is a year away from being a year away guy. Absolutely zero technique. No idea what he’s doing with leverage, hand usage, foot patterns, or marrying strikes with his base.

I texted Danny that this kid needed to transfer because he’s getting zero coaching (I live in Missouri) and it turns out he did transfer. Glad to hear that.

If you have a year where you need to evaluate tools because there aren’t a lot of OT’s to get, this kid certainly has tools.

My comparison really is Michael McLaughlin, only with more flexibility and bigger hands. Both smooth movers with zero technique, not much pop on contact, stop their feet when they make contact, and tend to lean rather than bring their base and drive a defender.

The truth is some of those guys will hit and some will miss. You have to have sound process that identifies guys with the potential to hit and go from there. You’d rather have finished products who everyone offers and are 5* players, but if you’ve gotta go into 3* land, take the ones who look the part.

Miami is recruiting a bunch of them and being smart with it. Recruit ten of them that look and move like this and three or four will hit.
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The first name that popped into my head when i saw this kid was Josh Jones, the former Houston LT who's now in the NFL.

Plazz has the physical tools and demeanor but is incredibly raw. I think his stance is off, and he's slow out of it. He stays low coming out to run block, which is good, but when he pass blocks he get narrow. He's able to recover against poor HS talent but that will be an issue in college that he'll need to correct. He's a guy you aren't recruiting solely off tape.....you're bringing him in to see his build, length, feet etc and saying "i can coach that up".
 
Lance Roffers said:
Frame, frame, frame. You would be hard-pressed to find a better starter kit of tools for an OT.

His hands are huge. Grip strength potential. Long arms. Shoulders wide and high.

Flexibility is something that truly pops if you watch full games and focus on him. Can really move. Looks like a TE when he moves but then you see how big he is.

He’s not a microwave guy. This is a year away from being a year away guy. Absolutely zero technique. No idea what he’s doing with leverage, hand usage, foot patterns, or marrying strikes with his base.

I texted Danny that this kid needed to transfer because he’s getting zero coaching (I live in Missouri) and it turns out he did transfer. Glad to hear that.

If you have a year where you need to evaluate tools because there aren’t a lot of OT’s to get, this kid certainly has tools.

My comparison really is Michael McLaughlin, only with more flexibility and bigger hands. Both smooth movers with zero technique, not much pop on contact, stop their feet when they make contact, and tend to lean rather than bring their base and drive a defender.

The truth is some of those guys will hit and some will miss. You have to have sound process that identifies guys with the potential to hit and go from there. You’d rather have finished products who everyone offers and are 5* players, but if you’ve gotta go into 3* land, take the ones who look the part.

Miami is recruiting a bunch of them and being smart with it. Recruit ten of them that look and move like this and three or four will hit.
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**** I was good with Plazz until you mentioned Mack Daddy McLaughlin. Hopefully he’s stronger and has a much meaner streak than him
 
Canezum5 said:
Big difference in a Manny 3 star and a Cristobal 3 star.
We've been consistently smacked around by the mid tier teams who find these 3 star gems.

Time we stacked a few too.
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BeastMode said:
Yeah I’m legitimately asking because all I keep saying is Zo eval’s Zo eval’s Zo’s hands are on this one. I want someone with in-depth knowledge to explain why Zo eval’s are going to bring this team a championship because those eval’s in the NFL didn’t bring **** for winning
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So, professional teams have this guy in their front offices for **** near 3 decades because he doesn't know how to identify talent?

just hired him just because he's Zo?

Cleveland hasn't been competitive recently with respectable talent?

Are we asking for NFL Ships or Ncaa ships? No on is responding to you because they see through your shtick, dude.

You clearly just wanna play devils advocate and its lame. You got Google like everyone else mane.

"Highsmith joined the Packers as a college scout in 1999 and spent 13 years on their college scouting staff. He was promoted to senior personnel executive in 2012 and remained in that role through the 2017 season. During his time in Green Bay, the Packers earned 13 trips to the playoffs, captured nine NFC North division titles and won Super Bowl XLV."
 
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Canezum5 said:
So, professional teams have this guy in their front offices for **** near 3 decades because he doesn't know how to identify talent?

just hired him just because he's Zo?

Cleveland hasn't been competitive recently with respectable talent?

Are we asking for NFL Ships or Ncaa ships? No on is responding to you because they see through your shtick, dude.

You clearly just wanna play devils advocate and its lame. You got Google like everyone else mane.

"Highsmith joined the Packers as a college scout in 1999 and spent 13 years on their college scouting staff. He was promoted to senior personnel executive in 2012 and remained in that role through the 2017 season. During his time in Green Bay, the Packers earned 13 trips to the playoffs, captured nine NFC North division titles and won Super Bowl XLV."
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I’m so glad to know Mario’s 3 stars are different than mannys when we have absolutely zero tease that off of except hope.

I hope that’s correct but we won’t know for a few more years. Look if you or others think you can win championships with 3 star rosters then I want what you all are smoking.

There is zero and I mean zero teams who have won a championship in the last 15 years who had a lot of 3 stats. All these playoff teams and champions are built with 5 star and high 4 star rosters and that’s fact. But yeah let’s keep out working other teams for these diamond in the rough 3 stars.
 
BeastMode said:
I’m so glad to know Mario’s 3 stars are different than mannys when we have absolutely zero tease that off of except hope.

I hope that’s correct but we won’t know for a few more years. Look if you or others think you can win championships with 3 star rosters then I want what you all are smoking.

There is zero and I mean zero teams who have won a championship in the last 15 years who had a lot of 3 stats. All these playoff teams and champions are built with 5 star and high 4 star rosters and that’s fact. But yeah let’s keep out working other teams for these diamond in the rough 3 stars.
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Highsmith is widely considered one of the NFL's top talent evaluators and was part of a front office that drafted Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, A.J. Hawk, Greg Jennings, Clay Matthews and B.J. Raji. The Packers won a Super Bowl in 2011. Highsmith got his start in Green Bay as a college scout in 1999 and spent the first 13 years of his time with the Packers mostly responsible for scouting the Southwest region.


Bruh. You trying to run before you crawl and it ain't gone work. You're delusional. We stink. Get over it.

Nobody wants to come here because why would they until we win? We can stack up 9+ win seasons with these 3 stars so we can show the higher rated players, you dck eat so much, that we won't waste their time.

We just recruited a top 5 class bruh. Tf. You not making some grand point cause you aren't doing any Evals. You just log in.. read who we recruiting. Look for stars.. and come and say

" this ain't gone cut it". It's not even honest skepticism. It's just trollin. Just like asking why should we trust Alonzo.... like nucca what?
 
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BeastMode said:
I’m so glad to know Mario’s 3 stars are different than mannys when we have absolutely zero tease that off of except hope.

I hope that’s correct but we won’t know for a few more years. Look if you or others think you can win championships with 3 star rosters then I want what you all are smoking.

There is zero and I mean zero teams who have won a championship in the last 15 years who had a lot of 3 stats. All these playoff teams and champions are built with 5 star and high 4 star rosters and that’s fact. But yeah let’s keep out working other teams for these diamond in the rough 3 stars.
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Albeit, got Blasted.

Tcu was in the ship with a whole Lotta 3 stars. That same TCU would've throttled us 50-0.

Pittsburgh just won our conference with a whole Lotta 3 stars.

yall over here tryna compare miami to teams who have been worth a **** and expecting to recruit to their success level is crazy. I do[BGCOLOR=initial]n't want 3 stars either but I'm also not delusional enough to think Miami is such an easy sell that we're just going to stack 5 stars for no **** reason outside of just being Miami with decent booster support.[/BGCOLOR]

We gotta start somewhere. I'm fine with the 3 stars cause wtf else we gonna do? Take off the Orange n Green colored glasses.

It's 2023 not 2003.


This ain't an oil school, either so make no comparisons.
 
Canezum5 said:
Albeit, got Blasted.

Tcu was in the ship with a whole Lotta 3 stars. That same TCU would've throttled us 50-0.

Pittsburgh just won our conference with a whole Lotta 3 stars.

yall over here tryna compare miami to teams who have been worth a **** and expecting to recruit to their success level is crazy. I do[BGCOLOR=initial]n't want 3 stars either but I'm also not delusional enough to think Miami is such an easy sell that we're just going to stack 5 stars for no **** reason outside of just being Miami with decent booster support.[/BGCOLOR]

We gotta start somewhere. I'm fine with the 3 stars cause wtf else we gonna do? Take off the Orange n Green colored glasses.

It's 2023 not 2003.


This ain't an oil school, either so make no comparisons.
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Lol. Narduzzi and Sonny are great X’s and O’s coaches. Mario is not. What is, however - is a great recruiter. You said start somewhere? Starting somewhere was salvaging the 2022 class. Starting somewhere and building upon it was the 7th-ranked 2023 class and the 7th-ranked portal class.

Miss me with these lame *** excuses.
 
WeBallinBoyz said:
Lol. Narduzzi and Sonny are great X’s and O’s coaches. Mario is not. What is, however - is a great recruiter. You said start somewhere? Starting somewhere was salvaging the 2022 class. Starting somewhere and building upon it was the 7th-ranked 2023 class and the 7th-ranked portal class.

Miss me with these lame *** excuses.
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Agreed. TCU was 5-7 in 2022 turned it around in 2023 with first year head coach and the portal…
 
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