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Here's what I know on Mark Matthews...

Lance Roffers said:
Fair enough. Appreciate you providing feedback.

I see HOF feet. Thomas was special because he vertical set was better than any LT in history thanks to his feet. 45 degree sets, vertical sets...he was the best.

He also has a lot to work on (independent hand usage, handling power in his chest, he doesn't have the length of Olu). Plays high and likes to bully second level more than he does DL.

My intention was to outline how special I believe him to be as a HS prospect. His traits are elite. If he doesn't go first round after a mostly healthy college career, feel free to flame me.

I'm merely doing the best I can and if I were always right on this stuff I'd be making millions in the NFL rather than doing Finance.
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Can you give us the skinny on Olu?
 
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Udynasty said:
Can you give us the skinny on Olu?
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He's denser. As a previous comment noted, Matthews need to fill out and gain strength. I thought Matthews' lower half was downright skinny.

Where Olu is built for the bully game. Olu comes up on contact more than I'd like, and doesn't have the hip flexibility to slide his hips back on contact (think of hinging on a squat). He's much more heavy footed than Matthews (everyone is).

His grip strength is better. He is meaner in his finishing on the LOS (like I mentioned, Matthews likes to finish second level guys).

I only watched one full game of Olu for the segment (vs. Don Bosco) and his camps (Penn State camp in particular).

Olu is a more versatile player in that I think he could be a very good guard.

My ultimate projection for Olu is at RT and think he's a Mauigoa archetype (Mauigoa was a better prospect overall to my eyes, but he played at IMG and most likely received superior coaching there).

All HS OL have tons of things to work on. Hand usage, controlling wrists, understanding leverage, biggest threat/first threat etc.

Olu is a great prospect. Worthy of much hype. I just have Matthews in a tier above.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
All excellent questions. I believe there was a brief discussion on another thread a few months ago.

Apparently, aTm is one of six universities in the US that are considered SENIOR Military Colleges under 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2111a(f).

The six SMCs are:

Norwich University (never heard of it)
The Citadel (duh)
VMI (duh)
VaTech (figures)
University of North Georgia in Dahlonega (who knew)
aTm

Other ROTC programs are authorized under a separate section of the US Code, but the SMCs apparently have some extra rules. The most interesting one that I noted was that "all physically fit undergraduate students must take courses in military training.". That seems like it would be a very hard rule to apply at a school of 60,000 undergrads, but who am I to judge.

The part that we all SEE is the "Corps of Cadets" at aTm. It was mandatory until 1965, now there are just 2500 members out of 60K undergrads. I found this bit to be unusual, you can be in the Corps of Cadets without being in ROTC.

But, yeah, I find the whole thing to be...strange...
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Dahlonega was part of the gold rush long ago, and it is a neat little town
 
Lance Roffers said:
Matthews has the feet to do vertical sets like the great Joe Thomas. It's magical.

I am not saying he will be a HOF'er, I'm saying he has the feet of the greats. He also has warts of a HS player. Which I actually talked about quite a bit.

Due to his traits, if he stays healthy, I'm confident he goes 1st round.

Like everything in this era, it will be brought up and remembered if he doesn't. Which I'm prepared for. Part of the deal.

Cosell is a good film evaluator. Better than me. I honestly don't agree with him as much as I do. But even if I wanted to I wouldn't try and be Cosell. It would just guarantee I'm a worse version of him since I am not him.

Matthews is a special prospect to my eyes. If he turns out to be, great. If he doesn't, it will be ok as well.
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Its a no on Tristan Whiirfs comp for me...he doesnt have that lower body.....hes more of an athletic finesse tackle,.
 
sfcane2 said:
Ha. At least with Cantwell, he has a verifiable trait. Based on his shot put, he's the most powerful high school football player ever. He's also enormous physically. My daughter runs track and competes at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. We were there last spring. Here's Cantwell standing next to the other shot putters. He's just a massive dude who has a power profile that's never been seen in the sport. His throw was 76'11". To put that into perspective, Vince Wilfork holds the Florida state record at 68 feet. Ndamakun Suh and JJ Watt were state champs who threw 61 and 59 feet. That is a massive difference. Brandon Sheriff and Gerald McCoy were also good shot putters and threw around 60 feet. One thing I can safely say is that if he was able to engage with Bain he would be able to hold his ground. I can also say that if Bain and almost any other HS tackle were engaged Bain would run over them. A test for me is if you can survive contact with a grown man pass rusher.
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What is the water in Nixa?




shocked oh my GIF
 
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Lance Roffers said:
He's denser. As a previous comment noted, Matthews need to fill out and gain strength. I thought Matthews' lower half was downright skinny.

Where Olu is built for the bully game. Olu comes up on contact more than I'd like, and doesn't have the hip flexibility to slide his hips back on contact (think of hinging on a squat). He's much more heavy footed than Matthews (everyone is).

His grip strength is better. He is meaner in his finishing on the LOS (like I mentioned, Matthews likes to finish second level guys).

I only watched one full game of Olu for the segment (vs. Don Bosco) and his camps (Penn State camp in particular).

Olu is a more versatile player in that I think he could be a very good guard.

My ultimate projection for Olu is at RT and think he's a Mauigoa archetype (Mauigoa was a better prospect overall to my eyes, but he played at IMG and most likely received superior coaching there).

All HS OL have tons of things to work on. Hand usage, controlling wrists, understanding leverage, biggest threat/first threat etc.

Olu is a great prospect. Worthy of much hype. I just have Matthews in a tier above.
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Yeah all in then.
 
cowboycane said:
What do you mean, you don’t think this other 5 star all world tackle prospect stinks?
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Honestly it’s getting to the point where it’s a hot take saying Olu is a good prospect who has a chance to be a starter by year 2 and has tools to be at worst a day 2 pick depending on his ability to take coaching.


lol good times
 
TexasCane90 said:
Honestly it’s getting to the point where it’s a hot take saying Olu is a good prospect who has a chance to be a starter by year 2 and has tools to be at worst a day 2 pick depending on his ability to take coaching.


lol good times
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This seems to be the consensus view of him, no?
 
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