Mike Jackson 22 Palmetto HS WR Receives Offer

[305407cane]

Seeing multiple kick returns for a touchdown is a nice thing to see on a highlight. Kids fast and ****y. Take

 

[Ethnicsands]

Yeah I don't know about all that. We had some fast MF'ers under Randy.
Benjamin (4.32), Miller (4.40), Sam Shields, Streeter (4.40), DVD (4.28). Even Colin McCarthy ran a 4.6 at 240lbs.

Randy obviously wasn't a good HC but he understood the advantage of South Florida speed. He was the only coach we've had in years who wasn't scared to recruit undersized skill players if they were fast. Now we got these knuckleheads who don't recruit guys like Tutu Atwell cause they're "too small".

It's funny. I was anticipating this response. Randy did recruit some fast guys. But you'll notice, my thread talked specifically about DB and WR, and you came back in part with Miller and McCarthy.

At WR, yes Benjamin was fast. I don't consider Streeter a burner. He was more a tall long strider who took a few years for it all to click. Not, e.g., a returner.

So you're left with a kid here or there ... not at all saying he had none ... but for this program, not enough. I think it's clear in hindsight. DVD had real speed in his first class. But the rest of that DB class was Jared Campbell, Jojo Nicolas, Wiggins. WR was McKenzie, Hankerson, Adderly and Farqharson. McKenzie and Farq were not slow, but not UM burner types, either.

In Randy's '08 'honeymoon' class, DB was B. Harris, Telemaque, Holton, Odom, Wylie. WR was Benjamin, Thompkins, Aldarius, D. Johnson, Collier, Streeter. This was a huge class -- 33 kids -- which we couldn't take anymore. Out of the 11 WR/DB kids, only Benjamin's a real burner. D. Johnson had legit speed, never translated to football speed to my recollection. Maybe count him as fast also. Harris was certainly fast enough, no problemo.

In '09, we signed Reid, McGee and AJ Highsmith. In '10, it was Payne, D'vonta Davis, Kacy Rodgers, Allen Hurns. We signed Jeremy Davis, who was fast, but he never got in and most expected that during the season.

So it's pretty clear Randy didn't sign enough speed in 3 of his 4 classes, and in his giant class, at best he did 'okay.' Whether he understood the importance of So Fla speed or not, he didn't deliver on it, IMO.

Coker, incidentally, really killed the roster speed, in part because he quit recruiting WR almost entirely.

We're a long way from the days of seeing guys like Hester, Parrish, S. Moss, Buchanon, Rolle, Taylor, Andre Johnson on the team, let along the prior run with its own share of fast guys at WR/DB.

 

[EvCane]

This dude destroys angles

 

[Madabs]

The only thing is he's 5 '10 and weighs 145lb, hes gotta put on a lot of weight 20lbs plus.

 

[Goulds Cane]

Take both man

Y'all really think Mike & Jai are gonna come here together to play the same exact role? With how much y'all cry about SFL kids being divas?

 

[EvCane]

The only thing is he's 5 '10 and weighs 145lb, hes gotta put on a lot of weight 20lbs plus.

Roscoe Parrish was tiny as well. Don't care about size, get all the playmakers you can

 

[EvCane]

The ****** playcalling & QB situation has done him no favors but he is a BURNER. If I were Likens, I'd hate to have to choose between him & Celestine from MNW for the speedy slot guy/returner Malik Curtis role next cycle.

Take who's willing to commit first

 

[Madabs]

Roscoe Parrish was tiny as well. Don't care about size, get all the playmakers you can

Yes, he was 5'9 but got his weight up to 165 in college and 175 in the NFL.

 

[swdp12]

Seeing multiple kick returns for a touchdown is a nice thing to see on a highlight. Kids fast and ****y. Take

yup.

 

[AtlAtty]

Around that same time we stopped the skill guys from running track also.. In offseason when Reed was on that zoom call with Andre, reggie, ginn, etc to honor curtis johnson, Reggie talked about how he wasnt a track runner but coach Johnson told him to go out there and run and how it helped him get faster on the field and take his game to another level.. Hope Reed get in Manny ear about that, we had a good culture with that before..

Someone help me understand the shift away from football players running track. Like Skyman I remember the track team being littered with names like Moss, Johnson, McGahee, even Ed throwing the javelin.
it would seem natural for players in any sport to run track to improve speed, but basketball and baseball have overlapping seasons with spring track, leaving football as the most logical and for which track speed and form would be the most useful.
So do the football coaches actively discourage our guys from running track, and if so, is there some logic to it? Do the football coaches feel they can teach speed and technique just as well and don’t want the players time diverted from spring football and workouts?
Anyone have any insight on this issue?

 

[@KingLew88]

When the kid cuts and speed is still blazing he’s a take all day.

my goodness and he don’t look like he trying not to fall while running.

 

[Mia305cubancane]

It's funny. I was anticipating this response. Randy did recruit some fast guys. But you'll notice, my thread talked specifically about DB and WR, and you came back in part with Miller and McCarthy.

At WR, yes Benjamin was fast. I don't consider Streeter a burner. He was more a tall long strider who took a few years for it all to click. Not, e.g., a returner.

So you're left with a kid here or there ... not at all saying he had none ... but for this program, not enough. I think it's clear in hindsight. DVD had real speed in his first class. But the rest of that DB class was Jared Campbell, Jojo Nicolas, Wiggins. WR was McKenzie, Hankerson, Adderly and Farqharson. McKenzie and Farq were not slow, but not UM burner types, either.

In Randy's '08 'honeymoon' class, DB was B. Harris, Telemaque, Holton, Odom, Wylie. WR was Benjamin, Thompkins, Aldarius, D. Johnson, Collier, Streeter. This was a huge class -- 33 kids -- which we couldn't take anymore. Out of the 11 WR/DB kids, only Benjamin's a real burner. D. Johnson had legit speed, never translated to football speed to my recollection. Maybe count him as fast also. Harris was certainly fast enough, no problemo.

In '09, we signed Reid, McGee and AJ Highsmith. In '10, it was Payne, D'vonta Davis, Kacy Rodgers, Allen Hurns. We signed Jeremy Davis, who was fast, but he never got in and most expected that during the season.

So it's pretty clear Randy didn't sign enough speed in 3 of his 4 classes, and in his giant class, at best he did 'okay.' Whether he understood the importance of So Fla speed or not, he didn't deliver on it, IMO.

Coker, incidentally, really killed the roster speed, in part because he quit recruiting WR almost entirely.

We're a long way from the days of seeing guys like Hester, Parrish, S. Moss, Buchanon, Rolle, Taylor, Andre Johnson on the team, let along the prior run with its own share of fast guys at WR/DB.

that 08 class was very uneven distributed we got 9 or 10 linebackers,7 wrs, 4 safetys,3 qbs.we got alot of hype cause of the #1 ranking,looking back now it was a mess

 

[skyman]

Someone help me understand the shift away from football players running track. Like Skyman I remember the track team being littered with names like Moss, Johnson, McGahee, even Ed throwing the javelin.
it would seem natural for players in any sport to run track to improve speed, but basketball and baseball have overlapping seasons with spring track, leaving football as the most logical and for which track speed and form would be the most useful.
So do the football coaches actively discourage our guys from running track, and if so, is there some logic to it? Do the football coaches feel they can teach speed and technique just as well and don’t want the players time diverted from spring football and workouts?
Anyone have any insight on this issue?

Its a question I have asked multiple times, I can understand why Golden went away as he was obsessed with players gaining weight but when Richt came in he basically said we were slow af and needed more explosive players, 5 years later we still there.. Maybe @LuCane or @DMoney can speak to it as they have been around team for years, I hope Reed speaks on that or has some influence..

 

[DMoney]

Its a question I have asked multiple times, I can understand why Golden went away as he was obsessed with players gaining weight but when Richt came in he basically said we were slow af and needed more explosive players, 5 years later we still there.. Maybe @LuCane or @DMoney can speak to it as they have been around team for years, I hope Reed speaks on that or has some influence..

We aren’t slow at the skill positions. Our running backs and receivers are all 4.4 types and our TEs fly. We have other issues at those positions.

 

[Ethnicsands]

that 08 class was very uneven distributed we got 9 or 10 linebackers,7 wrs, 4 safetys,3 qbs.we got alot of hype cause of the #1 ranking,looking back now it was a mess

That class was a mess. There were some okay kids in it, but we used way too many scholarships and had way too many kids who didn't even make it in or contribute. The only kids who really performed to expectations in college imo were Spence and B. Harris. Benjamin next. Streeter had a good year. Jacory had some moments but didn't focus nearly enough on the game.

In all these years of talking 'roster talent', too little awareness imo amongst fans about what big classes with dead-weight do to a roster. you wind up clogging the arteries, it takes time for kids to trickle through, you use initial counters, you wind up with imbalance, practice competition declines, depth declines, it's all bad. Knowledge folks around UM were saying this back when Coker was clogging the pipes, and Shannon and Gluten kept it going. For all of his shortcomings, Richt did know better than to jam the roster with wasted scholarships.

 

[Ethnicsands]

Its a question I have asked multiple times, I can understand why Golden went away as he was obsessed with players gaining weight but when Richt came in he basically said we were slow af and needed more explosive players, 5 years later we still there.. Maybe @LuCane or @DMoney can speak to it as they have been around team for years, I hope Reed speaks on that or has some influence..

It's simple. Football coaches want to control things for football. Track meant both schedule issues around spring practice and injury risk. Coaches who value it decide it's a worthwhile risk. Those who don't, don't.

 

[skyman]

We aren’t slow at the skill positions. Our running backs and receivers are all 4.4 types and our TEs fly. We have other issues at those positions.

Was more thinking wr and db, but our offense should be more explosive if everyone is true 4.4 speed..

 

[skyman]

It's simple. Football coaches want to control things for football. Track meant both schedule issues around spring practice and injury risk. Coaches who value it decide it's a worthwhile risk. Those who don't, don't.

Ed need to let them know about the benefits..

 

[Ethnicsands]

We aren’t slow at the skill positions. Our running backs and receivers are all 4.4 types and our TEs fly. We have other issues at those positions.

We don't have enough explosively fast kids at WR (or CB), IMO. When did we last have a great returner? Days of Benjamin, Parrish, Hester, S. Moss, A. Johnson are long gone (and most kids today don't even know about E. Brown, R. Hill or K. Williams). I trust my eyes over someone's reported 40 times. Can guys get separation consistently, and force defenses to adjust. Do they have football speed?

 

[DMoney]

We don't have enough explosively fast kids at WR (or CB), IMO. When did we last have a great returner? Days of Benjamin, Parrish, Hester, S. Moss, A. Johnson are long gone (and most kids today don't even know about E. Brown, R. Hill or K. Williams). I trust my eyes over someone's reported 40 times. Can guys get separation consistently, and force defenses to adjust. Do they have football speed?

Two different concepts. People were talking about track speed. We have that.

What we lack is the ability to create. Those “now” throws and screens in Lashlee’s offense would be a lot deadlier if we had someone who can make the defender miss and then explode for big yards.

Brashard Smith is a name to watch in that category.