forums

My thoughts on the freshman class (long)

post is straight money... expected nothing less...

DMoney said:
AUcane said:
good stuff, D.

As for Young, I am hesitant to use the word freak on him. Strength-wise, sure. But speed was? I get the impression from the little video on him that he's not fast. No?
Click to expand...

Young is really fast. I couldn't find the freshman testing thread, but he ran a 4.7 flat at 240 pounds. That's faster than most of our freshman skill position guys. And he plays at that speed. Owens was in a similar size/speed range. Both should end up comfortably in the 4.6 range as big linebackers.
Click to expand...

What happened to that thread? It should of been stickied honestly, lots of gold in there I have looked for it also, couldnt find.
 
Advertisement
skyman said:
post is straight money... expected nothing less...

DMoney said:
AUcane said:
good stuff, D.

As for Young, I am hesitant to use the word freak on him. Strength-wise, sure. But speed was? I get the impression from the little video on him that he's not fast. No?
Click to expand...

Young is really fast. I couldn't find the freshman testing thread, but he ran a 4.7 flat at 240 pounds. That's faster than most of our freshman skill position guys. And he plays at that speed. Owens was in a similar size/speed range. Both should end up comfortably in the 4.6 range as big linebackers.
Click to expand...

What happened to that thread? It should of been stickied honestly, lots of gold in there I have looked for it also, couldnt find.
Click to expand...

Here ya go: http://www.canesinsight.com/threads/76614-Incoming-Players-Weight-Room
 
Last edited:
bobbydigius said:
That being said I will reserve judgement. I remember DMoney doing the same with the 2010 class about a year after they stepped on campus. He didn't call it great but said it was way better than on paper and I distinctly remember him citing that we had found two big LBs that could run in unknowns Cain and Gaines........
Click to expand...

I wish Grassy had a search function so I could pull that post up. Would be interesting to read now. The 2010 offensive recruits really surprised me at camp. I was particularly impressed by Walford, Hurns, Cleveland, Morris and Storm. Aside from Storm (who was a 4-star), those guys outplayed their star ratings and will end up at least on NFL practice squads.

On defense, I distinctly remember posting about how Kevin Nelson (who was riding a hype wave) looked small and unathletic while Gaines and Cain looked physically like the higher-ranked players. Cain smoked himself to JAGville, but Gaines actually outperformed the rest of that terrible defensive class. One guy I loved who never amounted to anything was Latwan "Track Athlete" Anderson.
 
DMoney said:
bobbydigius said:
That being said I will reserve judgement. I remember DMoney doing the same with the 2010 class about a year after they stepped on campus. He didn't call it great but said it was way better than on paper and I distinctly remember him citing that we had found two big LBs that could run in unknowns Cain and Gaines........
Click to expand...

I wish Grassy had a search function so I could pull that post up. Would be interesting to read now. The 2010 offensive recruits really surprised me at camp. I was particularly impressed by Walford, Hurns, Cleveland, Morris and Storm. Aside from Storm (who was a 4-star), those guys outplayed their star ratings and will end up at least on NFL practice squads.

On defense, I distinctly remember posting about how Kevin Nelson (who was riding a hype wave) looked small and unathletic while Gaines and Cain looked physically like the higher-ranked players. Cain smoked himself to JAGville, but Gaines actually outperformed the rest of that terrible defensive class. One guy I loved who never amounted to anything was Latwan "Track Athlete" Anderson.
Click to expand...

It's tough to evaluate your team's players because your bias will always paint a slightly nicer picture. This is when I wish we had an outsider that has seen practice to give his perspective.
 
Other teams fans may hate Berrios more than we'll love him. He's gonna be that guy that gets 1st downs on 3 and 5-7 with a short option route to keep drives going.
 
D$ is the best Homer out there. Gives honest assessments to the ppl based on what he sees & what he hears, plus admits when he was wrong. As canes fans we are lucky to be privy to this info 4 free. I can't say the info is unbiased but the only agenda is pro program. God bless you D$ and canesinsight insiders. Thru thick and thin; steadfast dedication. It's a canes Thang
 
Ofacekilla said:
D$ is the best Homer out there. Gives honest assessments to the ppl based on what he sees & what he hears, plus admits when he was wrong. As canes fans we are lucky to be privy to this info 4 free. I can't say the info is unbiased but the only agenda is pro program. God bless you D$ and canesinsight insiders. Thru thick and thin; steadfast dedication. It's a canes Thang
Click to expand...
THIS !!!!!
 
Kiy Hester- Like many out-of-state freshmen, Hester has had some tough moments. But he has the talent to play here and looks like a guy who shines brightest during full contact. He really stood out in Oklahoma drills with his ability to uncoil into blockers and ball carriers.

This is the biggest shortcoming of Al's methodology. Hard work, gym work, steady practices are heavily weighted. Knocking someone frigging head off is not. Was I the only person surprised when Wheeler finally got PT last year and found out he was not just some soft white kid, but had a nasty streak in him? Al's needs to re-weight his measuring sticks and get some nasty hitters out there on both sides of the ball. Smart is great, but "**** that hurt" gets remembered a lot better by the other team than "wow, smart play".

Did Vanover even play football after Mike plated him? I can't remember seeing much of him after that. Give me at least 4 bringers of pain and the rest of kids can be all smart and steady.

Money, great write up.
 
Advertisement
Ofacekilla said:
D$ is the best Homer out there. Gives honest assessments to the ppl based on what he sees & what he hears, plus admits when he was wrong. As canes fans we are lucky to be privy to this info 4 free. I can't say the info is unbiased but the only agenda is pro program. God bless you D$ and canesinsight insiders. Thru thick and thin; steadfast dedication. It's a canes Thang
Click to expand...

D doesn't hesitate to come down on the players when asked about it but he does it respectfully, as he should. It's why when him and Lu told us they were making their own board, it was a no ******* brainer.
 
Interesting to read this thread in retrospect.

Everybody pretty much played like they practiced. The big surprise was Nick Linder. Even though he played well in camp, I thought he needed more physical development before hitting the field. It goes to show that technique- not necessarily physical readiness- will get you on the field early.
 
Be interesting to see how they all play after another year of coaching up by Al & Co. Noticed Baxton finally started dropping ball toward the end of season--earlier he had glue fingers. Your notice of Kaaya over the middle was spot on. That ended up our best weapon for the first time in ages. Hester leaving confirms to me that Al just doesn't like kids that are nasty.
 
Gatorhater said:
Be interesting to see how they all play after another year of coaching up by Al & Co. Noticed Baxton finally started dropping ball toward the end of season--earlier he had glue fingers. Your notice of Kaaya over the middle was spot on. That ended up our best weapon for the first time in ages. Hester leaving confirms to me that Al just doesn't like kids that are nasty.
Click to expand...


Dude drops one ball, not an easy one at that, and now people act like the dude was dropping balls left and right...

Got some silly fools on here
 
Berrios is prob the most analyzed and ridiculed true freshmen receiver at UM since Jammi German. At least on this board. Some of the nit-picking at this kid is crazy. People act like you can't like berrios if you felt Herb deserved more reps. Smh.

Anyway, pretty much spot on with everything. You even called it that Gray wasn't ready. They should have redshirted him.

Some of the guys on this list I will have my eye on to see if they take that next step because we will desperately need it is..Juwon Young, Darrion Owens, Chad, Wyche, and Jenkins. (Not including Kaaya of course. He's a given)
 
I'm glad this thread was bumped cause I was just thinking about how I can't wait to see Njoku on the field. Seeing DMoney's post again just reinforces that.

EDIT: fwiw I called Gray not being ready before he got on campus but w/e
 
Gatorhater said:
Be interesting to see how they all play after another year of coaching up by Al & Co. Noticed Baxton finally started dropping ball toward the end of season--earlier he had glue fingers. Your notice of Kaaya over the middle was spot on. That ended up our best weapon for the first time in ages. Hester leaving confirms to me that Al just doesn't like kids that are nasty.
Click to expand...

Hester was a homesick pvssy and transferred home, had nothing to do with Golden.

Berrios seemed to hit the "freshman wall" toward the end of the season, but wasn't dropping many passes.
I can remember 1 or 2 drops all season, and both were hard catches.

Really need Young, Owens and Grace(would love to see him gain 10-15 lbs this offseason) to take that next step in their development and would really like to see Kirby finally become the player we all thought he would be.

If Yearby could gain 10 lbs without loosing any speed(like Duke this offseason), kid could be a Gio Bernard type back for us next year.

Chad Thomas was a major disappointment this year, he didn't have 1 sack all season, and looked like he didn't know what he was doing out there at times.

I understand that it is hard for True Fr to make an impact on the defensive line, but we need this kid to dig in hard this spring and become the monster we all know he can be.

Trent Harris, Trayon Gray, Anthony Moten, Marques Gayot, and maybe Juwon Young and Chad Thomas should have all redshirted this season, none of them were ready to compete at a high level and IMO for most of them, we wasted a crucial developmental redshirt year for them.
 
Advertisement
HugoDelapina said:
Gatorhater said:
Be interesting to see how they all play after another year of coaching up by Al & Co. Noticed Baxton finally started dropping ball toward the end of season--earlier he had glue fingers. Your notice of Kaaya over the middle was spot on. That ended up our best weapon for the first time in ages. Hester leaving confirms to me that Al just doesn't like kids that are nasty.
Click to expand...


Dude drops one ball, not an easy one at that, and now people act like the dude was dropping balls left and right...

Got some silly fools on here
Click to expand...

Got me wrong. Love the kid. I remember him dropping one late and thinking that is the first one he dropped all year-- not the one in FSU game. I think I was one other one and of course the TD in FSU game. I am sure that was the one he dreamed of making for us when he committed. I was just taking shot at coaches and the fact that many players seem get worse the more our staff coaches them.
 
Solid class and I actually like that a lot of them got some burn this year. I've said it before, but at this stage with our roster in the shape it is in, I think redshirts are overrated. Sure, things may never turn around, but building depth for 4 years from now seems worse to me than building experience for next year. If we win sooner we will attract more talent and then redshirt issue will be moot.

The unifying theme seemed to be those that were game ready from a mental standpoint got to play and those who weren't did not (Trayone Gray being the exception, but I think he is so talented that the coaches just wanted to get him in the mix and hoped by getting him more comfortable he would pick things up faster). I know "guys who were ready played" seems like an obvious statement, but the one glimmer of hope I took away from this year is that our freshman are really focused on preparation. It always scared me to hear guys like Deon and Tracy talk about how much they improved their preparation as Juniors. Watching the U part II, that was ingrained in freshman from day one, and when that stopped, the program went downhill. Guys stepping up on their own can overcome some amount of bad coaching.
 
Berrios only dropped 1 easy-to-catch pass during the regular season. His biggest problem was that he was terrible at getting seperation. He was open 13 times and covered 24, by far the worst on the roster. He also had a paltry YAC average of 2.1 yds.
 
timujian said:
Berrios only dropped 1 easy-to-catch pass during the regular season. His biggest problem was that he was terrible at getting seperation. He was open 13 times and covered 24, by far the worst on the roster. He also had a paltry YAC average of 2.1 yds.
Click to expand...

+10000
Getting separation was his issue. The kid can catch but he had a difficult time getting open. And he didn't get much yac.
 
Back
Top