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The Evolution of Mark Fletcher

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bshaw28 said:
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@TheOriginalCane - I'm on your side here.

All off season I said Fletcher was our best RB. I consistently defended him & said he was getting too much hate.

If you read my posts vs automatically hating on me - you'll see we agree on more than you think.

Like when my OP says: "If I were coaching Fletcher the two things I'd have him work on are:"

So if we can agree Fletcher needed coaching (and he eventually took a huge leap) - then we can also acknowledge it's completely fair for Cali or anyone else to be critical of Fletcher since it did take 3 full seasons for the results to look different.

You both make good & fair points - it's just a matter of opinion of how good Fletcher is/can be. There's been plenty of positives and negatives along the way in Fletcher's career to support both your opinions.
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Look, the post you just made is eminently fair.

I'm just pointing out that lots of posters love to IMMEDIATELY judge a player as "not good enough" or whatever other assessment they make off of limited data.

This is simple. I've been watching Miami games, as a student or an alum since the early 1980s. I've seen all kinds of different running backs at The U. They are not all the same, they all have relative strengths and weaknesses. Many of them have suffered injuries and require recovery time.

Where I AM CRITICAL is in the assessment of "it did take 3 full seasons for the results to look different". I think that is a ridiculous standard to apply. What happened to the days of guys having 5 years to play 4? Why do we think that a kid coming out of ****** Florida high schools with underpaid coaches and very little skills development would suddenly be good in college, IN A TOP COLLEGE PROGRAM, in the first year or two of his enrollment? Particularly if he suffers a major injury along the way?

This is the problem with "armchair quarterbacks" sitting on their couches while they assess players with far more talent than they will ever possess. These armchair QBs are not coaches or scouts or even weekend volunteers. They are just guys with bigscreen TVs who think that their eyes are as trained and qualified as the eyes of the guys who are paid millions to coach.

The bottom line goes back to what I said earlier. It's not "stating everything based on hope" (as Calinative said) when we simply want to watch a talented kid DEVELOP and overcome his injuries. That's all.

I wish every player was equally good at every one of his positional skills. That's rare, though. On the other hand, wanting a hard-working high-quality person like Mark Fletcher to have every opportunity to regain his starting role and develop his skills is not "stating everything based on hope". It's simply a rooting interest in football and football players.

If a credit card fraudster like Martin Patton washes out at Miami, so be it. But I'm going to enjoy watching the developmental process that Mark Fletcher is experiencing, and I won't be writing him off too early.
 
DMoney said:
Fletcher improved, as hard workers often do. He also got healthier and flourished in the pistol formation.

But the OP is a long way to avoid saying, "I was wrong about Fletcher." We all remember who said what.

Mark Fletcher is a championship player and I'm grateful he's a Hurricane.
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Early on, I thought Fletcher had poor footwork. His feet seemed to get tangled up very easily just as it looked like he was going to break free into the secondary. He also seemed just a bit slow to recognize an opening and exploit it. He definitely seemed to overcome that issue last season. Sometimes young athletes go through some growing pains as their body matures. Hard to tell whether the difference came from a physical aspect or from gaining mental clarity.
Whatever the reason was, he has certainly overcome it and has become the complete back we hoped to see. I will be honest and admit that I thought Lyle was going to become the breakout star from our RB group and I still believe he is very talented. Fletcher just seized the opportunity and it would be hard to imagine anything except injury keeping him from remaining the featured back in our offense. I can’t wait to see what this RB group does next season.
 
Any chance the next step in the evolution of this future NFL running back will include carrying the ball in his left hand when going left? As OP noted, not only does this take away his right arm stiff arm, it also makes it easier to strip the ball when running left. This may never occur in college because Fletch is so strong compared to most college defenders, but it will be a problem in the NFL.

As you noticed in the clips OP provided, Fletcher’s very best runs (TAMU and IU) were when he was running to the right. If the run against TAMU was to the left, Fletcher probably doesn’t get the last 20 yards because he can’t stiff arm the defender.
 
AtlAtty said:
Any chance the next step in the evolution of this future NFL running back will include carrying the ball in his left hand when going left? As OP noted, not only does this take away his right arm stiff arm, it also makes it easier to strip the ball when running left. This may never occur in college because Fletch is so strong compared to most college defenders, but it will be a problem in the NFL.

As you noticed in the clips OP provided, Fletcher’s very best runs (TAMU and IU) were when he was running to the right. If the run against TAMU was to the left, Fletcher probably doesn’t get the last 20 yards because he can’t stiff arm the defender.
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I wouldn't put it past him to make that change.
 
DMoney said:
Fletcher improved, as hard workers often do. He also got healthier and flourished in the pistol formation.

But the OP is a long way to avoid saying, "I was wrong about Fletcher." We all remember who said what.

Mark Fletcher is a championship player and I'm grateful he's a Hurricane.
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This and he came back when he probably shouldn't have. How many times have we seen kids here bounce to the league at the first chance they get and this kid just loves this university so much. I know its a little different with NIL but the point still stands.
 
MF is a beast. He is a better back because he is a great kid who was willing to put in the work and he did. IMO when I first saw him and listed his measurables 6'2" 225, I was hoping this kid be a better version of James Stewart, or Najeah Davenport. Just goes to show what many of you have said. Development plays a huge part in evolving into a good/great player.
 
Combo said:
Always worth keeping in mind that it's DMoney's job (and that of all commentators like him) to rev up the fanbase.
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100% - More Sunshine = More Site Traffic = More Ad Revenue

D$ made a conscious decision to stop talk bad a players on a while ago. It was the right decision.
D$ is a smart dude who knows his stuff. He's built a great site. I love CIS. It's really taken off in the last year with the amount of great content/insight, interviews with players & coaches, getting on National Shows. You can't do that without being positive & knowledgeable.

The flips side is...

Obvious positive spin is sometimes presented as genuine thoughts/takes.

D$ is like most of us - he's stubborn with an ego - so he doesn't like admitting when he's wrong.

Like when he says - "I'm wrong often. It's tough to admit, but necessary for growth. As we've seen with Fletcher and Mendoza, many people struggle to own up."

That's a funny "I'm right & you're wrong" statement framed as "I can admit when I'm wrong"
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
Where I AM CRITICAL is in the assessment of "it did take 3 full seasons for the results to look different". I think that is a ridiculous standard to apply. What happened to the days of guys having 5 years to play 4? Why do we think that a kid coming out of ****** Florida high schools with underpaid coaches and very little skills development would suddenly be good in college, IN A TOP COLLEGE PROGRAM, in the first year or two of his enrollment? Particularly if he suffers a major injury along the way?
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You're a die hard fan and always support/defend the players/team. That's a more positive & healthy way to be vs some others (like me) who are more critical which can easily be taken as negativity/hate.

When you're critical of my assessment - that's 100% legit. But when I defend my takes (below), I'm just explaining & giving examples of why I think that. I honestly don't want it to feel like I'm attacking you (which understand it might - but that's not my intention).

1) Guys taking 4 or 5 years to develop & not being ready out of HS:

15-20 years ago Malachi Toney is too young & small and RS's instead of becoming our best Offensive player. Freshman are now frequently counted on to play early.

Fletcher was a 6' 225 Top 100 RB from a South FL powerhouse HS coached by former NFL players.

Physically & Coaching Prep wise - he was more ready to play than 99% of other Freshman.


2) "It did take 3 full seasons for the results to look different" being a ridiculous standard:

IMO Fletcher should've gone pro. NFL Draft analysts say all the time "guys who stayed for 4/5 years usually did so because they weren't talented enough to go pro"

9 out of last 10 drafted Miami RB's left before their Senior year. Mike James (2013) is the 1 SR.

IMO - 3 years is enough for a RB.

FLETCHER'S CAREER
FR NARRATIVE - Fletcher was a stud. He was gonna play early & start by the end of the season.
FR YPC (10 GAMES) - 4.9

SO NARRATIVE - Fletcher was coming off Lisfranc & was gonna miss games and/or be rusty
SO YPC (13 GAMES) - 5.4

JR NARRATIVE - Fletcher had his 1st healthy off-season, was trimmed down & ready for a big year
JR YPC (REG SEASON - 10 GAMES) - 4.9


COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS - After 33 games Fletcher looked pretty much the same as a JR as he did as a FR. There didn't appear to be much development. If you say "you're not considering his major injury" in 2024 - then you have to acknowledge his best year was 2024 - right after that major injury.

JR YPC (CFP SEASON - 10 GAMES) - 6.8
This was an epic run. Made Fletcher a Canes legend. But NO ONE expected him to be THAT good. Not even the biggest Fletcher fans. To act like that's who he was all along & people were dopes to doubt him because of his first 33 games - you can see where people might disagree with that, right?
 
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