FOOTBALL Fall Camp 2020
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
The metamorphosis of Jalyn Ferguson. Comes in as a running back, bulks up to play DT and this year slims down to play DE and is making some noise. I think he is going to be the bright spot of the defense this year. We must have more depth at DT to allow him to move over to DE.
Ferguson was recruited as a TE and LB depending on who you ask. He’s a perfect example of what I have talked about before with respect to our poor recruiting and attempts to put players out of position to fill a hole because the staff fails to recruit at a certain position. So, he comes out of high school as a very good athlete at 240 lbs and our staff’s inclination is to say well let’s try to put a lot more meat on him and play him at freaking defensive tackle. This leads to not only kids being thrust into positions that aren’t ideal where the extra weight means they are less explosive, not as quick, etc. but also it leads to the rash of injuries we sustain year after year.
And lo and behold look what happens - season ending injury before the season last year. He has good enough size to play DE but he never should have been forced to play DT and subjected to the brutality of interior line play for two years. And he played a lot. Early and often even as a freshman. In all 12 games I believe.
And lo and behold look what happens - season ending injury before the season last year. He has good enough size to play DE but he never should have been forced to play DT and subjected to the brutality of interior line play for two years. And he played a lot. Early and often even as a freshman. In all 12 games I believe.
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He did play RB (FB on a triple option team) before moving to Norcross HS in the Atlanta area and changing positions. He's not tall enough to play TE so he would have to play LB or DL but his weight says DL.
240 lbs is a very big linebacker for a college freshman, you look at most college defensive lineman and they are probably start in that 230-240 lbs range. Sure there are those zero tech's going to P5 schools hitting 280-300 already but most DT/DE's are in that range.
That's usually the gamble, coaches want to see if they kids can keep their quickness after gaining the weight. It's why P5 kids are P5, they are either absolute freaks (speed off the charts) so losing a step doesn't matter or they already have the speed and size and the gamble is lower.
It was a freak accident that happened on a non-contact practice, nothing related to size or contact but he was slated to be a DE last year.
He made C-USA All Freshman Team. He definitely got his time in for those first two years. I bet if you asked the kid, do you want to sit on the bench for two years or gain some weight and play DT the answer would be to "gain the weight".
Not in agreement here on much. Yeah, 240 might be a bit big for a LB but depends on body type and speed. A lot of P5s have MLBs that play in the 240-250 range and I bet we would too if we could. We are just consistently under recruiting at the DL position especially DT. Sure this is a problem for most schools but we are absolutely atrocious at recruiting at these two positions and what we do have isn’t really developed much given the D-Line coach is on a retirement seminar. If his playing weight really is in the 250-255 range which is what he appears to be at his preferred weight (given its three years later after they tried to put weight on him then he’s a MLB or DE), but to my earlier point he never should have been on the interior. The disposition of his injury - whether in contact or not - can’t be known for sure but just because he wasn’t injured in a game or in a contact activity isn’t enough to disprove my point. I know that if I push myself hard this year far beyond my limits I’m much more likely to get injured next year even if I didn’t during this year. Bottom line is we have an abnormally high number of injuries moreso than most programs year after year. This is a perpetual problem so the question is what’s underlying that? And I have a theory. I can’t tell you with 100% certainty that Jordan’s injury occurred from being beat up the previous two seasons or not but I would wager the house that this type of positioning players up instead of their ideal position is the #1 reason why we have so many more injuries than your average team does.
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#62 Jordan Palmer
OL
6' 0"
390 lbs
Junior
6' 0" and 290 is big but 390??? I wonder if that is a typo
Sounds like a 0-technique on the D-Line to me. Probably need this kid on the D-Line for the Army game.
Maybe by the time they graduate at a 5th year senior. In the 2019 cycle one of the top MLB's was Owen Pappoe (Auburn) who was 6' and 210. Another top MLB JD Bertrand (Notre Dame) was 6'1" and 215. 240 lbs as a freshman is too heavy.
He looked fine at 272 probably looks good at 255. The question is was he intentionally trying to slim down or was it a byproduct of COVID. Obviously the weight room was off limits from March-beginning of June and his diet could have suffered plus any limitations of his injury. He's a good player but maintaining weight on players (except for Jordan Palmer) has been difficult during COVID. For a DE I like 255 better anyways for his height.
Sure this is like the Fantasy Football RB and touches, he gets rode hard in seasons 1/2 and finally wears down in season 3. That's possible, heck Reed might be a guy that falls into this category as well.
I can produce lots of examples of LB's at 240 as FR. How do you know that he didn't already come in overweight at 240 at that age? Weights were set before COVID. Not buying that. He's at his correct playing weight, and if he doesn't have an injury (and we actually get to play) he's going to have a big year. No way we are playing a DE at 280+. Not here.
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