MT QB transferring; 4 other players dismissed
- Thread starter MTLynn
- Start date
Did you see who we just signed? We just got 3 db's and all of them are an upgrade over Akins. Brooks is gonna be a Byard level player. 5 more schollies freed up. We have 5 Juco signees already that are upgrades over who left. Go get it coaching staff. Other teams are prepping for bowls. We are robbing the hen house. This Juco class is looking pretty dang good so far.
Ask Tommy West how his little juco experiment paid off for him in his last three years at Memphis after he loaded the boat with them. Specifically, a QB from California by way of Washington State. He was a disaster and it was suspected there may have been other motives for his poor play. Against Rice, the game was tied 35-35 and the Tigers were on the Owls 30 yd-line with ten seconds remaining. He served up a "pick six" pass in the flat to Quentin Jammer who returned it 70 yards for the Owls as time ran out. I will never forget the look on Tommy's face after that happened.
Heavy signing classes of jucos is considered an act of desperation by those in the business and it leaves a program in shambles for a minimum of three years if the gamble doesn't pay off.
Franklin315, have you even been watching us in the last 15 years or so? We sign this many Juco's every year. JK Saab was a Juco. McClover, Garrett Andrews, Eric Russell, and Logan Kilgore (the QB who broke most of the records at MT) were all JUCO's.
Under Stock, our Juco's have usually been some of our better players. Especially when it came to depth. BTW, Brooks isn't a JUCO. He's an early grad who is also a honor society member as well. He will start as a freshman or will be in the rotation at the very least. He has "Byard" level talent and instincts. He's coming in early so he can compete early and be ready play in the fall.
Go watch the films of these new guys and compare to the film of the guys that left and tell me I'm wrong. They are upgrades. What's even better is that they'll have the spring to get ready to play in the fall.
There is reason for optimism here or I wouldn't say it.
This post was edited on 12/18 7:19 AM by blueraiderJT
Under Stock, our Juco's have usually been some of our better players. Especially when it came to depth. BTW, Brooks isn't a JUCO. He's an early grad who is also a honor society member as well. He will start as a freshman or will be in the rotation at the very least. He has "Byard" level talent and instincts. He's coming in early so he can compete early and be ready play in the fall.
Go watch the films of these new guys and compare to the film of the guys that left and tell me I'm wrong. They are upgrades. What's even better is that they'll have the spring to get ready to play in the fall.
There is reason for optimism here or I wouldn't say it.
This post was edited on 12/18 7:19 AM by blueraiderJT
You know, I guess it's okay to get hyped if you sign some players that you think will help the program, but,the reality is that you just never know until they hit the field--IF they ever hit the field.
Take for example Pat Martin who was just dismissed from the team. I remember how some were all excited about what a great "get" he was, and now he's gone. In fact, pretty much all of our signees look good on paper, but you just never know how good they actually are until they play in games and can show you what they can do.
I was just about the post this.
We're not loading up. More like plugging holes.
Ducksworth replaces Smith.
Beasley replaces Pat Martin
Heard repalces Akins
Hargis replaces Foster
Akins is the only one that I think would have contributed in the future. Martin, Foster were non-factors. Smith was at the bottom end of the WR rotation.
JUCO's are hit and miss. Our 2010 class was awful, I think we signed 9 or 10, and only Kilgore and maybe one more guy made any sort of impact.
But sometimes, you get guys like Sabb, Kilgore, Marcus Henry, etc. Anthony Amos came to us from a JUCO or Prep school as a walk on, I think.
I look at film. Not only of them, but highlights of the people they played against in the same game. There's so much film of these guys now, that ain't hard to do at all anymore. Heck you can usually find complete games now and that's more important to me anyway. So I look for the good and bad. I look for what they do before they make a play. Instincts and positioning are the things I make judgement over. Paper is good for stats. Under the helmet tells me more.
Brooks, Heard and Harges will be competing for PT right away. The spring game will help show what they bring to the table as well. The WR is more of a project.
Heard is getting a second shot in his CFB career. He is grateful to be here and is motivated. In his film, he is a ball hawk. He doesn't wait on the ball to get to him, he goes after it and batts it down. Good field presence and knows how to break on the ball. He has a good sense where the ball is going and can adjust in mid play. You can tell he studies a lot of game film. Good redzone D skills. Doesn't get rattled. Makes a play regardless. Utah State had him and he drew a lot of interest by bigger schools out of high school.
Brooks is actually more polished than Heard even though he's younger. Great ball instincts. Smart player. Leaves his man to get to the ball after he knows where it's going. Again, he's aggressive going to the ball. Doesn't wait for it to get to him. Has a lot of hustle and plays with some swagger. Honor society member and graduated early so he can get as many reps as possible before next fall. Wants to play early. Good work ethic.
Harges is a prototypical D1 outside LB who can lay the wood. Memphis is pissed he flipped and signed here. I take that as high praise since Memphis has a very good D now. He has a motor and plays the run really well.
If you compare these guys to other MT player's film in the last 2 years, 4 out of the 5 are upgrades in talent and ball skills.
Yes, none may pan out but these are the types of guys you want to go after. Hell, you want Memphis to get a good LB we could have gotten? Come on now. I've said this since it happened. Going 6-6 might be the best thing that could have happened to this program right now. We will be hungrier next year. The list of kids we are going after is aggressive. Since we don't have to prep for a bowl, we are recruiting a lot right now which gives us an advantage.
Brooks, Heard and Harges will be competing for PT right away. The spring game will help show what they bring to the table as well. The WR is more of a project.
Heard is getting a second shot in his CFB career. He is grateful to be here and is motivated. In his film, he is a ball hawk. He doesn't wait on the ball to get to him, he goes after it and batts it down. Good field presence and knows how to break on the ball. He has a good sense where the ball is going and can adjust in mid play. You can tell he studies a lot of game film. Good redzone D skills. Doesn't get rattled. Makes a play regardless. Utah State had him and he drew a lot of interest by bigger schools out of high school.
Brooks is actually more polished than Heard even though he's younger. Great ball instincts. Smart player. Leaves his man to get to the ball after he knows where it's going. Again, he's aggressive going to the ball. Doesn't wait for it to get to him. Has a lot of hustle and plays with some swagger. Honor society member and graduated early so he can get as many reps as possible before next fall. Wants to play early. Good work ethic.
Harges is a prototypical D1 outside LB who can lay the wood. Memphis is pissed he flipped and signed here. I take that as high praise since Memphis has a very good D now. He has a motor and plays the run really well.
If you compare these guys to other MT player's film in the last 2 years, 4 out of the 5 are upgrades in talent and ball skills.
Yes, none may pan out but these are the types of guys you want to go after. Hell, you want Memphis to get a good LB we could have gotten? Come on now. I've said this since it happened. Going 6-6 might be the best thing that could have happened to this program right now. We will be hungrier next year. The list of kids we are going after is aggressive. Since we don't have to prep for a bowl, we are recruiting a lot right now which gives us an advantage.
+1.
I was hoping we'd here something by now on this front. The regression in the play of the DL was plain to see.
I hope i'm wrong on this, but I saw it happen first hand in Knoxville in the last years of the Fulmer regime. Fulmer hired his buddies and kept them on, even when they weren't producing. Phil was never a terrible coach. But a HC is only as good as the staff around him.
I think Fulmer got too comfortable at Tennessee, and didn't feel the need to bring in new blood to the staff, or guys that we'ren't "Yes" men.
I hope we're not seeing that here, with Stock's long term deal, that he's just getting complacent with the staff.
These players might be good, but Akins truly was going to be a star here. Very few kids can come in and play defensive back as a true freshmen and do it well. He would have been another 4 year CB who was undersized but very talented aka another Alex Suber.
Anyone know why Akins quit?
I think it was an academics thing.
I'm just repeating something I read something about it a few weeks ago somewhere - so i'm not 100% on this.
Most of the students who register for college are not "college material." So many freshman drop out after their first semester, or even during it. Why would anyone expect football players to be any different? Some of them just can't cut it in the classroom. Oh well. there is always Troy.
This post was edited on 12/18 1:18 PM by mtutmut
This post was edited on 12/18 1:18 PM by mtutmut
