I did not want to look too greedy, I want merriweather over Williams and I would love Williams as well but he is more replaceable in this class. i also would love all 3 dls but this can’t happen, right?
Pretty sure they are considered the leader for Lucas and just behind Oregon for Moss, Freeman will get to work all of them for months. Would not be surprised if they don't land any of them though
I don’t know about one over the other, but CJ Williams should be in this class and he’s a stud. Already just a really technically sound WR.
his ceiling isn't as high as Merriweather's but I think he gets on the field day one because he's so advanced already. He's a back half of the top 100 to me (around 75 seems right) because he lacks the 5* ceiling. Merriwether is a top 50 guy to me because I think he could be a round 1 guy someday but to your point, we need both of them and i think we get them both
Biggins article on Kanu Spoiler Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.) Santa Margarita defensive lineman Hero Kanu cut his list of schools down to 10 last week and we take a closer look at where Notre Dame currently stands among his leaders. We broke down the final 10 for Kanu in an article earlier in the week, see here- Hero Kanu talks final 10. Kanu originally had a top nine but quickly made it a top 10 following an offer from Notre Dame. Kanu took several trips during June to schools all over the country. He said his plan was to take as many visits as he could and then pick his five official trips based on what unofficial trips he enjoyed the most and where he felt he fit in the best. He has now locked in three official trips, to Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma. With two spots left, the Irish have a chance to jump in the picture if they hit a home run on his upcoming unofficial visit later this month. “I still don’t have a date yet but I should soon,” Kanu said. “Even though Notre Dame just offered me, I’ve actually been talking with them since January and have a really good relationship with coach Elston. “They were always up front and honest with me and I appreciated that. They said they just didn’t have a spot for me, never played games but said I was the next man up if one opened up. That’s exactly what happened and I’m very interested in them right now.” For the Irish to not only jump in to Kanu’s top 10 but for him to quickly make plans to visit later this month shows he has real interest in the program. “I’m not going to set up an official visit with any school that I haven’t unofficially visited first,” Kanu said. “This visit will be really important to me because I only have two official trip dates open now. Notre Dame is a special school, I’ve had a lot of people tell me that. "Everyone said I’m going to love it out there and said it fits my personality well. It’s a great football school with great academics. It’s small and easy to get comfortable there. It reminds me of my village back home in Germany so when you combine their tradition, football and academics, I can’t wait to see it for myself and see how well I fit in there.” Although Kanu had several other visits that he raved about, you get the sense if the Notre Dame trip goes as well as they typically do, they could land one of those last two official trips. Kanu plans to make his commitment known publicly at the All-American Bowl January 8 but said he will sign in December since he's an early graduate. Kanu's story is well documented but still a fun to tell. At 6-5, 295 pounds, he's a natural athlete who grew up playing soccer in Germany. He's the exact reason why we like two-sport athletes so much- he's fluid, very coordinated and his functional athleticism really shows up on the football field and a lot of that is because of his soccer background. He's is only scratching the surface of where we think his game will be at in a few years and when you consider he has only been playing football for a little over a year, it’s even more impressive how dominant he been this spring season. He’s young for his grade and won’t turn 17 until September. That means he’ll actually play his first couple of college games as a 17 year old freshman, which is incredibly rare. He's an incredibly hard working kid off the field and plays with a rare joy and excitement and he has a chance to be a very special player down the road. it's clear he has some legit interest in ND...we'll have to see how much at the end of July
so one fun excercise i did to show how insane OSUs class is. I took our current class that i like a ton and added the dream finish to that, Rice, Williams, Tobias, Anthony Lucas and Schrauth this finish is never gonna happen, but wanted to know how it would pan out rankings wise this class would still not beat the current OSU class even though they could easily nab even more guys including some 5 stars It would be NDs highest ranked class since 2008 though
so its fun to think about guys in the same recruiting class. He shared a class with noted NFL players AJ Brown Miles Sanders Rashan Gary also ND player Troy Pride, who we pretty much already forgot about
Lea was a shitty recruiter Total four-stars added in each defensive class: 2020: Jordan Botelho, Rylie Mills 2021: Gabriel Rubio, Prince Kollie, Philip Riley 2022: Jaylen Sneed, Niuafe Tuihalamaka, Joshua Burnham, Tyson Ford, Jaden Mickey, Aiden Gobaira, Nolan Ziegler, Benjamin Morrison.
Which I hate to see as an old-school fan who loved him as a player. Plus, he appears to be a really good guy, but woof, that recruiting.
yep, and that's also my first guess as to who would have a take like that. People who are least deserving are first to criticize and project.
yeah it bummed me out as well, happy that he realized is when he did that this kind of life wasnt what he wanted or needed to do
It's an interesting question to see elite players as coaches. When you look, the majority outside of Steve Spurrier are usually guys who never had long careers as players that make it as coaches. I guess Harbaugh would be the best HC as former NFL player and I wonder if assistants would track the same.
Good point. I guess maybe the best coaches are those who got into the profession early? Maybe the drive to coach goes away if a player spends any length of time earning and playing in the pros. Had it not been for injuries derailing his pro career, there's no way Marcus Freeman is the coaching commodity he is now.
I wonder if outside of recruiting it's hard to teach kids to play a position you have mastered at the highest level because of your skill?
it's probably a lot of things, including the physical beating your body and brain takes when playing a long career.
"How dare this woman use the color of her skin to get a job over me when my dad worked so hard for me to cash in on his name for?"
Elston is the type who I believe as a hidden upside as a HC while not being a great coordinator candidate. He's a good teacher, appears to relate well and motivate kids, as the organizational skills of a recruiting coordinator and is a very good recruiter himself. I'm not saying he's either of these guys in the making, but Urban Meyer and Dabo Sweeney both went from position coaches to head coaches and have obviously done well.
He also has the vibe of a guy happy doing what he is doing. We will see where he is once his girls graduate, but some guys are better fit as position coaches than coordinators.
he’s sticky through the Kelly regime- might go get a HC job in Kelly’s last year somewhere in the MAC or 1AA
"Austin trained with the team during the stadium workout, which is a sign of his conditioning coming back. But Rees said the playbook will be limited for Austin in August until he shows he can handle it. " Full article:
If only there was some scenario where we were able to get LaFleur to stay a few years, fire Kelly, and he's the Urban Meyer that got away 10 years later. He makes things so much easier for players to get involved and make an impact. Our coaches are always focused on what guys can't do instead of working with what they can do to make an impact.
We had a starting freshman TE last year and a 1B at running back. This year our starting LT will be a freshman and there was a chance at a guard, too. I get the frustration over developing WRs, but projecting that into some idea that you can't contribute early on offense is a fan (and probably Coach D) driven myth. Nor is a lot of freshmen lining up in the two deep really a good model for what we are trying to accomplish. How many freshmen torched us from Bama last year? Judging by the fact that they all got drafted, I'd say not many. Also, due to injuries and COVID, etc., the Clemson team we faced in the regular season was a lot younger on the field that the group in the ACCCG. Players need to develop and have their chances to do so, but simply plugging your top freshmen into the game each season is not a model for sustained championship-level play. The argument over recruiting and developing depth and experience at a couple positions is legit. But the hand wringing over getting freshmen on the field is a completely inaccurate strawman argument for fans.
so I agree in broad terms but the level of play has been so low that freshman shouldve probably overtaken a few guys. I fully agree that its not the route you want, but if your position group sucks at least be it young and sucky i guess
I think what we would like to beer at WR is a higher level of recruiting, and when they get here see them involved in a limited basis where they can use their natural ability (height/weight/speed) in some limited capacity and build off of that. What we are seeing is guys showing up, not getting involved at all early, and then when junior year comes around they are just then starting to work through their inexperience. We saw the start of it with Lenzy, but that totally stalled it feels like. And now he's a rs junior and, while much due to injuries/Covid, we still really have no idea what he'll be able to contribute in his 4th year in the program.
My thought is they they are being very liberal with the phrase active (practice squad) but even with that I don’t get how that can be close to correct?
It's because this staff has been better at player development than a lot of pants pissers want to admit.
I usually consider myself a glass half full type here, but there is no denying we've hit a bit if a black hole at wr since Claypool in both recruiting and development. When we see limited playbook attached to our best hope out of that it is not very comforting. If he had worded it differently where it was more we have a plan for bringing him along in camp I may have had a different reaction.
Congrats Thoros of Beer on your new writing assignment. https://lastwordonsports.com/collegefootball/2021/07/16/brian-kelly-on-hot-seat-must-adapt/