Just random stream of consciousness thoughts (Image: Hipple):
- Balance - I love the balance of the class so far. Nine on offense and nine on defense. We're short one defensive end and probably one more offensive tackle, and losing Toby Jackson really hurt. Otherwise, it's a good need filling group.
- Finally a 3rd Team OLine - I believe Richt said that we'll have 17 offensive linemen on scholarship when we enter camp, and only one of them is a senior. I'm skeptical that all 17 will be around in '09 as that group is ripe for some attrition regarding existing players. The three kids we signed all look like contributors. Will we see some OL move to DT? The only rumored name is Justin Anderson, and why would we move a 1st or 2nd team OL to 2nd or 3rd team DT?
- The LB Situation - I don't really understand what went down with Jarvis Jones' recruitment. It looks to me that we offered Gilliard, Moody and Vasser before Jones, and then we just sort of bumbled all over the Jones pursuit with apparent discussions of tight end and defensive end play? Moody is rumored to have some academic ground to make up, and the other two....well...we were the first to pursue them lights out whereas we were late to go after Jones...a guy every other super power wanted badly. Are our coaches right? Or was the rest of the world correct? Time will tell.
- Loving the WR Corp - I think of Marlon Brown as one of those tall Southern Cal-type wide receivers like
Steve SmithDeWayne Jarrett or a thinner Mike Williams, and I'd compare Wooten to a "street legal" version of Percy Harvin.....or a faster version of Damien Gary. Match those guys up with Tavarres King (a little slower than Terrence Edwards with possibly better hands) and obviously AJ Green, and you've got a show stopping WR corp for the future. Maybe a sprinkle of Branden Smith for good measure? - Where are the DTs? - In the last three recruiting classes, we've only signed three high school defensive tackles -- Tyson, Lott and Jones. That's no where near enough. The single biggest priority for the 2010 recruiting class will need to be DTs. We'll need to sign 3-4 of them out of HS and possibly a JUCO, too. Jeff Whitaker is probably the most important recruit in next year's class because of the depth issue.
- The Ones that Got Away - Most of the in-state kids that fans freak out about not signing rarely bite us in the butt over the past 10 years or so. Yes, there are exceptions like Calvin Johnson, but it's not the kids we chase and lose that really kill us. It's the kid that we never seriously pursue that brutalize us. I'm thinking of guys like Ronnie Brown, Marcus McNeil and Duke Robinson. That's why I worry less about losing Greg Reid than other folks do. Well...that and he hasn't qualified, yet.
Who do you think is the most underrated player in the group?
See Also:
-- Early guesses at playing time - AJC
-- Signing Day Leftovers - ABH
PWD
29 comments:
I don't know enough about the recruits to write intelligently about any of them when it comes to how good or great they might be. But...
It's my understanding that Aaron Murray came back late in the season from a bad injury to lead his team to the state championship...in FLORIDA, of all states...
That rarely happens. It takes a special player to do something like that...
Rivals has him as a 4-star player, so in my world, he's underrated, if you go by Rivals rating.
About sums up my feelings. Shortage of DT's and we got the monster named Kwame Geathers available to sign. Whats the hold up?
FYI, we pursued Duke Robinson very hard and long.
Aaron Murray is a stud. Zach Mettenberger (sp)...has the tangibles - height and arm to be a badass and Bobo and Richt have done nice jobs with our QBs over the years; if anything that is where they shine. Marlon Brown badass. And again I think that Victor Wooten from what I've seen on tape reminds me of that kid out of FSU a few years back...the one that did those sick moves against the Vick Va Tech team in Championship game. He has those kinds of cutbacks, reminds me of watching Knowshon as a WR.
On def. and ol, Im less familiar b/c like a lot of us, I like the pts., but I think as PWD said the WR corps and the depth at OL and the fact that Joe Cox is a SR with a knack for winning (see vandy game freshman yr) and the fact that Blair Walsh IS going to be a good kicker and not every freshman kicker can be a Billy Bennett and never miss, is a lot more than I personally expected. I like the fact we got what 4 WR that are 6'4 or taller? Damn.
10 win season here we come again...the rest is up to the football gods.
Abry Jones is going to be a stud DT for us... you can't forget about him just because many sites have him listed as a DE. We recruited him as a DT and he'll be making the move inside just like Lott will be doing.
Cuatro, then who is going to play DE for us? CMR said on a radio interview Wednesday afternoon that both of those guys would likely start out at DE. I think Lott may be the one we are looking for. Super-athletic, rangy and can play the run and pass at 275.
Not sure why everyone was in such a huff about CRG leaving Athens. I welcomed the change, and I think that PWD has done a good job explaining why. When someone is purported to be the best at something in the country, yet the specific position within his specialty is failing, something does not add up.
I'd compare Wooten to a "street legal" version of Percy Harvin
By this, do you mean that Wooten hasn't been banned fro high school competitions as Harvin was/.
Let's not overlook Israel Troupe in the WR corps. He was supposed to be a "badass" when we signed him but has been banged up. Hopefully he can get healthly and have a good spring.
Most underrated from this class?
On D: Shawn Williams. That kid has Thomas Davis written all over him.
On O: Chris Burnette. A HS valedictorian on the OL? Searels is gonna have a blast coaching him.
i was under the impression that our recruitment of jones was kind of tepid because he had made it known that he felt pretty strongly about going out of state.
when is charles expected to announce? do we still have a chance to get him?
1) Murray would have been a 5-star QB had he not decided to commit until signing day. He won MVP at the Elite 11 camp, for crying out loud. (/tinfoil hat)
2) Shawn Williams. His athleticism excites me. You can teach him to become an SEC caliber safety, but you can't teach him body control. Guys that are athletic enough to play very different sports like football and baseball have that athleticism. Now, it's all about development.
3) I heart Stacy Searles.
4) DT's are much less effective when you don't have a pass rush off the end. If Kiante, Houston, Dobbs, Longo, and the rest of the gang can develop some sort of pass rush, the DT's will have a monster year this year.
With Jones going out of conference it doesn't sting as much. I would have liked to have gotten him because he is supposed to be great, but more importantly because it seems to me that aside from OL jeopardy, we always seem to have trouble with LBs- a ton of injuries or no depth. I don't know if that is a coaching, recruiting or conditioning issue, but we are always scrambling to find someone to play LB. And every season we lose one guy for the season.
Ross, I believe you are referring to Peter Warrick. He had more moves than a slinky.
1. S. Williams - next T Davis?
2. D. Lott - his write up on Rivals stated that he can be dominating but needs consistent effort. Hoping Garner and maturity help here.
3. M. Robinson - I agree about DE and he's a legit talent that we need to come through.
I concur about the class as a whole. Good class, good balance. Let's get'em in pads and see.
Go Dawgs!!
My biggest concern was Greg Reid going to UF... I am glad that he did not, and the way it happened, was like gravy...
I have watched Greg play for the last several years, and the kid gives 100% on every play... and he plays both sides of the ball and special teams... and still runs away from people at the end of the game... He's just special... He wanted to go where he could make an immediate impact, and felt that he could be a key player for a rebuilding FSU team... I wish him the best of luck, and am just glad that he is not a gator... that would have made me physically and emotionally SICK...
I hope greg doesn't qualify...
Isn't FSU waiting to hear about being on probation? Didn't they get into trouble last year?
Again, we have a DE that's not on the list. Augusta's 6'5" Reuben Faloughi agreed to come as a preferred walk-on.
An honor student, he turned down scholarships to Vandy, Conn, Harvard, etc. 'cause he dreams of being a Dawg.
May have an impact next year.
Anon at 7:30,
Lott will NOT play DE. He's a DT all the way as is Abry. The only chance something like that happens is if we suffer a whole bunch of unexpected injuries.
Realist-
Right there with you about Murray being a 5 star... but the reason he was not a 5 star is not that he committed early, it's that he got hurt. On ESPN's rankings, he fell from number #3 overall to #13 overall after the injury. Their reasoning (paraphrasing here) "He's a great player and was a potential candidate for the top spot, but anytime a player suffers a severe leg injury like he did, their stock takes a slight hit because durability becomes an issue." Ditto for Rivals dropping him from #37 to #46. Who cares about the ranking though, he's still the same player.
My most underrated recruits: Either Moody or Love on D, and maybe Dallas Lee or Wooten on offense.
Biggest Impact in '09: Branden Smith and Marlon Brown
The reason Aaron Murray isn't a 5* is because of his height.
If he was 6'3", he'd have been #1 overall in the country.
DO not know about underrated, plenty of "under-hyped" to choose from.
Personally, I am looking forward to Williams at safety. 10 or 15 more pounds on him and he we be a bruiser. We haven't had that violence back there in a few years.
Also, there are a lot of pups that were not fed any playing time last year. They are going to be hungry and will get a boat load of reps in the spring. Somebody is going to step up at DE and our pass rush will improve greatly.
DT will be a strength next year. They will be taking double teams and the ends are going to have far more sack opportunities.
Cox will be the key, and I am just fine with that. He will be more along the lines of DJ than JoeT.
Would still love to get Charles, but we have already signed a stud TE. I hope Figgins has a break out year. I do not see what goes on in practice, but he has caught everything thrown at him in games. Something Chandler had problems with.
I don't know if this has already been discussed in the recruiting post mortems or not, but does anyone have any info on the most surprising (to me) of the signing decisions around UGA: Greg Reid's decision to go to FSU. (Anon 10:29, you seem to have watched Reid a lot, maybe you know).
It just seems that his decision to pick FSU over UGA was a shock to most of us, who assumed based on all reports that he was headed to Athens. As nutty and Deion-esque as his announcement process was, he would have been a great get.
On Wednesday's "Two Live Stews" radio program in ATL, a guy claiming to be Reid's uncle called in and said that Reid's switch from a UGA-lean to a FSU-commit had to do with a text mail glitch by a UGA recruiter during an in-home visit. (I won't elaborate b/c I don't want to further an unconfirmed rumor from the "uncle," and because I think our recruiters do an excellent job.) Anybody hear anything at all about this or have other info? Thanks.
I think Chase Vasser is underrated. Kid has great instincts, and has the frame to be a massive linebacker. His upside is what strikes me the most. With good work in the weight room, he could be devastating.
I believe you meant to say Dwayne Jarrett not Steve Smith. Steve Smith is a smallish slot receiver.
Anon,
There are 2 Steve Smiths that play WR in the NFL. See link. I was talking about the one that went to USC. Not the Panther.
That said....I did mean Jarret because he's taller. The Steve Smith that I was talking about is 6'0".
So you're right.
Calvin Johnson hardly burned us...
Auburn usually puts out some good DE's. I think we got ourselves a very good one in Montez, i just hope hes not another victim of the shoulder injury.
Everyone I've heard from says that Reid was really leaning towards Alabama and that UGA was 3rd. I find that surprising, but I've heard it from numerous different people who live in different areas. About his commit to FSU, had something to do with his dad being in prison and is expected to be released soon to a half-way and can't travel far, thus the reason for Tally instead of Athens or T-town.
The reason the coaches were not as hard after Jarvis Jones is because they probably saw some game. I am far from a trained scout and usually go by the rule if I notice them making plays they are pretty good. If I remember something about them, they are decent. Saw Jarvis Jones in person last year, he did not make an impact on the game. Several Carver players made a significant impact. The most impressive was FSU receiver Fortson and the QB Furr.
We did everything we could to go jarvis. He simply wasnt interested in us.
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