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- Joined
- Aug 17, 2002
- Messages
- 3,323
TJ Barnes - Athletic and big. But, probably due to his OL time, he plays high for a DT. This will be stressed when he gets to tech to get his butt down and play lower off the snap. In college he isn't big enough to get by like he did in high school so he will have to add more DT technique. Not worried this can be taught. Does a nice job in zone blitz for a big man...nice feet so the upside is HUGE.
Machen - Reminds me of Kmike Hall ALOT. Good feel for the blitz, fast sideline to sideline pursuit and he arrives mad. I think he is the most overlooked LB in this class. Excited about what I see. Alot to work with.
Lockhart - good eyes for the ball, tracks the ball well. If you notice he runs smooth...his head isn't bobbing up and down. In coverage as a CB this is big as it allows him to pick the ball up quicker when he turns. Not sure about is overall speed...tough to tell...seems quick and jumps well.
Mckayhan - HMMM. WOW. Man this may be a bigtime sleeper. He has serious wiggle and flat out speed. He is a long strider, me and a former GT player were talking about how it reminded us of kelly. I think he may be a huge steal, a player that played in a run oriented offense so didn't have the big numbers. I am really excited to see him in fall and if he is what I think. At first I was thinking you know a #4 WR at best...I am thinking a solid #2 or #3, and a definite KR and PR option.
Nick McRae - powerful lower body. The exact match for PJ's blocking scheme...power pad on pad straight away. Plays low...may need to work on lateral movement. Very good prospect here.
Munroe - If machen is kmike, malcolm is wheeler....very similar balance and pursuit....nice athlete. Another blitzer; you can really see the old staff's imprint on some of these players
Peeples - First thing that popps out is he is a between the tackles runner. He doesn't bounce to the outside automatically, but he does a good job of bouncing against the grain; which is a sing of good peripheral vision. THEN its all SPEED. Man...also does a nice first step making the first tackler miss. Reminds me of a faster tiki barber (hopefully without the attitude), or perhaps a faster Dunn. Man, he froze a couple guys...think he broke their ankles. Seriously excited here. Need to see if he can handle big body punishment. Definite punt returner options here.
Reid - Nasty disposition. Boundary corner IMO all the way. Interested to see how he fits in our new scheme. Tough to gage his speed. Is physical.
Riley - could offense be his future? I want him on D....but we will see. Seems fast. Not sure if he is a S or CB...could be either. Tough to judge his D value, I wonder if b/c the staff showed O clips they are leaning him on the o side?
Shaw - first and foremost man is he tiny. BUT, the good thing is this was a while ago and he is up to 190 now. If he can be around 205 with a 5-11 frame...that is fine he is shifty enough to avoid major hits. Very elusive...VERY. Not straightline that fast. reminds me of RB in that nature...shifty but not as straight line fast. But jaybo is probably shiftier and faster than RB...Really torques and steps into his throws. One thing I learned is many times kids who mature physically late have better arms and fundamentals than kids who mature earlier....b/c they have to in order to get the ball out and downfield...they have to be more sound. They can't rely purely on size...you see this with jaybo. What that means is when he does get strength he can only be that much better.
Sims - DUDE. how the heck did schools ignore this guy. My god that speed...he outran defenders with the serious angle on him. If he could throw just avg...he should be a QB. If not WR is in his future maybe A-back. He has to run 4.4 range. HAS TO. He is fast. Sims and McKayhan I am seriously impressed with. And I am not looking at the plays...I am looking at the physical tools and vision, independent of how the plays turned out. How does a guy like McKayhan and Sims who played at highly visible bigtime high school programs get THAT overlooked? These guys are serious athletes. Man...we have had "sleepers" in the past you could just tell may not turn out to be too much....but here I can't say that. They have a raw athleticism you look for. I am excited...both need alot of development and polishing off to become D1A starters...so don't get me wrong here...but physically the tools are there.
Sylvester - ho hum, just another sideline to sideline guy that arrives nasty. boo hoo...why do we keep recruiting these LBs? I mean...taking the head off the ball carrier is not what football is about ....YES it is. Only comment, he tackles higher than you would like. By doing this he loses alot of power and popp on the hit yet still hits hard. This is another technique thing we will work out of him like many high school LB's have. No worries...
Taylor - first thing...he isn't your perceived tall white dude that is stiff. He is shifty, movey and alot more athletic than other video I saw of him...good thing especially for a safety. To me...he seems to be a slightly more athletic jeremy muyres type, or mike dee type. Wait to see him with D1A players to judge...as a S, it will take a few years of development and bulk. FS definitely...thinking RS unless sp teams and by RS Soph could start seeing time.
Uzzi - another big powerful guy that will florish in this system...like mcrae. There is enough on this guy...I will cut the analysis short. He blocks low and seems to be a good guard prospect.
Washington - Well...nothing to look at here...except how does an alabama all state player, who set records, that runs the spread option, get overlooked by essentially every D1A school? WTF. All I can say is someone will say Doh...at some point in his career. I look fwd to seeing him play. He seems to be exactly what we want. Good passer on the run, comfortable running up the middle, fast/shifty, and has a plenty good enough arm. Definitely saw some late reads on progressions...and think the passing game will come at him quick in college...but that is with any QB.
Wright - not like peeples...he is a more on the edge guy. He is a living breathing angles buster (not ankle angles)...meaning the defense misjudges his speed and pursuit everytime. He seems deceptively fast, but is tiny...needs to add a little weight but the perfect guy to get 10ish carries at A-Back. Really like the use of him like a percy harvin, or dude from LSU or noel devine. He is that type of guy...actually may be faster than devine.
Thoughts...simply put these are guys that fit PJ's system to a T. Secondly, the two WR that no one knew/knows about do deserve D1A ships; they remind me of G Smith in that regard. Our class is ranked somewhere around 40. Eh...to me this is a top 30 class, and round pegs and round holes possibly top 25.
Maybe the best first class of any first year coach at GT in recent memory.
Machen - Reminds me of Kmike Hall ALOT. Good feel for the blitz, fast sideline to sideline pursuit and he arrives mad. I think he is the most overlooked LB in this class. Excited about what I see. Alot to work with.
Lockhart - good eyes for the ball, tracks the ball well. If you notice he runs smooth...his head isn't bobbing up and down. In coverage as a CB this is big as it allows him to pick the ball up quicker when he turns. Not sure about is overall speed...tough to tell...seems quick and jumps well.
Mckayhan - HMMM. WOW. Man this may be a bigtime sleeper. He has serious wiggle and flat out speed. He is a long strider, me and a former GT player were talking about how it reminded us of kelly. I think he may be a huge steal, a player that played in a run oriented offense so didn't have the big numbers. I am really excited to see him in fall and if he is what I think. At first I was thinking you know a #4 WR at best...I am thinking a solid #2 or #3, and a definite KR and PR option.
Nick McRae - powerful lower body. The exact match for PJ's blocking scheme...power pad on pad straight away. Plays low...may need to work on lateral movement. Very good prospect here.
Munroe - If machen is kmike, malcolm is wheeler....very similar balance and pursuit....nice athlete. Another blitzer; you can really see the old staff's imprint on some of these players
Peeples - First thing that popps out is he is a between the tackles runner. He doesn't bounce to the outside automatically, but he does a good job of bouncing against the grain; which is a sing of good peripheral vision. THEN its all SPEED. Man...also does a nice first step making the first tackler miss. Reminds me of a faster tiki barber (hopefully without the attitude), or perhaps a faster Dunn. Man, he froze a couple guys...think he broke their ankles. Seriously excited here. Need to see if he can handle big body punishment. Definite punt returner options here.
Reid - Nasty disposition. Boundary corner IMO all the way. Interested to see how he fits in our new scheme. Tough to gage his speed. Is physical.
Riley - could offense be his future? I want him on D....but we will see. Seems fast. Not sure if he is a S or CB...could be either. Tough to judge his D value, I wonder if b/c the staff showed O clips they are leaning him on the o side?
Shaw - first and foremost man is he tiny. BUT, the good thing is this was a while ago and he is up to 190 now. If he can be around 205 with a 5-11 frame...that is fine he is shifty enough to avoid major hits. Very elusive...VERY. Not straightline that fast. reminds me of RB in that nature...shifty but not as straight line fast. But jaybo is probably shiftier and faster than RB...Really torques and steps into his throws. One thing I learned is many times kids who mature physically late have better arms and fundamentals than kids who mature earlier....b/c they have to in order to get the ball out and downfield...they have to be more sound. They can't rely purely on size...you see this with jaybo. What that means is when he does get strength he can only be that much better.
Sims - DUDE. how the heck did schools ignore this guy. My god that speed...he outran defenders with the serious angle on him. If he could throw just avg...he should be a QB. If not WR is in his future maybe A-back. He has to run 4.4 range. HAS TO. He is fast. Sims and McKayhan I am seriously impressed with. And I am not looking at the plays...I am looking at the physical tools and vision, independent of how the plays turned out. How does a guy like McKayhan and Sims who played at highly visible bigtime high school programs get THAT overlooked? These guys are serious athletes. Man...we have had "sleepers" in the past you could just tell may not turn out to be too much....but here I can't say that. They have a raw athleticism you look for. I am excited...both need alot of development and polishing off to become D1A starters...so don't get me wrong here...but physically the tools are there.
Sylvester - ho hum, just another sideline to sideline guy that arrives nasty. boo hoo...why do we keep recruiting these LBs? I mean...taking the head off the ball carrier is not what football is about ....YES it is. Only comment, he tackles higher than you would like. By doing this he loses alot of power and popp on the hit yet still hits hard. This is another technique thing we will work out of him like many high school LB's have. No worries...
Taylor - first thing...he isn't your perceived tall white dude that is stiff. He is shifty, movey and alot more athletic than other video I saw of him...good thing especially for a safety. To me...he seems to be a slightly more athletic jeremy muyres type, or mike dee type. Wait to see him with D1A players to judge...as a S, it will take a few years of development and bulk. FS definitely...thinking RS unless sp teams and by RS Soph could start seeing time.
Uzzi - another big powerful guy that will florish in this system...like mcrae. There is enough on this guy...I will cut the analysis short. He blocks low and seems to be a good guard prospect.
Washington - Well...nothing to look at here...except how does an alabama all state player, who set records, that runs the spread option, get overlooked by essentially every D1A school? WTF. All I can say is someone will say Doh...at some point in his career. I look fwd to seeing him play. He seems to be exactly what we want. Good passer on the run, comfortable running up the middle, fast/shifty, and has a plenty good enough arm. Definitely saw some late reads on progressions...and think the passing game will come at him quick in college...but that is with any QB.
Wright - not like peeples...he is a more on the edge guy. He is a living breathing angles buster (not ankle angles)...meaning the defense misjudges his speed and pursuit everytime. He seems deceptively fast, but is tiny...needs to add a little weight but the perfect guy to get 10ish carries at A-Back. Really like the use of him like a percy harvin, or dude from LSU or noel devine. He is that type of guy...actually may be faster than devine.
Thoughts...simply put these are guys that fit PJ's system to a T. Secondly, the two WR that no one knew/knows about do deserve D1A ships; they remind me of G Smith in that regard. Our class is ranked somewhere around 40. Eh...to me this is a top 30 class, and round pegs and round holes possibly top 25.
Maybe the best first class of any first year coach at GT in recent memory.
