Cummin's and Goin's

[Snaggletiger]

Leading receiver, Kobe Hudson, announced yesterday that he has been "kicked off" the team. Have no clue as to why, but I hate to see it happen, given we don't exactly have a deep group in that room.  Hudson could make the clutch, sometimes bordering on spectacular catch.  But he'd usually drop the 3 right in his hands before that. 

Obviously, we all saw that LB, Owen Pappoe, along with TE, John Samuel Shenker, and DT, Marquis Burks, are returning to the Planez. But...

TD Moultry is going to test the NFL waters.  I was never sold on Moultry his first few years here.  He looked slow and basically not very aggressive.  It appears the light turned on for him in 2021.  Kudos to Weskie for calling it before the season.  The Pittsburgh scout I talked to mentioned Moultry right off the bat as one he was there to see at the Iron Bowl.

Defensive tackle, Dre Butler, is heading to the Continuum Transfunctioner.  Pretty much a no brainer.  Miniscule playing time in what is now a very deep room.

Who else???

   

[GH2001]

Dreshun Miller also disappeared as quickly as he appeared a year ago.

[Snaggletiger]

Dreshun Miller also disappeared as quickly as he appeared a year ago.

I thought he was a huge pick up when he transferred.  I also can't recall ever seeing him on the field.

[GH2001]

I thought he was a huge pick up when he transferred.  I also can't recall ever seeing him on the field.

Never cracked the depth chart in two a days or the season.

[wesfau2]

Shed Jackson taking his extra year.

[Snaggletiger]

Shed Jackson taking his extra year.

Solid

[CCTAU]

Solid

Jury's still out.
He did seem to get more focused at thr end of the season. I finally stopped cringing every time the ball went his way. But if he starts next season like this one, I hope somebody passes him quickly.

[Snaggletiger]

Jury's still out.
He did seem to get more focused at thr end of the season. I finally stopped cringing every time the ball went his way. But if he starts next season like this one, I hope somebody passes him quickly.

Just happy to have a receiver with experience returning.  This group has to be close to dead last in the league in overall talent.

[wesfau2]

The Family Leg is running it back for one more year.

[CCTAU]

Just happy to have a receiver with experience returning.  This group has to be close to dead last in the league in overall talent.

Truthfully
I don’t put as much stock in experience for a WR these days. If a dude is a mean hungry talented WR, he can easily shine on this team.

[Snaggletiger]

Truthfully
I don’t put as much stock in experience for a WR these days. If a dude is a mean hungry talented WR, he can easily shine on this team.

Do we have any of those?

[wesfau2]

Do we have any of those?

I think there is young talent in that room:

Tar'Varish Dawson
Ja'Varrius Johnson
Camden Brown
Jay Fair
Omari Kelly

[Snaggletiger]

I think there is young talent in that room:

Tar'Varish Dawson
Ja'Varrius Johnson
Camden Brown
Jay Fair
Omari Kelly

Ever the optimist.  I think Ja'Varrius Johnson proved he has speed and can get behind people.  Seemed to always be overthrown when he had two steps on the DB's.

Camden Brown is the "potential" guy.  Not great stats.  Was the 3rd receiver behind a couple of D1 signees at St. Thomas Aquinas.  FSU really wanted to get his flip, but the good guys landed him.  Good size at 6'3".

Jay Fair.  Smallish at 5'10" 175, but apparently has the right stuff.  Had 73 catches for 1,303 yards and 12 TD's.  That's 17.8 yards per catch.

Omari Kelly.  Good size at 6'2".  Even better stats with 84 catches for 1,333 yards and 13 TD's.  Another eye-opening average per catch at 15.9.


I like this group.  I also like that they played at a high level of program in high school.  I always try to look at whether a kid put up sick numbers against a bunch of small, private school teams, or if they played against the top competition. You can definitely say that about Brown and Kelly.  Don't know much about where Fair played in Texas.

[Snaggletiger]

Bump.  I see now that Jay Fair played at Rockwall-Heath High School, which is 6A in Texas. 

[wesfau2]

Bump.  I see now that Jay Fair played at Rockwall-Heath High School, which is 6A in Texas.

You're gonna love him like he's Ryan Davis.

[Kaos]

Ever the optimist.  I think Ja'Varrius Johnson proved he has speed and can get behind people.  Seemed to always be overthrown when he had two steps on the DB's.

Camden Brown is the "potential" guy.  Not great stats.  Was the 3rd receiver behind a couple of D1 signees at St. Thomas Aquinas.  FSU really wanted to get his flip, but the good guys landed him.  Good size at 6'3".

Jay Fair.  Smallish at 5'10" 175, but apparently has the right stuff.  Had 73 catches for 1,303 yards and 12 TD's.  That's 17.8 yards per catch.

Omari Kelly.  Good size at 6'2".  Even better stats with 84 catches for 1,333 yards and 13 TD's.  Another eye-opening average per catch at 15.9.


I like this group.  I also like that they played at a high level of program in high school.  I always try to look at whether a kid put up sick numbers against a bunch of small, private school teams, or if they played against the top competition. You can definitely say that about Brown and Kelly.  Don't know much about where Fair played in Texas.

The bolded is the problem. Doesn't matter what routes they run, how precise they are, how much separation they get if we don't have anyone to put the ball within five yards. 

Nix was never going to get the ball there.  He was too busy running around.  There were a handful of occasions where he actually stood in the pocket, stepped up and followed through.  Those?  Connected more than not.  But the other 95% of the time?  Throw across his body, throw falling backward, throw off the wrong foot, sidearm it, throw with just his arm (no legs).  There was some progress early on but against Penn State (I think?) he hurt his shoulder, didn't admit it and his mechanics went to hell from that point on.  He never had a great arm to begin with so that just made it worse.   He was rarely able to hit the regular routes and seemed to only have one consistently decent throw in his entire arsenal -- the quick out. 

That's why I was intrigued by TJ.  I saw him at LSU throw some accurate, perfectly placed deep balls. I saw him throw lasers into tight windows. He had a quick, high release. He looked confident and steady there.  I have no idea what happened to turn him into a squeaking mouse.  I didn't see any of the attributes I witnessed at LSU when he got his chance at AU.  It's mystifying to me.  The only redeeming factor there is that I just found out that he's 19.  He's a child.  Maybe another year of conditioning and practice can get him to a better place.  He has the tools.  He just needs to be more confident and assertive. 

Does AU have quality receivers?  Who knows?  How could we? 

One other quick note?  I was stunned to see the Tennessee receivers coached by Kodi Fucking Burns running quality routes, being where they were supposed to be and making catches when I watched them in the bowl game.  Kodi put them in a position for the offense to succeed.  The route packages were designed well and you didn't see three people run a two-yard out on third and five - like we used to see when Kodi was here. Six different receivers caught passes for 380 yards and five TDs against Purdue in the bowl.  Tennessee had 3400 passing yards and 33 TD on the season.  AU had 3100 and 17 for reference.  So either UT has better talent across the board or Kodi is a better coach than he was while shackled to the Gus system. 

[Snaggletiger]

You're gonna love him like he's Ryan Davis.

Just closed and locked the door to my office. Now where's that hand lotion and box of Kleenex?

[wesfau2]

One other quick note?  I was stunned to see the Tennessee receivers coached by Kodi Fucking Burns running quality routes, being where they were supposed to be and making catches when I watched them in the bowl game.  Kodi put them in a position for the offense to succeed.  The route packages were designed well and you didn't see three people run a two-yard out on third and five - like we used to see when Kodi was here. Six different receivers caught passes for 380 yards and five TDs against Purdue in the bowl.  Tennessee had 3400 passing yards and 33 TD on the season.  AU had 3100 and 17 for reference.  So either UT has better talent across the board or Kodi is a better coach than he was while shackled to the Gus system.

Kodi isn't designing the route-tree.  That was a Gus problem. 

[Kaos]

Kodi isn't designing the route-tree.  That was a Gus problem.

No, I get that.  But our receivers couldn't even run the one route they had to know correctly when he was here. 

[wesfau2]

No, I get that.  But our receivers couldn't even run the one route they had to know correctly when he was here.

True.

Probably just a lack of interest.  If you're a top flight WR (a la Craig-Myers or Kyle Davis)...wouldn't you get bored with that route?