catsrback76 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 02, 2019 4:43 pm
VimSince03 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:22 am
gtapp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:16 am
Cataholic wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:46 am
kennethnoisewater wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:31 am
I'm frustrated but not terribly surprised. The Bobcats haven't shown much ability to throw the ball in several years. Things should have improved some last year but we all know what happened. They're going to have to have a year or two of respectability in the passing game to be able to recruit and retain good WR's. Generally speaking, that position more than any other wants its touches or they're going to jump ship. I am not saying that's Duru's mindset, I'm just saying that's what you see so much at every level of football, so we may continue to see this until the Cats start throwing the ball with a little more regularity.
I really think you are placing too much emphasis on the type of offense. Duru committed knowing full well what type of offense we had in place. That was not a surprise. We also just picked up Jaden Smith this year and he has been ranked as one of the top 5 WR commits in all of FCS.
I am guessing lack of playing time and competition at the position are bigger factors. From last year, we lost one WR to graduation (D’Agostino) and maybe one to injury (Jabari). We also have 10 other WR returning and the highly touted Jaden Smith coming in. We know Kassis, Jonsen, McCutcheon and probably Patterson will get major reps. Throw in Campbell, Steel and Estes along with Smith and it was going to be tough for Duru and Metcalf to get significant minutes.
Jabari Johnson- SR (really hope he is able to go this year)
Kevin Kassis- SR
Davine Tullis- SR
Travis Jonsen- SR
Lance McCutcheon- JR
James Campbell- RS Soph
Willie Patterson- RS Soph
Coy Steel- RS Soph
Peyton Hanser- RS Soph
Mark Estes- RS Freshman
Logan Kleinhans- RS Freshman
Tanner Trafton- True Freshman
Jaden Smith- True Freshman
um always seems to have really good receivers (as does EWU). How does our WR roster stack up with those schools. If it doesn't, why?
Well...a good place to start is their offenses are more conducive to passing the ball. That will change a bit for UM as Bobby will value more of a balanced approach. EWU was explosive at both running and passing in 2018 and they have gotten quality receivers for the past 20 years. I really don't know gtapp. MSU just has not done a great job of finding and developing out-of-state talent at WR for a while now. Even go back to the Denarius and Lulay years. Most of the star receivers of those teams were either in-state kids or transfers. Of course there are exceptions and MSU hasn't struck out on all of them but it definitely has been an ongoing ordeal.
There is no question that you are onto something here. WR's have not been a strong suit for MSU for years, and I believe that it is our tendency to focus more on the run game than the passing. But, this raises an interesting question about balance on the offensive side and what/where Choate wants to take us. Clearly, he has recruited for a balanced QB offensive game. Run, pass, being both getting equal billing...but until we make a concerted effort to develop a stable of WR's who have a decent chance of making a showing in the game, the Cooper Kupps of the world will all go to EWU!
True...but the funny thing about Cooper is that he was not heavily recruited at all. No 3-star status or whatever the hell those rankings mean. Cooper is the type of high school recruit the Bobcats have been able to develop (bought into the team-first mentality).
List of out-of-state freshman WR recruits since 2010 that were recruited with high expectations out of high school:
Jon Ellis - Texas (2010)
Michael Perryman - California (2011)
Shadeed Crocket - Minnesota (2012)
Jayshawn Gates - California (2013)
Mitch Herbert - Oregon (2014)
Justin Paige - Texas (2014)
Cam Sutton - California (2015) - 3-star
Keon Stephens - California (2015) - 3-star
Kevin Kassis - California (2016)
James Campbell - Florida (2017)
Willie Patterson - Washington (2017)
Coy Steel - Wyoming (2017)
Mekhi Metcalf - Washington (2018) - 3-star
Koby Duru - California (2018) - 2-star
You could argue that Jon Ellis, Mitch Herbert, and Kevin Kassis have been the only successful out-of-state freshman recruits over the past 10 years at MSU. Perryman, Crocket, Gates, Sutton, Stephens, Metcalf, and Duru left the program at one time or another. Paige graduated and got hit hard by the Choate transition as his role in the offense became moot due to QB deficiencies. Campbell, Patterson, and Steel are on their way to becoming consistent key contributors heading into their redshirt sophomore years.
Now for the drop-down/JUCO transfers:
Mitch Griebel (2012) - Air Force
Kurt Davis (2012) - UNLV
Tanner Roderick (2013) - Nevada
Brandon Brown (2015) - Baylor
Jabarri Johnson (2017) - American JUCO
Davine Tullis (2018) - Hawaii
Travis Jonsen (2018) - Oregon (was a QB)
Mitch was a stud. Davis never played. Roderick was streaky. Brown played hard but talent was average. Johnson had one bright season prior to injury last spring. Tullis redshirted last year so he will be a junior next fall. He played at Hawaii in 2016 and 2017 (true freshman and sophomore years). Jonsen transformed himself into a WR last fall.