2021 5* LB Terrence Lewis (Maryland)

[AU_Twisterman 83]

59 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Smaller speed linebackers don't fit the 3-4 defense bama runs they need big LB's that can handle OL. We use smaller LB's as in our system our LB's need to run and our D-Line needs to protect them so they can run.

I bet we would prefer taller, bigger LBs that can still run sideline to sideline, but we have a tough time signing them as not many of them are out there.  You get what you can get.

1 hour ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

All of the top schools have passed on this kid. He has lots and lots and lots of baggage.

Coaches have to be around these kids almost every day once they get on campus, so I'm guessing they see potential there for things to turn around.  But desperate times.....

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

1 hour ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I agree that when Saban passes on a kid because of baggage you have to look out. I am not sure that is the reason Saban passed on him. Smaller speed linebackers don't fit the 3-4 defense bama runs they need big LB's that can handle OL. We use smaller LB's as in our system our LB's need to run and our D-Line needs to protect them so they can run.

I am not denying he has lots of baggage and that he would be a risk. I am just saying some of the schools that are not looking at him is because of scheme plus the baggage. with how our season has tanked and its impact on our recruiting he is a risk we probably need to take.

I'll just ask one thing and I'll be done. Why did AU not have much intrest at all with this kid till now. Even when he wasn't committed to UT. It isn't like we weren't recruiting multiple UT commits. 

Anyways, spin on my friends. 

[abw0004 10,110]

14 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I'll just ask one thing and I'll be done. Why did AU not have much intrest at all with this kid till now. Even when he wasn't committed to UT. It isn't like we weren't recruiting multiple UT commits. 

Anyways, spin on my friends. 

Are you allowed to elaborate on his baggage?  Does he already have multiple arrests or something?  Really bad attitude that could act like cancer in a locker room?  If I am being too nosey and you can't say it's no problem.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

29 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I'll just ask one thing and I'll be done. Why did AU not have much intrest at all with this kid till now. Even when he wasn't committed to UT. It isn't like we weren't recruiting multiple UT commits. 

Anyways, spin on my friends. 

I thought we were interested in him back in the summer. I thought he was one of several players that chose UT over AU and had everybody in a frizzle. Maybe I am mixing names up though. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

31 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I'll just ask one thing and I'll be done. Why did AU not have much intrest at all with this kid till now. Even when he wasn't committed to UT. It isn't like we weren't recruiting multiple UT commits. 

Anyways, spin on my friends. 

I am not really disagreeing with you. The reason we didn't have interest in him early is the baggage you mentioned and we thought we had a real shot at couple of others like Mondon and Sorey.  The reason we are interested now even with the baggage is the wreck of a season and we are  somewhat desperate.  My only point on the Saban was if this kid had no baggage bama would not have been interested in him as he does not fit into the LB mold in the type of defense bama runs. You don't see 200 pound LB's at bama.

[Sizzle 3,909]

I don’t give af about baggage. Bring in the talent and whatever happens happens. Sometimes things workout and sometimes they don’t. CFB isn’t clean anyways from recruiting to what goes on behind the scenes on campus.

 

[ellitor 33,080]

29 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

Are you allowed to elaborate on his baggage?  Does he already have multiple arrests or something?  Really bad attitude that could act like cancer in a locker room?  If I am being too nosey and you can't say it's no problem.

@abw0004Not sure what WDE is referring to as baggage but we have already seen numerous times that anytime a kid moves 3 or more times in a short period of time it's a red flag & most of the time we've landed kids that moved that much they didn't pan out. Calvin Ashley being the most notable example.

[McLoofus 35,182]

5 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

I don’t give af about baggage.

Depends on the baggage for me. There are dudes who've made mistakes, and there are bad dudes, or at least dudes who can't stop making mistakes. We've seen the former do just fine here, and we've seen the latter cause a mess or at a minimum waste a scholarship. Our staff should know the difference by now, but they've mostly avoided these situations. Given all the other vibes around the program right now, this feels a little off. 

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

13 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Depends on the baggage for me. There are dudes who've made mistakes, and there are bad dudes, or at least dudes who can't stop making mistakes. We've seen the former do just fine here, and we've seen the latter cause a mess or at a minimum waste a scholarship. Our staff should know the difference by now, but they've mostly avoided these situations. Given all the other vibes around the program right now, this feels a little off. 

Ultimately, I have to give Gus a pass when it comes to baggage. He has earned that. Gus has kept a very clean program and does not put up with much so if Gus believes the kid is going to be a good fit and not cause problems then I am 100% on board.  That is one area I for one can not fault Gus.

[metafour 4,968]

1 minute ago, Tigerpro2a said:

Ultimately, I have to give Gus a pass when it comes to baggage. He has earned that. Gus has kept a very clean program and does not put up with much so if Gus believes the kid is going to be a good fit and not cause problems then I am 100% on board.  That is one area I for one can not fault Gus.

This is 1000% a desperation to try to make our dead recruiting class look a little bit better than it really is. I don't think Gus cares all too much what this kid's "baggage" is at this point - this is a free 5-star recruit that will boost our overall ranking, and it doesn't look like we have to do any work to out-recruit anyone for this kid. Tuberville was doing the same thing at the end of his tenure by loading up on highly rated players on signing day who everyone KNEW had 0% chance of qualifying. Our team recruiting class ended up jumping a few spots, but it was all for show because 3-4 of those guys were going straight to JUCO anyway.

We have a HC who is kinda at desperation territory now. He might not even make it long enough for this kid to even get into any trouble under his watch. When you're at the point that we are at;  any "win" today is worth more than whatever the implications are down the line.

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, Tigerpro2a said:

Ultimately, I have to give Gus a pass when it comes to baggage. He has earned that. Gus has kept a very clean program and does not put up with much so if Gus believes the kid is going to be a good fit and not cause problems then I am 100% on board.  That is one area I for one can not fault Gus.

I agree, but that's also kind of my point. It runs counter to established tendencies for Gus to suddenly be open to this guy this late in the cycle. And it's particularly concerning this late in a cycle where we are so far behind. We are a top-12 to top-7 program in recruiting under Gus. The first signing day is less than a month away and we are sitting 39th.

Would I question Gus taking this guy's commitment much earlier in a normal cycle? Absolutely not. But that's not the case here. This feels off. 

Also, we just had one of our most important and most solid recruits decommit. 

Also, consider what we just saw this past Saturday. It's pure subjective how any one of us views that game, but I can't imagine anyone feels like they saw the normal fight that we've seen even in Gus's worst seasons. In the Iron Bowl.

Could just be an unfortunate confluence of circumstances but the program is putting off an awful funky smell right now.

[keesler 5,924]

38 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Also, we just had one of our most important and most solid recruits decommit. 

Also, consider what we just saw this past Saturday. It's pure subjective how any one of us views that game, but I can't imagine anyone feels like they saw the normal fight that we've seen even in Gus's worst seasons. In the Iron Bowl.

Could just be an unfortunate confluence of circumstances but the program is putting off an awful funky smell right now.

🤢

There's no way Greene & the entire Coaching Staff are immune to the stench.  They're at ground zero, at the core of things and they see this stuff in real time.

[keesler 5,924]

1 hour ago, abw0004 said:

Are you allowed to elaborate on his baggage?  Does he already have multiple arrests or something?  Really bad attitude that could act like cancer in a locker room?  If I am being too nosey and you can't say it's no problem.

He has an angry streak and would do well to get help managing it or it's going to ruin any career in football he ever hoped to have.  

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Also, we just had one of our most important and most solid recruits decommit. 

 

I would be much more concerned if they were the same position. I get where you are coming from, but Just because other things are not looking good I am still willing to give Gustapho a pass on this one until he proves otherwise. 

Gus has taken chances on players before. He has also done a great job of kicking players off the team if they do not buy in or cause problems.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

1 hour ago, metafour said:

This is 1000% a desperation to try to make our dead recruiting class look a little bit better than it really is. I don't think Gus cares all too much what this kid's "baggage" is at this point - this is a free 5-star recruit that will boost our overall ranking, and it doesn't look like we have to do any work to out-recruit anyone for this kid. Tuberville was doing the same thing at the end of his tenure by loading up on highly rated players on signing day who everyone KNEW had 0% chance of qualifying. Our team recruiting class ended up jumping a few spots, but it was all for show because 3-4 of those guys were going straight to JUCO anyway.

We have a HC who is kinda at desperation territory now. He might not even make it long enough for this kid to even get into any trouble under his watch. When you're at the point that we are at;  any "win" today is worth more than whatever the implications are down the line.

So let me ask you this. With the information we have right now about TLewis...if situation was differenct...let's say that it was reported that he wanted to go to AU but AU didn't want him based off of what we know right now would you be ok letting him go freely to Tex AM or UT? 

I mean, the kid is a talent. We do not seem to have much information about what his "baggage" is. You say it is desperation. Maybe. It is still a guy that the experts feel is better than 99% of other players in the country. Maybe it is worth the risk. Would we be as concerned about this if Gus wasn't on the hot seat with the fans?

[abw0004 10,110]

23 minutes ago, keesler said:

He has an angry streak and would do well to get help managing it or it's going to ruin any career in football he ever hoped to have.  

That makes me think of Duke Williams.  All the talent in the world but could not get his issues under control.  Ended up punching a few of his teammates to get him kicked out.  I am willing to keep an open mind about this guy though.  I don't want to judge a kid that I know nothing about.  It is a disservice to him.  T-Will seems like a great mentor to have as well.  Maybe he needs a no-nonsense HC like Malzahn to help straighten out his life, or a small town to keep him out of trouble.  It has helped others before.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

2 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

That makes me think of Duke Williams.  All the talent in the world but could not get his issues under control.  Ended up punching a few of his teammates to get him kicked out.  I am willing to keep an open mind about this guy though.  I don't want to judge a kid that I know nothing about.  It is a disservice to him.  T-Will seems like a great mentor to have as well.  Maybe he needs a no-nonsense HC like Malzahn to help straighten out his life, or a small town to keep him out of trouble.  It has helped others before.

I think it speaks volumes to the way fans feel when he have a high likely-hood of signing a top 20 player in the country and fans are upset about it. I dont think people would be concerned about the baggage if they weren't fed up with Gus period. I get it.

It reminds of a previous relationship of mine. In the beginning I loved everything she did. It was all fun and cute. Even the little things like the way she drank from a bottle I adored. After a few years and getting to a point where we despised each other....I found flaws in every single thing she did or had her hand in. 

[metafour 4,968]

1 minute ago, Tigerpro2a said:

So let me ask you this. With the information we have right now about TLewis...if situation was differenct...let's say that it was reported that he wanted to go to AU but AU didn't want him based off of what we know right now would you be ok letting him go freely to Tex AM or UT? 

I mean, the kid is a talent. We do not seem to have much information about what his "baggage" is. You say it is desperation. Maybe. It is still a guy that the experts feel is better than 99% of other players in the country. Maybe it is worth the risk. Would we be as concerned about this if Gus wasn't on the hot seat with the fans?

I'm not arguing for or against or whether he's worth the risk or not. We're clearly struggling to fill spots as it is so I have no problem with adding a talented kid.

All I'm saying is that any attempt to paint this as some "guru" move by Gus wherein he's confident he can straighten this kid out is asinine. Trust me, he's not thinking whatsoever about why this kid is falling into our lap all of a sudden; all he's seeing is a 5-star and a no-effort opportunity to Tweet out "BOOOOM!" and pretend like the ground isn't crumbling all around him by pointing to the fact that a 5-star just committed to us.

He's reaching for any "win" he can get. The TE transfer from Oklahoma quite obviously falls into the same category. The kid left Oklahoma because he suffered so many concussions, and yet we're rolling him in and publicizing him as a "star transfer" when he's joining about 6 other TE's on the roster who in total might get 1-2 balls thrown their way over the course of a game. So why bring him in? Because we have spots to fill, and you can earn a free publicity points by selling the idea that we're getting an impact player from another major school. Never mind the fact that the kid might not even be healthy enough to even take the field.

[abw0004 10,110]

4 minutes ago, metafour said:

He's reaching for any "win" he can get. The TE transfer from Oklahoma quite obviously falls into the same category. The kid left Oklahoma because he suffered so many concussions, and yet we're rolling him in and publicizing him as a "star transfer" when he's joining about 6 other TE's on the roster who in total might get 1-2 balls thrown their way over the course of a game. So why bring him in? Because we have spots to fill, and you can earn a free publicity points by selling the idea that we're getting an impact player from another major school. Never mind the fact that the kid might not even be healthy enough to even take the field.

I am not sure Grant falls into that category.  Calcaterra committed before the Iron Bowl and we needed a pass-catcher TE as we only have one on the roster in Fraizer (who has been injured all season with undisclosed injuries).  I could see why we needed him and why it was a big deal we got him.  I am concerned about his concussions though.  I would want at least two separate opinions from doctors clearing him to play.  Who knows, he could be like Jamel Dean who was declared medically that he couldn't play at Ohio State and turned out to be a stud here and is in the NFL doing nicely for the Bucs.

I do see what you are saying though.  I still will keep an open mind on this kid and not judge a book by its cover.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

3 minutes ago, metafour said:

I'm not arguing for or against or whether he's worth the risk or not. We're clearly struggling to fill spots as it is so I have no problem with adding a talented kid.

All I'm saying is that any attempt to paint this as some "guru" move by Gus wherein he's confident he can straighten this kid out is asinine. Trust me, he's not thinking whatsoever about why this kid is falling into our lap all of a sudden; all he's seeing is a 5-star and a no-effort opportunity to Tweet out "BOOOOM!" and pretend like the ground isn't crumbling all around him by pointing to the fact that a 5-star just committed to us.

He's reaching for any "win" he can get. The TE transfer from Oklahoma quite obviously falls into the same category. The kid left Oklahoma because he suffered so many concussions, and yet we're rolling him in and publicizing him as a "star transfer" when he's joining about 6 other TE's on the roster who in total might get 1-2 balls thrown their way over the course of a game. So why bring him in? Because we have spots to fill, and you can earn a free publicity points by selling the idea that we're getting an impact player from another major school. Never mind the fact that the kid might not even be healthy enough to even take the field.

I am not sure I have seen anyone here paint Gus as any kind of Guru, but ok I get that. In Major College Football a win is a win is a win. I could careless what effort Gus has to put in to any of it if the results are up to par. If someone told me Gus never left the couch and was getting paid his salary but literally just showed up on Gameday and stood on the sideline....and was producing a satisfactory product on the field and off....I am ok with it. I would call him a genius LOL. We all know that is not a winning strategy though.

If it's a high quality player at a position of need, I do not care what the reason they choose to come to AU is. So he has a history. Many many kids do. Most coaches take chances on kids who have such history. Often times it works out for all parties. Sometimes it doesn't. I think it could be a lucky break that he fell into our lap. We won't really know for a couple of years, but I am not going to shun my nose at the staff taking him if he wants to come here. 

As far as the OK TE transfer, I for the most part agree its somewhat a waste of a roster spot from my point of view. Maybe there is more to it that we don't know Maybe the staff thinks we are going to lose more WR/TEs than we think. IDK. As far as the kid having all those injuries, again that happens fairly often in CFB. Some teams will not medically release a player and the kid leaves and goes to a school with a medical staff that says you are A-Ok. I.E. Michael Harris and SMU. 

[metafour 4,968]

2 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I am not sure Grant falls into that category.  Calcaterra committed before the Iron Bowl and we needed a pass-catcher TE as we only have one on the roster in Fraizer (who has been injured all season with undisclosed injuries).  I could see why we needed him and why it was a big deal we got him.  I am concerned about his concussions though.  I would want at least two separate opinions from doctors clearing him to play.  Who knows, he could be like Jamel Dean who was declared medically that he couldn't play at Ohio State and turned out to be a stud here and is in the NFL doing nicely for the Bucs.

I do see what you are saying though.  I still will keep an open mind on this kid and not judge a book by its cover.

Its bull****, bro. They're all "pass catching TE's" until they sign here and are never heard from again - and then the story is about how the NEW guy that they're recruiting/signing is needed because none of the others can catch a pass? Like I don't know how many times you have to get fooled by this storyline before something starts clicking in your mind. I thought the Frazier kid was healthy as of at least ~2 weeks ago, and yet I'm not seeing him involved in the game plan at all. They were running stories ~2+ weeks ago about how Morris was just waiting for the kid to get healthy; and yet it was Shenker playing against Alabama.

We have no need for another TE as the position is quite obviously not used in this offense. The idea of bringing in another one - a kid who left his previous team because of head injuries - is quite obviously our staff trying to squeeze any sort of win they can. 

[ellitor 33,080]

2 hours ago, metafour said:

This is 1000% a desperation to try to make our dead recruiting class look a little bit better than it really is. I don't think Gus cares all too much what this kid's "baggage" is at this point - this is a free 5-star recruit that will boost our overall ranking, and it doesn't look like we have to do any work to out-recruit anyone for this kid. Tuberville was doing the same thing at the end of his tenure by loading up on highly rated players on signing day who everyone KNEW had 0% chance of qualifying. Our team recruiting class ended up jumping a few spots, but it was all for show because 3-4 of those guys were going straight to JUCO anyway.

We have a HC who is kinda at desperation territory now. He might not even make it long enough for this kid to even get into any trouble under his watch. When you're at the point that we are at;  any "win" today is worth more than whatever the implications are down the line.

And one could say our staff has been desperate since last cycle as we pushed hard at the end for the extremely troubled 5* RB Zach Evans.

[Paddywagon 10]

49 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

That makes me think of Duke Williams.  All the talent in the world but could not get his issues under control.  Ended up punching a few of his teammates to get him kicked out.  I am willing to keep an open mind about this guy though.  I don't want to judge a kid that I know nothing about.  It is a disservice to him.  T-Will seems like a great mentor to have as well.  Maybe he needs a no-nonsense HC like Malzahn to help straighten out his life, or a small town to keep him out of trouble.  It has helped others before.

Knowing the conversation between Reese and Duke that night might change your opinion on Duke's actions.

 

[abw0004 10,110]

36 minutes ago, metafour said:

Its bull****, bro. They're all "pass catching TE's" until they sign here and are never heard from again - and then the story is about how the NEW guy that they're recruiting/signing is needed because none of the others can catch a pass? Like I don't know how many times you have to get fooled by this storyline before something starts clicking in your mind. I thought the Frazier kid was healthy as of at least ~2 weeks ago, and yet I'm not seeing him involved in the game plan at all. They were running stories ~2+ weeks ago about how Morris was just waiting for the kid to get healthy; and yet it was Shenker playing against Alabama.

We have no need for another TE as the position is quite obviously not used in this offense. The idea of bringing in another one - a kid who left his previous team because of head injuries - is quite obviously our staff trying to squeeze any sort of win they can. 

For what it is worth, I am just quoting what others connected on here are saying why we went after Calcaterra.  And who knows, maybe Fraizer still isn't healthy enough and Shenker has done a pretty good job catching the balls that are thrown to him.

Edited December 2, 2020 by abw0004

[abw0004 10,110]

2 minutes ago, Paddywagon said:

Knowing the conversation between Reese and Duke that night might change your opinion on Duke's actions.

 

Do you mean Dampeer?  He was the one injured.