80Tiger 899 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I love this kid and I hope we get him. He is a physical specimen but just because he looks good and has speed and agility doesn't mean he will be great on the football field against very large Division 1 players who grew up with the game. I tend to believe because of all I have read about him especially work ethic that he is a diamond in the rough waiting for Coach Boom to shape him into a great player but I also think people need to be realistic and realize what a jump it will be for this kid and not set our expectations to high. Thanks Tex. This needed to be said. I doubt this young man has ever lined up against someone that is a legitimate D1 prospect, whether in practice or a game. He will take work. Years ago some recruiting services based their stars on when a recruit could start or really contribute. 5 Stars, would play as freshman, 4 star as sophomore and so-on. Under that scenario, this young man would be a 2 or 3 star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustache eagle 2,406 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Every now and again there comes a recruit who is a big gifted athlete that moved here from overseas ... He's played football a year or so but "he played soccer growing up" or similar story. They don't typically end up even playin for us or make a big impact. I think there is a lot to be said of the intangibles of growing up in a football culture and knowing what it means to play football, use technique, be tough and mean etc... I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on this kid if our bases were covered but our bases are not covered. I'd rather take a kid that is a touch more proven. I'd like to see this kid play high school ball another year ... Preferably in a bigger classification and if he is all that, then have him be an EE next December. Y'all can all tell me I'm nuts in a few years when he's drafted in the first round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metafour 4,969 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Years ago some recruiting services based their stars on when a recruit could start or really contribute. 5 Stars, would play as freshman, 4 star as sophomore and so-on. Under that scenario, this young man would be a 2 or 3 star. This kid has the physical ability to contribute in his second year. The defensive line; of all positions on the field, is the most dependent on physical ability....ie: explosiveness, size, strength, length, and reaction time. Athleticism trumps everything; hence why a kid like Nick Fairley who is far from a "hard worker" made a thousand times more impact than countless other linemen we had who had better motors and who worked harder than he did. The majority of you are grossly over-exaggerating his lack of experience in the grand scheme of things. We're signing ~28 kids, and guess what? Not all of those kids are going to be starters at Auburn. Some probably won't even get on the field. Thus it is foolish to suggest that it is "too much risk" to pass up on a kid with as much upside as you see here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tivo48 31 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Up to the #79 player in the nation on 247's last list for the year http://247sports.com/Article/15-new-additions-to-the-final-Top247-for-2015-34877838 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metafour 4,969 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 And I'll throw out another fun example: DT Amobi Okeye. Also Nigerian; he moved to the state of Alabama and didn't start playing football until his sophomore year of HS. Not getting interest from the two instate powers, he ended up at Louisville. Because of his advanced academic placement he became the youngest player in the NCAA playing as a true freshman at age 16. Four years later he was the youngest player to be drafted into the NFL at age 19 (he turned 20 later that year). He was the 10th overall pick. By comparison there are incoming collegiate FRESHMEN that are ~19 every single year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFDTiger80 790 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 And I'll throw out another fun example: DT Amobi Okeye. Also Nigerian; he moved to the state of Alabama and didn't start playing football until his sophomore year of HS. Not getting interest from the two instate powers, he ended up at Louisville. Because of his advanced academic placement he became the youngest player in the NCAA playing as a true freshman at age 16. Four years later he was the youngest player to be drafted into the NFL at age 19 (he turned 20 later that year). He was the 10th overall pick. By comparison there are incoming collegiate FRESHMEN that are ~19 every single year. Very good point. Good info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 A couple of our guys here have done the math and come up with 28 slots for this year for the total amount Auburn can sign. I personally think this guy is just too good to pass on. He's raw still but what he's shown so far is ridiculous for only one year of organized football. His kind of athleticism and size just don't come along very often, especially in one individual. I don't know what the staff is thinking with regards to him and I trust their judgement. One thing nobody has mentioned is at 6'8" and his athleticism he is a take, but what happens if he is not finished growing? You don't see 6'10" DE's for a reason it is easier for People to get to their legs even at 6'8" that is an issue so he would need at least a redshirt year just to learn how to counter that. Who knows we give him a scholly for football and he ends up being a Power Forward for Pearl Ed "Too Tall" Jones was 6'9", I believe. At an athletic 6'10" he could be a TE. I believe you are correct about "To Tall Jones" there have been a few DE's in that range but not many as there is a point that being to tall for a position makes you less effective. Don't see to many 6'3"+ CB's, 6'7"+ LB's, 6'8"+ DE's 6'4"+ RB's, etc. I think Prince is right on the edge of being to tall unless he is that exception. Now one positive being from Nigeria he may actually be older then what it says on his transcript as I have friends from Nigeria and the record keeping in the country is not always stellar. If older he probably won't grow any taller. Even so, at 18 years old, he isn't very likely to get any taller. If he does grow maybe he can play for coach Pearl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,084 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I grew two more inches in college, 4 inches if you add my senior year since he's leaving school a year early, (I can't remember if he was 17 or 18) but I say offer him. He has the frame to add alot of weight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey 16,615 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Years ago some recruiting services based their stars on when a recruit could start or really contribute. 5 Stars, would play as freshman, 4 star as sophomore and so-on. Under that scenario, this young man would be a 2 or 3 star. This kid has the physical ability to contribute in his second year. The defensive line; of all positions on the field, is the most dependent on physical ability....ie: explosiveness, size, strength, length, and reaction time. Athleticism trumps everything; hence why a kid like Nick Fairley who is far from a "hard worker" made a thousand times more impact than countless other linemen we had who had better motors and who worked harder than he did. The majority of you are grossly over-exaggerating his lack of experience in the grand scheme of things. We're signing ~28 kids, and guess what? Not all of those kids are going to be starters at Auburn. Some probably won't even get on the field. Thus it is foolish to suggest that it is "too much risk" to pass up on a kid with as much upside as you see here. The question is not passing on him. The question is, if there's one slot left, who do you NOT take in order to sign Prince? Cowart? Jefferson? Ivey? I don't think so. If there's one slot left on signing day and Prince says he needs more time to make up his mind and the Davis kid (4* CB) says he's ready to flip from Texas, what do you do then? Me, I take the Davis kid and call it a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasTiger 12,947 Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 A couple of our guys here have done the math and come up with 28 slots for this year for the total amount Auburn can sign. I personally think this guy is just too good to pass on. He's raw still but what he's shown so far is ridiculous for only one year of organized football. His kind of athleticism and size just don't come along very often, especially in one individual. I don't know what the staff is thinking with regards to him and I trust their judgement. One thing nobody has mentioned is at 6'8" and his athleticism he is a take, but what happens if he is not finished growing? You don't see 6'10" DE's for a reason it is easier for People to get to their legs even at 6'8" that is an issue so he would need at least a redshirt year just to learn how to counter that. Who knows we give him a scholly for football and he ends up being a Power Forward for Pearl Ed "Too Tall" Jones was 6'9", I believe. At an athletic 6'10" he could be a TE. I believe you are correct about "To Tall Jones" there have been a few DE's in that range but not many as there is a point that being to tall for a position makes you less effective. Don't see to many 6'3"+ CB's, 6'7"+ LB's, 6'8"+ DE's 6'4"+ RB's, etc. I think Prince is right on the edge of being to tall unless he is that exception. Now one positive being from Nigeria he may actually be older then what it says on his transcript as I have friends from Nigeria and the record keeping in the country is not always stellar. If older he probably won't grow any taller. Even so, at 18 years old, he isn't very likely to get any taller. If he does grow maybe he can play for coach Pearl. David Robinson says hello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metafour 4,969 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 They would likely take 3 DE's anyway; so your hypothetical scenario doesn't even make sense, especially since Cowart is a DE/"Buck" hybrid anyways whereas Jefferson/Tega are outright DE's. Ivey is a take regardless. Also, should I point the ridiculous double standard here with regards to your past history of consistently claiming that we would always sign more linebackers regardless of how many we actually had room for? Now all of a sudden we have to play the numbers game around elite DE prospects? Great consistency, Mikey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey 16,615 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 They would likely take 3 DE's anyway; so your hypothetical scenario doesn't even make sense, especially since Cowart is a DE/"Buck" hybrid anyways whereas Jefferson/Tega are outright DE's. Ivey is a take regardless. Also, should I point the ridiculous double standard here with regards to your past history of consistently claiming that we would always sign more linebackers regardless of how many we actually had room for? Now all of a sudden we have to play the numbers game around elite DE prospects? Great consistency, Mikey. I know you're not very good at keeping up, but I didn't set the parameters for this topic. The question was do you "save a spot" for Prince. My answer is it depends on who you have to turn down to save that spot. What's your answer? Also, I never said we'd always have to sign more linebackers. I said we need to sign four or five a year until we reach a satisfactory level of play. Looks like the staff agrees with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,084 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 This is so not smart.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgufcm 4,101 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I'm guessing all this "we're running out of room!" stuff is a bit premature. If you believe Westry is going elsewhere (and many do), we've still got 8 slots to fill. Add Cowart and Holland (certainly not guarantees), add two CBs if you like (which seems like a priority for Muschamp), add another WR (which seems like a priority for Lashlee), that still leaves three holes to fill. Add the possibility that McGriff's grades are a bigger issue than we think (possible), that could be another open spot. That leaves us with Martez Ivey, Prince Tega, Cece Jefferson, Arden Key (if he even visits on the 30th), Torrance Gibson, Daylon Mack, and Terry Godwin... those guys are 50/50 propositions at best. All that to say, I very seriously doubt we actually end up in a spot where we're turning away anyone that we really, really wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellitor 33,101 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I'm guessing all this "we're running out of room!" stuff is a bit premature. If you believe Westry is going elsewhere (and many do), we've still got 8 slots to fill. Add Cowart and Holland (certainly not guarantees), add two CBs if you like (which seems like a priority for Muschamp), add another WR (which seems like a priority for Lashlee), that still leaves three holes to fill. Add the possibility that McGriff's grades are a bigger issue than we think (possible), that could be another open spot. That leaves us with Martez Ivey, Prince Tega, Cece Jefferson, Arden Key (if he even visits on the 30th), Torrance Gibson, Daylon Mack, and Terry Godwin... those guys are 50/50 propositions at best. All that to say, I very seriously doubt we actually end up in a spot where we're turning away anyone that we really, really wanted. The staff still wants 2 more WRs even if we sign McGriff, a tall guy and a speedy guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgufcm 4,101 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Still, I'd call it a concern looking for a problem. I doubt we're having to beat 4* prospects off with a stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Still, I'd call it a concern looking for a problem. I doubt we're having to beat 4* prospects off with a stick. I think you're right. But the original question was, "Do you save a spot for him?" I read that as a hypothetical that assumes a scenario where we stop pursuing other guys if we only have one spot left. To that I say, "Not necessarily." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellitor 33,101 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Congrats to Price for being #130 overall in the final Rivals 250 of 2015. Rivals and 247 think a lot of his potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFDTiger80 790 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Congrats to Price for being #130 overall in the final Rivals 250 of 2015. Rivals and 247 think a lot of his potential. It is interesting that it is actually all about potential. Prince has all the potential in the world but he has a long way to go for it to be realized. It is his measurables and speed that are doing this for him. I hope it all works out for him and AU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Congrats to Price for being #130 overall in the final Rivals 250 of 2015. Rivals and 247 think a lot of his potential. It is interesting that it is actually all about potential. Prince has all the potential in the world but he has a long way to go for it to be realized. It is his measurables and speed that are doing this for him. I hope it all works out for him and AU. Potential is all any recruit has. Now I know what you mean with regards to him. Still we see it all the time. Players we are all but certain will be great just don't pan out. Probably 50% on average don't make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr82b4au 5,568 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I'm guessing all this "we're running out of room!" stuff is a bit premature. If you believe Westry is going elsewhere (and many do), we've still got 8 slots to fill. Add Cowart and Holland (certainly not guarantees), add two CBs if you like (which seems like a priority for Muschamp), add another WR (which seems like a priority for Lashlee), that still leaves three holes to fill. Add the possibility that McGriff's grades are a bigger issue than we think (possible), that could be another open spot. That leaves us with Martez Ivey, Prince Tega, Cece Jefferson, Arden Key (if he even visits on the 30th), Torrance Gibson, Daylon Mack, and Terry Godwin... those guys are 50/50 propositions at best. All that to say, I very seriously doubt we actually end up in a spot where we're turning away anyone that we really, really wanted. I think we will have room. 8 spots: Even if we are lucky enough to pull the 3 Davis boys, Cowart, and Holland... that leaves 3 more spots. I think the other real possibility at this point is Prince. That would get us to 6. Key, Mack have not visited yet so you never know. The others listed are committed/leaning elsewhere and are longshots IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFDTiger80 790 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Congrats to Price for being #130 overall in the final Rivals 250 of 2015. Rivals and 247 think a lot of his potential. It is interesting that it is actually all about potential. Prince has all the potential in the world but he has a long way to go for it to be realized. It is his measurables and speed that are doing this for him. I hope it all works out for him and AU. Potential is all any recruit has. Now I know what you mean with regards to him. Still we see it all the time. Players we are all but certain will be great just don't pan out. Probably 50% on average don't make it. Agree, but the difference with most other players is experience level and knowledge of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn2oregon 0 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 A couple of our guys here have done the math and come up with 28 slots for this year for the total amount Auburn can sign. I personally think this guy is just too good to pass on. He's raw still but what he's shown so far is ridiculous for only one year of organized football. His kind of athleticism and size just don't come along very often, especially in one individual. I don't know what the staff is thinking with regards to him and I trust their judgement. One thing nobody has mentioned is at 6'8" and his athleticism he is a take, but what happens if he is not finished growing? You don't see 6'10" DE's for a reason it is easier for People to get to their legs even at 6'8" that is an issue so he would need at least a redshirt year just to learn how to counter that. Who knows we give him a scholly for football and he ends up being a Power Forward for Pearl Ed "Too Tall" Jones was 6'9", I believe. At an athletic 6'10" he could be a TE. I believe you are correct about "To Tall Jones" there have been a few DE's in that range but not many as there is a point that being to tall for a position makes you less effective. Don't see to many 6'3"+ CB's, 6'7"+ LB's, 6'8"+ DE's 6'4"+ RB's, etc. I think Prince is right on the edge of being to tall unless he is that exception. Now one positive being from Nigeria he may actually be older then what it says on his transcript as I have friends from Nigeria and the record keeping in the country is not always stellar. If older he probably won't grow any taller. Even so, at 18 years old, he isn't very likely to get any taller. If he does grow maybe he can play for coach Pearl. David Robinson says hello. EXACTLY what I was going to say if someone else didnt. David Robinson went into the US Naval Academy at 6'1, and left at 7'1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgufcm 4,101 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Given McLoofus' definition of saving a spot, I'm not sure we're saving a spot for anyone. We'll recruit all the cats we like and might like us. We won't land some and will land others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metafour 4,969 Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Agree, but the difference with most other players is experience level and knowledge of the game. He plays DE, not QB. Teaching him a few moves isn't hard...what you can't teach is his size, length, explosiveness, and overall athleticism. You need to understand that fact. Athleticism is the most important variable for his position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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