2021 Northwestern DE Eku Leota Signs With AU!

[ellitor 33,101]

1 hour ago, Sizzle said:

SEC competition is overrated now. It aint that tough. There’s more mediocre/average teams than good teams now. 

@Sizzle Look at the draft. It may be down a bit but the draft proves NFL people still see it as the league with the best college talent.

[W.E.D 11,070]

5 hours ago, Mikey said:

Transfers can be fine, we've had some good luck with transfers in the past. But... the coaches need to do a thorough job of vetting on transfers. What went sour at their previous school? There was normally something. I can see players from the smaller schools and conferences wanting to move up to the SEC to show their stuff. Leaving the Big Ten for more exposure doesn't make any sense. A B1G player is already being seen and is already facing solid competition.

Your argument would make sense if he wasn't at Northwestern 

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

Or as great as Northwestern is they may not have a Master's or Doctoral program in whatever he wants to get his advanced degree in.

Ha. Now that's some amazing spin. 

His move was due to education 😉

[ellitor 33,101]

1 minute ago, W.E.D said:

Ha. Now that's some amazing spin. 

His move was due to education 😉

@W.E.D actually I don’t know if it’s the case anymore but there used to be a rule that graduate transfers could only transfer and play if the new school they went to had a Masters program the original school did not have.

[W.E.D 11,070]

2 minutes ago, ellitor said:

@W.E.D actually I don’t know if it’s the case anymore but there used to be a rule that graduate transfers could only transfer and play if the new school they went to had a Masters program the original school did not have.

That's not the case anymore. I think that was a BS loophole people took advantage of. Used to be true, but now Grads and go where... Well maybe in conference restrictions, but not degree tied. 

[boisnumber1 2,819]

So, we are recruiting positions of need? Strange.

[Sizzle 3,914]

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

@Sizzle Look at the draft. It may be down a bit but the draft proves NFL people still see it as the league with the best college talent.

Yeah and most of those guys come from the same few teams in the SEC who happen to be good and all the other average/mediocre teams puts in a few to add to the numbers.

Iirc the Big Ten is usually right behind the SEC in terms of putting guys in the NFL

Edited January 31, 2021 by Sizzle

[bigbird 60,561]

2 hours ago, Sizzle said:

Yeah and most of those guys come from the same few teams in the SEC who happen to be good and all the other average/mediocre teams puts in a few to add to the numbers.

Iirc the Big Ten is usually right behind the SEC in terms of putting guys in the NFL

CONFERENCE	PLAYERS ON NFL ROSTERS
SEC	339
Big Ten	253
ACC	215
Pac-12	189
Big 12	131
American	100
Mountain West	65
C-USA	59
MAC	46
Independent	35
Sun Belt	21

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

If you CAN beat 'em, join 'em.

[Sizzle 3,914]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

CONFERENCE	PLAYERS ON NFL ROSTERS
SEC	339
Big Ten	253
ACC	215
Pac-12	189
Big 12	131
American	100
Mountain West	65
C-USA	59
MAC	46
Independent	35
Sun Belt	21

So i was right they are behind the SEC. It ain’t like the big ten is the sun belt, there’s alot of talent there 

[ellitor 33,101]

18 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

So i was right they are behind the SEC. It ain’t like the big ten is the sun belt, there’s alot of talent there 

Yeah but that's a good ways behind, not right behind.

[augolf1716 21,205]

8 hours ago, ellitor said:

right behind.

 

[Cardin Drake 1,832]

A lot of people on the defensive side of Northwestern are leaving with the retirement of their defensive coordinator. This is from the public portion of a Northwestern rivals board on the 8 players entering the portal. If you are wondering if we just got a marginal player, the answer is no. Leota's a stud.

Eku Leota's announcement, which came on Monday, was the stunner of the group.

Leota, a redshirt sophomore, figured to be a huge part of Northwestern's defense for the next couple of years. The defensive end led the Wildcats with four sacks this season, and also added 13 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, against Purdue.

A fast end with a quick get-off, Leota was the most consistent force in Northwestern's pass rush. Even though Northwestern's defensive end position is a deep one, Leota's loss will be significan for a defense that will likely have to replace a lot of talent next season. Eight players on the starting defense in Saturday's game against the Buckeyes were seniors, and it is unknown at this time how many will come back next season.

This one is hard to explain. Leota was an all-Big Ten player and figured to be a guy Northwestern leaned on heavily next year to transition from Hankwitz to a new defensive coordinator.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Cardin Drake

[AuburnNTexas 7,151]

This class appears like it is going to be better than I expected Leotu being added to what appears to be a very good D-lLine class Robinson, Hunter at DT, Okoli at DE and it appears Brooks at DE and this is really a great D-Line class. It also appears that we have some Solid DB's that may be committing so along with the DB's already committed again a solid DB class. At this time LB appears to be one area of concern on D side.

[Beaker 2,457]

On 1/30/2021 at 6:12 PM, autan said:

Why did Leota not play in the bowl game? Injured or opt out?

he didn't want to hurt any of his future team mates on the offensive line, knowing we are so thin there.

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

 

[AUpreacherman22 3,888]

War Eagle!

[Mikey 16,615]

On 1/31/2021 at 11:52 AM, SumterAubie said:

Dang Mike. Is there any cereal of Auburn's you won't try to piss in?

Yes. There are many things that I'm very happy with. However, maybe this specific cereal needs a little piss added.

I said I hope the coaches did careful vetting.

Lets take Big Kat Bryant for example. He knew he was moving on but still stood with his team and coaches and played in the bowl game. That deserves respect. Over the years, a few other AU players have quit on their team and left AU holding the bag for a bowl game. That does not deserve respect.

This guy quit on his team. Were he an AU player I wouldn't want him back. So, before we welcome him to The Plains, I would hope our coaches took a long, hard look at what his deal was at Northwestern. I suppose he could have some valid reason. Again, let's hope our coaches took a good, hard look.

 

[Hank2020 3,207]

6 hours ago, Beaker said:

he didn't want to hurt any of his future team mates on the offensive line, knowing we are so thin there.

Hit the portal before bowl game.

[ellitor 33,101]

8 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

Hit the portal before bowl game.

@Hank2020 Beaker was joking FWIW.

[Hank2020 3,207]

3 minutes ago, ellitor said:

@Hank2020 Beaker was joking FWIW.

Correct, I should have connected to autan instead of the one who answered. My mistake.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Key was on the team that beat us in the bowl game, now he's transferring to be an Auburn Tiger. Glad to have you on the Plains.

[W.E.D 11,070]

On 2/1/2021 at 9:00 AM, Cardin Drake said:

A lot of people on the defensive side of Northwestern are leaving with the retirement of their defensive coordinator. This is from the public portion of a Northwestern rivals board on the 8 players entering the portal. If you are wondering if we just got a marginal player, the answer is no. Leota's a stud.

Eku Leota's announcement, which came on Monday, was the stunner of the group.

Leota, a redshirt sophomore, figured to be a huge part of Northwestern's defense for the next couple of years. The defensive end led the Wildcats with four sacks this season, and also added 13 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, against Purdue.

A fast end with a quick get-off, Leota was the most consistent force in Northwestern's pass rush. Even though Northwestern's defensive end position is a deep one, Leota's loss will be significan for a defense that will likely have to replace a lot of talent next season. Eight players on the starting defense in Saturday's game against the Buckeyes were seniors, and it is unknown at this time how many will come back next season.

This one is hard to explain. Leota was an all-Big Ten player and figured to be a guy Northwestern leaned on heavily next year to transition from Hankwitz to a new defensive coordinator.

4 sacks in 9 games vs just P5 teams, so no stat padding...pretty solid as a RS Soph.  He'll be a solid player for us.  Probably a net gain over Big Kat

[AU-24 3,099]

On 1/31/2021 at 8:55 PM, bigbird said:

CONFERENCE	PLAYERS ON NFL ROSTERS
SEC	339
Big Ten	253
ACC	215
Pac-12	189
Big 12	131
American	100
Mountain West	65
C-USA	59
MAC	46
Independent	35
Sun Belt	21

 

On 1/31/2021 at 6:44 PM, Sizzle said:

Yeah and most of those guys come from the same few teams in the SEC who happen to be good and all the other average/mediocre teams puts in a few to add to the numbers.

Iirc the Big Ten is usually right behind the SEC in terms of putting guys in the NFL

Yes, the Big Ten is only “86 players” behind the SEC.

Edited February 2, 2021 by AU-24

[bigbird 60,561]

38 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

 

Yes, the Big Ten is only “86 players” behind the SEC.

That's an entire football team. 😂