Bold statement. So they cant develop the guys they have here? Unlikely. Sure, WR is always a spot you need depth, but CMC has almost always had a transfer WR of some kind
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It’s not a bold statement. They are hard after wide receivers. ISU has two proven wide outs, yet they are hard after more. It’s not rocket science to figure out they don’t like the depth after Noel and Higgins. They wouldn’t be hard after them if they thought they had depth.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Yeah, because we need bodies. Here're the numbers from the classes of 2016-2022.
1 Too early to tell (Essex)
4 Solid long term contributors (Jones, Noel, Milton)
11 transfers and most of them are out of here quickly
2 guys who look like 4 year guys who could still be contributors (Bitter & Jackson)
On top of that, pretty much any perimeter athlete we've had has gone to play defense. Cooper, Kyle, Tampa and Porter were all guys who could have gone either way and they ended up on defense. I don't care whether to argue that's right or wrong but one more good athlete in our receiving corps would have always been helpful on our rosters.
There's an issue here. We can debate whether it's a significant issue and I'd probably fall on the side of not really because we've mostly been able to fill in with quality transfers but if Noel goes down this year, who is going to play that role? We didn't even see anyone else come in the game in that role. Most of those transfers are guys in the more dynamic kind of mold and none are really panning out. Scheckler, Adams, Gaines, Glass, Johnson, etc. A lot of them are also not going and doing a whole lot elsewhere. Tristan Micahud is out catching 7 balls on a 3-win South Dakota team. I mean, these are big misses. The best was probably Johnson who did some things at Tulsa or Scates at Memphis but for the most part, these are flat out bad evaluations.
Interesting especially because Scheelhaase was the WR coach and primary recruiter for most of these receiver recruits… in general I’ve liked our offensive recruits but maybe he isn’t a great evaluator of WR talent.
People really don't understand that and if I'm honest I don't think the staff has valued it. Now, Art Briles didn't value it either which is why you'd see a lot of his guys bust in the NFL, but they were also fast as hell. I just don't think it's something they've put a lot of weight into whether it's because they think they can develop it or what. The whole HS WR thing is just baffling to me.
Same with Zach Lovett, he had a sack or two this year. I like his speed. We do have a lot of young pups who can get a lot better.
I think one small area for improvement next year is we have to be more creative in getting pressure on QB's. Too many third downs holding my breath where the QB had 5 seconds plus. That'll get you killed in an important game, just ask Auburn in their late collapse against Bama. Rushing 2 propelled Bama into the playoff.
Feels like CMC is building a team like the pre-Mahomes Chiefs. Tough as nails defense that bends but doesn’t break, strong running attack, TE focused passing attack. Alex Smith was the ultimate game manager. They went the whole 2014 season without throwing a TD to a wide receiver. We’re in trouble if we replicate that, but I see the parallels.
Hm I would say Scheelhaase did a GREAT job of reccruiting Jaylin Noel, he is all big 12 next year maybe. Scheelhaase also gets some credit for Jayden Higgins, who is the best transfer WR we have had in a long time. Both Higgins and Noel can play on Sundays, especially Higgins.
For Jason Essex, Kai Black, and Beni Ngoyi - we'll know more by next winter. Too early to tell on them as others have said.
Norton had offers from Boston College and Houston, iirc. Not sure why he went with Charlotte, but he said it was “God’s plan”.
Don't forget that Xavier Hutchinson was a transfer as well.
Truth is, Outside of Noel, it's been a while since we've had a multi-year starter WR from high school.
That’s because they hadn’t really focused on it until two years ago.
God is really ******* busy directing 18-22 year olds on where they should play a game where they run into other people for 3 hours.
To be fair, I know that “God’s plan” means something entirely different to me now than when I was that age.
I guess it’s closer to home for him, but his hometown Waycross is still 5.5 hours from Charlotte. Bizarre. Probably a faster path to playing time there.
In 2022 the staff tended to bring in portal adds at positions where we lost guys to the portal. This year we lost 2 RS Freshman WR's in the portal: Gaines and Adams. So targeting a couple portal WR's just fills those guys spots.
IMO targeting WR's is more an indication of filling roster spots to create class balance. And give snaps to the true freshman (Parkes, Black, Ngoyi) and rs freshman (Essex) based on their readiness to contribute at a Big12 level.
We have 2 very solid Big12 starters in Noel and Higgins. Jackson is a serviceable 3rd receiver. It would be nice for Jackson to take the next step, but if he doesn't it wouldn't hurt to add some game experienced competition for the freshman.
I have been to Houston, TX, I have been Boston area, I would say God gave him the right city. Charlotte is a sweet city these days. Not sure why God screwed him over his freshman year and injured him, or got him passed by a freshman his sophmore year. However, seems like God finally showed up to tell him to move to the sweet city of Charlotte.
We’ve got depth at receiver, maybe not a bunch of studs but a solid top 4 today with Noel and Higgins being quite good and Jackson and Bitter being solid. Obviously an injury would be bad but it’s not like the departures we got were that bad. Realistically I want a kicker in the portal more than anything
