TE Ty Flournoy-Smith Updates

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BigEasyTider

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Might as well start a unique thread on this one, although he has been discussed in passing on other threads...

Flournoy-Smith is a tight end prospect out of Georgia Military College. He has three years to play two, and he's more of a receiving tight end in the mold of an O.J. Howard than a traditional end-of-line TE like Michael Williams. No official measurement on him, but most reports have him at around 6'3 and 230, which seem about right.

So how'd he end up at Georgia Military? He's a kid from South Georgia, and he originally signed with UGA in their '12 class. Kind of a middling rating by the self-proclaimed experts, but he committed to Georgia very early in the process and never really created a lot of attention. He played some in 2012, but was behind Lynch and Rome. Following the '12 season, however, he was arrested for filing a false police report regarding textbooks that he had actually sold back, decided to transfer, and then had another issue pop up with simple marijuana possession. That's how he ended up at Georgia Military, long story short.

Now, as to us, he took an official visit to Alabama last weekend. No firm offer as of yet, but Saban and Smart both went to visit him today, so this one is obviously a very serious target. I imagine we find something out definitive on him early next week. He's taking an official visit to Louisville this weekend, but you have to figure he is ours if we want him.
 
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RTR91

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Going to try and connect some dots here...

Wilson, the Utah CB commit, decides to take an official visit on Thursday.
He cancels said visit on Friday.
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban go to GMI and visit Flourney-Smith on Friday.
Many knew/expected/figured F-S gets an offer if a few things go a particular way.

Just by chance Wilson cancels a visit a day after deciding to take it and F-S gets a visit by Bama's coaches?
 

runtheoption22

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Going to try and connect some dots here...

Wilson, the Utah CB commit, decides to take an official visit on Thursday.
He cancels said visit on Friday.
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban go to GMI and visit Flourney-Smith on Friday.
Many knew/expected/figured F-S gets an offer if a few things go a particular way.

Just by chance Wilson cancels a visit a day after deciding to take it and F-S gets a visit by Bama's coaches?

I think Wilson falls behind Boston and F-S, with a remote shot that we had an offer fall that far.

We are likely losing two spots in OJ Smith and Chris WIlliams, at this point....hence their last minute flirtations.

We missed on Elam.

So, we now have Evans, Dupre, and Thomas as commitable offers. Does the staff feel good on one, two or all of them? IDK that answer, but I do think the staff feels that Boston and F-S commit on spot with a firm offer. No clue on which is ahead of the other if there is only one spot left.

I do know that Kiffin is going to call a lot more plays where the TE is the main read. Wouldn't hurt to have F-S with Howard.
 

BigEasyTider

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I think Wilson falls behind Boston and F-S, with a remote shot that we had an offer fall that far.

We are likely losing two spots in OJ Smith and Chris WIlliams, at this point....hence their last minute flirtations.

We missed on Elam.

So, we now have Evans, Dupre, and Thomas as commitable offers. Does the staff feel good on one, two or all of them? IDK that answer, but I do think the staff feels that Boston and F-S commit on spot with a firm offer. No clue on which is ahead of the other if there is only one spot left.

I do know that Kiffin is going to call a lot more plays where the TE is the main read. Wouldn't hurt to have F-S with Howard.
I think you are basically right on the pecking order. Dupre, Evans, and Thomas as the three with firm offers -- and I think our relative chances are in that order, as well -- with Flournoy-Smith and Boston waiting in the wings. My gut tells me that Boston will get preference over Flournoy-Smith in a pinch, but that said I figure the odds are actually pretty decent that we end up with both.

Regarding Flournoy-Smith and tight end play, last season, in 14 games, our tight ends caught 25 passes. Stated differently, we threw the football to the tight end about once out of every fifteen passes thrown. Now, all of our tight ends from the 2013 team will be back in 2014 (Howard, Vogler, Greene, Faciane and Freitag).

I say all of that to say this: Unless we really throw the football a lot more to the tight ends in 2014, spending a scholarship on Flournoy-Smith seems like a waste of a spot. Don't mean that necessarily as a criticism of him, mind you, but you have to figure he isn't going to give you anything in the run game at 230 pounds, and unless you really increase the number of balls going to the tight end, then why spend a scholarship on a kid who will catch, perhaps, 8 or 10 balls next year? Again, it's just a waste on our end unless we really target the tight end far more often. If the staff doesn't realistically anticipate that he will catch 20-30 balls next season, frankly I don't understand what we are doing on this one.
 
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CoolBreeze

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I think Wilson falls behind Boston and F-S, with a remote shot that we had an offer fall that far.

We are likely losing two spots in OJ Smith and Chris WIlliams, at this point....hence their last minute flirtations.

We missed on Elam.

So, we now have Evans, Dupre, and Thomas as commitable offers. Does the staff feel good on one, two or all of them? IDK that answer, but I do think the staff feels that Boston and F-S commit on spot with a firm offer. No clue on which is ahead of the other if there is only one spot left.

I do know that Kiffin is going to call a lot more plays where the TE is the main read. Wouldn't hurt to have F-S with Howard.
Nice post and thanks for your insight! I am not sure the staff would spend the time visiting F-S unless they were willing to make an offer (with a good read on his personality, of course). I think this may be our signing day surprise along with Thomas (I hope).
 

runtheoption22

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Don't mean that necessarily as a criticism of him, mind you, but you have to figure he isn't going to give you anything in the run game at 230 pounds, and unless you really increase the number of balls going to the tight end, then why spend a scholarship on a kid who will catch, perhaps, 8 or 10 balls next year? Again, it's just a waste on our end unless we really target the tight end far more often. If the staff doesn't realistically anticipate that he will catch 20-30 balls next season, frankly I don't understand what we are doing on this one.
And that's the complaint I have with F-S. We need another Michael Williams and F-S isn't him. I'm not sure F-S could play fullback, because I have heard rumblings we may take a couple of walk-ons to fill a fullback role.

Nice post and thanks for your insight! I am not sure the staff would spend the time visiting F-S unless they were willing to make an offer (with a good read on his personality, of course). I think this may be our signing day surprise along with Thomas (I hope).
The staff is not going to waste time right now, so they see him as a potential option.
 

TiderJack

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Going to try and connect some dots here...

Wilson, the Utah CB commit, decides to take an official visit on Thursday.
He cancels said visit on Friday.
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban go to GMI and visit Flourney-Smith on Friday.
Many knew/expected/figured F-S gets an offer if a few things go a particular way.

Just by chance Wilson cancels a visit a day after deciding to take it and F-S gets a visit by Bama's coaches?
I have thought we needed a TE in this class but I thought it would be one more in the mold of Michael Williams/Vogler for blocking. As BET said he is more similar to OJ. Does anyone know if he is known for his blocking?
 

BigEasyTider

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And that's the complaint I have with F-S. We need another Michael Williams and F-S isn't him. I'm not sure F-S could play fullback, because I have heard rumblings we may take a couple of walk-ons to fill a fullback role.
I would agree with you, but I think it's pretty apparent at this point that the staff feels differently. I just have a hard time believing that there isn't one end-of-line road-grater TE out there somewhere in the JUCO ranks that we couldn't get for those purposes, if we really wanted one. I'm inclined to think this just means, as I referenced a couple of days ago, a small underlying shift in base personnel.

And as a blocker, I just don't see us getting much out of Flournoy-Smith. I don't think you'll see much use of the fullback as a general matter, and if we're looking for a mover in the run game I imagine we will just use some combination of Vogler, Fowler, and Greene. If Flournoy-Smith is going to contribute, it's going to have to be as a receiver. He's certainly got the potential to do it, of course, but it's going to take a much more concerted effort on the part of the offensive coaching staff before he really gets the opportunity to do so.
 
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BigEasyTider

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Does anyone know if he is known for his blocking?
I think he's probably decent enough on a fundamental level, and spending some time playing in a very run heavy scheme at Georgia Military likely helped him a bit in that regard (509 rushes against 246 passes). Still, though, there is only so much you can expect from a relatively undersized guy. He's not going to be able to push around DEs and big LBs at the point of attack at a lean 230 pounds, and that's just reality.
 

TiderJack

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You have to wonder if Kiffin wants to make a 2 TE set part of the hurry up attack. The Patriots did this when they had Hernandez and had Gronk healthy. Several other NFL teams have done it as well, as it basically insures one of the TE's will have a good match up with a LB.
The Pats did do this a lot but they had very little WR talent/depth. With our WR depth I would think we would want as many of them on the field as we can.
 

RTR91

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The Pats did do this a lot but they had very little WR talent/depth. With our WR depth I would think we would want as many of them on the field as we can.
Correct, but a 2 TE set would allow Bama to go from shotgun to under center in the hurry up without substituting.
 

bamacon

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You have to wonder if Kiffin wants to make a 2 TE set part of the hurry up attack. The Patriots did this when they had Hernandez and had Gronk healthy. Several other NFL teams have done it as well, as it basically insures one of the TE's will have a good match up with a LB.
Yeah but Gronk could stay on the line and help and AH would threaten to
Kill you ;)
 
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