JessN: Alabama’s 2015 class goes long on need areas

JessN

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Alabama’s 2015 class goes long on need areas
by Jess Nicholas
TideFans Editor-In-Chief
February 5th, 2015 02:51 AM

. By Jess Nicholas TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief Feb. 4, 2015 There was little mystery as to what Alabama’s needs were following the conclusion of the 2014 season. The Crimson Tide needed a talent infusion at inside linebacker, tight end and especially in the secondary, which was torched badly at the end of the year. To that […]

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runtheoption22

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is 11 10.0's a record, Jess? I am assuming it is.....

Technical question- did the potential for Bo to be not a true RB prevent him from being a 10.0 in your eyes?
 

tide96

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Glad to see there are not any real academic concerns for this class. See the rest of you guys this summer.
 

BigEasyTider

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In general, I think it's absolutely critical for 'Bama that it gets some serious help out of this crop of incoming DBs. There will be some misses, of course, who don't make an impact, but UA needs several of those guys to pan out and play at a high level. That was the big, glaring need of this class, we spent a lot of scholarships addressing it (6 if you count Keaton as a hybrid safety), and we can't afford to go 1-6 or 2-6 on that front. We need to have that haul produce a couple of bona fide stars and at least a couple of more quality SEC-starter caliber players.

Few notes on some guys:

(1) Don't buy for a second that Sheffield is 185. He looks to be in the 165-170 pound range, and he's going to need some time in the S&C program under Cochran.

(2) McMillon was highly underrated to me as a prep prospect. He's got the look of a natural inside LB, and given our lack of depth there, I can't imagine that he will redshirt in 2015.

(3) Bo has some incredible talent, but I have no idea on where he will play, and honestly I'm not sure the coaches really do either. The horse-with-no-name players like that, so to speak, always create a lot of concern with me.

(4) If Hentges is remotely ready, he's probably going to play some at TE next year just due to depth alone.

(5) Physically, I love what both Taylor (off-field issues aside for a moment) and Payne give the interior DL in the run game, but I don't really expect either of them to become much of a factor in the pass game. More often than not, those guys are going to watch 3rd and 8 as a spectator just like the rest of us.

(6) In my heart of hearts, I want to be a skeptic of Ridley. He was really old for his classification, and he has pretty average size... but holy hell does his film look good. He'll play this fall, barring injury.
 
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BigGunn

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Thanks Jess, I like the summation of the guys every year as you present it as it provides insights even us recruiting junkies enjoy. BET, is it possible that some guys flame out when red shirted? It seems that way as if they lose the edge they had while playing a lot in HS, thus the 1 of 6 or 2 of 6 results you mention, as they mature to college ball. Or do some become intimidated by the performance of the upper class men while waiting their turn? Strange how so many can't miss guys actually do miss. Puzzling, this phenomenon.
 

sanjosecrimson

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(3) Bo has some incredible talent, but I have no idea on where he will play, and honestly I'm not sure the coaches really do either. The horse-with-no-name players like that, so to speak, always create a lot of concern with me.
QUOTE]

I would be concern as well, but with Lane Kiffin at the helm, I don't think we will see that issue arise.
 

JessN

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is 11 10.0's a record, Jess? I am assuming it is.....

Technical question- did the potential for Bo to be not a true RB prevent him from being a 10.0 in your eyes?
I think he's going to end up being a lot like Fowler, sort of between positions as the years go on. But I think he's got more overall potential than Fowler had.
 

sanjosecrimson

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I think he's going to end up being a lot like Fowler, sort of between positions as the years go on. But I think he's got more overall potential than Fowler had.
Jess,

that's an understatement. ;)

we are talking about a 5* stud who basically was the best player on the field in the UA game last year. I love Fowler, but he is not quite the athlete BO is.
 

BigEasyTider

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BET, is it possible that some guys flame out when red shirted? It seems that way as if they lose the edge they had while playing a lot in HS, thus the 1 of 6 or 2 of 6 results you mention, as they mature to college ball. Or do some become intimidated by the performance of the upper class men while waiting their turn? Strange how so many can't miss guys actually do miss. Puzzling, this phenomenon.
I think it's fair to say that some guys who struggle early just lose it mentally and that starts a downward spiral. As a general matter, none of these kinds being signed have ever faced any real on-field adversity, and they've spent their whole lives basically being the biggest, fastest, strongest, most dominant, etc. Once they get placed in an environment where that isn't the case, a lot of kids just can't handle it and everything falls apart -- even though they otherwise have the talent to eventually develop into good players with the right work ethic.

In general, though, I tend to think kids along those lines are relatively rare. Recruiting busts mainly result from one of three things: (1) Off-field/academic issues, (2) poor work ethic, (3) overrated physical skill sets. And as much as we like to ignore the possibility of that latter category when dealing with highly-recruited and highly-touted kids, they very much do happen with relatively routine occurrence. "Can't miss" guys really just do not exist, and the bust rate even for five-star types is quite high.
 

BigEasyTider

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we are talking about a 5* stud who basically was the best player on the field in the UA game last year. I love Fowler, but he is not quite the athlete BO is.
Well, for one, I wouldn't read too much into all-star game performance, but in any event Jess is talking about position placement. I would agree that Scarbrough is a bit more athletic than Fowler was -- though compared to Fowler before his knee injury, it's a pretty close race -- but I don't think significantly so to the point that it would demand an outright position change.

My hope a year ago was that we would just make him a wide receiver, but that is not going to happen at his current weight. I do think we will try to incorporate him more as a feature back in the run game than we did with Fowler -- depending on how injuries go next year to Henry, Drake, and Jones, he may get a lot of carries as a tailback in 2015 -- but in general I think the plan for now, insomuch as we have one, is to use him as a jack-of-all-trades in the backfield. Will be interesting to see how he holds up in pass protection, because that will make a very big impact on just how frequently we can incorporate him into a lot of packages.
 

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