Possible transfer situations

[Stonewall]

There has been solid looking OL talent in the TP on going .SEC , B10 and ACC kids looking for playing time after riding the pine.I would love to see a couple come our way .

[AppSt94]

There has been solid looking OL talent in the TP on going .SEC , B10 and ACC kids looking for playing time after riding the pine.I would love to see a couple come our way .

Lineman in the portal are tricky. If they haven’t seen the field in two to three years, there could be some red flags. Transferring from a P5 doesn’t move them to the top of the heap for me.

[spacemonkey]

There has been solid looking OL talent in the TP on going .SEC , B10 and ACC kids looking for playing time after riding the pine.I would love to see a couple come our way .

Lineman in the portal are tricky. If they haven’t seen the field in two to three years, there could be some red flags. Transferring from a P5 doesn’t move them to the top of the heap for me.

What would make them more tricky than a high school prospect?? You can still go back and talk to their high school coach and do film work and talk to the kid.

[BayouApp]

There has been solid looking OL talent in the TP on going .SEC , B10 and ACC kids looking for playing time after riding the pine.I would love to see a couple come our way .

Lineman in the portal are tricky. If they haven’t seen the field in two to three years, there could be some red flags. Transferring from a P5 doesn’t move them to the top of the heap for me.

What would make them more tricky than a high school prospect?? You can still go back and talk to their high school coach and do film work and talk to the kid.

Good point!

[AppSt94]

There has been solid looking OL talent in the TP on going .SEC , B10 and ACC kids looking for playing time after riding the pine.I would love to see a couple come our way .

Lineman in the portal are tricky. If they haven’t seen the field in two to three years, there could be some red flags. Transferring from a P5 doesn’t move them to the top of the heap for me.

What would make them more tricky than a high school prospect?? You can still go back and talk to their high school coach and do film work and talk to the kid.

If you have viable college tape on a kid, sure. OL sometimes require a complete rebuild of their body to get them ready for college ball. That process, along with the mental side of the game can take a year or two to get them ready to see the field. If they lingered on the bench for a couple a years, one can’t assume that they are going to be game ready day one just because they are coming from a P5. I’ll take guys like Helms and Bucky from the FCS over a Junior from Wisconsin or Florida that hasn’t played.

[bigdaddyg]

I agree totally. What's the difference in a 6'6" 300 lb guy who was 3rd on the depth chart at Ga and never played versus a 6'5" 290 lb guy who actually played at either an FCS or maybe another G5- other than a slight difference in size and actual game experience? I'd think that the guy who played might be the way to go. We can create depth with actual recruits.

[Yosef84]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

[BayouApp]

I agree totally. What's the difference in a 6'6" 300 lb guy who was 3rd on the depth chart at Ga and never played versus a 6'5" 290 lb guy who actually played at either an FCS or maybe another G5- other than a slight difference in size and actual game experience? I'd think that the guy who played might be the way to go. We can create depth with actual recruits.

I think the exception can be when the player is at one of the elite P5 programs like GA, AL, etc. In the national championship game, TCU still struggled against the 2nd and even 3rd team GA players. There just seems to be less dropoff with those teams, which means a player 3rd on the depth chart can still be a quality starter at an average P5 school and at most G5s.

[AppStateNews]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

[AtlAppMan]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

[AppSt94]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

Sometimes you just find yourself in an environment that prohibits you from thriving. It happens.

[Yosef84]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

That's my first response also, but on the other hand, if our whole OL system is built around athleticism (pulling, shifting, etc.) then on big bulldozer doesn't fit. We can't expect the other guys to play a style that doesn't suit them in order to adapt to him. It does seem we could use him on short yardage plays and things like that to get push up the middle, but would that be enough to make him happy? Sometimes it's just not a fit.

[AppStFan1]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

I remember that. I found it funny we had folks who claimed that. First of all, you and I both know our coaches knew how big he was when he came up for visits. If too big, then why even offer him? We all know that it might be harder for players his size to fit our system but he was one of the exceptions. The fact he made it in the NFL was further proof that we had people miss with him.

There are definitely players in FCS who are athletic enough to fit our system. Shoot, we have offered several kids who came up to Boone and we later found out they weren't athletic enough for what we want. The way some folks inside talk you would think we are looking for 6'4, 300 pounds and run a 4.95 40, 32 VJ, and 4.5 3-cone.

I really hate that we could not get it to work with Taylor. He would have been a great bookend. Some have said that we just can't get big OL out of HS but the one time we get a NFL prototype we have folks who ruin it and Taylor left.

[AppStFan1]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

I believe he is just saying what some inside were saying. If he is good enough for the NFL then he is 1000% good enough to play at App State. Our people missed for not finding him a role. A good coach can take any NFL player and find a role for him on our team. The way some folks talk who never played or worked in the game you would think we have this super specific scheme that only a handful of players can fit. It is just plain wrong.

As good as we have been as a whole we have had some major misses by our coaches and others. I know some on here think we always get the absolute best players we can ever get and that our staff is 90% accurate but recruiting is very hard and nobody hits 80-90%. We have had many misses and passed on players that turned out way better than some we took. It happens at every school. Just because we won titles did not mean we were immune to missing. Any coach will tell you that. You don't really know how good they can be until you get them on campus and see them daily for a little while. High school is a big jump and many stars in high school just can't pan out at this level.

[bigdaddyg]

I remember asking on a thread if Taylor could also play on the basketball team as well. Didn't Clawson put in a tall guy like Taylor on our attempted FG in Boone and he blocked it? Obviously there was a huge roll for that guy. Almost none of us see practices and know nothing about the roster or perceived abilities but dang that kid was huge. Can't believe it would not work.

[huskie3]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

Alex Taylor was a 2* out of hs (he only played 2 years) is why he was available to us. He was undrafted and jumped around from active roster to IR to practice squad to being released to signing pranctice squad again. Currently appears he is on Dallas practice squad.
At App he was behind Colby Gossett if that made a difference in PT (not much difference in size (6’8” to 6’6”)).

[AppStateNews]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

You can be NFL level but not fit a scheme. He had only ayed one (maybe two) years of organized football at that time. To run the scheme our line runs, not only do you have to have high athleticism, you also have to have elite football IQ. He didn't due to limited play.

It showed when he decided to transfer, the only schools that came calling were mid to lower tier FCS. We took a chance on his potential. It just didn't pan out (not for talent reasons). SC State took a chance and it worked out there for him.

Also, I thought he got drafted because talks were pretty high on him leading up to the draft. Looks like he was undrafted though. He has potential, but he's just now getting to the playing time most NFL talent has had when they reach college -- and a large portion of that has been in the NFL. He clearly has the potential if teams are keeping him even on practice squad.

[311neers]

I agree totally. What's the difference in a 6'6" 300 lb guy who was 3rd on the depth chart at Ga and never played versus a 6'5" 290 lb guy who actually played at either an FCS or maybe another G5- other than a slight difference in size and actual game experience? I'd think that the guy who played might be the way to go. We can create depth with actual recruits.

I think the exception can be when the player is at one of the elite P5 programs like GA, AL, etc. In the national championship game, TCU still struggled against the 2nd and even 3rd team GA players. There just seems to be less dropoff with those teams, which means a player 3rd on the depth chart can still be a quality starter at an average P5 school and at most G5s.

Yea UGA/Bama is a tough example. They have 2nd and 3rd string lineman that will play in the NFL, shoot some even declared for the NFL and weren’t starters. Those teams are 2, 3 and even 4 deep at every position and TCU found that out quick. I’d take one of those if the can fit the culture and are a hard nose player willing to work to earn PT haha.

[AppStFan1]

The big kid from ETSU sounds great in terms of size, but it raises questions to me why a kid with that size is playing at ETSU. If he has started for a while, should be plenty of tape to evaluate though. I'm just not sure he would be athletic enough for our system (as I understand it at least).

We had one a couple years ago that was too big to be athletic enough for our system (and didn't like the S&C). He went to SC State and ended up getting drafted. Believe he's still in the NFL.

He was just a basketball player before he was a football player so he wasn't as highly recruited. I think he only played his senior year of high school football (maybe he started Junior year, can't remember). Could be the case with the ETSU guy as well.

Not being a jerk but honestly if he was a NFL level talent, then why could we not find some type of fit at App. Seems like we should have been able to use his skills in some capacity. I loosely remember the guy but don’t know the finer details of his situation.

You can be NFL level but not fit a scheme. He had only ayed one (maybe two) years of organized football at that time. To run the scheme our line runs, not only do you have to have high athleticism, you also have to have elite football IQ. He didn't due to limited play.

It showed when he decided to transfer, the only schools that came calling were mid to lower tier FCS. We took a chance on his potential. It just didn't pan out (not for talent reasons). SC State took a chance and it worked out there for him.

Also, I thought he got drafted because talks were pretty high on him leading up to the draft. Looks like he was undrafted though. He has potential, but he's just now getting to the playing time most NFL talent has had when they reach college -- and a large portion of that has been in the NFL. He clearly has the potential if teams are keeping him even on practice squad.

Indeed he was not drafted. Your football IQ point is a good one because some do pick it up quicker than others. The reason I think it should have, and could have, worked out is because we have had players just like that such as Quick and Jason Hunter who both took a little longer to put it all together but eventually became All-Americans for us. I always expected Taylor to do something similar and wondered what happened off the field that derailed it.

[Cro-Magnon App]

Some guys sit on the bench and then enter the TP not because they were playing behind players that were better, but for other reasons — not coachable, lazy, women, alcohol, attitude, injury, poor at time management, can’t handle the freedom, find out they don’t love the game as much with all the demands of playing in college, etc. Maybe some will rise with a change of scenery. Most do not.