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That's practically my adopted kid. He has a huge feature coming up in Sports Illustrated in the March 6 issue, too. In the meantime, this was a really good story on him from last month: http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...iting-sensation The most intriguing thing about Daniel is that he hasn't played a single snap of football in an actual game. But he also has so little exposure to college football, that when he talks about his offers he will rattle off Alabama and Michigan as nonchalantly as Hawaii and Fresno State, without a hint of irony.
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Feb 20, 2017 13:59
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MourningView posted:If you had never paid attention to football an offer to go live and play football in Hawaii would be way more exciting than one from Alabama or some cold rear end big ten city Oh hell yeah. That's a no-contest right there. Although based on Instagram, I'd probably give Arizona State a go.
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Feb 20, 2017 20:52
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predicto posted:He doesn't even look fat, not at all. He's just a giant. He's only about 20% body fat. It was part of his last weigh in, which puts him at the low-end of what is considered normal for a healthy adult male. We're really trying to get him down to around 380, because we don't want him to lose his flexibility. Although for a photo shoot this week we finally let him put some heavier weight on the bar, and he was hang cleaning 290-pounds with almost no effort. Just before that he was working with 265, and he told one of the coaches "With the cameras I don't want them to think I'm weak." So we had to remind him to be careful how he talks about that, because his teammates (one of whom is 6-8, 375 Evan Neal) struggle with weights he tosses around like they're nothing. He really has no concept of how incomparably strong he is. Taron Vincent is the only one who can match him in the weight room (for now), and Taron looks like a little kid side-by-side to Daniel. Once the story is closer to publishing (Mar. 6), I'll post a pic I took of Daniel side by side with Taron and RB TJ Pledger.
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Feb 24, 2017 16:17
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TheGreyGhost posted:Please tell me there's a package for him at like NT where he just throws the C backwards hoping to hit the ballcarrier in the backfield. Like, I really want to see what he does when he's trying to tackle people, not just blocking. That's a good idea. The team is going on a big bus trip to a bunch of colleges this week, but I'm going to throw that out there and see if they'll at least try it.
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Feb 26, 2017 18:28
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C. Everett Koop posted:Orlando is about an hour or so north. If I was IMG id be worried about Triple H kid napping him in the middle of the night and bringing him to NXT. lol, funny you should mention that. One of our former staffers is a talent scout at WWE these days, so we've been conscientious about that. Luckily Daniel isn't interested until he's exhausted football. That said, holy poo poo (I'm ignoring the false start): https://twitter.com/HamiltonESPN/status/835904884364935168 Really can't wait to see what he does in spring ball against Xavier Thomas every day.
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Feb 27, 2017 13:54
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Crotch Bat posted:I think he's going to struggle a lot when pads go on and he loses leverage often. He's a project for sure. But this spring once the pads go on he'll have to figure it our quick against Xavier Thomas, Taron Vincent, Stephon Wynn, Nolan Smith and TK Chimedza. So we'll know for sure by the end of May. The IMG schedule is going to be obscenely difficult, but his biggest challenge is going to be Monday through Thursday at practice. He already got a crash course this past fall having to try and block Josh Kaindoh (FSU signee). Also, I clearly forgot how Sports Illustrated dates their magazines and Mar. 6 means that he'll be in the magazine this week, on newsstands this Wednesday, I think. So here's that picture of him alongside two five-star players... 
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Feb 27, 2017 22:39
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Grittybeard posted:So for comparison's sake #2 is what size if you can say? Like close to 6' and 220 or so? #54 is 6-foot-3, 288-lbs. That's Taron Vincent, five-star DT. His dad is former Eagles safety Troy Vincent. #2 is TJ Pledger, five-star RB and is 5-foot-8, 195.
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Feb 27, 2017 23:00
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Dilber posted:Aside from a bunch of other 2018 recruits, Miami picks ups grad transfer CB Dee Delaney, a FCS all-american who had a mid-rounds NFL grade. Our defense might be really, really scary again this year. At the rate Miami is going, I think they'll land another player or two from IMG. Richt is loving killing it right now. Ton of momentum, they're being really aggressive, and unless they have a really garbage season, I don't see it wearing off anytime soon. Of course it's March and a million variables can happen, but they're white hot right now.
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Mar 3, 2017 15:51
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TheGreyGhost posted:The SI Article about IMG"s preposterously large lineman... . To add, this is the player he turned into a "five-star projectile."  Josh Kaindoh was one of the top two or three among DEs in the country for class of 2017. Josh is 6-foot-6, has a bodybuilder's physique and was about 265 at the time. Doronin fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 14:16
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The IMG boys went on a campus tour bus trip last week to five schools. Talked to a few of them yesterday to hear how the visits really went.. Georgia - Hands down the best visit of the five. Kirby Smart made a great impression on everyone, and the entire team felt like the staff cared about them. Isaac Nauta also came out to visit with everyone and the kids were excited about that. Clemson - Pretty similar to Georgia, actually. Everyone came away pretty happy and had the red carpet rolled out. Also got to spend some time with Shaq Smith (honestly, one of my all-time favorite people I've worked with). Wake Forest - Not much to report. They arrived, they saw some stuff. "It was nice." Tennessee - Everyone liked the facilities, but weren't able to point out much that stood out. One of them told me that the facilities were all that really separated it from Wake. South Carolina - This went very badly. The USC staff, after inviting the team to stop by, acted as if it was an inconvenience that they were there. With 70 kids on the tour, they only took 6 of them on an actual tour (I know Xavier Thomas and Faalele were two of them, not sure on the others), and told everyone else they could "play around" in the indoor facility. So they literally just sat there playing on their phones for several hours and never met the coaches. Several of the higher ranked underclassmen were insulted because Muschamp and co. didn't even know their names. And on top of that, they held up the team bus after holding Xavier aside for an additional 15 minutes alone. So in the end, Georgia and Clemson actually helped themselves. They appreciated Tennessee's hospitality. And South Carolina probably helped themselves a bit with Xavier, but really made a bad impression on the rest of the bunch.
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Mar 10, 2017 14:04
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Mike_V posted:Did they stop by Wake Forest because it was on the way? Kim Jong Il posted:Not everyone even at IMG is a blue chipper. Some of them would probably love an offer from Wake. They went to Wake on account of the academics, really. IMG has more kids than anyone realizes who aren't so worried about football, but using football as a way to get into a better academic program than their GPA alone might get them accepted to. For example, one of the receivers, Will Huggins, is on a mission to lock down the highest adjusted GPA in school history.I think he's going to do it, too. One thing I didn't mention earlier is that Wake was the only school that didn't use marketing gimmicks like giving them chachkies or the photo shoots in team uniforms. They didn't want the kids to get a false impression of what they offer. And KJI, you're exactly right. If they would've had time, they wanted to drop by Duke, too. Same reason.
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Mar 14, 2017 12:49
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The recruiting front at IMG is really dull because nearly everyone is committed somewhere. But after last week's draft, several uncommitted OL who were really high on the Big XII are really thinking again on heading to any of those schools. It's the first time I actually noticed NFL Draft results having any influence on the kids.
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May 2, 2017 15:06
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To CB's point, recruiting writers with actual journalism experience or talent are few and far between. But simply on the fact that it's such a copy-cat business and writers, even across rival networks, share so much information that I can't believe more than one guy fell for it. Although all the Florida based writers are dished so much bullshit from players and/or handlers so frequently that it's not surprising it was a South Florida guy to debunk it. Andrew Ivins is one of the good ones.
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May 24, 2017 20:54
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Korranus posted:Kids these days think this kind of stuff is fire emoji fire emoji fire emoji however so it's only going to get worse I actively discourage the kids at IMG from making these stupid videos. We've only had a single kid participate in one since these dumb videos became a thing. And even then, I asked him to go home and do it because we wouldn't have any part of it. I just think they're tacky as poo poo, and if you have even a 0.1% chance of flipping, then it makes you look like an idiot. I got a call from a pretty major site last year wanting to know if I could talk Kellen Mond into doing a trick shot commitment - wait for it - from a loving hot air balloon. I only told them that if they ever ask for a hot air balloon again, they'd never make another video on campus. That was the third time they asked about something involving a balloon like that. Most of these things start with click-hungry sites covering offseason camps, and talking the kids into thinking anyone will be impressed with it. So odds are, yes, it'll probably get bigger/dumber as time goes on
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Jun 8, 2017 13:22
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Saw where Asa Martin committed to Auburn today. Great opportunity for him. But I'm interested to see how he fares in a major conference.
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Aug 24, 2017 17:49
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I've seen Gatewood play in person. On looks and physique alone, he reminds me of Josh Freeman, but more athletic. Problem is that he is very bad at QB. Back when he was still a sophomore, one of my friends who covers recruiting swore he was only getting hype/rankings on his measurables (which are impressive), but nothing to do with his actual skill. I've seen nothing to dispute that claim from 2+ years ago. I know he wanted to go to FSU pretty bad, but I'd wager that he feels like he might actually get a shot to play QB at AU. Now if he is ever convinced to switch positions, AU could have a hell of a player.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:55
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Just chiming in to say that after seeing James Cook (Dalvin's little brother) play in person, holy poo poo he can ball. Georgia is going to get a really outstanding replacement for Chubb and Michel when he finally announces.
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Sep 25, 2017 22:31
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Barring any drastic changes, UGA is going to be adding one gigantic OL to the 2018 class at some point.
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Oct 6, 2017 19:57
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That seems like a very, very good deduction 
Doronin fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 20:21
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Kim Jong Il posted:AFAIK every Miami fan thinks this will happen, and every Rutgers fan thinks it happens and Sitkowski (yeah he is a backup for IMG, I don't care) comes home. Interesting. I'm going to look into that one. Haven't heard anything to indicate the 'Canes have cooled on him or that he's wavering at all. And Art genuinely does not care about a depth chart.
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Oct 13, 2017 20:31
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KICK BAMA KICK posted:I hear some people saying Joey Gatewood is having an impressive season and quieting some of those "not a real QB" doubts but they're all Auburn partisans so was curious if the folks who know what they're talking about agree. He's doing ok. Not exactly setting the woods on fire, but having a decent year statistically and not turning the ball over. Bartram Trail is very likely headed to the 7A playoffs again with a 5-2 overall record so far. But he still prefers to run first, and hasn't developed or improved his throwing motion or footwork. I still think he needs to switch positions, because he's a pretty awesome open field runner at his size and athletic as hell. His team is playing Cocoa, who is undefeated, this Friday. I think how he performs against them will say a lot.
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Oct 16, 2017 19:51
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So yep, Art Sitkowski did indeed flip to Rutgers. He's pretty excited. Told me they never stopped recruiting him and it just felt right, and an opportunity to get on the field faster.
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Nov 2, 2017 22:22
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Kim Jong Il posted:He played in an option before this. Dude was a camp guy with good tools. He's been bad at IMG, but so has their other QB. That's the biggest thing that gets forgotten about Art - running triple-option at Old Bridge all those years. Also, I wouldn't say either QB has been 'bad' this year, they just haven't put up big numbers. But that has everything to do with playcalling/gameplanning, playing national top-25 ranked teams nearly every single game and having the No. 1 and No. 2 running backs in America for 2019 in the backfield - Trey Sanders and Noah Cain. Oh, and 2018 Oklahoma commit TJ Pledger. This is the first year since 2014 where we've run the ball more than passed. The only really lovely game for either QB was vs. Miami Central, who has a nasty group of DBs and was ranked No. 7 in the country (I think) when they played. And as an aside, if you want to see a week of game-prep at IMG and an inside look at the monster-beast who is Xavier Thomas (Clemson commit; #1 overall player), here you go: https://www.facebook.com/HudlContenders/videos/479365612445837/
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Nov 10, 2017 15:56
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Kim Jong Il posted:I don't remotely loving care, I am so happy with him. Apparently Curtis Dunlap Jr., is giving Rutgers a serious look. As is Jalen. Rutgers is, by far, the school most aggressively recruiting IMG right now.
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Nov 18, 2017 03:11
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Crotch Bat posted:To that, 247 has dropped Scout from their composite ranking (CBS bought 247 a couple years ago and bought Scout last year and has kinda-sorta merged the two) so we're now left with 247, Rivals, and ESPN's rankings being averaged. They really should drop the ESPN ranking because nobody is actually doing those rankings anymore. Tom Luginbill is literally the only 'recruiting guy' they have left, and he's in studio 99% of the time. Everyone else that was there is either fired or moved to part-time freelance. And then with Rivals, they lost a huge chunk of funding when their Under Armour deal went away. So they've also cut back on their bandwidth to evaluate kids. 247Sports is the only site that's operating at full steam, but even they had to fire their best evaluator early this year on account of doing something very, very stupid relative to Big XII recruiting because he's a petulant child. And when they acquired Scout, those guys (the ones they didn't lay off) are pretty salty and have just been coasting for the most part. So basically, there aren't any real influencers in that space right now that people can copy from. Of all years, this is the best year to just go to Hudl, watch kids' tapes and make your own best guess at it. Your opinion (or anyone here, really) is just as valid as anyone left that's receiving a paycheck to evaluate players at the moment. Doronin fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Dec 4, 2017 |
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Dec 4, 2017 14:00
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MourningView posted:I’m convinced that almost everyone still paying for those is at least like 50 years old. Hudl and twitter have rendered it completely pointless. Actually, that's pretty accurate. Anyone paying for those that isn't a white male, age 40 - 55, is in a bigtime minority. I forgot that I have a 247 account for 3 years and logged in for the first time a few months ago. It's more amazing to me than ever to see the insane bullshit "insiders" make up on there. I forgot how bad it was. And you're 100% right about Hudl and Twitter. All the pay sites are shrinking or getting absorbed/bought into bigger networks (ie - 247 to CBSSports). Meanwhile, only free content is getting any traction. One thing that went by semi-unnoticed is that Bleacher Report had developed an entire Youth Athletes division with some very good writers and video producers. They scrapped the whole thing a week after Signing Day this year. Recruiting news is starting to lose clicks and value because it's too easily available now. Ergo why they aren't even really messing with commitment videos like they were.
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Dec 4, 2017 18:49
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Thermos H Christ posted:go on... Since you asked! And since I don't know how much that guy probably searches his own name on Google, I won't mention the evaluator by name, but if you figure out who I'm talking about I'll respond with an emoji or something. Anyhow, back when TJ Pledger committed to OU in the spring, this particular person got suuuuuuper pissed when OU coaches confirmed the commitment with a local reporter first to break the news. This guy, let's just call him Brian -- felt like OU OWED him that scoop and took it very personally they gave the news to someone else. So he decided he'd really stick it to OU. Then he calls up Cameron Rising and his parents, who was an OU commit at the time, and went on and on poo poo-talking the Sooners about how toxic it was there, and other things. Well, where Brian really hosed up is that he didn't do his homework and had no clue, apparently, that Rising's dad and Tom Herman were both from the same town and played together at Cal Lutheran. So there was about a 99% chance he'd flip to Texas if Texas wanted him. It was pretty much inevitable. Buuut, Brian thought he was twisting a knife. Nevertheless, OU found out about those calls and decided to see what the big boss at 247Sports thought about it. Brian was fired immediately. Doronin fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Dec 5, 2017 23:52
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Not sure where 4-star LB Ayodele Adeyoe is going to sign, but it won't be with Texas. Illinois and Missouri seem to be trending. Also, I said a while back that Rutgers was recruiting IMG the most aggressively. And they had two coaches on campus just yesterday. But Illinois is suddenly making Rutgers' efforts look pedestrian, by comparison.
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Dec 7, 2017 15:07
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KIM JONG TRILL posted:Interesting. OU seems to think they’re in on Ayodele. Forgot to mention Florida could be a contender there, too. Mullen isn't wasting any time with this early signing coming up. Not sure about OU.
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Dec 7, 2017 16:22
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Mike_V posted:Christ if there's ever a recruit Barry loving Odom should get it's a linebacker from a Missouri school. Why'd he decommit from UT? Publicly he hasn't done/said anything yet. Now as to why he'd shy away from UT? That's what I'm trying to figure out.
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Dec 7, 2017 21:56
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oschesar posted:I was reading some place that duvernay was bad mouthing ut to recruits. Maybe that? Would be news to me, but I can't say it isn't true either. I know the first real damage to that relationship was back in August when Tom Herman was talking about not recruiting IMG. Although I think that was smoothed over, and Texas had the RB coach visit this week to check in since my last post on it. Not sure how much of a fix that was. This early signing period and the extra pressure coaches are pouring on, combined with IMG having 27-30 early grads/enrollees is making things a lot crazier than usual. Nearly the entire Clemson coaching staff was on campus to look in on Xavier Thomas and Mike Jones, but they're starting to trend hard for Brendan Radley-Hiles. Brendan won't announce till the Army game though. It's pretty much Clemson or Oklahoma for him at this point, from what I'm gathering. Although I'm also starting to think big Daniel Faalele might be taking a serious look at Minnesota. At one point I thought he was all-UGA. But Zack Annexstad might end up being their key recruit if he brings several OL with him. Curtis Dunlap who de-committed from Florida might be headed there, too. But Texas wants Curtis now, too. They're all going on their officials this weekend to see the Gophers.
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Dec 8, 2017 21:24
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Holy. poo poo. Daniel Faalele AND Curtis Dunlap both committed to Minnesota tonight. That's quite a coup considering the committable offers those two had. PJ Fleck owes Zack Annexstad an upgrade on that PWO to a full ride. Curtis wasn't too surprising, but Daniel was really close to committing to UGA several times this fall.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:02
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Bloopsy posted:Faalele has visited Minnesota twice now and has said he would be willing to play anywhere in the country. I knew that, but if he had grown that fond of Minnesota, it was only within the past several weeks and none of the coaching staff at the school had any idea. They were all thinking it was either Michigan or Georgia. I think it came down to his friendship with Curtis Dunlap and Zack that put it over the top. I think Fleck and co. also did a great job selling his mom on the Gophers. Regnevelc posted:He is from Australia, so yeah. ha, yes indeed.
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Dec 10, 2017 19:00
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Marquis de Pyro posted:Haven't really heard anything between him and Michigan in months. Was Georgia even still recruiting him seriously? He was definitely still getting recruited heavily by everyone, UGA included. And his last visit before this weekend was to Alabama, and they're not bringing anyone in that isn't a take. Michigan, however, I couldn't speak to. They've been unusually quiet at IMG lately. But another aspect of his recruitment is that before August 2016, he had no exposure whatsoever to college football. Literally didn't know the difference between an Alabama or a Clemson and say, Hawaii or Troy. It was all the same to him, so he was the only recruit in America approaching the process without any preconceived notions about anyone. So he just took everything at face value, for what it was, and went with what he felt was the best fit. I think he probably chose the Gophers because it came with the least pressure. Since the spring, he took on this '8th wonder of the world' kind of thing with people coming up to him, tugging at him and asking for photos, and he hated it. Especially after The Opening. Now he has a place he can develop and not have as much attention on him and play with his best friends.
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Dec 11, 2017 01:17
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C. Everett Koop posted:How has he developed, considering he's greener than goose poo poo? Gotten stronger, actually understands the game to a point where he's able to play at full speed without having to think so much about it. Fundamentally improved his footwork quite a lot and mastered being able to use his hands. He also got surprisingly effective as a pass blocker at the RT spot, which is most likely a direct result of having to block Nolan Smith (2019 UGA commit), Xavier Thomas (Clemson) and Stephon Wynn (Alabama) at practice every single day. Now can he be effective at LT? That I don't know, because I don't think he had any reps at that position this year that I ever saw. Junior Evan Neal (also 6-foot-8, 375 pounds) took over the LT spot in August and never let it go. The only area I think Daniel still needs work in is straight ahead drive blocking. Which seems crazy given how gigantic and strong as he is, but for some reason IMG spent 0 time hitting the sled this season. He's powerful as all hell, so I don't think that'll be a difficult fix. He just needs to get better at playing a little lower and using his size to his advantage.
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Dec 11, 2017 15:16
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Well after saying Ayodele Adeyoe wouldn't sign with Texas, it's looking like the momentum has swung all the way back. Tom Herman and Coach Orlando were both on campus (showed up unannounced) to see him. It's looking like it worked. Dele was wearing his Texas backpack again for the first time in weeks after the visit. Assuming they probably also looked in on junior RB Noah Cain. Just this week, off the top of my head, other coaching staffs at IMG included Notre Dame (full staff), Clemson (most staff), Oklahoma, Georgia, Miami, Illinois and I'm forgetting a whole bunch. Anyway, it's been pretty crazy with the early signing coming up.
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Dec 13, 2017 20:49
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The Notorious ZSB posted:Doronin - Does VT really have any presence at IMG or is it kind of a rarity? We got Ladler, but I know that was more about not being scared away by his injury. I haven't heard of them having anyone here since the season ended, although that doesn't mean much. Lots of unannounced visitors lately. But VT usually spend a fair amount of time visiting during January and spring ball April/May. Bud Foster is the one I see around the most, and Galen Scott has been a consistent visitor when he's in the area. So they're here as much as most other P-5 schools. If they'd get a little more aggressive, there's no reason they couldn't be scooping up more guys from here.
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Dec 14, 2017 16:46
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nate fisher posted:I know it was false, but how could they stop him from transferring to another SEC school? Couldn’t he just go JUCO for a year and transfer to whatever school he wanted? Just curious. That happens all the time, yes, so it is absolutely possible. Saivion Smith just did it with LSU -> MGCCC -> Alabama. Cam Newton from UF -> Blinn -> Auburn back in 2009-10. Doronin fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Dec 14, 2017 |
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Dec 14, 2017 16:48
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Godzilla07 posted:Bad fit with Mullen, and immediate playing time? Plus there's some smoke about Corral's ~*off-field problems*~ Yeah, he's a shithead. He tried to go to IMG, I mean, begged the school. In the midst of that, learned that he beat the poo poo out of another kid he really shouldn't have. So he was a hard pass. But Ole Miss kept Chad Kelly eligible and out of trouble, so I guess it'll work.
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Dec 15, 2017 17:00
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Thermos H Christ posted:Does anyone have a sense of how many recruits are expected to sign on the 20th? In years past the first possible day to sign has been the de facto day when everyone signs. Has signing day effectively moved to December, or is this gonna be something that just a few players do? Ehud posted:I don't think anyone knows for sure, but if I saw one website estimating greater than 75% go ahead and sign next week. I think 75% of the committed kids is about right. In terms of TV/internet coverage, it's going to be weird. Nobody is really sure what to do with this. Do you do the wall-to-wall stuff now, or wait till February? Or just not make a huge deal of it and create a 2-3 hour special in February once all the classes are minted? Right now, I think it'll be a smaller programming entry in February when the classes are all final. Even the colleges are struggling to make time to create new bios for the new signees alongside bowl prep stuff. But then you also have the two All-American games, and a handful of kids will be announcing at those.
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Dec 15, 2017 23:05
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