One of these days you people will learn that when it comes to recruit speak and coach speak you absolutely can't believe anything someone says.
Jones flipping shouldn't surprise Cats fans
- Thread starter UKErik
- Start date
One of these days you people will learn that when it comes to recruit speak and coach speak you absolutely can't believe anything someone says.
There is nothing more crappy than UK fans who repeatedly predict we are going to lose certain recruits. Bite your tongue. Prideful predictions do nothing to help UK.
Answer the question instead of insulting. Why go after Jones if Barker is the only Elite 11 QB we need?
Erik is probably the most honest UK fan on this board. He sugar coats nothing, yet always remains optimistic. He called it like he saw it, and turned out to be correct.
This. Stoops has shown some flaws but having backup options in recruiting is something you can't question him on. Losing MJ sucks but it sucks for about 5 minutes. Now we need to move on to the next option. Bottom like is if Hinshaw is as good as they say at developing QBs then a 4 star Plan B recruit won't be that different from a Plan A 4 star recruit.
The problem is, are there any 4 star QB's left out there that we have legitimate shot at? It is probably far more likely that at this point we'll end up having to settle for a 5.5 or 5.6 rated 3 star... the kind of QBs UK typically signs and who often never make a significant contribution on the field. Mac Jones and his blatant lies have put us in a bad situation. I can only hope that the coaches have been communicating with other guys behind the scenes, but I have a feeling their loyalty toward Jones was probably much better than his loyalty toward them. Man, it really pisses me off the way that little a$% munch led on these coaches and fans with his comments, only to turn around and do what he did without even having the decency to call the coaches first and let them know what he was planning to do. What a chicken$hit move.
Who gives a crap if he was right? Honest does not mean running your yap. It does not help recruiting.
A dual threat QB may actually fit Gran's offense better. Not saying UK didn't want Jones. That would obviously be silly. Just that it's not a disaster that we can't recover from and still be in good shape.
1) I think Hinshaw's tweet pretty well puts the kabosh on that idea, but who knows. 2) As Jones himself said, he wasn't the best fit (mobility from what I can tell) for what UK wants to do on O. So a lesser rated guy could be better for our O. While the staff doesn't like the way the Jones thing went down, I think they were/are somewhat prepared for it in the way of alternatives. P.S. Who is Terrance Jones? Mac's brother?
Erik, I thought the same thing and told everyone about it. If he was from Kentucky, I would have felt a little more confident in his saying he wanted to come here. But just as someone suggested above, we were just his placeholder.
We were just your placeholder, weren't we you little peckerneck. Go to Tuscaloosa and get all the football glory. How much they paying you?
I want you to answer me in this thread, Mr Jones. YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY HIGHLY RATED RECRUIT TO TURN US DOWN?? WE'VE BEEN SPURNED BY BETTER PLAYERS THAN YOU. YOU DON'T DESERVE A CAR!!!
We were just your placeholder, weren't we you little peckerneck. Go to Tuscaloosa and get all the football glory. How much they paying you?
I want you to answer me in this thread, Mr Jones. YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY HIGHLY RATED RECRUIT TO TURN US DOWN?? WE'VE BEEN SPURNED BY BETTER PLAYERS THAN YOU. YOU DON'T DESERVE A CAR!!!
Not picking on you, but Towles was in his fourth year AND had a lot of starting experience, while Barker was a redshirt freshman. Also Towles was very close to the Elite 11, finished 12th in Elite 22 IIRC, and had a world of potential. I still think he might get drafted next year as a project because of his IDEAL physical assets. UK kept hoping he would live up to his talent.
I agree that we need a good QB commit in this class, but it might not be as important as some think, 18 will be the real crunch year if Hoak is as good as he looked in the spring game. But it is hard to have too many good QBs, we have to have another even if Hoak is a big winner.
I'm hoping that we sign Wills and our OL will allow us to sign not just a four star but a highly rated four star that can start as a redshirt freshman. We already have some pretty good skill players, it isn't that much off the wall. We need to start winning SOON though, at least a bowl this year and a breakout in 17.
With the way this staff has recruited with our record think of what they should do when we start winning------and I think we will start soon.
No, he was too busy building his resume so he could go where he THINKS he will be better off.
If we get Wills (in state, good chance if we play well this year, and I think we do) we could start an OL in 17 that averages a 5.940 as recruits. And the only non four star will probably be 5.7 AA, that many think was very underrated, and he won't be a true freshman AND won't be playing out of position. PLUS some very talented and experienced backups, Wills very important but probably not our biggest need.
The other startomg positions could ALL be filled with four stars also, IF that was desirable, including a QB that was the highest rated we have had since Couch.
If we start winning our share I don't see a big gamble at all, right now our biggest improvement probably needs to be our coaching, and I am very encouraged with the changes there.
Terrence Jones is the basketball player that was rated a lot higher than this Jones that signed with Washington and immediately switched to UK a few years ago.
LOL! What is "dumb" about saying Kentucky needs to sign a skilled quarterback in each and every recruiting class? We actually do need to do that, you know. Quarterbacks transfer. Quarterbacks get hurt. If you don't sign 1 in every class, you won't have enough of them to get the job done every year in a prostyle offense. Then you are in a position where you have to grab an uncommitted juco at the last minute, which is exactly what we had to do last January.
Not sure Jones flipping is as bad publicity for CATS program as some bloggers make out. If coach Hinshaw offense is run first and think it will be. Future CATS Zy'Aire Hughes and Walker Wood both tough as a nut competitors I think will provide different options for both Barker and Hoak offense.
I think we will have a winning record in 2017, when 19-20 starters and both kickers will return. I am not optimistic about signing Jedrick Wills, although Wills' very deliberate decision process does give Kentucky more than a fighting chance. Kentucky has 2 advantages with Wills. Wills knows he would play tackle at Kentucky, and Wills already knows Landon Young and Walker Wood from Lafayette. The problem is that several of the best programs in the country are going hard after Wills, and it's a great opportunity for him if he is willing to play guard. As for Mac Jones, the timing of his de-commitment gives Hinshaw 8 months to recruit another quarterback. That's the good news. The bad news is that most of the highly regarded quarterbacks in the national class have already committed. Making it worse, this is not a great year for high school quarterbacks in Kentucky and Ohio, where Stoops does most of his best recruiting. I expect Hinshaw to wait until the fall and watch for late bloomers and jucos. Barker will be here through the 2018 season, so Hinshaw needs a tall quarterback with a strong arm to redshirt in 2017.
Hinshaw is not run 1st. He isn't pass 1st. Hinshaw wants run pass balance. To make the prostyle offense work, you need a credible passing game that can get completions in the deep seams and on the sidelines. That takes a strong, accurate arm and recognition of the coverage. Can't get it done with a system quarterback or a displaced receiver. Walker Wood and Zy'aire Hughes have a chance to become good players at Kentucky if they are developed right. Hughes is a receiver. Wood is probably a safety. They are not SEC quarterbacks. They don't have the arm strength to complete passes in the deep seams against an SEC secondary. Mac Jones has that kind of an arm, but there are other quarterbacks who can do it too. Let's give Coach Hinshaw the fall to regroup and recruit another quarterback. He has plenty of time.
Winning SEC teams build and adjust game plans to do what is necessary to move the chains against each team on the schedule. If we can't do that, then we will lose. Putting aside what you may have heard, let's discuss what we know. Eddie Gran runs a balanced prostyle offense. SEC coaching staffs look at the strengths and weaknesses of future opponents, then they try to exploit weaknesses. Sometimes that means attacking players in the secondary. Sometimes it means attacking players in the defensive front. In almost all cases, being able to move the football through the air requires a credible running threat. But how that running threat gets established depends on each week's game plan. That's why broad statements about what Gran might do cannot actually predict what he will do each week. Winning SEC teams change up their strategies to exploit each opponent.
I been in a couple days long "discussion" of this very thing on our board. Every highly rated qb you sign isn't going to turn out very good, so you can't miss 2-3 years without signing one or you could be in real trouble. Like we were last year when we had to accept a grad transfer who couldn't win the starting job at Virginia. Less than half of them work out, about like the rest of a class, camps tell you how a guy can throw, it doesn't tell you how he can throw with a 300 pounder bearing down on him with intent to knock him into next week, or how quick he will read the disquises a DC throws at him, both of those are pretty important when it comes to playing qb.
About 95% of verbal commits wind up being signed so, I wouldn't say verbals are worthless, but I get the point that Jones was a high risk recruit given he was out of state with some great offers.
Count me in the class that thought he would keep his commitment. I felt like the situation we have here now gave him a great opportunity to become a multi-year starter with some excellent offensive players that is getting better every year and a very solid offensive coaching staff. Bama is the name brand program, but as pointed out by several of our members above, the odds of him becoming the starter at any point in his career there are severely stacked against him.
This is an incredibly insightful post or a premature conclusion given the fact that the good recruits you mentioned are just now becoming upperclassmen