How bout we get all the fake patriots off talking politics for a thread and celebrate the fact we just got a high tier WR transfer from Alabamaaaaaa. We know Hill and Costello are starting. What's the 4 deep WR depth chart look like with Shavers included? I'm guessing he is an immediate starter being he's 6'6 and fast as 17 apparently. Costello hopefully gonna drop deep bombs to Shavers all year long like he's Randy Moss.
Projected starting offense with Shavers?
- Thread starter DAWG61
- Start date
Your top 4 are:
Mitchell
Shavers
Heath
Payton
We really need Tulu or Harvey to step up & be a Jameon Lewis type slot guy. That's what we're missing. Knox will be the best one we've ever had, but he doesn't get here till next year
Mitchell
Shavers
Heath
Payton
We really need Tulu or Harvey to step up & be a Jameon Lewis type slot guy. That's what we're missing. Knox will be the best one we've ever had, but he doesn't get here till next year
Until the stories started dropping last night, I had no idea that he was a grad transfer that can play immediately. That's awesome news, and then when I also saw that he's got two years to play, it keeps getting better and better.
No disrespect to our players, but getting a guy like this really shows you just how pitiful our WR depth truly was. I mean... dude caught one pass last year, and he's not only an immediate starter, but very likely our top all around threat at WR.
Anyway, I'm going Mitchell, Heath, Shavers as the Top 3 with maybe Pruitt in the slot? Payton, Torbor, and Williams being primary subs?
No disrespect to our players, but getting a guy like this really shows you just how pitiful our WR depth truly was. I mean... dude caught one pass last year, and he's not only an immediate starter, but very likely our top all around threat at WR.
Anyway, I'm going Mitchell, Heath, Shavers as the Top 3 with maybe Pruitt in the slot? Payton, Torbor, and Williams being primary subs?
I'm expecting one of the three tight ends (Spivey, Cumbest, Jones) to have an impact on the outside. Possibly Dontea Jones since he played receiver in high school. He should be able to create some mismatches, similar to how we used Jordan Thomas in 2017
I really think people need to slow their roll on this. I know he was at Bama and they had a pretty ridiculous receivers the past couple of years, but they also had plenty of blowouts for him to put together some stats in. Last season, they beat Duke by 39, New Mexico State by 52, USM by 42, Arky by 41, MSU by 31, and Western Carolina by 63. I'm glad we have him, and it's very possible no receiver on our team would have even qualified for garbage minutes at Bama last year, but those stats are not encouraging. Was he injured or something?
ETA: Looked some more and it looks like he played every game as a RS freshman and RS So (although he played special teams so may not have gotten plays at receiver in all those games) and he showed up in the stat line three times: a 20yd reception against Western Carolina, a 14 yard run against MSU, and a special teams TD where he recovered a blocked punt against A&M and made it two yards for a score.
Just seems like if he was going to come in here and significantly upgrade our WR corps as opposed ot provide additional depth, that he would have picked up some more garbage stats if nothing else.
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Before you get too excited, you might want to check out his opinions on turfgrass weed control and Dale's.
Just saying, what do we really know about him.
Bama didn't really throw to any WRs other than the 4 1st rounders.
Lack of opportunities is the main reason. Saban just runs the clock out after they get up big.
Outside of Waddle, Jeudy, Ruggs and Smith. WR’s caught 7 passes last year. Metchie is a slot guy with 4, Slade Bolden is a slot with 2. Shaver caught 1. Their top four(all first round potential) just didn’t leave the field. And I guess in the blowouts they just ran the ball or dumped it off to the RB’s and TE’s.
ETA: outside of the top 4 MSU receivers caught 14 passes and Wazzou caught 127!
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Not that I don’t think this kid can be productive, because I do. But, folks can throw around the “4 NFL RECEIVERS!!11!!1!” line like this dude himself shouldn’t be an NFL WR.. If he really is 6-6, really is 220, and really runs a 4.38 at that size, you tell me why he isn’t an NFL receiver himself? That’s an elite combo of size / speed even by NFL standards, and far superior to all of the “big 4” at Bama last year.
Something is amiss somewhere....he’s either a poor route runner, lacks elite lateral agility / mobility, has off-field / coachability / toughness issues (extremely unlikely on this one based on what I’ve read, but theoretically possible), or he has the Guidry hands. Or, he’s not as big or as fast as is being reported. That still doesn’t mean he’s a bad pickup by any means. But if none of that was true, he’d be the #3 WR (at worst) and starting for Bama this fall. Hopefully whatever it is can either be fixed by our coaching staff, or be relatively masked by Leach’s scheme. Leach certainly has the track record to get big numbers out of WR’s even if they aren’t NFL caliber.
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Leach goes 8-10 deep with WR's with more catches than Payton had for us last year.
We have the following on the roster
Payton, Mitchell, Williams, Gardner, torbor,
Ducking, Griffin, Harvey, heath, walley Shavers
X Mitchell Ducking Walley
H Griffin Harvey gardner
Y Payton Torbor Williams
Z Shavers Heath
I assumed: X and Z run a lot of deep routes, so if I missed who our big speed guys, and Inside guys run it's better to be quick, with very good routes.
This seems about right but I could see Heath starting at the X. In a 5 wide id like to see Shaver, Mitchell, Heath, Payton, Griffin. If Griffin is as advertised that’s a lot of height, speed, and quickness. Just got to get those reps in to get a feel for KJ and learn those option routes.
I was going to say the same. Leach likes to throw a quick pass across the middle, and those guys seem perfect for that roll.
I really wish Cumbest would play linebacker, though. We need help there and he's better suited for it.
That's good info. I am shocked that there were only 7 receptions outside their top 4 WRs.
And he must be pretty smart if he was able to get into grad school and get an out-of-state scholarship ....
The struggle I have is that the WR in Leach's offense play a certain spot. X, H, Y, or Z. They don't move around. That helps his install as each guy just learns one spot.
It makes it hard in that I want out best 4 on the filed together, (like your 5 wide set) but Leach rotates the WR much more than anyone else. A true 8-10 man rotation, and a second set of Ducking, Harvey, Williams, and Torbor seems to be a big drop off.
I also have high hopes for Griffin becoming the Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Gabe Marks, of the Leach offense.
Also I forgot to add our TE's to the WR rotation
Rev 2
We have the following on the roster
Payton, Mitchell, Williams, Gardner, torbor, Jones, Spivey, Dumbest, Warren
Ducking, Griffin, Harvey, heath, walley Shavers
X Mitchell Ducking Walley Spievey
H Griffin Harvey gardner warren
Y Payton Torbor Williams
Z Shavers Heath Jones
Speakest of "Dumbest", this is the "Dumbest" post I've seen this week for sure.
One, do you really think one of the most successful coaches out there is not going to play the best players he has? Two, your agenda is becoming very clear, I notice the one player you made fun of kinda stands out from the rest of the group.
Tone the racism down, Captain Downvote.
Spivey is inside, likely at Y. Not sure about Warren but I would guess he's a Y too as he doesn't fit the profile of an H. (Doesn't matter, I doubt he's in the two deep). Gardner is on the outside, Walley likely inside.
You are correct about how the receivers will play just one of the four positions, so I doubt very seriously we'll see Shavers, Heath and Mitchell on the field at the same time with them being all outside guys. They would have to move Heath to Y which I don't see happening.
If we ever go five wide, which I'm not sure we'll ever do, the running back would most likely just be lined up like a receiver, based on what I've seen from WSU.
I could see that.
Not having seen the freshmen, and the change of "they only play one spot" makes this hard.
And swapping out Hill for Griffin in the 5 wide does not seem like a downgrade.
I found this on how Leach Practices http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-mike-leach-keeps-producing-prolific.html
That everyone is catching a pass, every play, is the best way to fix the drops...
I'm not sure How I made fun of any of the players.
And Leach plays 8-12 WR every game. He'd not Moorhead and only plays 3 WR. Nor does he move guys around. If Peyton is our 3rd best WR and plays the Y, he's not moving to the Z when Shavers gets winded.
It's not that he doesn't play his best players, it's that he might not play his "best" 4 receivers at the same time. The offense wouldn't work as well putting a guy inside that doesn't have that skill set.
Last year his two best receivers were Easop Winston and Dezmon Patmon, but they both played Z so never on the field together. Both put up huge numbers. I could see something similar with Mitchell and Shavers.
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