I'm a Southern Alum. I have many ex teammates who still live in Catawissa. I'll stick by my post.
The Prodigal Son ?
- Thread starter marshall23
- Start date
I generally agree. The one thing I can't level up is how you get to beat OSU with a guy who was their 3 or 4.
Leadership, work ethic, positive attitude and respected in Catawissa and Columbus....yes.
Perhaps he will be like a player coach and lead by example.
There is no question that PSU needs improvement and better results from its WRs. The question here is would Julian Fleming be the answer to the problem? The easy answer is that if in fact he is offered and accepts a scholarship here.....the people whose evaluations matter think so.Isn't the talent level of the current receivers the whole reason for PSU going to the portal and offering receivers?
They are not looking for QB's or RB's in the portal because the talent level is already there.
As long as he isn't wearing those Ohio State gloves?It shouldn’t be hard… for me there’s just some cognitive dissonance around integrating the concepts of “doing the decent thing” and a PA guy who originally had gone to OSU.
I’m sure I could get over it. A few spectacular catches in blue and white, and I could foresee the dissonance dissipating.
Were if and buts, candies and nuts, we’d all have a party.
Your assessment seems fair and logical. Hopefully he comes to PSU and thrives.He'll be nearly 24 when he takes the field this fall. He has chronic shoulder discomfort and apparent occasional subluxation, which surgeries have failed to correct. I don't see how you beat Ohio State with their former #3 or #4.
On the positive side, he's well regarded and respected at Southern Columbia and Ohio State as a hard worker, team player etc.
Perhaps he can instill a work ethic and proper attitude as a leader in the WR room?
While I don't see great value, if the staff brings him in, it means that Nic, James and Hagans wanted him. I'll give the nod to their judgement over mine
I'm sure the BWICAC will agree.
You guys are missing the clear explanation of all of this. Obviously, CJF is bringing Fleming in to steal OSU’s signs.
Maybe he understands route running and offensive concepts and can convey that knowledge to the coaching staff too. Like a player coach as you said.
Maybe, just maybe, he wants to be closer to home and the thought of playing for the new OC, with Drew Allar throwing him passes, was intriguing?
He'll be nearly 24 when he takes the field this fall. He has chronic shoulder discomfort and apparent occasional subluxation, which surgeries have failed to correct. I don't see how you beat Ohio State with their former #3 or #4.
On the positive side, he's well regarded and respected at Southern Columbia and Ohio State as a hard worker, team player etc.
Perhaps he can instill a work ethic and proper attitude as a leader in the WR room?
While I don't see great value, if the staff brings him in, it means that Nic, James and Hagans wanted him. I'll give the nod to their judgement over mine
I'm sure the BWICAC will agree.
You make some good points. I am taking a wait and see approach and will hope for the best.
Now, I do find the above comments from a few Buckeye posters to be full of backhanded compliments. Just listen to how one poster described Fleming by emphasizing his work ethic, strong blocking downfield, and a generally high character player. While these attributes are commendable, they are secondary to what Penn State desperately needs which are fast, dangerous, difference makers who will make cornerbacks play 10 yards off the ball in fear and terrify opposing safeties.
Also, don’t forget Fleming was a 5 star recruit. Being the 3rd option for Ohio State was not good. That’s why Fleming is coming back for one more year to improve his draft prospects.
Lastly, saying Fleming will immediately become the #1 WR for Penn State is not saying much when you consider how much of a disaster the PSU WR room is. Again, I really hope Fleming does well. However, Penn State still needs much more from the portal to address their WR deficiencies. Expecting Fleming to solve all the WR problems is wishful thinking and places way too much pressure on the guy.
are you crazy?
So what is different now? Are those points no longer valid or is that logic no longer reasonable?
We need WRs. Fleming can only help but we need another one.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, he has spurned us before and could have been a difference maker for the last couple of years. We were a few plays here or there from beating Ohio St and Michigan that he could have been the difference. On the other hand, he almost certainly would improve our weakest position room for next year.
The kid has fewer options and PSU has a young QB and a clear path at WR.
considering the the current OC is named Va-can't or something like that, anything is an upgrade.
So you’re saying the board can’t rip on the choice to offer him? Where’s the fun in that?
He upgrades the WR room, so I’m glad to have him. I don’t think it’s a dramatic change for us, but we’re better if he comes.
I hope we get JF and he goes on to have the kind of year that propels him into the NFL, so every time they mention his name they say "Penn State."
By the way, Lambert-Smith, Cephus and Fleming would make for a formidable WR group with the benefit of Spring practice. (if they return)
By the way, Lambert-Smith, Cephus and Fleming would make for a formidable WR group with the benefit of Spring practice. (if they return)
Add in Evans and Clifford, with a nice pass catching TE like Dinkins also.
Going with the prodigal son motif that the OP chose, what is interesting with invoking the story of the prodigal son is that the parable is widely thought of as solely being about the son who leaves his father, squanders everything, realizes his desperate state, and returns to his father seeking forgiveness, etc. That's obviously an important part. However, what many people don't realize is what occurs at the end of the parable—the other son who never left his father was self-righteously jealous and protested that his father would throw a party for his lost son who came back all the while he never celebrated the faithfulness of him, the son who never left. And when you read the parable in context of where it falls in Luke, you realize a good part of the parable's point is also a commentary on the attitude of the son who didn't leave.
All that to say this: if Fleming signs with PSU, how will we—the folks who never left PSU so to speak—welcome him back to PA? Indeed, what might this potential prodigal son of central PA reveal about our fandom? For me, dude I want receivers who can help our team. I hope to have a kid who will work hard in the classroom and on the field, stay healthy, move the sticks, and score TD's for the Blue and White. Let the past be the past.
I suspect with the long delay that JF to PSU may be in jeopardy?
Waiting on McCord decision?
Alabama in 2021 rode Ohio St WR castoff Jameson Williams to a #2 ranking, Ohio St was #6 and Williams was a 1st team All American over the Ohio St WRs that he couldn't beat out at Ohio St. Sometimes they just need a chance if they are in an overcrowded room. Joe Burrow winning a natty and the Heisman is another example of an Ohio St cast off whose new team outperformed Ohio St (and he outperformed the room he left).
I am definitely not proclaiming that Fleming will have the same level of success after his transfer but there is some precedence for beating Ohio St with their castoffs.
Williams, I believe, is 22 and already in the NFL. Admittedly, I don’t know his injury history (if any) at Ohio State. Julian will be 2 months short of 24 in Sept., with a chronic injury history. Fleming has been on the field when healthy. He just hasn't been productive. He didn't have a touchdown this season.
It's just my opinion that he doesn't seem like a player that will make a big difference. If the coaches want him enough to give him a scholarship and NIL money....they know a helleva lot more than I do. If he ends up here, as a PSU fan, I will pray he is the second coming of Jerry Rice.
I am not expecting him to be an All American. If he can improve the room by 10% then I get it. I'm still a bit on the fence with it. He's likely not the game changer that we need. He also could have made a difference as a recruit choosing to stay in PA. But that WR room is also looking pretty weak at the moment.
Thanks. I've checked out the site for awhile. Finally decided to make an account.
Love the username.
I welcome Fleming but don't view him as the savior of the WR room. He'll improve the room yes, because he has talent and the room isn't great right now. But I don't view Fleming as a 5* stud anymore, that ranking is based on high school which he's many years removed from at this point. My expectations would be that he'll be an above average WR, which we sorely need, but I'm not expecting the world from him.