2019 Recruiting - Football

I'm very wary of us dealing with street agents, quasi-street agents, or whatever you want to call these sorts of guys because of the danger, scrutiny, and exposure that could lead to compliance-wise. Still, you've got to give at least a little credit to 'His Royal Highness The Footwork King' for really knowing his craft when it comes to: (i) workouts, (ii) improving the skills and agility of young athletes, and (iii) helping them get into football-ready shape (as you can see with J. Shepherd).

I also agree with you that some may have lavished a tad too much harsh criticism on J. Shepherd for what basically boils down to acting his age when suddenly thrust into the limelight. After all, a really smart lyricist once wrote about this sort of scenario: "Cast in this unlikely role, ill equipped to act, with insufficient tact, one must put up barriers to keep oneself intact."

 

Looks good JF. I was hoping for another plug and play hit at RB against the odds.

 

Mookie working too

 

re: Tyler Owens

 

His legs are huge.

 

I feel bad for the poor white kid in that race. I knew a white kid that was really really fast. He is a doctor now, but he could run the 400 meters in under 45 sec. He was the anchor leg for Tech's 4x400 team in the mid 90's. He could run the 100 min about 10.5 range in high school.

 

Can get an idea of T'Vondre Sweat's (6'4,265) size/quickness combo here

 

Holy moly! 265 lbs should not be moving that fast! WOW.

 

I like the agility.

 

Impressive size/agility/moves. There can be no other explanation; he must have been trained by His Royal Highness TFK.

 

You have to love a big man with quickness and excellent footwork. He is going to be a player.

 

Those moves look like Akeem the dream or McHale!

 

Comparing Akeem's moves with Kevin McHale--not sure if sarcasm/humor/irony intended...?

 

Agree! IMO, no comparison!

 

Ok ok simmer down... I was referring to McHales pivot moves. In my view he was very good at it. I'm not saying he's better than Akeem.

 

Akeem was a beast because he not only had great moves but incredible athletic ability. Mchale post moves and footwork were probably better than Akeem's moves but he didn't have near the athletic ability that Olajuwon had.

Tim Duncan was better than both of them.

 

I was watching our recruit and how he used the pivot moves so well. That's exactly what McHale is doing in the video. Akeem also was very good at it.

 

He had names for those moves -- ex "the slippery eel"

 

McHale was a very good NBA player no doubt. But.......................not sure he could have handled the frequent illegal (at that time) double and triple teams the Celtics put on Akeem during the Rockets/Celtics 1986 championship series.

Bottom line, if our DL recruit's basketball moves are getting online comparisons to former NBA players, that says a lot about his agility and overall athleticism. I'm cool with that!

P.S./Tangent: That front court of Parish, McHale and Bird was one for the ages. Other than a few years of the "Twin Towers" scheme and the brief Clutch City era, Akeem had to shoulder the burden and carry his team through much of his career. Carrying a team that included supporting cast members like Robert Reid, Joe Barry Carroll (aka "Joe Barely Cares"), Sleepy Floyd (past his prime), etc.

 

The Hakeem Olajuwon who played the Celtics in 86 isn't even close to the one that destroyed David Robinson and Shaq in 1995.

Hakeem in 1986 was a beast, but he was more of a bull in a China shop than he was a guy that could kill you with his moves.

In 1986, Hakeem didn't have a go to move like he did in 95. Once he started to develop his skills as a basketball player, he was able to combine that with his amazing athletic ability and you have the best big man I saw until Timmy came around.

McHale on the other hand wasn't blessed with athletic ability, he was blessed with skills and he used those skills to carve out an amazing career. The answer to your question about what would McHale do if he had people thrown at him like Dream had. He would use his amazing passing skills to get the ball into the hands of an open teammate for an easy basket. Skills are skills, you can compete with pure athletic ability or you can compete with skills. You can win either way.

 

Ding ding... we have a winner. That's what I was focusing on. He clearly was working his craft and not just using athletic skills to succeed. Hopefully that means he will absorb any technique imparted to him. I think it's a really good sign of what kind of player he will be.

As for that Celtic front line; totally agree. I believe there is a 30 for 30 about the Magic, Kareem Lakers against that Celtic team. It's awesome if you have a chance to see it. The Celtics also had ML Carr and Cornbread Maxwell; just two tough SOB's who weren't at all impressed with Showtime.

 

Don't stop it. I want to keep arguing and nitpicking about old NBA players on the UT recruiting board

 

We have mastered the art of the segue around here! I minored in it in college man.

 

Now if only Sweat can master the 'Dream Shake'...

 

So who all are we still looking to close up the 2019 cycle with? Braun, Proctor, Willie, someone else, nobody? Our chances?

 

My take is we need a running back.

 

DB Greg Johnson and WR Velus Jones