Brewington
- Thread starter otismotis08
- Start date
I don’t care if they’re walk-ons, transfers, former jucos, 4* freshmen, or blind and deaf ballers. Just get the job done. Produce. Win.
It's amazing how some posters when they hear about a walk on making a play will immediately discount the possibility that a kid has some talent. As it turned out with Rafdal's departure and our injuries in our TE room that Brewington was a nice pick up for depth. A former scholarship guy at another school walks on at NU and contributes in game #2. Nice.
Kind of amazing how a win is perceived. NU did what it was supposed to do against an outmatched opponent but judging from some of the comments yesterday and today a neutral party would think that not only did NU lose, but badly. I get that people have issues with some of the staff, game planning and halftime adjustments. I do too but at least I can appreciate a win.
This, playing a team that only gets 60 scholarships and has serious restrictions on the class of athlete they can recruit to a virtual stalemate for the 1st 25 minutes is a definite concern.
who knows. Maybe Fordham will have their best year ever and we'll look back and realize that they had more talent than we thought.....but I doubt it. They did have some speed and shiftiness at WR.
The problem is that it’s not 1993 anymore. If you wanted to play a walk-on that practices his *** off over a 4* that didn’t, you rarely had to worry that the 4* would bolt since he had to sit a year, so you still had the talent when the walk-on turned back into a pumpkin. And the 4* may just pick up the walk-on work ethic. Double bonus.
Now, the 4* walks and you’re left with entire position groups decimated and flooded with walk-ons that have no business in P5 football. I’m not against walk-ons and I think they have their place. But we’ve seen way too many on the field in the last 4 years while talent walks out the door. Our coaches need to re-examine how to motivate. The old method is antiquated in the current environment.
We’re not rolling out a bunch of Mackovicas here. It’s Brody ******* Belt. That’s not going to get it done.
So you want to roll out a bunch of lazy 4 star guys who won't practice like it means something? Sorry. That doesn't work. We aren't starting a bunch of walk ons. We rolled out Brody Belt after the game was in hand and our "NFL" DB fubbaahed two punt catches. We played a walk on TE (who had been on scholarship elsewhere) because a couple of our scholarship TEs are on the shelf. IF a walk is higher on the depth chart then so be it.
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The walk-ons aren't being coached up either. I think under Pelini and Riley, we did develop some walk-ons to be starting quality. But with Frost, that's rarely been the case and the only reason walk-ons are starting is we have noone at those positions that are either prepared or skilled enough to see the field.
OK, I look at it this way. Overall, and I want someone to provide contrary evidence, our record of player development is abysmal. I believe, we simply have too many walk on players to be efficient in their development given the number of coaches. So how does anyone Square those two factors? If so walk on does emerge, it is probably due to their own development and maturity.
I don't know if we take too many walk ons or not. I'm not at practice. I think we throw a lot of guys at the wall and see who sticks. They're nice to have for depth and it seems like they help us at different positions each week due to injuries. One thing people forget is that many of the walk ons who show up in the fall don't last more than a year or two. Quite a few of them give up and quit football or leave for smaller schools. Not all of them tweet out that they're leaving.
We've got quite a few walk on kickers and punters right now but yet a couple of years ago we were holding tryouts to try to find a body who could kick extra points. That is why you have walk ons. They provide depth because unlike the NFL you can't go sign a free agent when you have a rash of injuries at a position. Hell we've had situation during Riley's and Callahn's tenure where we had trouble holding practices because we didn't have enough healthy WRs or QBs. I think we could get by with a few less guys but you just don't know when a guy like Spencer Long is going to show up. I don't know the right answer on this.
You are talking generalities. How many are "nice to have for depth"? How many is "many" walks that show up and then leave after a year?
One could easily argue that we haven't done a good job getting kicking talent in camp, needless to say it has not been our strength the past few years.
You are actually making my point if you reread what you wrote.
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