Devine only averaged 3.8 yards per carry last year. He has 8 TD's already this year. His first 3 years only 9 TD's. He is averaging 7.4 yards per carry. He has been statistically the best player when viewing PFF stats. What other players will be mediocre for 3 years and great his Senior year?
Devine took over 3 years to get good
- Thread starter Bigred511
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Just came back from the future: Lamar Jackson.
Maybe Gerry Gdowski? But that was more being behind Steve Taylor than being mediocre.
Berringer was pretty mediocre in the few opportunities he got in 1992 and 1993 (and a redshirt in 1991). Can that count?
Edit: Dean Steinkuhler went from not making the all-conference team in 1982 to winning the Outland and Lombardi Trophies in 1983, then was the #2 overall pick in the 1984 NFL Draft behind Irving Fryar. That is probably a more impressive junior-to-senior accolades jump than Suh.
Maybe Gerry Gdowski? But that was more being behind Steve Taylor than being mediocre.
Berringer was pretty mediocre in the few opportunities he got in 1992 and 1993 (and a redshirt in 1991). Can that count?
Edit: Dean Steinkuhler went from not making the all-conference team in 1982 to winning the Outland and Lombardi Trophies in 1983, then was the #2 overall pick in the 1984 NFL Draft behind Irving Fryar. That is probably a more impressive junior-to-senior accolades jump than Suh.
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I sure hope so.. I still haven’t given up on this kid and he’s made me mad more times than I can remember.. I’d like see that it was worth it.
We need a pass rush bad...
Probably has something to do with offensive scheme...
That's what happens when you're an upperclassman and why redshirting freshman is so valuable. There's a ton of development that happens in 4 or 5 years. There are plenty of examples of players not doing anything their freshman or sophomore or even junior years but then blowing up as a senior and end up being very good players.
And there are also a wealth of examples of freshman coming in and playing straight away. It’s a case-by-case basis… Not everyone should red shirt. Can you imagine how much worse things would be for us if Martinez redshirted? That’s assuming Gebbia left as well…
It helps if when you are a senior you get out of somebody's doghouse you were in as a junior.
JMO, Devine didn't need three years to develop, he just needed better coaches.
Two that come to mind: Keithen McCant from way back, maybe Phil Dillard more recently. Maybe Enunwa? I think he made a pretty big jump in his last year in the program.
No it took 3 years to overcome two major obstacles: 1 - a poor S&C program and 2 - getting out of Reggie's doghouse.
Did it really take him 3 years to get good OR is it just Scott Frost's offensive scheme and Ryan Held's coaching?
Jamal Lord, Bernard Thomas, Joe Ganz, Phillip Dillard, Barry Turner are past examples.
That is a pretty good list but I don’t remember Bernard Thomas having a good year at all. He talked a great game but he only showed marginal improvement from his junior to senior year.
Yeah I was being generous with Mr. Thomas but that team did go 10-3 and he started every game.
People complained about guys like Bernard, Pierre Allen, and Barry Turner, but I would take any of them in a heartbeat right now. It's a tough act following guys like Wistrom, Rucker, and Vandenbosch.
Should also add Bernard was one of the more intimidating looking guys around. Seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.
I was just wondering this myself lately. Who were some other senior phenoms we've had?
Matt O'hanlon comes to mind.
Kiethen McCant was pretty out of nowhere.
While actually only a Jr. Brandon Jackson got pretty good pretty fast.
Matt O'hanlon comes to mind.
Kiethen McCant was pretty out of nowhere.
While actually only a Jr. Brandon Jackson got pretty good pretty fast.
He's looking a lot faster and quicker than he did in the past. Some of that might be comfort with the offense and allowing himself to react rather than think about what he's doing.
The rest of it is the offense - OL has been clicking and Frost's offense is doing what it does -- push defenses to defend all the way across the field and to respect the ability to get deep behind the safeties.
While he showed promise, he wasn’t better at the time than Newby and he wasn’t better than Bryant to start last year. The things that have helped him are hard work, injuries and Bell’s transfer.
That may be the most appropriate comparison to Ozigbo as both benefited greatly from a change in coaching and offensive scheme.
It's a growth mindset rather than fixed. The world is filled with plenty of people who feel that you are what you are and improvement isn't going to take place. But nothing could be further from the truth, especially when dealing with 18-20 year old kids.
It's interesting how the play at the position got better after a highly touted player quit the team. It seems like it shouldn't work out that way, but sometimes it does.
Hmmm. Ozigbo never redshirted. If he is pro material and gets drafted, we can waste time and argue about a hypothetical 5th year.
Wilbon did redshirt. Shall we discuss the value added? Maliek Collins never redshirted and went pro after his junior year.
The dynamics of redshirting have changed, it is not value added to blanket redshirt freshman. Redshirt walk-ons, scholarship players require decision making.
Wilbon did redshirt. Shall we discuss the value added? Maliek Collins never redshirted and went pro after his junior year.
The dynamics of redshirting have changed, it is not value added to blanket redshirt freshman. Redshirt walk-ons, scholarship players require decision making.
Call me crazy, but I have a feeling Ozigbo has always been as good as he is this year, he’s just been drastically under utilized over the past 3 years. I also tend to think the Oline has been so bad the last 3 years under Cav that it didn’t matter who was in the backfield, they weren’t going to get much yardage. The Oline is improved this year, and I think that is reflected in the increase in offensive production.
Oz really did have some nice games before this year and there were times he tried to carry the team. But there’s only so much running room behind a Cavanaugh coached line.
Greg Austin has really improved this line. Oz is running into some big holes.