The Great 8

Senat and Nichols deserve an invite more than MVS and Q. When do the invites conclude? It's a travesty if those 2 don't get in.

I haven't seen anyone list Watts. Dude was a quite heralded recruit and doing well before an injury this past off-season. Has someone heard something I haven't? Or, are people just forgetting about him?

2 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

We don't know.  That's just the feeling that I have.  I could be completely wrong though.

+1 

Reading between the lines, Chris seems to be about as accurate but a lot more mobile. I think there's a chance it was really 2A and 2B behind Q this season and that Kean was the default "2" to keep him from transferring out if he saw the writing on the wall too obviously.

That said, there's a whole off-season of competition to be had. I don't expect anyone to be declared starter until close to fall. We shouldn't write off Kean. Having skilled players like O and K is an "OK" problem to have.

#dadjokes

I followed Noreiga for a while and can confidently say he's a tool. I don't believe this.

20 minutes ago, Triple B said:

You would have come out better if you'd just said you used a bad choice of words and not start trying to rationalize with that "figuratively speaking"  bs ...

You're the one using absolute words, saying I'm a liar. When you pulled the douche move of taking figurative phrasing literally. Well, of course I had to explain my intentions to you since you're apparently too dense to understand colloqualisms. 

If you'd accepted my initial statement that I meant he won't be a rich man, this would be over. You tried to misrepresent my stance.

Let me be clear, I love Q. He should he rich. Right now. For his contributions to USF. I do not believe he has a path to riches now, though. And that's partially because xCWT convinced him to be a QB for USF by catering to an 18 year old's vanity. CCS' original aspirations for him likely had a better chance at making him a rich man.

7 hours ago, JTrue said:

I was going to say the same thing. I'll take a WR group that starts with Saloman and McCants.

I wasn't clear. Next year WR is fine. I'm saying 2019 has nobody except Salomon. Obviously someone else can/will step up. It's just interesting to see that we have zero Freshman or Sophomores contributing otherwise.

2 minutes ago, Triple B said:

 

I may be a baby, but you're a liar:

 

You're still being a baby. Figuratively speaking, a firefighter is poor. Especially compared to an NFL athlete. Again, in person this would be obvious, but instead you're butt hurt for Q and trying to pick a fight with a guy who loves him.

Also, my entire set of comments are based on the disappointment that Q isn't rich simply for what he's done for the program and the type of awesome person he already is. Stop mincing my words.

9 hours ago, Triple B said:

I guess saying that Q has zero chance at any sort of decent career inside or outside of football isn't "berating" him but what WOULD you call it?

Uh. False. I said he won't be a rich man. He'll be a perfectly great firefighter and upstanding man. Don't be a baby.

Who's up for speculation?

Offense

• QB: Oladokun
• RB: Sands / Mack
• WR: Salomon
• WR: McCants
• WR: Antoine / Bronson
• TE: Dillon / Wilcox
• OL: skipping

Defense

• DT: Bronson
• DT: Pinkney
• DE: Livingstone
• DE: Reaves
• LB: Sawtelle
• LB: Polk
• CB: Wilkins
• CB: Hoggins
• Nickel: Culpepper / Watts
• SS: Thomas
• FS: McGee / Watts

A few observations:

1. Every single WR, besides Salomon, that has been remotely productive is graduating next year. Scary.
2. Big shoes to fill at RB. Everyone knows this. I have faith here.
3. The situation for the front seven leaves a lot to be desired. Scary.

Overall, I think we lose a slight step on both offense and defense, but there's a chance we find more of the elusive "complete game" with another off-season learning the systems. Continuity is huge. I hope we can fend off poachers.

7 hours ago, whiskeyboarder said:

Where do Carlton Mitchell and Taurus Johnson rank? 

 

Those were the WR when I was in school.  But the offense was so different, and so was the competition, making it hard for me to compare them with the AAC guys.  McCants will probably be it, though. 

Mitch has got to be our most complete package of physical specimen + production ever. He did it against the toughest competition we've ever faced too. It's a shame he left early,  his senior year could've been special. MVS is close physically, but didn't do it against the same level of competition.

From "our" era, Johnson and Bogans were pretty friggin' good too. I really liked Hester and don't understand how he never caught on anywhere professionally (even CFL). Moving forward, Andre Davis gives these guys a run for their money as well, especially given the dearth of talent around him.

McCants does have a real shot at being the best ever and playing at the next level though. He's the complete package and can play Sunday's in the slot.

There's no more CFP polls and we're already ranked in the polls that give an end of season ranking. We shouldn't be unranked almost no matter what.

I'm really curious what the perception of our team in the pre-season next year will be. Black Friday should be the AAC championship play-in game again. With a year + off-season executing the system (which should fit our incoming QBs better), and UCF losing their lightning in a bottle coach, I suspect we'll have a distinct shot at getting to the CCG next year. Hell, UCF might collapse in their usual "sine wave" fashion after a good season.

10 hours ago, Orlando Bull said:

It's too hard to come up with examples, but, I disagree with you here. I would suggest that a lot of college QBs who are drafted specifically to change positions do pretty well. Denard Robinson, Matt Jones, Joshua cribbs, Marquise Gray, Edleman... I'll give you guys like Pat White, but, he didn't have the frame to take hits and was drafted as a QB. When scouts see athlete and draft/sign with the goal of a position change, it seems to work out ok. For one, those guys get more time because the team knows they are learning a new position.  I honestly can't think of many freak athletes that do not work out. Greg Ward Jr, who in my opinion is not even close to Q athletically, is on Philly's practice squad as a WR. He was undrafted, but, signed as a project for them. 

By the way, I believe that BJD was signed as a QB and tried there for a couple of years, so, I would count him as a washout, more of a success story that he was able to play 4 years in the NFL. He also made nearly $1.4 million dollars in 4 years, so, Bull Dozer's point remains, if QF can have an above average tenure in the NFL, he can make good money even if he isn't "relevant" by some standards. 

BJD eventually got moved to WR.

Regardless, I'm not saying my point is absolutely correct. I'm saying you can refute it without being a giant tool.

I guarantee he wouldn't refute me in this way if we were in person. Even if only because he'd be punched in the mouth for doing so. But, I'd like to pretend he'd also hear my tone wasn't berating Q.

7 hours ago, Bull Dozer said:

 

Move that goal post. Now Flowers has to be "relevant" or is automatically some kind of can't miss all pro if he plays RB/WR/DB.

Playing in the NFL for just a few years could change Flowers life if he manages his money correctly.  He will get a fair shake at that opportunity.  A major reason why is he got to touch the ball every offensive play and be a difference maker the last 3 years.    If he has this can't miss, was definitely made to miss out on millions talent you seem to assume he'll be just fine.  Your hot take was bad.  

Wow, you're being a ****. I'm not moving a goal post. I'm saying you've named 6 players over the last 20 years to make the transition. 2 of which had any level of success in the last decade. You  might as well include BJD in your list at this rate. I'm suggesting based on this, that it's INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY anyone makes the transition successfully, much less to relevance. You think Q is only the 7th player to try it in the past 20 years?

6 hours ago, Bull Dozer said:

Basically this.  

Blaming CWT is beyond stupid.  None of the other positions at USF gives Q the chance to shine on film and the exposure as playing QB.  Flowers wanted to play QB CWT didn't put a gun to his head.  Players like Julian Edelman, Denard Robinson, Terrell Pryor, Brad Smith, Josh Cribbs, Antwaan Randal El, have all had success at the next level recently.  There's even more guys going back that have gotten more than a shot by doing the same.   Now if you want to argue that FLOWER'S decision to not play at Bama, UF, Etc was the wrong move that's fine.  But to try to put that on CWT or suggest that he would've had a NFL prospect level career at USF at another position is just blind speculation and doesn't acknowledge the reality of what we had in our program during Q's time here.

Again, pure stupidity dressed up in "hot take".    Ah TBP where the stupidity always finds a way to surprise me.  

I love that you're citing Cribbs and Randal El as "recently". Both happened > 10 years ago. Edelman and Pryor are really the only examples on that list that achieved any sort of relevance. And Pryor would've been a better WR in college than QB, IMHO.

12 hours ago, Gatorbull325 said:

Yes! The offense was lost. I dont remember TJ Weist calling a bad game after Taggart left. He stuck to Taggart playbook

Again, that's one game. And ignoring a ****** second half at that. TJ did so well in his audition to be a coach elsewhere that he got no job.

One game means nothing. Over 3 seasons and 2 teams xCJL has turned around abysmal defenses and made them above average. That shouldn't be dismissed as nothing. You can choose not to deem it magic like I did, but there's a reason he's being paid so much to continue doing his job.

8 hours ago, Bull Dozer said:

Plenty of players make the transition and Q will draw plenty of eyes at pro day and possibly the combine to have that chance.  Also there's no guarantee that Q would develop on the offensive side of the ball at USF has without him our offense is probably in the crapper.  As for DB, maybe he's cut out to play DB maybe he's not.  You're reaching here on this as there is no way Q gets near the exposure or attention that he has right now playing another position at USF.  Your argument about CWT costing him millions is completely bunk because his best path to millions probably would've been going to Bama or another similar NFL factory and not USF.   Again, your initial argument is one of the dumbest  things I've ever read on this site.  

Jesus. I don't really feel like debating this.

1. I'd love to hear of all these formerly great ex-QB's thriving in the NFL at another position. The ones I know of were either a.) mediocre college QBs, or b.) very rare events.

2. Exposure and attention, at the level Q is getting, doesn't mean a lot. He's not getting any sort of legit Heisman hype or anything. Why would someone like Anthony Henry have been drafted if you  needed exposure?

3. OK, so CWT winning Q over Bama is costing him money then. Proves my point? As opposed to Mack who would've rode the bench for certain, we gave him a chance to shine and it paid off for him.

I love Q but the odds are against him making it in the NFL. If he'd spent the last 4 years playing WR / RB / DB he'd have a better shot. Assuming he didn't flame out completely at the position. Even if he flamed out horribly, he'd still have about the same odds of making it in the NFL as he does now. Near zero.

This is more a statement that Q should've been being paid as a player for what he did with our program. Not that he's some slouch.

I'm  happy to eat crow here.

3 hours ago, Gatorbull325 said:

.....yea, his defense got spanked. Besides 2 lucky interceptions, the team wasnt imptessive w/o Taggart calling the plays

You want to talk about a single game as a refute? LOL, GTFO.

11 hours ago, Bull Dozer said:

This is ridiculous and completely absolves Flowers of HIS desire to play QB.  He had plenty of P5 offers from powerhouse programs if he wanted to take the RB or DB path.  QF ultimately chose his path to do what he wanted to do.   This may be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read on TBP, and that says a lot.  

I'm simply saying that letting an 18-year-old pick the direction of the rest of their lives is often not a great choice, they're not the best decision makers and Q doesn't seem to be surrounded by wisdom. Sure, USF was his path to be a QB. Our program paid huge dividends for that. On the unfortunate side, it did him zero good for the NFL. I adore Q as a player and as a human. It doesn't mean the likelihood of him getting rich is in anything but football and that deciding to be a QB in college will likely kill that dream.

P.S. He should've been earning big bucks during his time at USF as QB. What he did for this university is almost unfathomable.

6 hours ago, Triple B said:

Is #realtalk used now instead of sarcasm font?

If sarcastic. Mine isn't. Refute me.

21 hours ago, Mama_Bull said:

By BRUCE FELDMAN 

December 17, 2017

Oregon had a rough Saturday, losing to Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl, but the Ducks got some great news Sunday. Multiple sources tell SI that defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt, who was a hot commodity this month, has agreed to a new deal to remain at Oregon. The deal was signed Sunday night and he will be paid an average of $1.7 million a year through the 2021 season.

The 61-year-old Leavitt took an Oregon defense that ranked No. 115 in yards per play allowed before he arrived in Eugene and improved it up to No. 32. At Colorado, his defense ranked No. 16 when he left, up 104 spots from the year before he showed up in Boulder.

Keeping Leavitt is a key move for new head coach Mario Cristobal.

https://www.si.com/college-football/2017/12/17/oregon-jim-leavitt-staying-defensive-coordinator-new-deal?utm_campaign=sinow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si

I'm sorry, this is magician level ****. He's turning schools that have been past mediocre into top 30 programs instantly and repeatedly. He should be HC.

Those who criticize CCS for offering him as a DB... it might have been QF's actual path to riches. He has an uphill battle to being drafted as a QB and an uphill battle to switching positions as a professional instead of collegiate player. CWT may have relegated him to being poor the rest of his life.

#realtalk

I've never been more disheartened from a loss than the UCF game. I'm okay with a long break. Can't wait to see what the spring has in store, but I've barely even kept tabs on athletics since Black Friday.

8 hours ago, bullnupe said:

What was ucf avg attendance before USF came to town

Similar to ours when FSU came to town last year.

Clearly Brad's fault