ckparrothead

When I say he has good feet that doesn't necessarily mean he's a great scrambler. Jimmy Garoppolo who was just drafted by the Patriots in the 2nd round had some of the quickest feet I've seen in an NFL prospect. Trent Green also had great feet. Nobody's confusing either of those guys for scramblers. It's about how quickly he moves his feet in his drop back, how much depth he's able to get as he pops back, the quickness with which he can set up the throw, and the balance he can achieve while doing everything so quickly. All of those things for him are very good especially for someone still a year away from getting out of high school. Quick feet usually belie a quick mind. That doesn't mean he's perfect from the waist down. I think there are things a technician quarterbacks coach will want to work with him on like how wide he keeps his feet, not getting his feet crossed, being more consistent in pointing his toe, and not drifting during his drop. Those are just my guesses but I'm not an expert. I'm not intrigued by his feet because he's doing it perfectly every time. I'm intrigued because of some of his intrinsic capabilities that way. And yeah on top of that he also appears to be a pretty good scrambler. Very elusive. It's from the waist up...that's going to be the real adventure from the standpoint of his quarterbacks coach. If the kid has good feet then he's got a great base with which to work (literally) but the coaches are going to have to try and help him build his release better from the waist up. Believe it or not I've heard coaches say they'd rather have a quarterback with great footwork rather than a guy that's doing it right from the waist up. I've also heard a fair number of hall of fame quarterbacks talk about accuracy being all guided by the feet. Hopefully the kid can cut down on wasteful wrist movement, speed up his delivery and get better weight transfer.

Keep waiting for someone to bring up his feet which are clearly his best attribute. Instead I keep seeing "big throws", "quick release" and "live arm"...even though velocity and release are probably the weakest part of his game. His feet are tremendous. They're going to need to work with him on his release and velocity. The accuracy is there, but a lot of that is the feet.

Not sure I like him being a tight end. Looked more interesting on defense.

Based on that video alone I would expect Todd Chandler to rise to the top and Deadrin Senat to be right with him. Derrick Calloway and especially Bruce Hector, not so much. It's just one drill, but that's the way that drill shook out.

Talked to a sports writer from Bradenton this evening. USF isn't his beat but he did run into Taggart somewhere. Coach T told him that Marlon Mack may have been the steal of all the recruits. Makes sense.

I believe both De'Ernest Johnson and Marlon Mack played Division 5A ball.

Where did anyone say that? Nobody did. Certainly not me. I believe I've stated myself pretty clear and I'm not sure why it's being met with petulance.

If this is about football IQ that favors the freshmen even LESS.

Hate to burst peoples bubble here because everyone keeps wanting to name all these receivers but you've really got to think about this. Andre Davis is still here. He's going to get the lion's share of targets. Sean Price is still here. Mike McFarland is still here. Deonte Welch is still here. Chris Dunkley is still here. Derrick Hopkins is still here. There's not been a material change to the receiving unit. For example last year Marcus Shaw took 156 carries, about 60% of all the RB carries. He's now gone. That's a big void some combination of players will need to fill. The pass catchers have no void. But they DO have some talented players particularly Andre Davis, Sean Price, Mike McFarland and possibly Chris Dunkley that they're going to want to keep heavily involved. Meanwhile we've got the same quarterbacks as a year ago...the ones that completed only 46% of their passes and therefore gave the pass catchers a total of 166 receptions to split up between them. I doubt that's going to jump up to 65% passing all the sudden. Then on top of that, think about what CWT is really trying to be as a team, what he values. Think about Stanford. They had efficient passing over in Stanford this year but still had only 190 receptions to divvy up amongst their receivers...compared to a whopping 584 runs. If we're talking about guys that make an "impact" by catching perhaps 6 to 8 passes on the year...ok I feel you, maybe we can start talking about some of the receivers. But I don't know that I would call that an impact. Although I think Tyre McCants on special teams could be a good call. Add up his special teams work and the little bit of work he'll probably get on offense and I think that could add up to an impact. There's a chance there. In actuality the Bulls are going to be so run-heavy that we should probably be naming both Marlon Mack AND De'Ernest Johnson instead of doing the one-or-the-other thing.

I think OL Michael Galati has an outside shot to end up on the field. He's been a favorite of mine for a while. The Bulls should by all means have their starters set but Galati has versatility and polish working in his favor and that means he could end up on the field due to an injury at really any of the positions. Otherwise I think OLB Jimmy Bayes is an obvious choice for playing immediately. Wouldn't discount Vincent Jackson from sticking his nose in there at linebacker. Devin Abraham is another kid with the versatility and background to end up on the field in the secondary even as a young guy. I don't know about impact, though personally I do expect him to be a ballhawk like his dad, but I think he could end up on the field some...which is more than you'd say about most freshmen. I'm not mentioning the JUCO guys because that kind of goes without saying.

Not sure I'd count on any receivers to make an immediate impact, for a number of reasons. As many have already stated, Tyre McCants sticks out like a sore thumb. I suppose if any young guy at that position stands a chance it would be him. But I don't think any young guy will really make an impact there. The RB position is one that stands out as a place where a young kid could make an impression, like Darius Tice did a year ago becoming the second-leading rusher on the team. He was the young guy at that position a year ago I thought could make an early impact because he had the vision to be a safe runner, picking and choosing his holes wisely and not letting the play call down. He wasn't the most physically impressive guy, didn't have the sexy power or tantalyzing tackle-break ability that many were looking for with other guys...but I knew from a coaching standpoint his vision in the backfield would make the coaches feel safe giving him the ball. There's no Marcus Shaw to dominate the position this year and as I stated before, Tice is not exactly a physically dynamic player. He's a trustworthy player but not necessarily a physically compelling one. So this position is a lot more open than a year ago. And the guy I like to rise to the top among the young runners is Marlon Mack. With all due respect to De'Ernest Johnson, I thought Marlon Mack's tape stood out more. Mack has the vision that stood out to me with Darius Tice, but he's also got physically dynamic abilities. Some of the things that Mack sees from the backfield are very impressive as he recognizes threats quickly and even sees threats at the second level. He's able to use his speed, agility and size to capitalize on his vision.

This is not very far off. The question is will Taggart himself show the same level of freneticism in his choices like he did in 2013. At some point it barely seemed he could go a half without second guessing and putting a different QB in.

I don't expect it to be a terribly difficult decision. I expect Steven Bench will enter the year as the starter. Age, experience, background, mobility and now the spring game are all working in his favor.

Think we're getting ahead of ourselves if we're talking about going from 2-10 with a loss to McNeese State all the way to having 7 wins based on one recruiting class. Those recruits will still be in swaddling this year. Few of them will play and even fewer will have an impact. If you want to talk about this year's performance, start talking to me about the recruiting class from two years ago. My major concern remains that they may have royally screwed up the quarterback position. It's encouraging to see that Bench had a good spring game but as I wasn't there I don't necessarily have great confidence about it. I don't think this team will do what Willie Taggart wants it to do until they've got the QB situation figured out better. Hopefully Bench turns out to be that solution...because there probably isn't another solution on the roster.

Not taking away anything from D'Ernest Johnson as he's a great recruit but I'm surprised Marlon Mack isn't getting more love. Mack's tape just screams at me, kind of like Tyre McCant's tape. Both Marlon Mack and D'Ernest Johnson played in Class 5A ball. It's just curious to me why one gets so much more love than the other.

I'm still a little disappointed in the quarterback situation. I missed that UCF picked up Tyler Harris. That's a good recruit.

That's true Clerveaux's high school is right where Telly would be recruiting. Nataro and Galati are from CWT's old stomping grounds. Wonder if he had a more direct hand with them.

Some of the guys I like best like Devin Abraham, Stanley Clerveaux, Nick Nataro, Michael Galati and Marlon Mack aren't even listed on any of the recruiters' commits. Who recruited them? Would that be CWT himself then? If so I'm even more sold on CWT.

I would say the reason Chase is holding off and/or considering prep school in Virginia is grades. If he goes to prep school it's pretty obvious. Joc Ellison is also in a holding pattern right now and I think his grade issues are a known quantity.

I agree that he's a good signing that should be more heralded. He's probably not getting much credit because of his deficient size. I'm not sure what his speed is. But he plays all-out football. I know people say that about guys but I rarely agree with it. If you play all-out football one of the easiest ways you can make an impression is special teams and it's no coincidence so much of his highlights are on special teams.

One last guy that I think is underrated is Devin Abraham. He intrigues me more than some guys that are rated better that USF signed. For full disclosure, when Donnie Abraham has a son and that son is a defensive back prospect, there's a certain amount of the story I'm going to buy pretty much sight-unseen. I definitely believe in bloodlines and upbringing. I've seen too much not to. It's therefore not surprising that when you look at the tape of him, he has the look of a born football player. Tough, physical, aggressive as all heck, willing to put his body out there every play, and then you add on top of it some speed and really great natural ball skills and I think you've got a winner.

He's really...really good. Probably the best WR prospect USF has snagged.

Right now I think what CWT needs is a quarterback that can get the football into the hands of his playmakers. That's the biggest threat to CWT's reign in Tampa right now. We saw that spring to life in 2013 when the team couldn't even win as many games as Holtz did in 2012. And no I absolutely do not see Mike White as the answer. He had some nice-looking moments from a mile high view in his first game, but when I really took a much closer look, that is when I realized some of that success was a bit on the lucky side. The rest of his time in at quarterback showed the right of those conclusions. Like I said, Quinton Flowers is ideally three years away from seeing the field.

Benjamin Knox is obviously a physically gifted looking player but I have some issues with him that I think make Michael Galati much more of a batteries-included recruiting prospect despite Knox's being generally rated far better. Knox is clearly borrowing power at the expense of control in the way he plays. The way he moves and carries himself is not structurally sound or balanced. Frankly, I'm tempted to put him on defense.

****. Tyre McCants is really, really good. Wow. That's one that is very easy to fall in love with.