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Mykel Traylor-Bennett [NFL Raiders]


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On June 21, 2016 at 0:44 PM, akron4ever said:

I noticed that Josh McNeil is no longer on the roster. Very unfortunate, as he was technically the highest-rated player in our program coming out of high school and could have been a real weapon for Woodson this year if he had been able to put it together. We saw glimpses last year but nothing consistent. 

He always seemed disinterested to me. 

 

Traylor-Bennett has received rave reviews at the TE/H-back position. I think we'll be better off this year at TE.

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3 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

He always seemed disinterested to me. 

 

Traylor-Bennett has received rave reviews at the TE/H-back position. I think we'll be better off this year at TE.

 

That's the impression I got as well, seemed like he thought he deserved to be at Bama or FSU still. Such a shame. The kid has all the physical tools in the world, and it seemed like at one point in the season the coaches were really trying to get him involved in the offense. Either way I agree that Traylor-Bennett clearly wants it more and we will be better off.

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Josh McNeil.  7 catches for 37 yards.  Not sure what you were seeing in this kid other than stars and this board has definitively determined how much stars matter, but if anyone would like to belabor that point for the next 3 pages, feel free to do so for the 57th time.

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24 minutes ago, K92 said:

Josh McNeil.  7 catches for 37 yards.  Not sure what you were seeing in this kid other than stars and this board has definitively determined how much stars matter, but if anyone would like to belabor that point for the next 3 pages, feel free to do so for the 57th time.

 

I saw a kid who was 6'5 260+ with extremely soft hands, and in limited playing time caught more passes from the TE position than any TE we had in 2014 (and maybe before, I don't feel like looking it up right now). Also, those 7 receptions came from about 10 targets. 

 

Regardless, I said that we'd be better without him. But if you didn't see a 2-3 game stretch where the coaches actively tried to get him involved, then we were watching different games. I think we would have a better offense with Josh McNeil at his best, but it didn't happen, so I'm not arguing that we will miss what we didn't have. Did he end up living up to the expectations of a 5* top 3 TE nationally? No. But I'm my opinion, he would have been one of the better TEs in the MAC had he put it together. 

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1 hour ago, akron4ever said:

 

Not sure what your point is. I'd rather have players who compare favorably to our opposition, regardless of how good our opponents' players have been historically. 

My point is, in our league, the TE position means precious little.  That is all.  I have not done the research on this topic, but I would imagine the top producing TEs in recent MAC history have not played on the top teams.  It is my contention that the more formations a MAC team utilizes without the TE on the field correlates positively with offensive production and number of wins.

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52 minutes ago, K92 said:

My point is, in our league, the TE position means precious little.  That is all.  I have not done the research on this topic, but I would imagine the top producing TEs in recent MAC history have not played on the top teams.  It is my contention that the more formations a MAC team utilizes without the TE on the field correlates positively with offensive production and number of wins.

I think UMASS had a TE who had a chance to get drafted in the past 1-2 years B)

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  • 1 month later...
On June 21, 2016 at 10:53 PM, skip-zip said:

Does this mean that all of the excitement over Traylor-Bennett's return, and being such a great fit for the TE position, is just a waste?

 

Not with the work he has put in over the offseason. 

 

MTB.jpg

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I am really excited about Bennett's potential and what that means to the offense. For the first time since Bowden's first year, the offense is really poised to be a serious threat, and it has depth, finally. It's not like last year, where a defense could focus on containing Lane and Hundley and hope to catch Tommy if he scrambled. With Lane, Natson, Bennett, and Warren Ball in the mix, there will not be nearly the pressure on Tommy to scramble, but he can scramble if needed. I am really looking forward to watching Tommy throw the ball this year. You have to think that our stacked offense is part of the reason Tommy is on the watch list.

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On 6/21/2016 at 10:53 PM, skip-zip said:

Does this mean that all of the excitement over Traylor-Bennett's return, and being such a great fit for the TE position, is just a waste?

Doubt it. He'll make an impact.

 

We're going to have 3-4 wideouts at any given time. If he's at the TE position, who covers him? He's not the traditional lumbering TE that an LB can cover. I think he's really going to put the pressure in the opposing defensive coordinator to pick his poison. Go small on the line (safety or corner) and try to contain MTB. In that instance, a big back like Ball will have an advantage. Or, go big on the DL...and the quicker MTB is going to catch some screens/slants and run a long way.

 

On paper, MTB's work in the weight room should give him the ability to hold his own blocking on the line vs LB's, and flatten MAC safety's and corners. We'll see how it plays out on the field.

 

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2 hours ago, Dr Z said:

Not with the work he has put in over the offseason. 

 

I know.  That's what I am seeing too.  Captain K points out some great scenarios where he appears like he can really be a factor as well.  

 

My post was simply questioning whether a shift to utilizing his talents can turn from theory into reality at that particular position.  it's a position that's virtually been ignored in our offenses since the arrival of Mr. Bowden.  I don't want to see us waste his talent, his comeback efforts, and anything else that's been invested in the conversion.  

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  • 2 months later...

Ziptageous brought up bad coaching decisions in another thread but I wanted to chime in here.  I was skeptical of MTBs move to TE when I heard of it.  The position had not been utilized beyond blocking during Bowden's reign and I had a real hard time believing they would integrate the TE into the passing game.  10 games in, MTB has 7 catches for 77 yards.  All of that great potential we heard about, wasted.  There is no way that anyone could ever convince me that this kid's talent couldn't be much better utilized in the slot.  I don't know whose idea it was to make the move, but it has proved out to be a poor one.  Very frustrating.

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He has missed the last 2 games due to injury, so that affects his numbers a little. He also played 3 games with Chapman at QB.

 

I think MTB would have been really effective over the middle against Toledo. Too bad he was hurt.

 

Prior to the season's start we didn't know what we had in Natson, and didn't know how much Wolf had improved. With Lane, Wolf and Natson, there's not a whole lot of balls to be caught by anyone else.

 

He has several TD's this season, so I guess I'm happy he's being utilized in some meaningful capacity, regardless of the position.

 

Just my 2 cents...

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58 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I think MTB would have been really effective over the middle against Toledo. Too bad he was hurt.

 

Prior to the season's start we didn't know what we had in Natson, and didn't know how much Wolf had improved. With Lane, Wolf and Natson, there's not a whole lot of balls to be caught by anyone else.

 

I'm glad this came up.  Lane's 91 yd. Touchdown pass came while he was coming from the TE position.  I'm sure this was a little trickery to hide him on the line like a TE, and have him take off down the middle of the field.  Watch the replay.  Maybe we need to try that again this year.  

 

I'm with everyone who thought it was good to move MTB somewhere else.  I think initially I was upset about the move, and we predictably never threw to him this year, but we do have plenty of WRs.  And you didn't even mention Kwadarius.  

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4 hours ago, K92 said:

Ziptageous brought up bad coaching decisions in another thread but I wanted to chime in here.  I was skeptical of MTBs move to TE when I heard of it.  The position had not been utilized beyond blocking during Bowden's reign and I had a real hard time believing they would integrate the TE into the passing game.  10 games in, MTB has 7 catches for 77 yards.  All of that great potential we heard about, wasted.  There is no way that anyone could ever convince me that this kid's talent couldn't be much better utilized in the slot.  I don't know whose idea it was to make the move, but it has proved out to be a poor one.  Very frustrating.

I don't know where he would have found reasonable time at WR. Lane, Natson, and Wolf are all better than he ever was as a fresh or soph. He has found a niche on the short yardage stuff at least I guess. It does seem we are using TE a little more as the season goes on, though still sparse.

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If Bowden doesn't use a tight end like a tight end,and that means you actually have to throw to him, it doesn't matter how good he 'might' be. If you noticed in the Toledo game,they were deliberately trying to get match-ups with their huge TE,#80 on Akron's small safeties. They did. No further comment at this time.

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  • 1 year later...

The NCAA has granted University of Akron football player Mykel Traylor-Bennett a sixth year of eligibility after missing the 2017 season.

 

Traylor-Bennett earned a bachelor’s degree in Summer 2017 and is pursuing a master’s degree in sport science and coaching.

 

“We are very excited that the NCAA has accepted the waiver he applied for because of medical hardship to receive a sixth year of eligibility, very similar to what Warren Ball went through,” seventh-year head coach Terry Bowden said. “It’s so good for Mykel Traylor-Bennett who had an ACL injury last year after previously having an injury that kept him out of the 2015 season. What that does is it brings us back to a player who as a true freshman started several games at wide receiver. We moved him to tight end, and he started for us there, but now we’re able to move him back out to wide receiver. He can give us a physical presence, very much like Jerome Lane did. That’s what we’re excited about. I’m not sure if there’s going to be a more physical wide receiver in the conference than Mykel Traylor-Bennett.”

 

“I never doubted God’s plan,” Traylor-Bennett said. “Adversity makes the man.”

 

 

 

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  • Dr Z changed the title to Mykel Traylor-Bennett Moves Back to WR
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