2017 Wide Receiving Corps

[Blue & Gold]

Bible: Can't replace someone like Send-It-In-Jerome.

 

But... 

 

we're gonna still be stacked like pancakes at WR next year.

 

In addition to our WR's already on the roster who got decent playing time this year (Austin Wolf, Kwadarius Smith, Kevin Gladney, A.J. Coney, Anthony Lauro) we're adding...

 

Bryce Dixon (6-4, 225) 3-star who had offers from Miami-FL, Boston College, NC State & Old Dominion

 

Freddie Simmons (6-3, 180) 3-star who had offers from NC State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia, Cal, UCF, Temple, Purdue, Western Michigan & Buffalo

 

Thaddeus Snodgrass (6-1, 170) 4-star who had offers from Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Purdue, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Toledo & Ohio. Holy crap.

 

So, hey P.J. Fleck... how ya like them apples... I mean stars?!

[kreed5120]

IDC who we have waiting in the wings. Us losing both Lane and Jojo next season is going to make us weaker at the WR position heading into next year. We have some nice prospects and quality contributors, but it's too be seen if we have a clear #1 in this group.

[K92]

Word is that Blake Dennis is finally coming on board too.

[Zipgrad01]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

Bible: Can't replace someone like Send-It-In-Jerome.

 

But... 

 

we're gonna still be stacked like pancakes at WR next year.

 

In addition to our WR's already on the roster who got decent playing time this year (Austin Wolf, Kwadarius Smith, Kevin Gladney, A.J. Coney, Anthony Lauro) we're adding...

 

Bryce Dixon (6-4, 225) 3-star who had offers from Miami-FL, Boston College, NC State & Old Dominion

 

Freddie Simmons (6-3, 180) 3-star who had offers from NC State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia, Cal, UCF, Temple, Purdue, Western Michigan & Buffalo

 

Thaddeus Snodgrass (6-1, 170) 4-star who had offers from Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Purdue, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Toledo & Ohio. Holy crap.

 

So, hey P.J. Fleck... how ya like them apples... I mean stars?!

Jelani Hamilton with offers from Miami, Florida, Florida State, Auburn, Georgia, LSU. Oh wait.... He transferred for a reason. He blew. 

 

I wouldn't be so fast to talk smack to PJ Fleck. He knows how to recruit and coach talent. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Zipgrad01

[LZIp]

44 minutes ago, K92 said:

Word is that Blake Dennis is finally coming on board too.

Now that is a good one.

[Zipgrad01]

45 minutes ago, K92 said:

Word is that Blake Dennis is finally coming on board too.

He must be one of the 3 heralded receivers stepping in. 

[Buckzip]

Not everyone that is listed with an offer really had an offer. Some were offered camp invites and some were offered official visits. An offer means you were offered a full ride scholly by the coaching staff. I know for a fact one offer on the list above is wrong.

 

Still looking forward to these guys. Hopefully Woody is healthy and the WR group remains a strength.

[skip-zip]

17 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

IDC who we have waiting in the wings. Us losing both Lane and Jojo next season is going to make us weaker at the WR position heading into next year. We have some nice prospects and quality contributors, but it's too be seen if we have a clear #1 in this group.

 

Kreed, I harp about this all the time.  I can't believe how many people on here look at the losses of a good, experienced, veteran stars, and tell us it's going to be nothing to worry about as they reference the list of high school kids who are on the way here.  

 

It happens in both football and basketball discussions all the time.  

[Captain Kangaroo]

So what do you do...huddle in a corner, twitch and cry?

 

Seniors graduate. Great players move to the professional ball. It happens at every Division 1 program in the nation, every year. I'll go out on a limb and predict it will happen at every school next year too.

 

Wolf is solid. Coney is a good #4 WR.

 

Smith has boarderline world-class speed...maybe he develops, maybe he doesn't. With no Lane and Natson, he'll get some PT, and I liked what little I saw of him in 2016.

 

We bring in 3 heralded WR's. All with P5 offers, who ended up here for various reasons. So they are talented, and already have a year in the program. 

 

Beyond that, you never know who comes across the waver wire as a 5th year transfer, or what Freshman might emerge. It's only November. 

 

Losing Lane or Natson is like having your 98 year old grandparents pass away. It's sad, but their time was up. They had a great run... provided some great memories...and now it's time for the next generation to step up. 

[ComettoZip]

4 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

Kreed, I harp about this all the time.  I can't believe how many people on here look at the losses of a good, experienced, veteran stars, and tell us it's going to be nothing to worry about as they reference the list of high school kids who are on the way here.  

 

It happens in both football and basketball discussions all the time.  

I'm not trying be a jerk but all Collegiate programs go through this, every player is given 4 years of eligibility & part of the process every year is going Oh My God how are we going to replace so & so.  That is why the recruiting process is so important & also the part that makes College Football so awesome, if we are heading in the direction that everyone on here is hoping we are heading you have to hope someone steps up & I hope as a whole if Woody's shoulder is better next year that the receiving group is even better

[K92]

We will miss Natson more than Lane.  Natson was a gamer and always gave 100%.  I just wish he would have hauled in that last pass against Ohio.

[Captain Kangaroo]

4 minutes ago, K92 said:

We will miss Natson more than Lane.  Natson was a gamer and always gave 100%.  I just wish he would have hauled in that last pass against Ohio.

Amen. I was traveling and listening to the end of the game on the radio. I didn't actually see the endzone play until I watched the coach's show this week.

 

I can't believe he didn't pull it in. I bet Natson catches that ball 99 out of 100 times. 

 

Tough kid. Great player. I'll miss him.

[kreed5120]

I don't see anyone here saying we should just hang it up and forget about next year because we lost Lane and Jojo. However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend we aren't going to miss what they provided us. The strength of our team this season was our WR core. We enter next season with it being an unknown. There are still plenty of other areas where we can improve as a team (QB play, O-line, D-line, Linebackers). Perhaps 2-3 years from now these young receivers will be better than Lane or Natson. I just don't expect them to be next season.

[ComettoZip]

8 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I don't see anyone here saying we should just hang it up and forget about next year because we lost Lane and Jojo. However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend we aren't going to miss what they provided us. The strength of our team this season was our WR core. We enter next season with it being an unknown. There are still plenty of other areas where we can improve as a team (QB play, O-line, D-line, Linebackers). Perhaps 2-3 years from now these young receivers will be better than Lane or Natson. I just don't expect them to be next season.

I'm new to watching Zips football but from what I see we need to get BIGGER, especially on D-Line, you need a 300 LB DT that can't be moved & keeps blockers off the second level, we need a QB (Hope full recovery for Woody but it is throwing arm so nervous) & a viable backup, the other positions seem to have pretty descent depth & talent but no team is good if you can't control LOS so I hope the next info I see on here is a great DT commitment & hopefully DT transfers

[Captain Kangaroo]

37 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I don't see anyone here saying we should just hang it up and forget about next year because we lost Lane and Jojo. However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend we aren't going to miss what they provided us. The strength of our team this season was our WR core. We enter next season with it being an unknown. There are still plenty of other areas where we can improve as a team (QB play, O-line, D-line, Linebackers). Perhaps 2-3 years from now these young receivers will be better than Lane or Natson. I just don't expect them to be next season.

We didn't have Natson last year, and we went to a bowl game. We had him this year, and we're watching bowl games. 

 

I don't get fretting over losses of seniors.

 

Maybe next season Warren Ball is healthy, and he picks up the offensive slack?

 

Maybe one or two of the incoming LB's is an impact player and our defense picks up the slack?

 

Maybe one of the new WR's is really good?

 

Maybe Lane would have blown his ACL in game #1 with the Zips next season, and we'd have need to figure out a Plan B on-the-fly, instead of having 10 months to identify and groom his heir?

 

It's college football. Players leave. Next man up. 

[skip-zip]

57 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I don't see anyone here saying we should just hang it up and forget about next year because we lost Lane and Jojo. However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend we aren't going to miss what they provided us.

 

Perhaps 2-3 years from now these young receivers will be better than Lane or Natson. I just don't expect them to be next season.

 

Perfect. 

 

I just beat my head against the wall when people assume that the next 17 year old kid we just recruited will instantly fill the void.  That's rare.  The early loss of Lane is a big loss for this offense.  

[kreed5120]

5 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

We didn't have Natson last year, and we went to a bowl game. We had him this year, and we're watching bowl games. 

 

 

We might not of had Natson last year, but we were fully aware of what he was capable of considering we saw him play at Utah State.

 

I certainly hope we are better as a team next season. If not, Bowden better be out the door. I'm not fretting or losing sleep over the loss of Lane. As I said there are other areas of this team that we can more than offset his loss. I'm just acknowledging the fact that it will be pretty evident our receiving core won't be as good next season as it was this season. That's just recognizing a fact. The same as it was pretty evident our linebackers this season weren't going to be as good as last season after we lost all those players to graduation.

 

As you have stated and is obvious players only stay 4 years. Of which most starters start for only 2-3 years. This means with constant turnover the strengths and weaknesses of your team are ever changing. WR might not (and probably won't) necessarily be the weakness of our team next year, but it won't be the overwhelming strength neither.

[Captain Kangaroo]

57 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

I just beat my head against the wall when people assume that the next 17 year old kid we just recruited will instantly fill the void.  That's rare.  The early loss of Lane is a big loss for this offense.  

Meh.

 

If you're going to replace Lane, getting three nineteen-year-old athletes who had scholarship offers from programs like Kentucky and NC State isn't so bad. It could be the best WR recruiting influx we've ever had? 

[skip-zip]

27 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

who had scholarship offers from programs like Kentucky and NC State

 

Who have also not yet put on an Akron uniform and stepped on the field.  I treat them all the same.  See any of my past posts on this topic. 

 

If they make immediate impact, it's always a bonus.  An absolute bonus.  You can hope.  But, my rebuttal is always to those who see a need to say, "who cares if we lose (enter veteran player here), we have (enter new recruit here) coming to save the day next year". 

 

Yes, it probably will be the best WR recruiting influx we've ever had, if they end up panning out. 

[LZIp]

21 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

Who have also not yet put on an Akron uniform and stepped on the field.  I treat them all the same.  See any of my past posts on this topic. 

 

If they make immediate impact, it's always a bonus.  An absolute bonus.  You can hope.  But, my rebuttal is always to those who see a need to say, "who cares if we lose (enter veteran player here), we have (enter new recruit here) coming to save the day next year". 

 

Yes, it probably will be the best WR recruiting influx we've ever had, if they end up panning out. 

There was where Jojo Natson was yet to step on the field in an Akron uniform.  There was a time Jerome Lane didn't even play offense. Both panned out pretty well. Both made instant impacts. Relax. There is plenty of depth and young talent at the position. Losing players to the NFL due to graduation or early declaration is a "problem" that every good program in the country deals with.

[zzx]

Of course there will be a wide open competition for all of the WR positions next year. However, with Jerome Lane to the NFL and Kentucky transfer TE Darryl Long (6-4 246) eligible to play for the Zips in 2017, I think Mykel-Traylor Bennett may emerge in Lane's vacated starting X-WR spot. Austin Wolf should hold on to the starting Z-WR spot. 

[K92]

5 hours ago, zzx said:

Of course there will be a wide open competition for all of the WR positions next year. However, with Jerome Lane to the NFL and Kentucky transfer TE Darryl Long (6-4 246) eligible to play for the Zips in 2017, I think Mykel-Traylor Bennett may emerge in Lane's vacated starting X-WR spot. Austin Wolf should hold on to the starting Z-WR spot. 

Oh, goody!  Another TE we will not utilize!