Underrated Freshmen from the 2017 recruiting class

#26
#26
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Yup. Darrin Kirkland Jr., Daniel Bituli, Austin Smith, Quart'e Sapp, Cortez McDowell, Colton Jumper, and Dillon Bates are all expected to play this season. All have playing experience, most have starting experience. LB is one of the positions I feel best about. After all the injuries we suffered last year, we've built up some nice depth at that position.

Will Ignont will be a menace on special teams this year and I could see him pushing for a starting spot next season.
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By contending for a SEC Championship standards (should be the goal every year at UT) there is absolutely no depth at linebacker. If Kirkland isn't out there its a major gaping hole.
 
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#29
#29
Power T-Rev said:
I thought Stephen Griffin was going to be starting at safety this year. Dang you D4H
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He should have been playing ahead of Todd Kelly Jr. but Butch Jones doesn't always play the better players. He has his guys and gives them too much leeway.

Stephen Griffin is gonna be great for NC State and he will have a better pro career than TKjr.
 
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#30
#30
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
He should have been playing ahead of Todd Kelly Jr. but Butch Jones doesn't always play the better players. He has his guys and gives them too much leeway.

Stephen Griffin is gonna be great for NC State and he will have a better pro career than TKjr.
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Hmm. . . who recruited Griffin again?
 
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#31
#31
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Yup. Darrin Kirkland Jr., Daniel Bituli, Austin Smith, Quart'e Sapp, Cortez McDowell, Colton Jumper, and Dillon Bates are all expected to play this season. All have playing experience, most have starting experience. LB is one of the positions I feel best about. After all the injuries we suffered last year, we've built up some nice depth at that position.

Will Ignont will be a menace on special teams this year and I could see him pushing for a starting spot next season.
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Only 1 player you listed has actually played well in games. Bituli and Sapp look like good players but they still haven't shown anything on the field. Colton Jumper and Bates shouldn't see the field for a competitive defense
 
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#32
#32
savannahfan said:
May not have to use him this year, but watch a man named Bumpus at DE or maybe at TE. Big good and also fast...
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That a boy savannahfan....stand up for your boy...he's gonna be a good one for sure....Savannah is a great place to be from...lots of good history there...
 
#33
#33
volnbama_ said:
Only 1 player you listed has actually played well in games. Bituli and Sapp look like good players but they still haven't shown anything on the field. Colton Jumper and Bates shouldn't see the field for a competitive defense
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Not to enter this fray but I know its in vogue to slam on CJ...but if he's not on the field in the Florida game...we probably don't win...granted he's not as athletic as most LB's in the SEC but holy cow there's SO MUCH MORE to playing LB than athleticism...not the least of getting the defense set on EVERY PLAY...so give me at least one smart LB on the field for every down...Now Kirkland is both athletic and smart...he's ideal...but never count out CJ....because of his brain and understanding of the game...
 
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#34
#34
volnbama_ said:
Only 1 player you listed has actually played well in games. Bituli and Sapp look like good players but they still haven't shown anything on the field. Colton Jumper and Bates shouldn't see the field for a competitive defense
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True. But the talent is there. Darrin Kirkland Jr., Daniel Bituli, Austin Smith, and Quart'e Sapp are all NFL caliber talents. Not too many teams have 4 future NFL LBs playing for them.

I'm confident we'll be fine at LB as long as those 4 are healthy.
 
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#35
#35
Great post. Love the positivity since so many people are upset when recruits don't have all the "stars" beside their names. I think the coaching staff has the ability to identify talent that will help the team. And yes, I know that all recruits don't always pan out.
 
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#36
#36
Brave Volunteer said:
We have very good talent overall, even great talent in certain positions. Do we have the elite talent that's needed to compete for SEC and national championships? Do we have Bama, Florida State, Ohio State, and Clemson talent? No, sadly we don't. We have 9-3 talent.
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9-3 talent may be too optimistic with all the unknowns, don't you think?
 
#37
#37
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
True. But the talent is there. Darrin Kirkland Jr., Daniel Bituli, Austin Smith, and Quart'e Sapp are all NFL caliber talents. Not too many teams have 4 future NFL LBs playing for them.

I'm confident we'll be fine at LB as long as those 4 are healthy.
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I would take Elliot Berry over Colton Jumper every time, although I might be in the minority.
 
#39
#39
tennrich1 said:
Not to enter this fray but I know its in vogue to slam on CJ...but if he's not on the field in the Florida game...we probably don't win...granted he's not as athletic as most LB's in the SEC but holy cow there's SO MUCH MORE to playing LB than athleticism...not the least of getting the defense set on EVERY PLAY...so give me at least one smart LB on the field for every down...Now Kirkland is both athletic and smart...he's ideal...but never count out CJ....because of his brain and understanding of the game...
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Beat me to it, and said it better than I would have. BUT imo CJ outplayed my expectations 90% of the time.
 
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#40
#40
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Based on a 4-year average of recruiting rankings, our roster is currently as talented as Clemson was last year. And we currently have the 8th most talented roster in the country. So yes, we are not on the level of Alabama, Florida State, and Ohio State when it comes to recruiting (they are after all the top 3 programs when it comes to recruiting). But then again neither was Clemson last year.

And if we're being honest, there isn't a huge difference between being the #8 most talented team in the country based on recruiting rankings and the #4 most talented team. Right now, we have no excuse when it comes to talent. Butch Jones has had 4 full recruiting classes. 2 of them were top 5, the other 2 were top 15. Lack of talent is NOT a legitimate excuse anymore. If we don't win the East this year, it'll be because our coaching staff is not good enough. It won't be because of talent anymore.
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Had the talent last couple of yrs to win the East imo. I don't buy in to the excuses.
 
#41
#41
Every time I watch Palmer's video I'm not sure what to think since the video speed seems to be sped up and he looks insanely fast yet there's always a DB close to him. The fans and refs move faster as well. It's annoying.
 
#42
#42
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
He should have been playing ahead of Todd Kelly Jr. but Butch Jones doesn't always play the better players. He has his guys and gives them too much leeway.

Stephen Griffin is gonna be great for NC State and he will have a better pro career than TKjr.
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TK isn't an NFL player. 5'11 200lbs, slow, and not a great tackler. Honestly he has games like he did against Florida and you think the guy is an NFL player. Then you watch him get toasted by a freshman TE and then you watch the A&M game and he looks like a walk-on.
 
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#43
#43
NannerPuddin said:
TK isn't an NFL player. 5'11 200lbs, slow, and not a great tackler. Honestly he has games like he did against Florida and you think the guy is an NFL player. Then you watch him get toasted by a freshman TE and then you watch the A&M game and he looks like a walk-on.
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Agreed. He is solid, but Warrior and Abernathy both have more potential at safety.
 
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#44
#44
NannerPuddin said:
TK isn't an NFL player. 5'11 200lbs, slow, and not a great tackler. Honestly he has games like he did against Florida and you think the guy is an NFL player. Then you watch him get toasted by a freshman TE and then you watch the A&M game and he looks like a walk-on.
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I know. I was just trying to say Stephen Griffin will be better than him at the end of the day.
 
#46
#46
savannahfan said:
May not have to use him this year, but watch a man named Bumpus at DE or maybe at TE. Big good and also fast...
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Bumpus has a nice ceiling IMO. It'll be interesting to see what side of the ball he ends up on. No clue what people are seeing in Thaxton. There is a reason why someone of his size and frame had such poor offers. He looks like a major reach to me. Thought he looked very stiff and rather unathletic for an SEC caliber DE prospect.
 
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#48
#48
volnbama_ said:
Only 1 player you listed has actually played well in games. Bituli and Sapp look like good players but they still haven't shown anything on the field. Colton Jumper and Bates shouldn't see the field for a competitive defense
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This. Good lord I'm assuming this guy is predicting an 11-1 or 12-0 season with the way he's hyping everyone.
 
#49
#49
tennrich1 said:
Not to enter this fray but I know its in vogue to slam on CJ...but if he's not on the field in the Florida game...we probably don't win...granted he's not as athletic as most LB's in the SEC but holy cow there's SO MUCH MORE to playing LB than athleticism...not the least of getting the defense set on EVERY PLAY...so give me at least one smart LB on the field for every down...Now Kirkland is both athletic and smart...he's ideal...but never count out CJ....because of his brain and understanding of the game...
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The problem with Jumper is how much he regressed as the season went on. He looked decent early but the bottom completely fell out with him about halfway through the season and it just kept getting worse and worse. The guy was awful the last 5 games or so and he probably had more mental busts that anyone else on that defense during that stretch. His play against Vandy was probably the worst individual LB play I've seen in one game. I'm assuming the staff saw this as well considering he was pretty much benched for the bowl game. For me, McDowell is the dark horse with the LB unit this year. If he can get back into better shape like he was in as a sophomore and gets his explosion back he could have a monster senior year.
 
#50
#50
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
You might be surprised to hear this, but we don't have those caliber of players anymore. Dobbs, Sutton, and Kamara were once in a generation type of players.

Its highly unlikely we ever have that sort of concentrated future NFL Hall of Fame talent playing together ever again. We still have a lot of future NFL talent on the roster. I just don't see any more Perennial All-Pros. We do have a couple of guys with pro-bowl potential still on the roster. But I don't see a Dobbs, Sutton, or Kamara. Guys who will be the best players at their position in the NFL for a number of years.
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Kamari was only slightly better than Kelley last year, Sutton didn't play at 100% but rarely, and if the line holds up the qb can still be quite productive. Dobbs was here when we needed him. He was great, no Barnett this year
 
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