'26 TE Lincoln Watkins (Kentucky Commit)

[thunder5]

But didn’t Watkins go for 39 for 668 while Carson had 33 for 409? As you said Carson played some OT because again he’s at a small private school. But Watkins had quite a few rushes also and some of what I watched he was a pretty good inline blocker also. I’m surprised this kid is as low rated as he is. Donelson Christian has like 245 kids in their high school(would be 17th smallest school in D1). Port Huron Northern has about 1,100 kids and plays in 2nd biggest class in Michigan.

This kid is definitely better than Sneed....absolutely no question about it

 

[EastTNVol95]

But didn’t Watkins go for 39 for 668 while Carson had 33 for 409? As you said Carson played some OT because again he’s at a small private school. But Watkins had quite a few rushes also and some of what I watched he was a pretty good inline blocker also. I’m surprised this kid is as low rated as he is. Donelson Christian has like 245 kids in their high school(would be 17th smallest school in D1). Port Huron Northern has about 1,100 kids and plays in 2nd biggest class in Michigan.

FWIW Rivals had this kid as a 4 star and the No.16 TE before they merged with On3. His offer list is pretty impressive too.

I would be more than happy if this is who we add at TE this cycle.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

But didn’t Watkins go for 39 for 668 while Carson had 33 for 409? As you said Carson played some OT because again he’s at a small private school. But Watkins had quite a few rushes also and some of what I watched he was a pretty good inline blocker also. I’m surprised this kid is as low rated as he is. Donelson Christian has like 245 kids in their high school(would be 17th smallest school in D1). Port Huron Northern has about 1,100 kids and plays in 2nd biggest class in Michigan.

I don't know anything about Watkins, Sneed produced those numbers in spite of the offensive system imo. I was not trying to compare the two as much as just stating that Sneed would also project as a flex tight end at college level. He's not really much of a blocker despite having played tackle and that's at that very low comp level

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

I don't know anything about Watkins, Sneed produced those numbers in spite of the offensive system imo. I was not trying to compare the two as much as just stating that Sneed would also project as a flex tight end at college level. He's not really much of a blocker despite having played tackle and that's at that very low comp level

I’m not sure I understand. They throw the ball quite a bit at DCA and they have a kid that’s a SR this year that was 80+ yards a game and 19 TD’s. He’s just a better player than Sneed is as a receiver which is why it doesn’t make much sense to have him ranked so high when he’s not the top receiving threat on his own team. Especially when the actual one that does make plays isn’t even ranked or being recruited. Both TE’s have close to same amount of catches 39 vs 33 but yet one has quite a bit more yards. 17.1 per catch for Watkins vs 12.4 for Sneed. One’s 6’5 235 and the other 6’5 205. In the end I’d rather have had Watkins to begin with as only thing Sneed really had was higher recruiting rating and he’s from TN. We shall see if below average competition he plays holds him back once he gets to college.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

I’m not sure I understand. They throw the ball quite a bit at DCA and they have a kid that’s a SR this year that was 80+ yards a game and 19 TD’s. He’s just a better player than Sneed is as a receiver which is why it doesn’t make much sense to have him ranked so high when he’s not the top receiving threat on his own team. Especially when the actual one that does make plays isn’t even ranked or being recruited. Both TE’s have close to same amount of catches 39 vs 33 but yet one has quite a bit more yards. 17.1 per catch for Watkins vs 12.4 for Sneed. One’s 6’5 235 and the other 6’5 205. In the end I’d rather have had Watkins to begin with as only thing Sneed really had was higher recruiting rating and he’s from TN. We shall see if below average competition he plays holds him back once he gets to college.

The "system" at DCA is built on running and then passing off play action or moved pockets for quick hitters or designated go routes, giving the mentioned receiver the opportunity to make plays. Sneed is largely used to clear out the middle of the field when not in pass pro to open up YAC opportunities for their slants. I haven't watched Watkins yet, but with the yards per catch thing for Sneed, they really only designate plays for him in the red zone where everything spacing related is tighter. Sneed played last season at 6'6/240+ so not exactly sure where the "6'5/205" is exactly coming from.

Sneed is very good up the seams, unfortunately his team's offensive scheme is not conducive of that, which in turn limits his stats, but how they use him opens everything up for everyone else. There's a lot of context needed to those numbers. This is why for the large part, stats don't matter for recruiting purposes (unless they are just straight up bad), especially at a position that needs to be used in a variety of ways over the middle of the field. High School football is very side to side and THEN go vertical, which does not translate into tight end receiving stats unless they are just a jumbo receiver (i.e. Brame). Sneed was very good up the seams and underneath against good competition at the Rivals Five Star event.

At the end of the day, the departure does not really affect Tennessee as they brought in two playmakers last class and 2027 Malik Howard at Oak Ridge High School down the road is the best tight end in the state for recruiting purposes. Always a good thing to have several good tight ends, but not the end of the world. Bill should be able to figure some things out down the road with Sneed assuming both are still there by that point...

 

[benholt06]

The "system" at DCA is built on running and then passing off play action or moved pockets for quick hitters or designated go routes, giving the mentioned receiver the opportunity to make plays. Sneed is largely used to clear out the middle of the field when not in pass pro to open up YAC opportunities for their slants. I haven't watched Watkins yet, but with the yards per catch thing for Sneed, they really only designate plays for him in the red zone where everything spacing related is tighter. Sneed played last season at 6'6/240+ so not exactly sure where the "6'5/205" is exactly coming from.

Sneed is very good up the seams, unfortunately his team's offensive scheme is not conducive of that, which in turn limits his stats, but how they use him opens everything up for everyone else. There's a lot of context needed to those numbers. This is why for the large part, stats don't matter for recruiting purposes (unless they are just straight up bad), especially at a position that needs to be used in a variety of ways over the middle of the field. High School football is very side to side and THEN go vertical, which does not translate into tight end receiving stats unless they are just a jumbo receiver (i.e. Brame). Sneed was very good up the seams and underneath against good competition at the Rivals Five Star event.

At the end of the day, the departure does not really affect Tennessee as they brought in two playmakers last class and 2027 Malik Howard at Oak Ridge High School down the road is the best tight end in the state for recruiting purposes. Always a good thing to have several good tight ends, but not the end of the world. Bill should be able to figure some things out down the road with Sneed assuming both are still there by that point...

I think Watkins would be a perfectly adequate replacement for Sneed.

But Watkins is trending Vol rn, and Sneed ain’t. That’s how dude reached his conclusion of Watkins is better.

 

[thunder5]

I think Watkins would be a perfectly adequate replacement for Sneed.

But Watkins is trending Vol rn, and Sneed ain’t. That’s how dude reached his conclusion of Watkins is better.

It’s just science…you can’t argue with science

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

The "system" at DCA is built on running and then passing off play action or moved pockets for quick hitters or designated go routes, giving the mentioned receiver the opportunity to make plays. Sneed is largely used to clear out the middle of the field when not in pass pro to open up YAC opportunities for their slants. I haven't watched Watkins yet, but with the yards per catch thing for Sneed, they really only designate plays for him in the red zone where everything spacing related is tighter. Sneed played last season at 6'6/240+ so not exactly sure where the "6'5/205" is exactly coming from.

Sneed is very good up the seams, unfortunately his team's offensive scheme is not conducive of that, which in turn limits his stats, but how they use him opens everything up for everyone else. There's a lot of context needed to those numbers. This is why for the large part, stats don't matter for recruiting purposes (unless they are just straight up bad), especially at a position that needs to be used in a variety of ways over the middle of the field. High School football is very side to side and THEN go vertical, which does not translate into tight end receiving stats unless they are just a jumbo receiver (i.e. Brame). Sneed was very good up the seams and underneath against good competition at the Rivals Five Star event.

At the end of the day, the departure does not really affect Tennessee as they brought in two playmakers last class and 2027 Malik Howard at Oak Ridge High School down the road is the best tight end in the state for recruiting purposes. Always a good thing to have several good tight ends, but not the end of the world. Bill should be able to figure some things out down the road with Sneed assuming both are still there by that point...

Came from DCA’s roster that he was 6’5 205 and not 6’6 240 so someone somewhere is lying. Watching YouTube of Sneed I didn’t really see what you were talking about as their running game and passing were about even with a slight edge actually to their passing game. Almost 200 yards a game for a high school team is pretty nice and watching YouTube I didn’t get a sense that they were a run first team that opened up their passing because of that. Graggs scored on 35% of his catches while Sneed only scored on 18%. So not sure I agree with your assessment on it all but either way, I think he’s highly overrated and in the end he won’t be anything special at UNC and if he had came to UT he would have left after a season or 2 anyways. But that’s just my thoughts about it all while watching his schools tape.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

Came from DCA’s roster that he was 6’5 205 and not 6’6 240 so someone somewhere is lying. Watching YouTube of Sneed I didn’t really see what you were talking about as their running game and passing were about even with a slight edge actually to their passing game. Almost 200 yards a game for a high school team is pretty nice and watching YouTube I didn’t get a sense that they were a run first team that opened up their passing because of that. Graggs scored on 35% of his catches while Sneed only scored on 18%. So not sure I agree with your assessment on it all but either way, I think he’s highly overrated and in the end he won’t be anything special at UNC and if he had came to UT he would have left after a season or 2 anyways. But that’s just my thoughts about it all while watching his schools tape.

I've seen DCA multiple times in person over the last three years and watched Sneed over his high school career so that's where my assessment is coming from. The receiver scores because his routes are designed to generate YAC opportunities because nobody at that level is catching him. High school coaches are there to win too which usually limits tight end stats that play a real tight end role. I did watch Watkins and his school just uses him as a jumbo receiver on go routes so he's naturally going to have more opportunities to acquire yards...

 

[Skooter]

Their scrimmage v PJP2 the last few days will be the biggest competition they play all season more than likely. I haven’t looked at the schedule to verify.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

I've seen DCA multiple times in person over the last three years and watched Sneed over his high school career so that's where my assessment is coming from. The receiver scores because his routes are designed to generate YAC opportunities because nobody at that level is catching him. High school coaches are there to win too which usually limits tight end stats that play a real tight end role. I did watch Watkins and his school just uses him as a jumbo receiver on go routes so he's naturally going to have more opportunities to acquire yards...

I don’t really agree with your assessment watching him And his team but you do you. In the end he’s not very impressive at the same time playing against absolute crap competition. It would be different if he was head and shoulders better out there when playing that comp, but he’s just not. So I’m still not sure what or how anyone see’s him as a 4 star. In the end I think he ends up playing for an FCS school down the road like UT Martin or UTC. I mean his school is a little smaller than South Pitt, but at least SP plays against something resembling competition.
Yes, Watkins plays more a jumbo WR but also seems to be able to block ok, a jumbo WR works pretty well in our offense which is why I’d rather have had him anyways. Has really good hands it seems and can get some YAC while playing much much better comp.