Chicago's Team but not one City of Chicago Player. Really?

[Turk]

Since 2007 when Fitz came on board, he has gained one city player, ie., Anthony battle, a few years back. He ended up signing Walker's original target, Charles Brown in 2007. But that's it.

I don't want to hear all the BS about how City players don't fit NU academically or otherwise. That's all BS.

I've seen other solid programs take Chicago's kids and make men out of them.

NU needs to get off their high perch and fix this, if it really wants to be "Chicago's Team".

There are tons and tons of smart city players who have high IQ's who may not have received the best ACT score due to the environmental circumstances of having shitty public schools with putrid resources.

NU needs to bridge that like other private schools do. In some ways, I think NU's 'high academic standards' are prejudice, and maybe intentionally so since it's much more difficult to overcome some challenges at public high schools when they may lack the resources of suburban schools.

 

[DkeCat]

More appropriate....

This post was edited on 2/10 11:01 AM by DkeCat

This post was edited on 2/10 11:02 AM by DkeCat

 

[thewildcat2011]

Generous

This is a * if I ever saw one

 

[Hungry Jack]

Get some Xanax. Please.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

You're really on a roll this morning, aren't you?

By comparison, do you know how many players Illinois has that are actually from the city of Chicago according to their official bios? Three... including two walk-on's. And the one scholarship player is from Crete-Monee, which plays in the Southland conference and can't really be called a "Chicago" school if you ask me. They signed two Chicago kids in the class of 2015: (i) Jamal Milan from Al Raby High School, who some are wondering will even pass admissions at Illinois and (ii) Patrick Nelson from Hales Franciscan, which is Catholic League.

That would be Illinois, the state school with much MUCH lower academic requirements and the kind of bridge programs in place that you're stumping to establish at NU.

Know how many CPS players signed with BCS level schools in the class of 2015? One, Jamal Milan. In 2014? Two (Chris Covington at Indiana and Denzel Ward to Syracuse). In 2013? Four. (Reggie Spearman to Iowa, Demetrius Cooper to Michigan State, Johnny Daniels to Purdue, and Kendall Moore to Syracuse). CPS isn't exactly the recruiting hotbed that you think it is.



Still think NU is just being "stuck up" in not recruiting kids from Chicago?

 

[Turk]

+1

Instead of editing my post, I'm going to acknowledge that you made some convincing points. I looked at the rivals database and, much to my surprise, practically no Chicago football players signed anywhere. As far as BCS type conferences, I could count them on one hand, for each year. My bad.

Oddly, there are more div 1 players in my own steel valley league in northeast Ohio than the whole city of Chicago. A recruiter could shoot a cannon off in the entire city of Chicago and not hit one single recruit.

I can't imagine this is true for BB, but maybe it is with BB as well. I don't mind having a change of mind over the matter, your opinion was convincing.
This post was edited on 2/10 12:02 PM by Turk

 

[Hungry Jack]

CPS is really all about basketball. Football almost seems an afterthought.

If there is one that got away, it's Laken Tomlinson of Lane Tech. But that was 5 years ago.

 

[Gladeskat]

Originally posted by Hungry Jack:
CPS is really all about basketball. Football almost seems an afterthought.

If there is one that got away, it's Laken Tomlinson of Lane Tech. But that was 5 years ago.

Louis Trinca-Pasat ( 2nd team all-B1G DT; 3X academic all B1G) from Lane Tech would have been a nice addition as well.

 

[Deeringfish]

Corbin Bryant was a CPS grad from Morgan Park. I think Fitz was the recruiting coordinator then, yes?

 

[Cardiacagoan]

There was just an article from Lou targeting Paddy Devlin from St. Pats the other day.

 

[JournCat]

Originally posted by Hungry Jack:
CPS is really all about basketball. Football almost seems an afterthought.

If there is one that got away, it's Laken Tomlinson of Lane Tech. But that was 5 years ago.

Exactly. The real outrage is in basketball. CC has already started to fix this.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Originally posted by Gladeskat:

Originally posted by Hungry Jack:
CPS is really all about basketball. Football almost seems an afterthought.

If there is one that got away, it's Laken Tomlinson of Lane Tech. But that was 5 years ago.

Louis Trinca-Pasat ( 2nd team all-B1G DT; 3X academic all B1G) from Lane Tech would have been a nice addition as well.

We HEAVILY recruited Laken Tomlinson as a DT, but he ultimately decided he wanted to get away from home.

Trinca-Pasat was (and still is, really) an undersized, projection, try-hard DT that played DE and OLB his senior year. We didn't have him terribly high on our list due to the significant "projection" required. His stated desire to enroll early (which was pretty much impossible during my time at NU -- still shocks me Westphal pulled it off) was a big reason we didn't pursue him very hard.

 

[Gladeskat]

Originally posted by gocatsgo2003:

Originally posted by Gladeskat:

Originally posted by Hungry Jack:
CPS is really all about basketball. Football almost seems an afterthought.

If there is one that got away, it's Laken Tomlinson of Lane Tech. But that was 5 years ago.

Louis Trinca-Pasat ( 2nd team all-B1G DT; 3X academic all B1G) from Lane Tech would have been a nice addition as well.

We HEAVILY recruited Laken Tomlinson as a DT, but he ultimately decided he wanted to get away from home.

Trinca-Pasat was (and still is, really) an undersized, projection, try-hard DT that played DE and OLB his senior year. We didn't have him terribly high on our list due to the significant "projection" required. His stated desire to enroll early (which was pretty much impossible during my time at NU -- still shocks me Westphal pulled it off) was a big reason we didn't pursue him very hard.

We've had at least a couple of players (Alexander and Lezi) enroll early during the Walker era. What's the big deal about early enrollment under Fitz? Fitz/NU need to stop creating so many barriers to recruiting. Not everybody wants to loaf and party through high school like Fitz did and thinks others should.

Maybe we need to land more undersized, projection, try-hard DT's that played DE and OLB in high school. That's often who we recruit anyway (Bryant, Rice, Chapman, Kennedy, etc.) and they often turn out to be excellent DT's (besides Trinca-Pasat, Iowa's King, Kroul, Klug come to mind).

 

[corbi296]

Interesting to hear we were recruiting him as a DT. Had he gone to NU and played DT, I don't think he'd be going into the upcoming NFL Draft projected to be 3rd round draft pick. This staff seems to do that a lot. We seem to take a lot of HS lineman who have decent athleticism and project them on the DL even though that athleticism could translate to higher upside on the OL. On the current roster I think Lancaster, Oxley, McEviily and Mahoney fit that category. Is that driven by the difficulty we have in recruiting good DL prospects? Unfortunately the byproduct of that approach is the OL suffers and that is consistent with the type of play we have seen from that unit recently. I still think Oxley should be moved to the OL while he still has time to develop. I thought his HS tape showed a signifcantly higher ceiling as an offensive tackle than as a defensive lineman.

This post was edited on 2/10 8:06 PM by corbi296

 

[TXnumbCAT]

You jump to the conclusion that NU is prejudiced?? Screw you Turk.

 

[Fitz51]

Originally posted by TXnumbCAT:
You jump to the conclusion that NU is prejudiced?? Screw you Turk.

Oh, give Turk a break - NU's academic standards would have left Turk on the outside looking in, as well.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Originally posted by Gladeskat:

We've had at least a couple of players (Alexander and Lezi) enroll early during the Walker era. What's the big deal about early enrollment under Fitz? Fitz/NU need to stop creating so many barriers to recruiting. Not everybody wants to loaf and party through high school like Fitz did and thinks others should.

Maybe we need to land more undersized, projection, try-hard DT's that played DE and OLB in high school. That's often who we recruit anyway (Bryant, Rice, Chapman, Kennedy, etc.) and they often turn out to be excellent DT's (besides Trinca-Pasat, Iowa's King, Kroul, Klug come to mind).

Early enrollment at NU has very little to do with the coaches and their preferences and everything to do with the prospects and their transcripts. It usually comes down to the number of core courses on the transcript, particularly English. If you thought NU's requirements were difficult for "regular" admissions, imagine how difficult they are for early enrollment.

And you're absolutely right that we often recruit projection, try-hard DTs who have played DE and OLB -- that's what Oxley did, for instance. Quite frankly, I'm very surprised that Trinca-Pasat turned into the player that he did.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Originally posted by corbi296:
Interesting to hear we were recruiting him as a DT. Had he gone to NU and played DT, I don't think he'd be going into the upcoming NFL Draft projected to be 3rd round draft pick. This staff seems to do that a lot. We seem to take a lot of HS lineman who have decent athleticism and project them on the DL even though that athleticism could translate to higher upside on the OL. On the current roster I think Lancaster, Oxley, McEviily and Mahoney fit that category. Is that driven by the difficulty we have in recruiting good DL prospects? Unfortunately the byproduct of that approach is the OL suffers and that is consistent with the type of play we have seen from that unit recently. I still think Oxley should be moved to the OL while he still has time to develop. I thought his HS tape showed a signifcantly higher ceiling as an offensive tackle than as a defensive lineman.

This post was edited on 2/10 8:06 PM by corbi296

The inability to recruit top-rated DTs certainly plays a role. The truly top-flight DTs are historically pretty poor academically. Our scheme also calls more for gap control than penetrating DTs.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

I wonder why. When scoring the Wonderlic test (which Wonderlic developed while at Northwetern graduate school incidentally) results at the NFL Combine, Centers and OTs traditionally score the highest:

OTs: 26
Centers: 25
QBs: 24
Guards: 23
TEs: 22
Safeties: 19
ML: 19
Cornerback: 18
WR: 17
FBs: 17
HBs: 16.

Source: ESPN. Curiously, the NFL doesn't seem to have published any Wonderlic scores concerning defensive linemen, but presumably their scores fall below HBs, a statistically significant finding if true.

Here we have the biggest players on the field playing opposite each other, yet their respective intelligence as measured by Wonderlic fall on opposite ends of the continuum. Why is that? Is it selection bias? Do coaches differentiate as to the degree of alacrity and acumen among big men and then relegate the less intellectually inclined to the defensive side? Or do the less gifted unconsciously seek out positions allowing them to attack versus be attacked? But many play on both sides before college. So it seems implausible. But what explains it? Is it the abuse their bodies take, particularly with regard to head injuries? Or perhaps the Wonderlic scores for DLs are in line with their counterparts on offense and the information was not disclosed for some arbitrary reason.

If anyone knows whether any studies were conducted on this topic, please share.






This post was edited on 2/11 1:07 AM by Cat In The Cradle

 

[Gladeskat]

Originally posted by Cat In The Cradle:
I wonder why. When scoring the Wonderlic test (which Wonderlic developed while at Northwetern graduate school incidentally) results at the NFL Combine, Centers and OTs traditionally score the highest:

OTs: 26
Centers: 25
QBs: 24
Guards: 23
TEs: 22
Safeties: 19
ML: 19
Cornerback: 18
WR: 17
FBs: 17
HBs: 16.

Source: ESPN. Curiously, the NFL doesn't seem to have published any Wonderlic scores concerning defensive linemen, but presumably their scores fall below HBs, a statistically significant finding if true.

Here we have the biggest players on the field playing opposite each other, yet their respective intelligence as measured by Wonderlic fall on opposite ends of the continuum. Why is that? Is it selection bias? Do coaches differentiate as to the degree of alacrity and acumen among big men and then relegate the less intellectually inclined to the defensive side? Or do the less gifted unconsciously seek out positions allowing them to attack versus be attacked? But many play on both sides before college. So it seems implausible. But what explains it? Is it the abuse their bodies take, particularly with regard to head injuries? Or perhaps the Wonderlic scores for DLs are in line with their counterparts on offense and the information was not disclosed for some arbitrary reason.

If anyone knows whether any studies were conducted on this topic, please share.

The genetic makeup and consequent phenotypes of DL do not correlate well with Wonderlic intelligence.

 

[WinstonSalemCat]

Huh?

 

[PURPLECAT88]

Originally posted by WinstonSalemCat:
Huh?

I think that's just a little self-deprecation from the brilliant, yet humble, former DL, Gladeskat.

 

[epicbret]

This OP is infuriatingly dumb as a Cats fan and native Chicagoan.

 

[villox]

Originally posted by epicbret:
This OP is infuriatingly dumb as a Cats fan and native Chicagoan.

I think Turk is from Ohio

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

epicbret posted on 2/11/2015...
This OP is infuriatingly dumb as a Cats fan and native Chicagoan.

______________________

It's a scratch you just can't help itching.

 

[epicbret]

Originally posted by Cat In The Cradle:
epicbret posted on 2/11/2015...
This OP is infuriatingly dumb as a Cats fan and native Chicagoan.

______________________

It's a scratch you just can't help itching.

I open the posts, just thinking, "He's NU's RutgersAl." Yet still want to yell at the absurdity. Then I realize he's asking for NU tidbits in his sig, and the rage subsides to a sadness for his relatives.

 

[mikewebb68]

Originally posted by epicbret:
I open the posts, just thinking, "He's NU's RutgersAl." Yet still want to yell at the absurdity. Then I realize he's asking for NU tidbits in his sig, and the rage subsides to a sadness for his relatives.

Yup, you pretty much nailed it.

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

Doesn't take away from your point, but I thought it was another Canadian Clifton Dawson that was an early enrollee, not Giles Lezi - and Alexander Webb being the other one. I think Dawson eventually transferred to Harvard and had a short stint in the NFL.