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gocatsgo2003

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As I know I come across as a "WATCH THE TAPE" Nazi, figured I might as well make it easier to get to that tape. Our commits are listed below -- click the link to get to their Hudl landing page, which will then usually lead to game-by-game highlights or a compiled reel (if available).

Take a look and see for yourself what kind of player we have coming in for the class of 2016. Would be interested in hearing everyone's take, especially as more and more senior tape becomes available. I'll update the list if/when more players commit. If a player is not on the links below, it's because they either don't have a Hudl profile, they've set their videos to "private" (meaning a subscription is required to view), or no senior video is uploaded yet.

RB Jesse Brown (Snellville/GA/Brookwood)

DE Tommy Carnifax (Warren/OH/Howland)

WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Minneapolis/MN/Breck)

SB Eric Eshoo (Wilmette/IL/Loyola Academy)

LB Jango Glackin (Bradenton/FL/IMG Academy)

DE/LB Mark Gooden (Reynoldsburg/OH)

WR Riley Lees (Libertyville/IL)

OL Jesse Meyler (Alexandria/VA/Episcopal)

DL Alex Miler (Houston/TX/Stratford)

WR Ben Skowronek (Fort Wayne/IN/Homestead)

QB Aidan Smith (Fort Wayne/IN/Carroll)

OL Gunnar Vogel (Westerville/OH/South)

DB Travis Whillock (Katy/TX)
 
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As I know I come across as a "WATCH THE TAPE" Nazi, figured I might as well make it easier to get to that tape. Our commits are listed below -- click the link to get to their Hudl landing page, which will then usually lead to game-by-game highlights or a compiled reel (if available).

Take a look and see for yourself what kind of player we have coming in for the class of 2016. Would be interested in hearing everyone's take, especially as more and more senior tape becomes available. I'll update the list if/when more players commit. If a player is not on the links below, it's because they either don't have a Hudl profile, they've set their videos to "private" (meaning a subscription is required to view), or no senior video is uploaded yet.

RB Jesse Brown (Snellville/GA/Brookwood)

DE Tommy Carnifax (Warren/OH/Howland)

WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Minneapolis/MN/Breck)

SB Eric Eshoo (Wilmette/IL/Loyola Academy)

LB Jango Glackin (Bradenton/FL/IMG Academy)

DE/LB Mark Gooden (Reynoldsburg/OH)

WR Riley Lees (Libertyville/IL)

OL Jesse Meyler (Alexandria/VA/Episcopal)

DL Alex Miler (Houston/TX/Stratford)

WR Ben Skowronek (Fort Wayne/IN/Homestead)

QB Aidan Smith (Fort Wayne/IN/Carroll)

OL Gunnar Vogel (Westerville/OH/South)

DB Travis Whillock (Katy/TX)

Skowronek definitely has a bit of bad ass in him. At least four of his senior highlights are of him knocking the lips off someone, either blocking or on special teams.
 
How many more scholarships do we have this season? What # do we have for next season?
Considering our monster year i gotta think we will finish strong and may not jump on a B level guy.
 
As I know I come across as a "WATCH THE TAPE" Nazi, figured I might as well make it easier to get to that tape. Our commits are listed below -- click the link to get to their Hudl landing page, which will then usually lead to game-by-game highlights or a compiled reel (if available).

Take a look and see for yourself what kind of player we have coming in for the class of 2016. Would be interested in hearing everyone's take, especially as more and more senior tape becomes available. I'll update the list if/when more players commit. If a player is not on the links below, it's because they either don't have a Hudl profile, they've set their videos to "private" (meaning a subscription is required to view), or no senior video is uploaded yet.

RB Jesse Brown (Snellville/GA/Brookwood)

DE Tommy Carnifax (Warren/OH/Howland)

WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Minneapolis/MN/Breck)

SB Eric Eshoo (Wilmette/IL/Loyola Academy)

LB Jango Glackin (Bradenton/FL/IMG Academy)

DE/LB Mark Gooden (Reynoldsburg/OH)

WR Riley Lees (Libertyville/IL)

OL Jesse Meyler (Alexandria/VA/Episcopal)

DL Alex Miler (Houston/TX/Stratford)

WR Ben Skowronek (Fort Wayne/IN/Homestead)

QB Aidan Smith (Fort Wayne/IN/Carroll)

OL Gunnar Vogel (Westerville/OH/South)

DB Travis Whillock (Katy/TX)

GCG...Knowing that you put the time into watching all of the tape and your past experience in recruiting, who are some of the commits that you are most excited about?
 
How many more scholarships do we have this season? What # do we have for next season?
Considering our monster year i gotta think we will finish strong and may not jump on a B level guy.

That's the million dollar question. Part of the problem is we don't have perfect insight into how certain guys count toward the limit (such as Luke Dauch). Best guess would be something like this (and I tend to forget one or two guys who have left or been put on scholarship, so will be counting on others to fact check):

18 guys who run out of eligibility (Chapman, Henry, Shuler, Oliver, Youngblood-Ary, Gibson, CJones, CDickerson, VanHoose, Vitale, Mogus, Smith, Frazier, Mertz, Szott, Kidd, Robbins, Lowry)

Plus 3 scholarships for guys who left/retired (White, Joraskie, Fuessel)

Minus 3 scholarships given to walk-on's (Carr, Roberts, Mitchell)

Plus up to 4 or 5 guys I could see as "four year players" not returning for their fifth year (not going to name those names)

So... maybe as many as 23? Maybe as few as 20? It will probably depend a lot on the caliber of recruits interested in coming to NU to close out the class.
 
GCG...Knowing that you put the time into watching all of the tape and your past experience in recruiting, who are some of the commits that you are most excited about?

Riley Lees has some of my favorite tape in a while (up there with Thompson's from last year) -- just really dynamic with the ball in his hands and flat-ass fast.

Tommy Carnifax has very "workmanlike" tape, which I mean in a very positive way -- I don't know that he will be a superstar at the B1G level, but should be a hardworking and important contributor on our DL. I see him in a similar light as a guy like Kevin Mims (a guy who knew his role and was very good at it, but a slightly limited athlete), but with a touch more athletic ability.

Travis Whillock is better than people give him credit for -- I suspect he might end up with a more successful college career than Wilder, who chose hometown Houston over NU to break up the "Katy Three." Looks like he has the frame to play a Jimmy Hall-type hybrid LB/DB role if that's where he's put.
 
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That's the million dollar question. Part of the problem is we don't have perfect insight into how certain guys count toward the limit (such as Luke Dauch). Best guess would be something like this (and I tend to forget one or two guys who have left or been put on scholarship, so will be counting on others to fact check):

18 guys who run out of eligibility (Chapman, Henry, Shuler, Oliver, Youngblood-Ary, Gibson, CJones, CDickerson, VanHoose, Vitale, Mogus, Smith, Frazier, Mertz, Szott, Kidd, Robbins, Lowry)

Plus 3 scholarships for guys who left/retired (White, Joraskie, Fuessel)

Minus 3 scholarships given to walk-on's (Carr, Roberts, Mitchell)

Plus up to 4 or 5 guys I could see as "four year players" not returning for their fifth year (not going to name those names)

So... maybe as many as 23? Maybe as few as 20? It will probably depend a lot on the caliber of recruits interested in coming to NU to close out the class.
Didn't Schwaba leave to become a wrestler? Also, how does McEvilly's departure affect the count?
Maybe McEvilly's schollie is counted as one of the ones given to a walk on.
 
Didn't Schwaba leave to become a wrestler? Also, how does McEvilly's departure affect the count?

That would be one I missed... though not quite sure whether his scholarship was immediately rolled back into the program or not. And as I'm typing I realized I forgot to include McEvilly on the list of departures. Not sure why I can never keep all of that straight.

Regardless, that's part of the reason that this is such a hard exercise without knowing exactly who's on scholarship and when they were put on scholarship.
 
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As I know I come across as a "WATCH THE TAPE" Nazi, figured I might as well make it easier to get to that tape. Our commits are listed below -- click the link to get to their Hudl landing page, which will then usually lead to game-by-game highlights or a compiled reel (if available).

Take a look and see for yourself what kind of player we have coming in for the class of 2016. Would be interested in hearing everyone's take, especially as more and more senior tape becomes available. I'll update the list if/when more players commit. If a player is not on the links below, it's because they either don't have a Hudl profile, they've set their videos to "private" (meaning a subscription is required to view), or no senior video is uploaded yet.

RB Jesse Brown (Snellville/GA/Brookwood)

DE Tommy Carnifax (Warren/OH/Howland)

WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Minneapolis/MN/Breck)

SB Eric Eshoo (Wilmette/IL/Loyola Academy)

LB Jango Glackin (Bradenton/FL/IMG Academy)

DE/LB Mark Gooden (Reynoldsburg/OH)

WR Riley Lees (Libertyville/IL)

OL Jesse Meyler (Alexandria/VA/Episcopal)

DL Alex Miler (Houston/TX/Stratford)

WR Ben Skowronek (Fort Wayne/IN/Homestead)

QB Aidan Smith (Fort Wayne/IN/Carroll)

OL Gunnar Vogel (Westerville/OH/South)

DB Travis Whillock (Katy/TX)
Thanks. This should be pinned.
 
As I know I come across as a "WATCH THE TAPE" Nazi, figured I might as well make it easier to get to that tape. Our commits are listed below -- click the link to get to their Hudl landing page, which will then usually lead to game-by-game highlights or a compiled reel (if available).

Take a look and see for yourself what kind of player we have coming in for the class of 2016. Would be interested in hearing everyone's take, especially as more and more senior tape becomes available. I'll update the list if/when more players commit. If a player is not on the links below, it's because they either don't have a Hudl profile, they've set their videos to "private" (meaning a subscription is required to view), or no senior video is uploaded yet.

RB Jesse Brown (Snellville/GA/Brookwood)

DE Tommy Carnifax (Warren/OH/Howland)

WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Minneapolis/MN/Breck)

SB Eric Eshoo (Wilmette/IL/Loyola Academy)

LB Jango Glackin (Bradenton/FL/IMG Academy)

DE/LB Mark Gooden (Reynoldsburg/OH)

WR Riley Lees (Libertyville/IL)

OL Jesse Meyler (Alexandria/VA/Episcopal)

DL Alex Miler (Houston/TX/Stratford)

WR Ben Skowronek (Fort Wayne/IN/Homestead)

QB Aidan Smith (Fort Wayne/IN/Carroll)

OL Gunnar Vogel (Westerville/OH/South)

DB Travis Whillock (Katy/TX)
Just took a look at the tape for Rees and Brown and wonder if maybe Riley could become a RB at NU. Neither was that highly recruited, although Io-a offered both. Rees shows a lot of good traits for a RB and Brown just sort of explodes at the goal line. Guess I'm asking why Brown is considered the potential RB and Rees a WR for NU. Size? Speed?
 
Just took a look at the tape for Rees and Brown and wonder if maybe Riley could become a RB at NU. Neither was that highly recruited, although Io-a offered both. Rees shows a lot of good traits for a RB and Brown just sort of explodes at the goal line. Guess I'm asking why Brown is considered the potential RB and Rees a WR for NU. Size? Speed?

Lees could probably do a lot of things, but would come down to build -- Brown looks slightly thicker and the coaches probably think he has a little more growth potential. Lees is definitely fast enough for either WR or RB.
 
It's Lees, not Rees (as in Trevor).

I like Saunders' tape. He looks very well developed for a HS kid.

Saunders reminds me a lot of Kuhar. Not on my list above because he hasn't posted senior tape, but he seems like a very interesting prospect (especially for a guy we didn't hear a lot about in the recruiting process).
 
Gooden has some senior year tape up now. I watched him play against Pickering and Gahanna, which should ring a bell if you follow our recruiting in Ohio.

Gooden plays bigger and stronger than his listed dimensions suggest. He looks like a very tenacious and stout run defender who can set the edge and then knife inside to tackle the ball. He doesn't set wide as an end, but shows a good first step and a nice swim move in the pass rush. He shows good awareness of the play and is able to use hands to fend off blockers and then flow to the ball. He looks to have exceptional upper body strength.

If Gooden were 3 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier, I think he'd have a lot of interest from power schools. He's about the same size as XWash was as a senior, but XWash was insanely productive in the top tier of Texas schools. Gooden is a "quiet" player, but productive in his own right.

It's not clear to me if fits more at LB or DE, but I tend to think the latter.
 
Just took a look at the tape for Rees and Brown and wonder if maybe Riley could become a RB at NU. Neither was that highly recruited, although Io-a offered both. Rees shows a lot of good traits for a RB and Brown just sort of explodes at the goal line. Guess I'm asking why Brown is considered the potential RB and Rees a WR for NU. Size? Speed?

Lees excels in space. He looks very much like a wideout. He is not a RB.

Brown, looking at his tape, runs inside-out. He hits the hole hard between the tackles and is a single-cut downhill runner on sweeps. He has some burst but lacks a top end gear. He seems very comfortable running inside and knifing through little seams once he sees an opening. He has a very efficient style with little effort spent in dancing or shifting, though he does not have JJ's supernatural fluidity (few do).

Brown's offer list is very long now, albeit mostly ivies, service academies, and mid-majors. But it does include Iowa, Kansas St.,and BC. KSU recently edged us out for a RB from St Louis (blanking on his name), but I like Brown's emphasis on academics. He's obviously very bright.
 
Just started watching a few of the senior year tapes. I like Gooden a lot. Despite limited size, the kid is able to play with his hand on the ground very effectively. Uses his hands incredibly well and clearly has a very high football IQ with the way he snuffs out plays early and the amount of batted balls I saw from him. I think he would fit in very well on NU's defensive line.

Brown is an interesting RB. I like his forward lean and how he runs low to the ground with leverage and power. Clearly more of an in between the tackles runner who won't be breaking many 80 yd TD runs in the Big Ten but will have a very nice yard per carry average. Kind of reminds me of Jason Wright or maybe Omar Conteh.
 
If you haven't watched Alex MIller's senior year highlight's in the Alief Elsik game, you are missing out. Wow, this kid is a player. Once again some of our lower star rated recruits seem to be the best recruits we have in my opinion.
 
If you haven't watched Alex MIller's senior year highlight's in the Alief Elsik game, you are missing out. Wow, this kid is a player. Once again some of our lower star rated recruits seem to be the best recruits we have in my opinion.
There were disparaging comments made about him on another site. I haven't watched it yet, but will do so. Thanks for the tip.
 
If you haven't watched Alex MIller's senior year highlight's in the Alief Elsik game, you are missing out. Wow, this kid is a player. Once again some of our lower star rated recruits seem to be the best recruits we have in my opinion.

Interesting tape. He seems to play more DE than DT. Shows good quickness and motor. Would have to gain a LOT of weight to play inside in the Big 10.
 
Just started watching a few of the senior year tapes. I like Gooden a lot. Despite limited size, the kid is able to play with his hand on the ground very effectively. Uses his hands incredibly well and clearly has a very high football IQ with the way he snuffs out plays early and the amount of batted balls I saw from him. I think he would fit in very well on NU's defensive line.

Brown is an interesting RB. I like his forward lean and how he runs low to the ground with leverage and power. Clearly more of an in between the tackles runner who won't be breaking many 80 yd TD runs in the Big Ten but will have a very nice yard per carry average. Kind of reminds me of Jason Wright or maybe Omar Conteh.

Gooden does seem to have high functional strength and an even higher motor, but I think he might simply be swallowed up by BCS OL. He's appreciably smaller than XWash at this point.
 
If you haven't watched Alex MIller's senior year highlight's in the Alief Elsik game, you are missing out. Wow, this kid is a player. Once again some of our lower star rated recruits seem to be the best recruits we have in my opinion.

The only things that bother me about Miller is that he's flexed REALLY far off the ball (2-3 yards sometimes) and he tends to be a beat slow coming off the ball. Besides that everything looks great -- good frame, plays strong, moves well, hustles, etc.
 
Gooden does seem to have high functional strength and an even higher motor, but I think he might simply be swallowed up by BCS OL. He's appreciably smaller than XWash at this point.

I was thinking that too. He would get pancaked by a Power 5 tackle at this point.

He's listed as 6'1" 235 on Hudl, which is similar to where XWash was his senior year. Obviously, those measures need to be taken with a grain of salt. Gooden has leaner build than X.
 
He needs to add some muscle but he seems to have a knack for rushing the passer. He uses his hands very well and can shed blockers with apparent ease. I can see him initially being a pass rush specialist on obvious passing downs and then evolving from there depending on how much bigger he can get.
 
Lees excels in space. He looks very much like a wideout. He is not a RB.
Has it already been determined by the "powers that be" that Lees couldn't/wouldn't be considered as a QB?
His QB highlights look fine (then again, they all do).
But anyhow, it would seem that he deserves consideration as a Colter-type run-first QB, that can pass just enough to keep the D honest.
What are his major failings as a possible QB prospect?
 
Whillock is better than I thought based on his senior year highlights. Impressive vision, closing speed and ball skills.
 
He is not a good enough passer but I could see him lining up in the Wildcat formation for us very frequently. You want to find a way to get the ball in this kid's hands as much as possible.
 
Has it already been determined by the "powers that be" that Lees couldn't/wouldn't be considered as a QB?
His QB highlights look fine (then again, they all do).
But anyhow, it would seem that he deserves consideration as a Colter-type run-first QB, that can pass just enough to keep the D honest.
What are his major failings as a possible QB prospect?
Don't think he has the arm strength. Given his speed and wiggle, you want him receiving the ball, not delivering it (unless it's to an official after a trip to the end zone)
 
Don't think he has the arm strength. Given his speed and wiggle, you want him receiving the ball, not delivering it (unless it's to an official after a trip to the end zone)
Is his arm strength comparable to Colter's? I don't recall KC as having a cannon for an arm, yet he was very effective at times, mostly as a running QB but completing enough short and mid-range passes to keep the D honest and move the FB. If Lees could do the same or similar it would be a nice weapon to have (even if only a secondary one). KC himself at times played while other NU QB took the snap....so it need not be an either/or situation.
 
Has it already been determined by the "powers that be" that Lees couldn't/wouldn't be considered as a QB?
His QB highlights look fine (then again, they all do).
But anyhow, it would seem that he deserves consideration as a Colter-type run-first QB, that can pass just enough to keep the D honest.
What are his major failings as a possible QB prospect?

He's not an FBS QB. Not even close. Definitely a BCS level athlete, but it won't be at QB.
 
That's the million dollar question. Part of the problem is we don't have perfect insight into how certain guys count toward the limit (such as Luke Dauch). Best guess would be something like this (and I tend to forget one or two guys who have left or been put on scholarship, so will be counting on others to fact check):

18 guys who run out of eligibility (Chapman, Henry, Shuler, Oliver, Youngblood-Ary, Gibson, CJones, CDickerson, VanHoose, Vitale, Mogus, Smith, Frazier, Mertz, Szott, Kidd, Robbins, Lowry)

Plus 3 scholarships for guys who left/retired (White, Joraskie, Fuessel)

Minus 3 scholarships given to walk-on's (Carr, Roberts, Mitchell)

Plus up to 4 or 5 guys I could see as "four year players" not returning for their fifth year (not going to name those names)

So... maybe as many as 23? Maybe as few as 20? It will probably depend a lot on the caliber of recruits interested in coming to NU to close out the class.

Who is Roberts?

Jelani Roberts was a scholarship recruit, but I assume you are not talking about him.
 
The thing about judging prospects on highlight film is, who are they playing against? If you take film of NU players playing against Wittenberg University, their film would look amazing. If you took film against OSU or Bama it doesn't look so good. If your competition is terrible, your film should look pretty good. If you are running a 4.8 forty and the rest of the field runs a 5.1, you will look blazing. But what about a 4.7 on a field of 4.3 and 4.4 kids? Last IMG game at one point there were 15 D1 offered or committed players on the field at one time. Some recruits at times may be the only D1 player on the field, they should stand out big time. Playing against other top recruits versus kids who will never see a field after they graduate makes a difference in film.
 
The thing about judging prospects on highlight film is, who are they playing against? If you take film of NU players playing against Wittenberg University, their film would look amazing. If you took film against OSU or Bama it doesn't look so good. If your competition is terrible, your film should look pretty good. If you are running a 4.8 forty and the rest of the field runs a 5.1, you will look blazing. But what about a 4.7 on a field of 4.3 and 4.4 kids? Last IMG game at one point there were 15 D1 offered or committed players on the field at one time. Some recruits at times may be the only D1 player on the field, they should stand out big time. Playing against other top recruits versus kids who will never see a field after they graduate makes a difference in film.

Right. But it isn't that difficult to evaluate tape with that in mind, as well as using testing results and other metrics to verify athleticism.
 
The thing about judging prospects on highlight film is, who are they playing against? If you take film of NU players playing against Wittenberg University, their film would look amazing. If you took film against OSU or Bama it doesn't look so good. If your competition is terrible, your film should look pretty good. If you are running a 4.8 forty and the rest of the field runs a 5.1, you will look blazing. But what about a 4.7 on a field of 4.3 and 4.4 kids? Last IMG game at one point there were 15 D1 offered or committed players on the field at one time. Some recruits at times may be the only D1 player on the field, they should stand out big time. Playing against other top recruits versus kids who will never see a field after they graduate makes a difference in film.

Well, the other thing about highlight film is that you don't get to see the lowlights or even the non-highlights. I guess you might be able to get an appreciation of some attributes like athleticism, explosiveness, shiftiness, etc... and a kid's demonstrated ceiling when it comes to making plays, but you don't see what he's like for 99% of the plays and whether he has any level of consistency. E.g. no WR recruiting film I've ever seen shows a kid dropping any balls. So, if one were to base a projection of a kid's performance on their recruiting highlights, they'd be like WTF when they watched our butterfingered WR corp (who didn't make any drops in their recruiting film highlights).
 
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