UofA Offseason Thread

[PAQ77]

They got Xavier Smith, Terry Longbons, Glyndon Bolasky just to name a few of the RB's waiting in the wings.

Plus they got a verbal commit from Joseph Reese, a 4 star tailback from Texas. He's the younger brother of Terrell Reese, one of the heralded freshmen WR's on the team this year. Should be fun watching them play together.

 

[PAQ77]

Another couple of 4 stars who have commited:


Tuihalamakas make the Call

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By Chris Bonney
WI.com Football Editor
Posted Dec 19, 2006

The Arizona Wildcat coaching staff targeted very few JUCO prospects this recruiting cycle because there was not a great need for recruiting the JC ranks. Out of those few targets the staff had landed one and now has landed another.



El Camino College linebacker Vuna Tuihalamaka visited Arizona last week and liked the entire experience and last night he decided to make the call to become a Wildcat.
"My visit went great," he said. "I liked everything about Arizona. It has a great social life and football program and education. I really like everything about it. Last night I called Coach (Mike) Stoops and committed to Arizona. He was real happy and excited and I am happy to be a Wildcat."
According to Vuna he will not be alone in moving to Tucson as his cousin, four star DE/OLB Apaiata Tuihalamaka from Gardena (CA) Serra High School made the same call this morning.
"Apai called in this morning and committed too," admitted Vuna. "I know he is happy and we are going to the same school. We are both Wildcats and it feels good."
Both of the Tuihalamaka cousins were being targeted by the Arizona coaches for the linebacker position.
"They want me for one of the outside linebacker spots," said Vuna. "I really like the way that Arizona uses their linebackers and the way they play defense and that made my decision easier. I talked to Coach (Tim) Kish and he is a really good coach and I like the way that he does things with the linebackers."
Both Vuna and Apai were being recruited by Arizona Defensive tackles Coach Mike Tuiasosospo and he also played a very large role in their decision. According to Vuna he can see why many of the Polynesian players look up to him as kind of a father figure.
"I can easily see why," he admitted. "He is always straight and honest no matter what. He talks the truth and he was huge for me. He is a great guy and you can really look up to him and trust him alot." WildcatInsider.com will have more later from Apai on his commitment to Arizona. There is no doubt that Arizona has landed a pair of genuine four star studs in the Tuihalamaka cousins.

 

[boondockdrunk]

Arizona also got a solid verbal from one-star QB Gerrell Robinson who is a 6-4 starter on the Hamilton HS team. I don't know if this rating is really his ranking or if they have not gotten to the non-elite prospects for next year or not.

 

[Russ Smith]

Slight tangent, is there a correlation between "stars" and projected PT?

In other words is 5 star a projected star, 4 sure fire starter, 3 possible starter etc?

Just curious I see it tossed around all the time especially on the USC boards. Not sure if it's a comparison against other recruits, or against how they're expected to play when they get to college?

 

[boondockdrunk]

Slight tangent, is there a correlation between "stars" and projected PT?

In other words is 5 star a projected star, 4 sure fire starter, 3 possible starter etc?

Just curious I see it tossed around all the time especially on the USC boards. Not sure if it's a comparison against other recruits, or against how they're expected to play when they get to college?

It seems that the higher the ranking the better that recruit will have an impact on the team. A four or five-star player is expected to be a NFL player in the future, while a three-star will be a solid player in college. The others are thought to build depth for a team, participate on special teams, or be a kicker (who are not ranked too high because you can find one on the soccer field).

Sometimes a player who was ranked as a three-star or below surprises people and turns out to be a good NFL prospect (see Antoine Cason or Nick Folk).

So it just seems that those with higher rankings have a better chance of succeeding based upon their skills or play in high school. There are a few four and five-star players who have failed to live up to their potential (see Whitney Lewis the #4 overall prospect {#1 WR} for 2003 who failed to produce at USC and now plays for Northern Iowa) but usually they do well for their respective teams.

A five-star player is not expected to play right away, that is determined by the strength of the position. If a team has three returning WR, who all produced well, then a five or four-star recruit would more than likely red-shirt his frosh year. However, if the position had recently lost a few players, then they could be expected to play right away based upon how quickly they pick up the system. This also differs when pertaining to Junior College transfers who were probably recruited to fill a need for the team. So a three-star JC player would probably beat out a four-star HS player because, while the HS player has more potential, the JC player is more ready to compete against college players.

 

[Russ Smith]

Thanks. Another question, are stars determined compared to other players?

For example, Nate Longshore was a 3 star, Joe "worst QB ever" Ayoob was a 4 star. Was that because Ayoob was being compared to other JUCOs, because his QB class overall was weaker than Longshores(they weren't the same year) or because scouts just screwed up on Ayoob?

In other words is the scale comparing players to each other, or to some mythical what a player should be scale?

With basketball it's a bit different of course if a 5 star recruit isn't starting from day 1 he either sucks, or is on a LOADED team. Football of course most true freshman don't play.

 

[boondockdrunk]

Thanks. Another question, are stars determined compared to other players?

For example, Nate Longshore was a 3 star, Joe "worst QB ever" Ayoob was a 4 star. Was that because Ayoob was being compared to other JUCOs, because his QB class overall was weaker than Longshores(they weren't the same year) or because scouts just screwed up on Ayoob?

In other words is the scale comparing players to each other, or to some mythical what a player should be scale?

This would be more of a question for the creators of the site to determine. However, I figure that each prospect is rated on a scale that measures both their tools and how they performed at the previous level.

I would look at it like any draft class. Certain team scouts look for a tools which, in turn, affect how they draft. A team might covite a QB who is mobil but others might look for arm strength or smarts. It is the same with these sites. Maybe Ayoob was rated higher for a number of these reasons. The website might have looked at his performance and tools, but it is hard to measure how well those will translate into a specific system or how his mental game is.

So I would assume that these sites would place emphasis upon tools and performance, while not paying much attention to how a player fits into a given system. This could be a reason that JC players can be rated higher, because they can be observed in a college level system but the HS players cannot (of course, usually tools play more of a part into the projection; so that HS players make up most of the five-stars. However, JC players make up a large amount of four to three star athletes but are rare five-stars).

 

[Wildcat05]

Henry's Draft Profile

Anyone see this? It's on http://condraft.com/.

OFFENSE Chris Henry

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Is this man the Best Big Back?
With RB Michael Bush returning to Louisville on a medical redshirt, and the consensus surrounding Hawaii's Nate Ilaoa, Fresno State's Dwayne Wright and Houston's Jackie Battle not being all that firm, Chris Henry may emerge as the leading "big back" for the 2007 NFL Draft. The Wildcat's Junior surprised many people with his early declaration, but make no mistake, Chris has ALL the goods. He is a very solid (as you can see) 6'0.5", 230, very fast (est. 4.40-4.45), and he is a good blocker and a very, very good receiver. The only thing Chris lacks is impressive college production, but that can be explained by his lack of playing time last year--when he was the understudy for the Bronco's Mike Bell-- and by the fact that Arizona opened '06 with three freshmen and 2 sophomores up front. The real potential of Chris Henry was clearly visible after that group began to gel at midseason.

 

[devilfan02]

Damn, he looks like Vernon Davis! He should have been a lot better in college with that size and speed. What happened?

 

[Wildcat05]

Damn Straight

Here Henry looks like some sort of Man Beast. I'll go along with the article and say it was the young/inexperienced line that didn't allow Henry to have the killer games that you would expect from a Junior going into the draft. I still think he should wait another year if he really is that confident in his game.

 

[devilfan02]

Yeah but if you can't overcome a shaky OL in the PAC-10 then you will definitely struggle at the next level. I think everyone agrees he's making a huge mistake by entering early, huge mistake

 

[RedStorm]

********, he looks like Vernon Davis! He should have been a lot better in college with that size and speed. What happened?

The pic is photochopped.....That is VD's body with Henry's head.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

********, he looks like Vernon Davis! He should have been a lot better in college with that size and speed. What happened?

He doesn't know how to play RB. He's an East-West runner in a fullback's body.

 

[Lefty]

Henry is foolish to leave. The guy was benched during the season and had two good games at the end of the season. He is worried his stock will fall due to Sonny Dykes spread offense.

 

[PAQ77]

Henry is foolish to leave. The guy was benched during the season and had two good games at the end of the season. He is worried his stock will fall due to Sonny Dykes spread offense.

I actually think he'd do well in the spread offense. He's a very good pass catcher out of the back field and with them throwing more, that'll open up the run for him to make some big plays. I really wish he would have stayed another year... I think he's underestimating the spread O for a running back.

 

[Wildcat05]

Yeah, I completely agree that he shouldn't move on to the next level yet. I do, however, think that he has more potential than what was shown.

However, people didn't think Mike Bell would make a good pro and look at what he did his rookie season.

 

[boondockdrunk]

Yeah, I completely agree that he shouldn't move on to the next level yet. I do, however, think that he has more potential than what was shown.

However, people didn't think Mike Bell would make a good pro and look at what he did his rookie season.

The thing about Bell was that he didn't have great stats, but put up good numbers for his entire college career with a bad O-line. Henry only had a few good games with a poor o-line. Also, Bell is playing in Denver, where Mike Shanahan can make anyone a good running back.

 

[devilfan02]

Also, Bell is playing in Denver, where Mike Shanahan can make anyone a good running back.

I was just about to post the same thing. Shanahans running schemes made Ruben Droughns, Mike Anderson, and Quentin Griffin all look like pro bowlers.

Not to take anything away from Bell as he could turn into a great back anywhere in the league but Denver is notorious for having system RB's.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The thing about Bell was that he didn't have great stats, but put up good numbers for his entire college career with a bad O-line. Henry only had a few good games with a poor o-line. Also, Bell is playing in Denver, where Mike Shanahan can make anyone a good running back.

Bell wasn't great, he was merely serviceable due to his fumbling. He also never liked any of his head coaches whereas he has a tremendous amount of respect for Shanahan.

Chris Henry just sucked, he had one good game in his entire college career.

 

[devilfan02]

Chris Henry just sucked, he had one good game in his entire college career.

On a side note, one of my favorite Mike Bell memories happened in the territorial cup in 2005. He broke a huge run and was running down the sideline, looked at and pointed towards the UA student section, and was subsequently caught from behind by Josh Golden because he slowed up so much due to his showboating. I was at that game and almost died of laughter. If I was Stoops, I would have pulled him from the game and/or killed him on the sideline.

You can see how much Bell respects Shanahan. Bell grew up a Bronco fan and you can tell he doesn't want to screw his situation up. He fumbled earlier in the season and Shanahan deactivated him for the next game. After that you could tell Bell was more focused and proved to be a quality counterpart to Tatum.

 

[Renz]

The Cats got a huge commitment tonight from TE Rob Gronkowski. He is rivals.com's #4 tight end and the UA have been after him for a year-and-a-half. Awesome signing!

 

[Lefty]

The Cats got a huge commitment tonight from TE Rob Gronkowski. He is rivals.com's #4 tight end and the UA have been after him for a year-and-a-half. Awesome signing!

Huge pickup. The Cats beat out Ohio State, Clemson and Pitt. Sonny Dykes is already paying dividends.

 

[Lefty]

On a side note, one of my favorite Mike Bell memories happened in the territorial cup in 2005. He broke a huge run and was running down the sideline, looked at and pointed towards the UA student section, and was subsequently caught from behind by Josh Golden because he slowed up so much due to his showboating. I was at that game and almost died of laughter. If I was Stoops, I would have pulled him from the game and/or killed him on the sideline.

I was at that game too and it was in 2004, not 2005.

 

[PAQ77]

The Cats got a huge commitment tonight from TE Rob Gronkowski. He is rivals.com's #4 tight end and the UA have been after him for a year-and-a-half. Awesome signing!

Sweet!! I hadn't heard this yet but this is a great pickup!

 

[boondockdrunk]

The Cats got a huge commitment tonight from TE Rob Gronkowski. He is rivals.com's #4 tight end and the UA have been after him for a year-and-a-half. Awesome signing!

This guy is huge (6-foot-6, 232 lbs). He should be a good one here.