The spring game has come and gone, and now spring practice as well. The football team got to break in its fancy new practice facility, which is a vast improvement over walkthroughs on the JPJA floor. You'd think we'd have some answers as to how things might look in the fall, and it so happens we just might. I've been taking notes, and as usual here's what I think:
STUFF THAT GOT CLEARED UP:
-- Quarterback, sort of. Just having something resembling a depth chart at this stage of the game is an improvement over the past. At the beginning of spring practice it was clear that Phillip Sims had somehow worked his way to the bottom of it. Mike London made noises about how nothing's decided this is just a guide of sorts blah blah blah, but it became clear pretty quickly that Sims was being sent a message. David Watford and Greyson Lambert more or less split the first-team quarterback duties, and one starts to get the sense that Watford has a slight leg up on Lambert. And that Sims hasn't done anything to move out of the doldrums; his 8-for-18 spring game performance was something less than impressive.
-- Defensive line should be pretty sweet. The age-old question of whether we should rejoice or jump off a bridge when one unit dominates the other naturally applies. However, there's good reason to believe the D-line was showing off for real. David Dean in particular came in for high praise from all corners - including, most importantly, the coaches - and there's a good chance he becomes the disruptive three-tech we thought we'd get out of Chris Brathwaite. (For whom, praise be, the door is not closed for a return. It looks like he'll be trying to follow in the footsteps of Jameel Sewell.)
-- Wide receiver should also be in good shape. Good things are being said about the second line. Dominique Terrell had a Jeff White article devoted to his good work, CavsCorner had a flowery one about E.J. Scott, and Adrian Gamble is getting noticed too.
-- We do seem to have a starting linebacker corps. And Henry Coley in particular is stepping into the leadership gap left when Steve Greer and Laroy Reynolds graduated. Coley had a little disciplinary hiccup last year, and it's nice to see that seems to be resolved. Occasionally I've seen a couple hyperactive imaginations worrying that Coley's entrenchment at middle linebacker means Kwontie Moore is a bust, to which I say piffle: Coley has two years of experience on Moore. And Demeitre Brim is moving quickly to secure the strongside spot. UVA's front seven will not be among the most-hyped in the conference when the season begins, but it could have some eyes open and looking their way by November.
STUFF THAT DIDN'T:
-- We heard precious little out of the running back realm that was especially useful. Even if we had, Taquan Mizzell is still showing up in the fall ready to scramble whatever pecking order has been established. Even so, I was hoping to hear what that pecking order might have been, and specifically, where Clifton Richardson fits. In the pre-spring depth chart he's third, and didn't appear to make a strong upward move.
-- It's all well and good to know sort of where the quarterbacks stand, but we still don't have a starter.
-- The O-line. This is the real question mark. It would be getting a lot more attention if we had a settled quarterback situation. I think the running game in particular is the most at risk, because the interior of the line is the least secure. And David Watford may have an advantage at quarterback partly because he can scramble out of the way of incoming pass rushers much better than either Sims or Lambert.
Everything will get ten times more complex when the rubber hits the road in September, of course. But if I were to break things down as simple as possible, here in April, I'd say this: The defense has the bodies and the talent to be very good, and it depends on how well they take to Jon Tenuta's schemes. And how often they blitz into a screen pass. The offense depends on the line, and secondarily on the quarterback. Quarterback is going to get the attention, and let's hope the line doesn't because poor play will be much more readily apparent than quality play. But the offense will have the weapons it needs; we'll see if the line can let them shine.
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Just a couple things I thought shouldn't wait til Monday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an excellent interview with George Adeosun. Refreshingly honest and insightful. And Joe Lunardi's "I need to justify my existence for the other ten months out of the year" early bracketology has UVA a four seed. This means absolutely nothing for next year's tourney but is interesting in the sense that we know the hoops team should do very well next year, but it's a little surprising to see the media powers-that-be thinking so highly of them as well. Much more surprising than Chris Nelson's decommitment, anyway. Dude visited damn near every school in Florida in the last two months. Nelson will probably land on his feet, and I do appreciate that he decided to get it over with rather than holding a spot until the last minute before committing elsewhere. UVA will be fine, as long as they snag Andrew Brown and/or Derrick Nnadi.
Showing posts with label adeosun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adeosun. Show all posts
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
the recruit: George Adeosun
Name: George Adeosun
Position: OT
Hometown: Alpharetta, GA
School: Alpharetta
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 301
24/7: 90, four stars; #26 OT, GA #27
ESPN: 77, three stars; #56 OT, GA #74, SE #327
Rivals: 5.4, two stars
Scout: three stars; #55 OT
Other offers: Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona State, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Purdue, Kentucky
Just shy of one month after Signing Day, it's time to wrap up the updates. I'm punctual like that. The last player in the class to declare for UVA was also one of the most highly-coveted, albeit with a twist. George Adeosun was a William & Mary commitment until the UVA coaches found him in January and invited him up for the huge official visit weekend that's become a yearly London staple. At the time, he had this to say: "Right now I kind of have it down to William & Mary and Virginia unless anything else comes along."
A few something elses came along. UVA's staff, or sources or whoever it is that talks to the reporters from the paysites that cover recruiting, occasionally will ask the reporters not to divulge a particular name so as to keep things under wraps. This would've been a good time to do that, because Adeosun's recruitment absolutely exploded within a week of his UVA visit. At first it was only Purdue and Kentucky, and that didn't seem to pose too much of a threat. Then it got out of hand. A whole bunch of programs looking to stuff another offensive lineman into their classes decided to get in touch, most notably Oklahoma and Georgia. It must have been absolutely dizzying.
But UVA was first, and that meant something; it also helped that Adeosun is a classroom superstar and UVA has a tendency to be attractive to guys whose grade point starts with a four. As a result of his very late bloom, the scouting services are all over the map on their evaluations. Rivals gave him sort of a default two-star, so that rating is kind of null and void. 24/7 went nuts and gave him four stars; OU and UGA offers would tend to back up that assessment. The highish-three that Scout and ESPN gave seems to be fairest, given his late appearance on the scene. I mean, a guy who plays at a pretty big high school in a pretty big-talent state ought to have been noticed by somebody in the SEC. (Though being an offensive lineman hinders that somewhat.)
Slotting-wise, Adeosun sits the fence right between tackle and guard. Both have been mentioned as possibilities in various scouting reports big and small. Part of the reason for that is that his size sits the fence; 6'6" is tackle-sized, 6'5" (where ESPN lists him) is kind of cutting it close. ESPN also likes his pass protection better than his run-blocking, though, which is a point for tackle. As is the vast amount of interest he got in January. Part of it is schools scrambling to fill their offensive line quotas, but I don't think schools from here to Arizona are going after a guard prospect.
One thing everyone's agreed upon is that Adeosun is pretty raw as a talent, and needs some technique work. That's OK; O-linemen all redshirt anyway, or 95% of 'em do. With the recent "indefinite suspension" of Kelby Johnson, and the impending graduation of Morgan Moses (after this upcoming season) tackle depth is kind of thin. So anyone sitting the fence is probably a tackle. I've got high hopes for Adeosun thanks to the explosion of interest in his services. UVA won a tough recruiting battle against a couple very high-profile schools; just because it happened at the last minute shouldn't make Adeosun any less highly anticipated than the ones who commit in May.
Position: OT
Hometown: Alpharetta, GA
School: Alpharetta
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 301
24/7: 90, four stars; #26 OT, GA #27
ESPN: 77, three stars; #56 OT, GA #74, SE #327
Rivals: 5.4, two stars
Scout: three stars; #55 OT
Other offers: Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona State, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Purdue, Kentucky
Just shy of one month after Signing Day, it's time to wrap up the updates. I'm punctual like that. The last player in the class to declare for UVA was also one of the most highly-coveted, albeit with a twist. George Adeosun was a William & Mary commitment until the UVA coaches found him in January and invited him up for the huge official visit weekend that's become a yearly London staple. At the time, he had this to say: "Right now I kind of have it down to William & Mary and Virginia unless anything else comes along."
A few something elses came along. UVA's staff, or sources or whoever it is that talks to the reporters from the paysites that cover recruiting, occasionally will ask the reporters not to divulge a particular name so as to keep things under wraps. This would've been a good time to do that, because Adeosun's recruitment absolutely exploded within a week of his UVA visit. At first it was only Purdue and Kentucky, and that didn't seem to pose too much of a threat. Then it got out of hand. A whole bunch of programs looking to stuff another offensive lineman into their classes decided to get in touch, most notably Oklahoma and Georgia. It must have been absolutely dizzying.
But UVA was first, and that meant something; it also helped that Adeosun is a classroom superstar and UVA has a tendency to be attractive to guys whose grade point starts with a four. As a result of his very late bloom, the scouting services are all over the map on their evaluations. Rivals gave him sort of a default two-star, so that rating is kind of null and void. 24/7 went nuts and gave him four stars; OU and UGA offers would tend to back up that assessment. The highish-three that Scout and ESPN gave seems to be fairest, given his late appearance on the scene. I mean, a guy who plays at a pretty big high school in a pretty big-talent state ought to have been noticed by somebody in the SEC. (Though being an offensive lineman hinders that somewhat.)
Slotting-wise, Adeosun sits the fence right between tackle and guard. Both have been mentioned as possibilities in various scouting reports big and small. Part of the reason for that is that his size sits the fence; 6'6" is tackle-sized, 6'5" (where ESPN lists him) is kind of cutting it close. ESPN also likes his pass protection better than his run-blocking, though, which is a point for tackle. As is the vast amount of interest he got in January. Part of it is schools scrambling to fill their offensive line quotas, but I don't think schools from here to Arizona are going after a guard prospect.
One thing everyone's agreed upon is that Adeosun is pretty raw as a talent, and needs some technique work. That's OK; O-linemen all redshirt anyway, or 95% of 'em do. With the recent "indefinite suspension" of Kelby Johnson, and the impending graduation of Morgan Moses (after this upcoming season) tackle depth is kind of thin. So anyone sitting the fence is probably a tackle. I've got high hopes for Adeosun thanks to the explosion of interest in his services. UVA won a tough recruiting battle against a couple very high-profile schools; just because it happened at the last minute shouldn't make Adeosun any less highly anticipated than the ones who commit in May.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
the recruit: Eric Tetlow
Name: Eric Tetlow
Position: OL
Hometown: Richmond
School: Mills Godwin
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 300
24/7: 82, three stars; #108 OT, VA #38
ESPN: 79, three stars; #41 OT, VA #23, Atl. #69
Rivals: 5.5, three stars
Scout: two stars; #122 OT
Other offers: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Maryland, Purdue, Boston College, South Florida, Navy, East Carolina, Temple
Two Signing Day commitments necessitate two more recruit profiles before the series wraps up for the 2013 class. In the summer, UVA looked pretty set at O-line after taking commitments from Sadiq Olanrewaju, Jack McDonald, and Brad Henson; then some cracks in the depth appeared, most notably the loss of Tim Cwalina to a heart condition, and the coaches started looking around again. This was even before Henson decommitted; when that happened, the staff went into O-line overdrive.
Tetlow was one of the first guys they reached out to after Henson left; he had been recruited by UVA during the cycle, but was never offered, and committed to Wake Forest in November. The first time around, he said thanks but no thanks; that was just before Christmas.
But it so happens Tetlow is one of those guys who's picking a school and not just a football team. And he wants to study engineering, which is a very, very tall task for an athlete. Even one with a 3.9 GPA. It's even harder to do at a liberal arts school like Wake Forest. Tetlow would've had to do some convoluted distance-learning stuff through some other school and the more he thought about that, the less appealing it must have sounded. So literally in the middle of the night before Signing Day, he called the Wake and UVA coaches and made the switch. A very nice surprise for UVA fans; I don't envy making that phone call, though.
Tetlow's ratings are all over the map a little bit, but that's not too surprising. Mid-level offensive linemen tend to be that way more often than not. His offer list is OK and about matches the ratings. But what he's got going for him is being the biggest guy in the O-line class. The only other players already at 300 pounds are defensive guys. ESPN says "strong" and "strength" a few times in their assessment and sums him up as a guy who can run-block very well and has the physical tools to add pass-blocking to that repertoire.
Right now on the depth chart I've got Tetlow as a tackle, since that's sort of the default for incoming freshmen unless guard looks obvious. But I'm thinking Sean Cascarano as a comparison here. Cascarano could be a tackle if we needed it, and probably a good one. The reason he's not is named Morgan Moses and the other reason is named Oday Aboushi; he basically got pushed inside by players even better suited to tackle than he is. Tetlow's very similar. He's got the height and long arms for tackle and he's very smart, I don't doubt he can get the footwork down. But his run-blocking appears well ahead of his pass-blocking (the latter of which you don't learn anything about in his highlights because his opponents don't have any moves at all)** and the chances are that this class (and maybe the next one) hold players better suited to tackle than Tetlow. Olanrewaju is an obvious candidate, and George Adeosun blew up so damn fast it's hard not to see tackle potential with him as well.
So I think the ultimate move will be inside to guard. A smart engineering student like Tetlow might be a center candidate, but we have to wait and see on that. I suspect we won't learn much at all his first year, really, as I expect the coaches to do a fair amount of experimenting on him. If he's a guard, the path to playing time is a little more open than at tackle and his redshirt freshman year could see him on the field, with a very legitimate shot at starting by his third year in the program.
**Also, Tetlow has a website, on which is an amusing picture of a relatively clean Tetlow pass-blocking for a quarterback whose every inch of his uniform is caked with mud. Yes yes a zillion extenuating circumstances, not least of which is that there are four other pass-blockers not headed to BCS-level football, and it is in no way a reflection of Tetlow's skills, but it's still a funny commentary on the pass-blocking when the quarterback looks like a walking mud bath.
Position: OL
Hometown: Richmond
School: Mills Godwin
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 300
24/7: 82, three stars; #108 OT, VA #38
ESPN: 79, three stars; #41 OT, VA #23, Atl. #69
Rivals: 5.5, three stars
Scout: two stars; #122 OT
Other offers: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Maryland, Purdue, Boston College, South Florida, Navy, East Carolina, Temple
Two Signing Day commitments necessitate two more recruit profiles before the series wraps up for the 2013 class. In the summer, UVA looked pretty set at O-line after taking commitments from Sadiq Olanrewaju, Jack McDonald, and Brad Henson; then some cracks in the depth appeared, most notably the loss of Tim Cwalina to a heart condition, and the coaches started looking around again. This was even before Henson decommitted; when that happened, the staff went into O-line overdrive.
Tetlow was one of the first guys they reached out to after Henson left; he had been recruited by UVA during the cycle, but was never offered, and committed to Wake Forest in November. The first time around, he said thanks but no thanks; that was just before Christmas.
But it so happens Tetlow is one of those guys who's picking a school and not just a football team. And he wants to study engineering, which is a very, very tall task for an athlete. Even one with a 3.9 GPA. It's even harder to do at a liberal arts school like Wake Forest. Tetlow would've had to do some convoluted distance-learning stuff through some other school and the more he thought about that, the less appealing it must have sounded. So literally in the middle of the night before Signing Day, he called the Wake and UVA coaches and made the switch. A very nice surprise for UVA fans; I don't envy making that phone call, though.
Tetlow's ratings are all over the map a little bit, but that's not too surprising. Mid-level offensive linemen tend to be that way more often than not. His offer list is OK and about matches the ratings. But what he's got going for him is being the biggest guy in the O-line class. The only other players already at 300 pounds are defensive guys. ESPN says "strong" and "strength" a few times in their assessment and sums him up as a guy who can run-block very well and has the physical tools to add pass-blocking to that repertoire.
Right now on the depth chart I've got Tetlow as a tackle, since that's sort of the default for incoming freshmen unless guard looks obvious. But I'm thinking Sean Cascarano as a comparison here. Cascarano could be a tackle if we needed it, and probably a good one. The reason he's not is named Morgan Moses and the other reason is named Oday Aboushi; he basically got pushed inside by players even better suited to tackle than he is. Tetlow's very similar. He's got the height and long arms for tackle and he's very smart, I don't doubt he can get the footwork down. But his run-blocking appears well ahead of his pass-blocking (the latter of which you don't learn anything about in his highlights because his opponents don't have any moves at all)** and the chances are that this class (and maybe the next one) hold players better suited to tackle than Tetlow. Olanrewaju is an obvious candidate, and George Adeosun blew up so damn fast it's hard not to see tackle potential with him as well.
So I think the ultimate move will be inside to guard. A smart engineering student like Tetlow might be a center candidate, but we have to wait and see on that. I suspect we won't learn much at all his first year, really, as I expect the coaches to do a fair amount of experimenting on him. If he's a guard, the path to playing time is a little more open than at tackle and his redshirt freshman year could see him on the field, with a very legitimate shot at starting by his third year in the program.
**Also, Tetlow has a website, on which is an amusing picture of a relatively clean Tetlow pass-blocking for a quarterback whose every inch of his uniform is caked with mud. Yes yes a zillion extenuating circumstances, not least of which is that there are four other pass-blockers not headed to BCS-level football, and it is in no way a reflection of Tetlow's skills, but it's still a funny commentary on the pass-blocking when the quarterback looks like a walking mud bath.
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