Larry Vaught interviews Joker Phillips and they discuss recruiting and the importance of identifying freshmen who can play immediately. In the article, Joker names several freshmen who could have played last year. In particular, he names Josh Forrest and Marcus Caffey.
Clearly both players will have big roles on the team this season. Still, I question the staff’s decision to play freshmen unless they are going to contribute in a significant manner. Marcus Caffey is a great athlete. He was a dynamic running back in high school. Still, if a move to corner was the right decision, would it have made sense for him top run the ball last year? Would they have played him over two senior cornerbacks?
Josh Forrest was signed as a wide receiver, but simply out grew his body and needed to change positions. I’m still a fan of redshirting freshmen because I believe the value of the 5th year is huge for the player and program. Based on feedback and the depth chart, I won’t be surprised if the majority of the incoming freshman class play this season.
“. Marcus Caffey is a great athlete. He was a dynamic running back in high school. Still, if a move to corner was the right decision, would it have made sense for him top run the ball last year? Would they have played him over two senior cornerbacks?”
I think Joker’s point is that had we moved Caffey to CB last year (his eventual position) that he would have a year under his belt at the position when he is expected to start this year….regardless of him starting or redshirting last year. He would be in a better position to start this year and have the experience at the position so it comes more natural this year and he’s able to play at a greater speed and not “have to think” as they say.
I think UK knew all along Caffey was a CB. When they first offered him, they offered him as a CB. David Turner was his lead recruiter. I think Caffey told them he wanted a shot to run the ball. They kept their word. I understand you point. I agree, they should have identified it sooner. Still, I don’t like wasting a a season on very little game experience.
The redshirt thing is disappointing IMHO. We must nurture as many 5th year players as we possibly can because UK simply doesn’t pull in the elite talent many of our SEC schools do. I like the last three recruiting classes we’ve had, but it seems too many have taken their shirts off for insignificant contributions. Hind sight is 20-20-I get that but sometimes I SMH. I think the odds of Towles shirting is zero. Hope I’m wrrong.
I’d like to redshirt as much as possible too, but the staff may have promised some of these guys immediate playing time and maybe that’s part of the reason they signed iwth UK. We may never know.
I know some people always say that kids can use a redshirt later on for injury, academics, etc. but that is the rare case for most kids when you look at the overall roster.
I like the idea of redshirting as many as we can and shudder to think how much it would have hurt if Woodson had wasted a freshman year, BUT—there may be an upside to it now IF UK can continue to improve and show it on the field. We have just recently progressed from having mostly two stars starting to the point where we will have mostly three stars starting next year. IF we can start winning, IF Towles becomes a big attraction (I still think Smith has very good potential and will start most of the year hopefully allowing Towles to reshirt) then maybe these three star redshirts will eventually be replaced by four star redshirts, in which case these redshirts we are talking about now could also recruited over in which case they should play as soon as they can help. Don’t laugh, a lot of our players that played and started have been passed by younger talent lately. Players like Glenn, Bailey, Lefnowski, Mcdermott, etc, come to mind. There are a lot of possibilities, Smith was on the SEC freshman team and could turn out to be an excellent QB but still may not be starting in a year or two, even though he progresses.
I know, nothing to worry about right now.
“We have just recently progressed from having mostly two stars starting to the point where we will have mostly three stars starting next year. ”
However, there has been a significant increase in the number of three star players in recent years. Here are Scout’s number of threes:
2006 770
2009 889
2012 1132
So a two recruited several years ago and ranked as a two, may very well have been deemed a three if in the class of 2012. Virtually everyone has more threes now that years ago.
Rivals number of threes has also increased but not as rapidly as Scouts.
Try not to get caught up in the rankings, but look at the offer lists. If other BCS/SEC schools are offering, then it confirms projections/evaluations. In the past two classes, UK has had to beat out several schools for players. They lost some too. Guys like Gates (GA) and Smith (AU), Davis (IL).
The number of three stars has increased greatly lately. But I use Rivals for three star numbers, and the increase there is more like 30%, which does not come close to explaining the decrease from 22 when Joker started heading up recruiting to the 2 in the 11 class, and of those two Warren started as a true freshman and I think Huguenin (a 5.4, near three star) is going to be excellent. The 12 class regressed a bit with four, but one was a kicker ranked 8th in the nation (UK has gotten great mileage out of their kickers) and the other three were 5.4s, two that Summers signed early while passing over the in state three star UL signed.
The thing that stands out is the amazing number of UK stars that were not only two stars but would have never come close to being three stars even with todays slacker rules, now most of UK’s two stars are 5.4s where about 75% of the two stars in the entire Brooks era were about 5.2, not close to a three star.
I think we burn way to many RS just to see them play on special teams. I’m sure all that experience they gain running down field and mostly never getting a tackle during a season is a real eye opener for most of them. “Yeah ma I ran down the field today against Fl, no I didn’t get a tackle, but wow I really ran hard down there and watched Rainey run by me really fast when he returned that punt. I did it like 9 times in this game. I was real close twice and almost got a tackle in that game.” Geez!
I think on Defense maybe the two that really panned out burning the RS was Bud Dupree, Ashley Lowrey, and that DLineman so make it three Coleman.
You left out Eric Dixon and Ashley Lowery as defensive kids that contributed significant time last season, particularly in the last few games. The only redshirt I didn’t agree with burning was Faulkner’s, and I wonder if the staff didn’t think he would come on stronger in the latter half of the season and get more reps at safety.
Heh, you didn’t leave out Lowery, I just can’t read…
He had an issue with family and reported in late compared to the rest of freshmen in fall camp. Fell behind the learning curve of the rest of the DB’s. Totally wasted RS. Could have been one of those 5th yr SR’s that UK could have really used.