Recruiting Football Talk VIII

#33,301
#33,301
PlanetVolunteer said:
And Thornton in the Chatt game kinda just ran out of bounds on that one deep shot when we know he's faster than those guys. Maybe wasn't quite 100%.

If OK loads the box like they like to do then it'll be there.
Click to expand...

I’m somewhat excited to see how Nico performs, if OU loads the box in attempts to contain our running game, as a lot are assuming that will be Venables’ gameplan.
 
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#33,302
#33,302
MoCo_Vol said:
I felt like most of his issues were coaching related. He seemed to be playing on all instinct while here, at least under Butch he developed physically.

But 80 tackles as a true freshman, 138 as a sophomore, 105 and then 101 (missing 3 games) is pretty impressive consistency for a guy that had next to no coaching while here.

I would have loved to see him in the defense we play now though, would be an even better version of what Pili is I think.
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Was listening to Kevin Simon in the offseason at somepoint and he thought AJ was just average. Thought he was slow and only showed out because everyone else was bad.

Don't really agree, but who am I to argue with him?

Pili could be better though. That dude looks like an NFL player to me right now. I think as we play better teams we will see more evidence of that. Everyone on our defense has just been decimating all in its path so kinda hard to tell how good everyone actually is.
 
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#33,305
#33,305
PlanetVolunteer said:
If I were Oklahoma I'd try and stop us with a light box and drop ppl in coverage like everyone else has tried. They'd stop us better than what we've seen, but the question is their offense.
Click to expand...
They hope to keep it low scoring and force Nico to make some mistakes to give them short field drives and pray their OL can hold up to allow Burks or Anderson to find the end zone.
 
#33,307
#33,307
PlanetVolunteer said:
Was listening to Kevin Simon in the offseason at somepoint and he thought AJ was just average. Thought he was slow and only showed out because everyone else was bad.

Don't really agree, but who am I to argue with him?

Pili could be better though. That dude looks like an NFL player to me right now. I think as we play better teams we will see more evidence of that. Everyone on our defense has just been decimating all in its path so kinda hard to tell how good everyone actually is.
Click to expand...
AJ was never a speed demon, but he looked way quicker as a Jr and Sr because he was in the right place more often...he also started really mauling fools instead of grabbing and riding them down like when he was younger...also I think because he was more often in the right place to keep people instead of chasing them.

I think he got in much better shape as he got older and became stronger and quicker.

He truly was a great LB by the end.
 
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#33,308
#33,308
PlanetVolunteer said:
Was listening to Kevin Simon in the offseason at somepoint and he thought AJ was just average. Thought he was slow and only showed out because everyone else was bad.

Don't really agree, but who am I to argue with him?

Pili could be better though. That dude looks like an NFL player to me right now. I think as we play better teams we will see more evidence of that. Everyone on our defense has just been decimating all in its path so kinda hard to tell how good everyone actually is.
Click to expand...

I mean AJ had a 4 year NFL career, and his first 2 years he was a stud for Denver. Getting hurt pretty much did him in.

He wasn't an elite speed guy though ran 4.79 at his pro day but he was dismissed from the team and UT cut ties with him so who knows how/where he trained in the weeks leading up to that.

Dude was a baller and either he had epic IQ or some sort of physical talent... he was top 10 in the SEC in tackles his last 3 years here.

Also not sure I'd agree with the "everyone else was bad" narrative either, he was playing beside Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Ladarrell McNeil, & Curt Maggitt. But like most UT players from that era the ones that got better did so in the NFL with real coaching to support them
 
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#33,309
#33,309
PlanetVolunteer said:
If I were Oklahoma I'd try and stop us with a light box and drop ppl in coverage like everyone else has tried. They'd stop us better than what we've seen, but the question is their offense.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the issue there is the amount of pressure it puts on your offense. Letting our offense eat clock and march (we're the best rushing team in the SEC, by nearly 100 yards a game too) all game means your offense can't have empty possessions or turnovers. And OU is 14th in the SEC in first downs, only Kentucky and South Carolina are worse at getting them.
 
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#33,311
#33,311
Ulysees E. McGill said:
AJ was never a speed demon, but he looked way quicker as a Jr and Sr because he was in the right place more often...he also started really mauling fools instead of grabbing and riding them down like when he was younger...also I think because he was more often in the right place to keep people instead of chasing them.

I think he got in much better shape as he got older and became stronger and quicker.

He truly was a great LB by the end.
Click to expand...

Yep, he's really a what-if story but he's also a guy you gotta give props because he was consistent and played 4 years here. Al Wilson was obviously a superior LB. Kevin Burnett, Raynoch Thompson, Jerod Mayo, Andy Spiva, Keith DeLong, and Jamie Rotella obviously are all guys you could easily put ahead of AJ with little fuss. But I hope eventually with enough time people will give flowers to the guys that were here playing their asses off for the dark years of Kiffin/Dooley/Butch/Pruitt because we had some studs on those teams too.
 
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#33,322
#33,322
I was just watching Josh Pate's prediction...his reasons are exactly what those of us that think this will be a dogfight think will be the reasons why...Venables defense slowing the run and forcing a lot of 3rd and longs, and Venables defense then taking advantage of Nicos inexperience in a hostile environment

Also like us...he is saying that it is either a dogfight or a blowout.
 
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