Rawleigh Williams

[bennyl08]

Only the "experts" from the recruiting services know.  Why did Barry Sanders only receive scholarship offers from Iowa State, Tulsa, and Oklahoma State?  Why did Aaron Rodgers receive ZERO D-1 offers out of high school?  Why was J.J. Watt rated only a "2-star" player out of high school?  Why are some "5-star" running backs and QBs complete busts? It happens more than the Star Gazers want to believe.

Recruiting services don't have the resources, knowledge, or expertise to properly evaluate every single player in high school and they sure to hell don't have ability to accurately project which players develop and which ones don't.   

Rawleigh Williams will either step up and become a productive back or he won't.  What he was rated coming out of high school and the reasons behind it matters not.

So by your post, head coaches are wrong just as much as the recruiting services, huh? Clearly we can't trust anybody in coaching business when Barry Sanders or Aaron Rodgers were being recruited, which included CBB. Bielema whiffs on players more than the anti-star people wish to believe as well. Do I need to go back to Wisconsin days and list off every player he recruited that didn't go on to the NFL, didn't make all big 10, didn't start more than 5 games in their career? I could, and that would be a very long list. However, that would be a pointless thing to do because no evaluation of people is going to be spot on. The only measuring tool that even comes close to 100% accuracy is time and even then, people will debate if somebody ended up being good, bad, or mediocre.

That said, it would be foolish not to take into consideration all the evaluations that exist. A 5* rating has historically indicated a 50/50 chance of being drafted to the NFL and about 10-20% chance of being a first round pick. That is pretty darn accurate if you ask me. Name any coach who's own evaluations led to 50% of the people who signed with him getting drafted. I'll wait. Does that mean stars are the final say? No, of course not. Just as I will wait for you to show a coach with 50% of his players in the NFL, I'll wait for you to show me any person who thinks that a 3* guy can't develop into a 4/5* player or that a highly rated player can't be a bust. That is the argument that I always hear used to attack star gazers, though to my knowledge, it is the strawiest of strawmen.

[bennyl08]

How about from now on let's reserve judgment on a player's ability and how good they are/will be until we see him a year or two or three in college?  No, that makes too much sense because Stargazers are more interested in what a player is ranked out of high school than what he actually does in college.

Again, you reiterate the straw men. Also, no, I will not reserve judgement on players until they have played a few years here. I am a hog fan. If they are wearing a hog uniform, I am going to be excited for them.

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

So by your post, head coaches are wrong just as much as the recruiting services, huh? Clearly we can't trust anybody in coaching business when Barry Sanders or Aaron Rodgers were being recruited, which included CBB. Bielema whiffs on players more than the anti-star people wish to believe as well. Do I need to go back to Wisconsin days and list off every player he recruited that didn't go on to the NFL, didn't make all big 10, didn't start more than 5 games in their career? I could, and that would be a very long list. However, that would be a pointless thing to do because no evaluation of people is going to be spot on. The only measuring tool that even comes close to 100% accuracy is time and even then, people will debate if somebody ended up being good, bad, or mediocre.

That said, it would be foolish not to take into consideration all the evaluations that exist. A 5* rating has historically indicated a 50/50 chance of being drafted to the NFL and about 10-20% chance of being a first round pick. That is pretty darn accurate if you ask me. Name any coach who's own evaluations led to 50% of the people who signed with him getting drafted. I'll wait. Does that mean stars are the final say? No, of course not. Just as I will wait for you to show a coach with 50% of his players in the NFL, I'll wait for you to show me any person who thinks that a 3* guy can't develop into a 4/5* player or that a highly rated player can't be a bust. That is the argument that I always hear used to attack star gazers, though to my knowledge, it is the strawiest of strawmen.

You  basically gave the easy to read and understand condensed version of what I wasn't willing to do in my earlier posts.

+1 to you.

[Wildhog]

5-stars look like 7-stars behind OL's like ours. 

[PonderinHog]

5-stars look like 7-stars behind OL's like ours. 

Especially through these.

[HogBreath]

I made this point yesterday as well. I've seen it time and time again with teams who are built to run the football, whether at the professional, high school, or college level. I'm not lessening the talent of JWill, but I think that we will see most backs have good success in our system. Will RW3 hit 1,000 this year? Remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. I'm not nearly as concerned about his productivity as a runner as I am with his ability to pass block. As others have said, I think that's where we're going to miss JWill the most.

JWill also brought incredible heart and soul....real leadership..a guy his teammates would rally around, to the field.  Jonathan Williams in many ways, has and still can help this ream win.

But I'm super impressed with RW III, I'm pretty certain he's going to be a special player for us.

[jchill]

I stopped predicting how good players will be in college based on high school performance after Kane Whitehurst. Hope he gets his 1000 yards and I'll rely on CBB's comments for now until he makes it to the field.

I stopped after JuJu Harshaw.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Especially through these.

Reminds me of when I lived across the street from a Kenny Rogers Roaster.

[hoggin]

And that is unfortunate if you're completely dead on, and I'm afraid you are.

Personally, I'd take the guy that wears the defense out and is almost guaranteed to get you at least 3.5 yards a carry from simple size, strength, and lean.

I'd have to disagree with this being the primary reason.  It's one of the reasons, sure, but even pure pro-style run-heavy offenses still don't value a high-paid running back (see the Cowboys).

The biggest change is because they now actually play harder, and are unable to play all game.  It's just like pitchers rarely pitch 9 innings at a time.  Teams have discovered they get better full-game performance by playing multiple backs each game.  The backs can give more effort since they're splitting carries, which also reduces injuries.

Unfortunately, that prevents backs from being paid elite money like quarterbacks and receivers (to a lesser degree).

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

I'd have to disagree with this being the primary reason.  It's one of the reasons, sure, but even pure pro-style run-heavy offenses still don't value a high-paid running back (see the Cowboys).

The biggest change is because they now actually play harder, and are unable to play all game.  It's just like pitchers rarely pitch 9 innings at a time.  Teams have discovered they get better full-game performance by playing multiple backs each game.  The backs can give more effort since they're splitting carries, which also reduces injuries.

Unfortunately, that prevents backs from being paid elite money like quarterbacks and receivers (to a lesser degree).

You're right.
However, this isn't what I'm saying at all.

What I'm saying is that it seems that the days of the big, bruiser back has become devalued these last 6-8 years. or more.

I've heard nothing but high praise about Kodi, with many talking about his speed as well.

Yet......Almost all on here refer to him in a few ways:  "He'll come in and wear them out in the 4th."   "After the defense gets winded from chasing in the first half or so, he can come in and do some damage."   He'll be a great "change of pace" type back as a bruiser late in the game."

Why can't he just be a great back that comes in throughout the game like JWill and AC?   Because to most on here, a big back is a late game closer and goal line specialist.   

Somewhere along the way, big backs have become less relevant, and I find that disheartening and illogical.  A heavy dose of a big, SEC worthy back would be brutalizing in our run-heavy offense, IMHO.

[hawginbigd1]

I stopped after JuJu Harshaw.

+1 for JuJu Harshaw reference! Later there was Dearrious Howard. When i played JuJu in the 7th grade I would have told you he was going to be an AA. Beast -Mode.