Too Early?

[SMU 86]

Wilkerson is gonna start at WR next year....and Frazier doesn't play NT unless its an emergency situation...it's not his natural position...Pittman will probably take over, he rotated with Parham whenever he got tired. Parham told me Pitt goes in on a lot of passing downs because he has great pass-rushing ability.

I belive Frazier was a DT in high school and the year he played in JC so it is his natural position.

Frazier was a 3-4 DE in high school. If O'Guin does well in the spring he starts at NT. I can't tell how big it is getting O'Guin enrolled early. This will pay big dividends.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Bradly Hanes should take one of the starting receiver spots. I'm not as enamoires with Darius Johnson like most on this board seem to be. He's fragile, and worse, inconsistent. Also the two frosh OLs should compete for starting time next year. Tennison will have a battle to hang on to thestarring C spot.

Haynes doesn't have the speed for a wr. I just hope that Darius Johnson will adopt Emmanuel Sanders work ethic, and not live in the past of his high school accomplishments. DJ has a lot of potential, but, he is going to need to grow up and mature, or he won't reach it.

[sbsmith]

2010 season opens at Tech on the Sep. 4th right?

[GoodGirl]

What do you mean when you say that Darius is fragile...because he got hurt? What is that comment based on? If you will recall, at the beginning of the season, Darius was on pace to be everything that everyone expected him to be. One sports writer said, "He was living up to the hype." Unfortunately, Darius got hurt the first game. Since sustaining the collar bone injury, he has not consistently been inserted into the rotation or given adequate playing time in order to be a significant contributor. You can only get better by doing, not just watching from the sideline. I am convenienced that if JJ would have given him consistent vs. sporadic game time minutes, we would have seen the real and raw talent of Darius Johnson. You are right about one thing, DJ needs to mature but what freshman doesn't (athlete or not)?

[ponyscott]

What do you mean when you say that Darius is fragile...because he got hurt? What is that comment based on? If you will recall, at the beginning of the season, Darius was on pace to be everything that everyone expected him to be. One sports writer said, "He was living up to the hype." Unfortunately, Darius got hurt the first game. Since sustaining the collar bone injury, he has not consistently been inserted into the rotation or given adequate playing time in order to be a significant contributor. You can only get better by doing, not just watching from the sideline. I am convenienced that if JJ would have given him consistent vs. sporadic game time minutes, we would have seen the real and raw talent of Darius Johnson. You are right about one thing, DJ needs to mature but what freshman doesn't (athlete or not)?

You are right GoodGirl and Darius will be just fine as he IS just a freshman learning his way around....he will progress and be everything you have planned on...these guys on ponyfans are passionate and make comments that are based upon passion and we all want the best for SMU AND DJ and are happy that DJ is here. We hope that Emmanual was able to show/demonstrate to DJ what has made him so successful during his years here. Stay strong! We look forward to watching his continued success here at SMU!

[Junior]

I am convenienced that...

I'd like to be convenienced, too, but that rarely happens. For example, flying to Houston Wednesday, my flight was 2 hours late. Definitely not convenienced there.

Regardless, DJ quit getting significant playing time after the fumble on the 1 in the Houston game if I remember correctly.

Like someone else said, he needs to follow ES's example. If he can do that, with his natural ability and athleticism, he could be something special for the next 3 years. I'd love to see him develop into that player.

[Stallion]

DJ is going to be just fine. JJ doesn't play backups and because of injury and the suspension he never got a chance. He's better than some guys starting and I've seen a lot of film on him. He's just not feeling it yet.

[Ralph]

JJ rarely subs for his receivers. Once a player earns the starting position and does well, everyone else sits until the guy up front is injured or takes a hit and gets up slowly. Once the starter is refreshed and ready he plays nearly every snap. 2010 recruits at wr and athletes with supposedly 4.4 speed can contribute at slots/wr if they can p/u the system in the fall. Nothing like true speed with talent. I watched the Sheraton Bowl and I thought that Beasely and Wilkerson needed to step it up and get more touches. I know, Cole caught a 71 yard bomb and a TD but he didn't have a lot of catches in a game Padron threw lights out. I think he got credited for 3 catches-I need to check the stat sheet. Wilkerson needs to get open. Everyone remembers the long bombs, but the game is 60+ snaps, therefore they need to get open on the other 59+ snaps.

[Ralph]

February is a long way off but it would be interesting on NLI day to note who signs and who grey shirts. With SMU's success, and the 2010 nearly fully committed, I wonder if the coaches can up grade personnel, especially with two HS players under going ACL therapy, and grey shirt a few more early commits to make room for last minute up grades.

[PerunaPunch]

Don't forget Bryce Hudman when listing starters we're losing — he quietly played a very important role on defense and on special teams. He'll be missed more than we realize.

Not true! I realized how very much we missed Hudman last year. Our safeties sucked last year.

[PerunaPunch]

SInce I appear to be incapable of deleting my own posts, I'll use this space to point out that Marquis Frazier played DT at Navarro JC.

[PerunaPunch]

I'm not attacking DJ personally, it's just that people tend to buy into the hype they read. In this case, people got all worked up over DJ based on a high school highlight reel.

This happens year after year, and I'm guilty of it myself. But just because you have a great high school career doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a great college career, and people forget that the upperclassmen PonyFans hope a frehman phenom will supplant was just as spectacular when they were in high school. A highlight reel will not make you a starter. It's about what happens in practice and what you do when you're given a chance in a game. So far DJ has been a little inconsistent when I've watched him in practice (he'll make a spectacular one-handed behing the back grab one one play, then drop the next). in games, he made one terrific play, then injured his shoulder. After that, almost every time I noticed him in a game it was because of a drop. So you can say it's the coaches fault for not keeping him in long enough to develop a rhythm, but I should point out that if any receiver drops the first couple of passes that are thrown to him, somebody else will probably get substituted.

[Alaric]

JJ has said at the lunches that he's very happy with Darius and that he'll be a big time player (and to relax because he's an 18 year old kid with good and experienced wr's in front of him)

[Cadillac]

I'm not too worried about whether or not DJ will figure it out. I mean, he's going to be the 3 or 4 receiver on the team. He'll get more consistent with a Spring under his belt where he's thinking less and reacting more on the field. I think he'll get his spot back leaving one opening (I see no reason that Wilkerson will be benched). I think the main competition will be between Joubert and Beasley.

I think JaGared Davis steps in at linebacker, but I'm not sure how the inside/outside will shuffle out. I think the solid money is on Fleps/Reed inside with Yenga/Davis outside.

While we have 4 returning starters on the O-line, I wouldn't be surprised is the competition is wide open and we have some changes coming there. There's a lot of young talent out there and that's a good problem to have.

-CoS