Mustang Club observations

[Corso]

Some thoughts from last night's Mustang Club gathering:

* The Mustang Club put on one hell of a show. Great spread on the food and drinks, and two huge screens for the video highlights.

* Corey Slater throws a beautiful deep ball, and moves better than many of us (including me) thought.
* Zach Rhodes is officially fast.
* Bryan McCann is officially REALLY fast.
* Tim Crosby looks extremely athletic. On film, he looked like a slightly taller version of Jonas Rutledge.
* Lee Gonzalez might kill someone before his career is over. He was absolutely burying guys, and he didn't look satisfied to just knock them down with his size. The collisions were violent, and he always came out on the winning end (of course -- it was a highlight tape).
* Tyler Jones lived up to Coach Bennett's billing that he'll "knock the snot out of you." While many players are sure tacklers, he seemed to knock ball-carriers backward almost every time. I overheard someone quoting a coach as saying that happens all the time. If he grows any more, he might well turn into a nasty linebacker.
* Coach Bennett mentioned that several of the guys have "a high motor" and can really run. Best example of a high motor on film was Patrick Strodtman. On one play, he blitzed from his safety position on the right side, and chased the ball-carrier maybe 30 or 40 yards across the field, caught him and absolutely body-slammed him. Very impressive pursuit.
* Anthony Sowe might be the most relentless defender in the class. Playing DE, I assume (although it wasn't on the highlight tape) that he got pushed around a lot. But in his brief portion of the tape, there were two or three plays where he chased guys down in the secondary. Nice wheels on that guy.
* Phillip Burley is a huge target. He looks (physically, at least) like he should be playing at USC or Texas. Will be interesting to see him develop.
* Morgan Hudnall is faster than I thought he'd be. Seems to have good hands.
* Kellis Cunningham has a cannon of a leg. Highlight tape had two kickoffs (from the 40). The first one landed about 5-7 yards behind the end zone, and the next one landed 10-12 yards behind the end zone. That's 75-77 yards and 80-82 yards on the fly. Also showed a 40-something yard field goal that looked like he hit it with his driver.

That's all I can remember this morning. If I think of any more, I'll add them.

[Stallion]

Did they serve Kool-Aid?

[White Helmet]

Im looking forward to getting to see these videos at the Houston reception tonight, especially Lee Gonzalez, maybe it is the old OL in me but I love seeing big nasty OL smash people around.

[MustangIcon]

I would agree with most of your observations Corso. Especially that Corey Slater is MUCH faster than the 4.9+ 40 he was advertised at. He easily beat a linebacker to the corner on that scramble (even though there was a block in the back on the play, he still displayed very good speed).

Unfortunateky I cannot agree that he throws a "beautiful deep ball." The play action pass was a 30 or 35 yard pass over the middle that I would describe as wobbly before I would beautiful. The other throw I remember was a fly route down the left sideline that was under thrown and the WR went up to get it between a corner and a safety to come down with the ball.

If I were to pick the guy who threw the better ball of that small sample of highlights I would have chosen Rhodes. He threw a 40-45 yard ball down the sidelines that looked absolutely effortless. And he looks every bit as fast as advertised.

[ClassOf81]

I don't know, I didn't see the wobble in Slater's pass. I thought it looked good. And while I wouldn't call him "fast" he moves a heck of a lot better than initially feared. Rhodes, on the other hand, can really move. Loved watching him turn the corner and leave the entire defense behind him. Good strong arm, too.

[Hoss]

Good to see a couple of Okies on the list this year. How did Dollens look on the highlight tape?

[JasonB]

Did they serve Kool-Aid?

Yes. I had a lot.

The cunningham field goal never even comes down in the video. 45 yards and it went at least 10 yards past the GP. Pretty damn impressive.

Crosby has really good acceleration at the point of attack. He tackles high, but you can teach that. They have QB footage of him on Rivals, just a really good athlete.

McCann has remarkable burst of speed with the ball. ON the TD catch, he hooks right past the first down marker, good smarts, then catches the ball with his hands, then shows great acceleration.

Bon does a great job on that option play, forcing the QB to decide to keep, and then exploding on him. Very nice.

To me, the JUCO LB plays more like a MLB, which is a little dissappointing. Good lateral speed, but we need help at OLB.

Strodman has a nice mean streak to him.

Wish I could see a video of DeGroat occupying blockers to see his strength. He won't slip through like that at the D-1 level.

Jordon has a great video where he blows up two blockers and makes a play in the backfield. I really like to see that.

I would have liked to see some more power blocking from Holmes on the video.

Medford has additional video on rivals. For a short guy, they really threw a lot of fades to him in the corner. Illustrates the respect his team had for his athletic/jumping ability. On the screen, shows very, very good accelleration. There is no way he is a 4.62 like Rivals has, I belive the 4.4 that SMU has him at. Good shiftiness too.

[White Helmet]

I just remember here at the Houston reception, I think it was in the Jones video, they froze to circle him as a receiver come across the middle and you could here someone in the room go "uh-oh". The video only reinforces my excitement for football season to start.

[HorsePower]

For a skinny-looking guy (who, in his PF.com mugshot looks like he's about 10 years old), Tyler Jones might be the biggest hitter in the class. He was simply nasty. Wasn't he the guy Coach Bennett said "will knock the snot out of you"?

[me@smu]

Yeah that is what Bennett said and man does him film reflect that. Put a little bulk on that kid and he could be one nasty OLB

[Stallion]

I see a lot of you guys watching our recruits beat up on 2a and 3a competition think you are recruiting analyst too. Actually, there was not one player on that reel that impressed me as much as say Plano's Justin Jordan who had about 15-20 homeruns on his Rivals highlights. Must have been a grade casualty. You know you can watch videos which are much more thorough on Rivals.

[me@smu]

We can only really work with what we have access to. Tyler Jones doesn't have any videos on Rivals so based on the few clips that are provided by Bennett, this kid could be a beast!

[Hal]

.... Actually, there was not one player on that reel that impressed me as much ....

How do you know what was on the reel? I thought you said you weren't going. Personally, I drove in to be there.

And where do you think Rivals gets its clips? Either the player or the coach sends them in .... and of course they're going to send "home run" plays. Based on the clips on his website, you would think Amadeus Waters is the next Earl Campbell.

And you think others play recruiting analyst about people they've never watched play? Hello Kettle, this is Teapot .... you're black.

[Pony Fan]

.... Actually, there was not one player on that reel that impressed me as much ....

How do you know what was on the reel? I thought you said you weren't going. Personally, I drove in to be there.

And where do you think Rivals gets its clips? Either the player or the coach sends them in .... and of course they're going to send "home run" plays. Based on the clips on his website, you would think Amadeus Waters is the next Earl Campbell.

And you think others play recruiting analyst about people they've never watched play? Hello Kettle, this is Teapot .... you're black.

You seem to have forgotten that stallion is the expert and the rest of the world are idiots. Just ask him.

[mrydel]

I watched it on CSTV allaccess