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JeJuan Sparks (2020) Decommits


OGIUAndy

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49 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Love the pipeline that keeps feeding us and I love Florida high school football players. Most have a chip they play with...especially those who get overlooked by the big 3 down there. Allen is on fire this week!

Any concern that quite a few of these guys don’t have a ton of P5 offers?

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3 hours ago, Stlboiler23 said:

Any concern that quite a few of these guys don’t have a ton of P5 offers?

I'm not too worried about it yet. I would love to have some higher rated guys, but for the most part, the lower rated guys have potential. The OL/DL guys we've got have good size and/or athleticism. The QB we got is raw and might never pan out, but he has a ton of potential.

Allen has done a good job of getting in early on guys and identifying underrated talent. The one DB recruit we got went from a really low ranking to being a top 500 recruit after he committed. Lemuel Watley was ranked as a WR, but videos and reports show him being more impressive on the defensive side of the ball. Sparks isn't highly rated, but he chose IU over Ole Miss. If they wanted him, that's a pretty good sign.

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I think the ranking point is fair but it will come down to player development, as they all have tools that indicate good potential.  IU has gotten a ton of decently ranked players the past couple of years, and developed some others like Micah McFadden and Stevie Scott.  It's been a lot of meat and potatoes add-ons that will help with depth at least, plus there are some good ranked guys too.

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2 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

I'm not too worried about it yet. I would love to have some higher rated guys, but for the most part, the lower rated guys have potential. The OL/DL guys we've got have good size and/or athleticism. The QB we got is raw and might never pan out, but he has a ton of potential.

Allen has done a good job of getting in early on guys and identifying underrated talent. The one DB recruit we got went from a really low ranking to being a top 500 recruit after he committed. Lemuel Watley was ranked as a WR, but videos and reports show him being more impressive on the defensive side of the ball. Sparks isn't highly rated, but he chose IU over Ole Miss. If they wanted him, that's a pretty good sign.

I’m normally pretty optimistic, but I’m not when it comes to the quality of the OL recruiting in this next class.  I’m fully on board w giving athletes time to develop and grow (they’re still just high school kids, right?), but doesn’t look all that great on paper to me.  Keep pulling me in the optimistic direction though!!

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2 hours ago, thirdgenhoosier said:

I’m normally pretty optimistic, but I’m not when it comes to the quality of the OL recruiting in this next class.  I’m fully on board w giving athletes time to develop and grow (they’re still just high school kids, right?), but doesn’t look all that great on paper to me.  Keep pulling me in the optimistic direction though!!

I don't think we have many instant impact guys yet anywhere in this class, but I think we have some guys who have the talent to develop into players in 2-3 years.  We definitely don't seem to have any OL guys like Cronk or Bedford from last year's class who come in and have a shot to start from day 1.

I just like that we aren't getting stiffs who peaked in high school.  In the past, we've gotten guys with average size and average athleticism who at best could turn into a back up or spot starter late in their career.  Sparks is currently our lowest rated guy, but he is a monster guy who is decently agile for his size.  With the right training program, he could turn into a real stopper at DT.

I agree that I'm not 100% sold on Knight and Wiginton yet as our two OL in this class, but they at least have decent size and decent athleticism.  They also seem to be good kids who are trying to help recruit other guys to the program.

I won't be happy if we have a whole class like the guys we've gotten lately, but I don't mind bringing these kids in to provide good, hard working depth with some potential.

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3 hours ago, milehiiu said:

Give me a kid out of Texas or Florida, any day of the week. And twice on Sundays. It's like a basketball player from Indiana.  They all can ball, regardless of how many stars are next to their name. 

I think it is kind of like the ugly friend effect.  An 8 surrounded by 10s doesn't look that great, but an 8 surrounded by 6s looks fantastic.  Sometimes those 8s in Florida who are surrounded by 10s slip through the cracks because there is so much other talent around them.

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8 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

I think it is kind of like the ugly friend effect.  An 8 surrounded by 10s doesn't look that great, but an 8 surrounded by 6s looks fantastic.  Sometimes those 8s in Florida who are surrounded by 10s slip through the cracks because there is so much other talent around them.

Very, very true. So much talent in the state. Of course all the talent in the world doesn't matter if you the kids don't put the work in. Still.....love pipeline Allen has had and continues to have in Florida.

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On 6/25/2019 at 5:41 PM, milehiiu said:

Give me a kid out of Texas or Florida, any day of the week. And twice on Sundays. It's like a basketball player from Indiana.  They all can ball, regardless of how many stars are next to their name. 

Came here to post this. Florida is one state worth rolling the dice occasionally.

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16 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Very, very true. So much talent in the state. Of course all the talent in the world doesn't matter if you the kids don't put the work in. Still.....love pipeline Allen has had and continues to have in Florida.

I think Allen's style works well for getting kids to work. He just seems like one of those guys you'd hate to disappoint. Not because he'd yell at you, but you'd feel terrible because you let him down. The family atmosphere seems like it is doing a good job of getting kids to work hard and buy in. Combine that with Ballou and Rhea being awesome, and hopefully these kids with potential are motivated to put the work in to maximize their potential.

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  • KDB changed the title to JeJuan Sparks (2020) Decommits

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