As you guys already know. I have been scouting for over 20 years. Leonard Taylor was one of the best DT prospects I watched in HS. He dominated to the point that his team almost won a state title with no offense. Against Treasure Coast on back to back to back plays (Sack, TFL, Sack). The coach for Treasure Coast told me it is the best performance he had ever seen from a defensive player. He flashed at Miami. I have no idea what happened to him. There is no reason that he should not have been a 1st or 2nd round pick. Taylor, Willie Williams, Fred Rouse, CJ Mizell, Ryan Perriloux…Super talented players who never panned out or did not produce to the level they should have. Taylor is a prospect I ever heard was a bad kid. I really thought he would be SPECIAL at Miami.
Yeah I’d be really interested to see if someone could quantify how this has worked out overall in terms of who got paid, how much, and who didn’t. Bc it really seemed to be the thing here for a long time. And many of them seemed pretty questionable in one way or another.
Is it just UM with our player development or what? How the hell is James Williams the #242 player taken? He’s 13 away from Mr. Irrelevant for God’s sake. If he goes to Alabama, Ohio State or Georgia is that his same fate as well? I’d really love to know why guys flat line here to the point of either being undraft-able or to where they feel the need to hit the portal to get straightened out.(in the cases where this applies, YES, sometimes it’s for a bigger bag).
Really just having trouble understanding why Miami’s where we are right now.
I always found him very frustrating to watch. At least the games I saw. He seemed to either make great or terrible plays. Maybe my expectations were too high. Idk.
I think the difference is expectations. Miami has gotten a different type of 5 star then Bama and Georgia does. My belief is that Miami has won over 5 star guys (and their families) by telling them they are pros and telling them how much they love them. Bama has gotten 5 star guys by telling them how they are going to develop them. As soon as you get the guys on campus the Miami 5 star guys (and their families) think they are already pros and can not be coached. Everything is catered to the 5 Star. People overlook at poor behavior or poor work ethic because of the 5 star. Bama guys have guys in front of them and are coached that the 5 star player needs to improve.
I think this is a culture that has set up Miami to fail from the top guy to the bottom guy who also thinks they are pros before they get to Miami. Many of the Miami players today who were attracted to the flash never saw how hard the Miami players of old worked.