Quick roster look

Hurricanes Football
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The only REAL PLAYERS right now on this team, and I’m sure most of you agree…I think most of these range from slightly above average to a couple of potential studs (not enough, but some of these DL kids are really good imo). We need about 8-10 more of these (and some can move up for middle group or frosh, there is definitely time) to be a (9+ win team) and about 15 more to be a consistent top 10 team.

-TVD (His play cost us vs. MTSU and TAMU For sure…But I think it’s more Ponce/Gattis, but all seem to be on same page now (why so long?) and I still think he ends up a top 5-10 CFB QB next year and gets drafted)
-Hedley (Sr.)
-Restrepo
-B. Smith (not a super stud, but I think he belongs…Some may say he’s more in the middle group, but he was really missed underneath vs. Duke)
-Young (what a find! Gives me hope with this staff moving forward in evaluation)
-Mesidor (Hopefully stays)
-D.Jackson (STUD)
-Taylor (very good, may end up a stud)
-Kelly (nice 1st impression)
-Bissainthe (nice 1st impression possible stud)

Serviceable (some with a chance for maybe more)… at their current level (Some are maxed out, some may develop more) you should only have a maybe 3-4 starting on both sides of the ball if you want to be a 9+ win team )

-Stevenson (Has played thru injuries and missed a lot of 2h in hs career…Is probably in the top category if he was at his natural position of safety/star…Special teams gaffes have hurt us, but at least 1 of the 2 long TDs he’s given up were on Kinchens, not TS)
-J.Williams (very good outside of missed tackles and penalty imo, he and Kinchens could end up real players if they take to coaching and take a step forward)
-Kinchens (been hot and cold, I think he will leave UM an above average safety)
-Agude (sr. kinda versatile, like Harvey, should be a decent #3 or #4 end)
-Mallory (SR, piss poor blocker though)
-Caleb Johnson (SR, some reason less snaps than Flagg and looks better to me)
-Ladson
-George (flashes, hoping he joins top category)
-Chaney (anything left after repeated injuries?, was very talented and looked great frosh year imo)
-Parrish (nice player, you need better than him as your starter)
-K.Smith (straight line speed only, but he is a decent #4 WR)
-Nelson (how long is this going to linger though? Is he coming back? M.I.A)
-Cooper (nice 1st impression)
-Couch
-Roberts/Arroyo/JHH (I think all can play honestly, Arroyo out for season)
-Rivers (ehhh, hanging by a thread…Some promise as an interior player)
-Miller (serviceable backup DT and has been used as such by both stats)
-Skinner (needs weight obv, big talent…looks quick and strong as a runner)
-J.Brown (no idea)
-Scaiffe (SR. decent career, too many penalties, though…cristobals’ OL will be better than this and would be more of a #6 or #7)
-Harvey (would be nice #3-#4 DE with an outside chance of being drafted, not a star, but serviceable and playing pretty well)
-Moultrie (SR…Been decent in limited snaps)
-Hutchinson (has shown promise in limited chances, to be a punter for us next year)

(There are another about 10-12 frosh/soph that just don’t know on or would see more (I think Khalil Brantley can contribute for instance, hopefully Citizen comes back strong, Graves, etc)…Brinson and Malik Curtis need to shit or get off the pot, and right now are between categories, threatening to fade to fade away. Balom is MIA…I thought he could contribute here. )

*****But these players…are just not good. And MANY of them are on the field right now. Players like this shouldn’t be starting here. Or maybe you have to plug in 1 in a pinch for a game or two span. Bolded players have directly contributed to losses.

-Flagg
-Steed
-Dunson
-Blades and Frierson (SR…have looked bad when on field, both have had moments in career, but are going out bad and as of now, when they have been called upon…Have hurt us)
-Ivey (SR. having best year, still stinks when asked to cover a real WR)
-Porter (meh, sticks his head in, but looks small and slow to me. A backup. )
-A.Williams (small and plays wild…Doesn’t appear to be coachable)
-K.Washington, Harrell, etc…(BYE)
-C.Williams/Redding (ehhh, not terrible players…Should be productive backups and can contribute…Not good enough for major snaps)
-The rest of the OL (I thought Campbell was playing pretty well, got killed vs. Duke, why was Sapolul brought in if he stinks? Old is not good, Seymour was abused to the point you have to wonder if he’ll ever even be average…as big a problem as any, luckily I think Cristo/Mirabal will fix this)
-Knighton (has big play ability…No vision, fumbles, gets killed in pass pro…Bye)
-Garcia (OK maybe I won’t give up…But my goodness was that ugly…Arm talent noted so maybe proves me wrong. Probably transfers though)
-Franklin (can be a backup, but overall disappointing, l was a fan but looks too slow and heavy)
-Huff (not hurting us lol… but will never see the field)
-Chase Smith (can’t stay healthy, and it’s prevented him from putting on weight…like Garcia, hopefully proves me wrong. )
-Keontra Smith (Has moments, but overall is just small and not a good player…Capable of more plays than steed, but misses tackles all over the place. I actually like the kid, just is what he is)

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So basically besides needing more “Real players”

why we are not 3-4 instead of 5-2 against a weak schedule…IS…

  • Adjustment to new staff/culture/regime…Again, Year 1 of a new staff usually offers very little predictive value, I’ve seen bad year 1 losses from coaches that ended up being ok)
  • Injuries (I think TVD beats Duke for instance)…Also…IS THERE SOMETHING TO CRISTOBAL SIMPLY WORKING PLAYERS TOO HARD IN PRACTICE OR FIELD’S CONDITIONING APPROACH. This has to be solved
  • Is Gattis and/or Ponce…Worth a damn? Is change needed here?
  • Outschemed…I think this will end (more confident it will on defense) and as the staff adjusts to what it has and what it wants to recruit. And overall we just don’t look well-coached…Maybe it changes. But again Cristobal’s strength has never been gameday. Talent and coaching both need to improve, I believe they will…Question is, by year 2 or year 3… And how much?
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So our back 7 on Defense is just awful and getting big play after big play pushed on them and we as fans say the whole team is not trying hard enough. In a passing phase of college football that we see this is a death blow. You can make the rest of the team run stairs and threaten in press conferences but if the technique is not there for our DB’s then what are we talking about?

Many people like to point at our recruiting rankings and say the talent is there. But we have seen it that we have such a large amount busts. You bring in 7 DB’s thinking you will find 3. What are the odds we find none? We bring in 9 LB’s what are the odds that all but 1 bust? We as fans have been playing the odds thinking it can not possibly all bust and we are finding out that it has busted.

Like Nebraska fans, we have underestimated the rebuild. We see USC and think our program is on the same level and if only Lincoln Reily came here we would be 6-1 with our back 7 on D. If only we had a top 5 QB and a Biliknicof WR we will be good. WE are so far away from that. WE have a handful of guys who could even be on the team that we will have in 3 years.

It starts with the culture. We got to get rid of the kids who came here because of swagger first. the kids who want the bling who are not willing to put in the work to achieve great results. 20 years of attracting the wrong type of kids on a massive scale.

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We certainly haven’t fielded a complete “team” in ages. Over 20 years now? Seriously? We either lack in a unit, a few units, sometimes incredibly important ones. Or we suck in one phase of the game or the other but never quality all at the same time. Whatever it is, it’s frustrating as f.

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I agree back 7 play has been awful…But we seemed to have tightened up the big plays last couple games. I think MTSU game was game was lack of intensity, preparation, etc…

And when you play UNC you are bound to give up a big play or two. That being said, there was still no reason for the Kinchens gamble and gaffe that led to the 1q long td. Hopefully this continues to go in the right direction moving forward.

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6 long plays. 5 of them are on KAM. Throw those 6 plays out and we likely are still 4-3 (ATM, UNC, DUKE). Maybe they play better if we don’t lose to MTSU but I doubt it as the issue IMO is on O, not D.

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Yeah, good write up. It’s not the NFL so a roster overhaul will take a little time but it’s really needed. I hate to say because it’s said whenever we have a new coach but we are still a few years away from truly being a top 10 team and either sniffing/playing in the playoff because we just have too much dead weight.

It goes to my point about having no real leadership on the field. Our glory years teams had multiple guys on both sides of the ball who filled that role. We don’t have it now.

QB will be interesting next year. One of Garcia and Van Dyke will be gone.

RB is such a tossup with injuries/playing up to potential issues

OL will get fixed which will be a huge help to QB/RB

WR, LOVE Young! Need more guys like him.

TE, in good shape

DL, in good shape
DE, need some disruptors

LB, ugh!!!

DB, I don’t get how the Williams guys aren’t dominating back there? Both have all world talent

I personally did not expect us to compete this year but I also didn’t think it would be this bad either. It is what it is and I think we get better each year going forward once we get a few recruiting classes in and fill gaps vial portal.

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22,

I’m not sure I would go that far…It can happen very quickly now with Portal to patch holes.

I believe there is talent among my non-listed frosh and soph players as well As much as I’ve said we aren’t good in this writeup. We do have ehhh top 30 talent right now…The coaching has not been good and first year is often a non-indicator of how year 2 goes. When you add in the fact that a lot of that top 30 talent has been hurt well…

Again if TVD plays pasta half way point of 2q I’m confident we beat Duke. If we have TVD, Nelson, and at least one of Restrepo or George I think we can maybe have one or the other of UNC and MTSU (Although the team clearly wasn’t ready to play vs. NC St._

Good point about leadership…There’s less of that in all sports today imo…Too much social media glory, wokeness all that jazz.