Mike Farrells awards from The Opening
Good and bad reviews of the Michigan recruits.
First the bad:
Taco Charlton (Bear Market Award)
This award goes to the player who lowered his stock the most from the camp. While Pickerington (Ohio) Central defensive end Taco Charlton looks the part, he really struggled. He has great size, long arms and he is very athletic. However, he is also very upright, only has an outside move and when coaches tried to teach him misdirection or crossover, he didn't grasp it well at all. He was beaten on almost every 1-on-1 rep he took.
The not so bad:
Shane Morris (Honorable Mention - Tunnel Vision Award)
Honorable mention:Warren (Mich.) De La Salle quarterback Shane Morris was clearly one of the top three quarterbacks at the event, but his team was the favorite to win it all with weapons like O.J. Howard, Taquan Mizzell and Ahmad Fulwood. However, his Land Sharks team was eliminated early mainly because Morris focused on one side of the field and locked in on certain players. He has a cannon of an arm and a ton of upside, but his field vision needs to improve.
The Good:
Shane Morris (Spin It Award)
It was very clear that Warren (Mich.) De La Salle quarterback Shane Morris had the best arm at the event. He has a cannon of an arm and there's not a throw he can't make. With some of the other quarterbacks showing funky mechanics or not spinning the ball that well, it was fun to see him rear back and let it rip. He has a hose, as they say in the quarterback business.
Also an interesting part on Joe Mathis and his poor attitude.
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1383918
Sam Webb
So you're telling me that Mike Farrell says that Taco performed very poorly, while ESPN says that Taco was unstoppable and a big riser....
I'm guessing neither is true since Farrell and ESPN both suck.
There's an Instagram pic floating around twitter showing Taco tied for the lead in 1 on 1 battles at some point, so something's clearly off about all of this. Plus he hurdles tackling dumies in a single bound!!!!
a picture from the opening of a white board with all the D-linemen's names on it showing Taco tied for the most one on one wins?
Surprising to hear his review on Taco. Most of the information throughout the week had him as one of the more dominant defensinve linemen in the 1 on 1 matchups. Also, I would disagree with his assessment of Shane's weapons. When your best target is a TE, that makes it more difficult on a QB to stretch the field. On the other hand, Hackenberg was throwing to Ricky Seals-Jones and Laquan Treadwell - those are targets.
Yeah, before the competition even started lots of analysts said that Shane had one of the least impressive offensive line-ups there, if not the worst. The TE dominates day one and was then totally ineffective (not his fault - due to double teams) the second day.
Agreed. Mike Farrell is an Ohio homer and what he says in this article seems to be the opposite of what most other analysts had to say about Morris and Charlton last weekend.
Morris is a good quarterback, but it was noted in nearly every analyst's recounting that he had some struggles. I think he was the #2 overall quarterback there, but he wasn't tearing everyone apart.
I don't think Farrell varies from much anyone else in his opinion of Morris...except homer Michigan fans.
He is out of line with other analysts when it comes to Charlton, so he's not beyond reproach. I'm just sayin'...
You are correct that he is not beyond reproach. He is reproach.
Though to "build up" Morris's squad suggesting that he had the some of the best weapons is a bit disingenuous considering that one was a TE and the other a RB, positions less utilized in 7-on-7 tournaments. Would he have looked a lot better throwing downfield to Seals-Jones and Treadwell? Probably. That's the only problem I have with his analysis of Morris, in that his criticism doesn't make sense based on the reasons he gives.
Huh? Farrell says Taco got beat on almost every snap, but someone else (wish I remembered who) said he tied for winning the most reps of anyone... This tells me that someone (or both) are flat out making shit up. Also I don't know how you can say one team was the favorite to win it based on the receiving corps. Every team had great receivers, since that is the whole point of the event, and I thought everyone agreed that Hackenburg had the best receivers anyway? I would think you would give the tunnel vision award to someone who didn't get to the final perhaps? Or maybe Hackenburg who threw about a hundred interceptions?
End homer rant.
MF (how fitting, no?) claimed that whoever tallied the reps and listed Taco as one of the ones with the highest number of "wins" tallied them incorrectly.
Taco review doesn't phase me. The guy is a freak athlete but raw. We've known that for a long time. With our three DL-centric coaches, he'll have every opportunity to realize his potential if he applies himself. His development will be an exciting one to keep track of.
You mean that farrell has said a bunch of what seems to be incorrect stuff for a giant fanbase that has no problem getting in twitter fights with him.
Color me shocked and it seems like farrell needs another ego boost today. Most of the reports from multiple sources said just the opposite, I think I'll take their word for it over a guy who seems to get off on getting in internet fights.
Reuben Foster took a visit to Washington? That's pretty surprising, and would be a monster get for Washington. He has the most impressive highlight film in the country.
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For someone whose living depends on recruits talking to him, Farrell sure goes after the guys in that article.
i hope the opening doesnt hurt McCray's ranking too much. these events do not really show case his skills.
UM and OSU offers say enough
I don't care about the rankings,but I bet he does and i just dont want to see him fall too far because he played in a event that does show case his skill set.
This type of event does not a suit a player like McCray. He's not going to wow anyone with he speed and athleticism running around in a 7on tournament. I really don't think his performance out in Oregon should affect his rating. You want to see this kid in pads taking on and shedding blocks. What COULD affect his ranking, though, is the fact that he's only 6'1". He is a lot smaller than most of us believed he was. I'm not familiar enough with McCray on film to tell you whether his lack of size will have much of a negative effect on his college career, but I do know scouts are pretty sensitive to kids who end up being a lot smaller than their HS coaches report.
All I know is Hoke and Mattison met the kid in person and are fine with his height.
How can someone who crowned themself the 'godfather of recruiting' not be a giant douchebag?
I think that was your point, but what the hell: it's early and I was up all night watching a train explode. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/freight-train-derails-in-ohio-several-cars-explodes-into-flames-2-hurt/2012/07/11/gJQAvqBYcW_story.html
Here is all you need to know about Farrell....even since lemming left the AAAG and Farrell kinda took the lead spot your seeing a lot more of the high ranked kids end up at the UA Game instead.
Starting to think even recruits are getting sick of him.
http://espn.go.com/high-school/football/video/clip?id=8140038
Granted, Taco Charlton appears only a few times from about 2:20 onwards in this video summary of the OL/DL one-on-ones, but he was looking pretty good to me. Some high-profile OL recruits were having significant trouble with Charlton. I will take this as a good sign.
guess that the pic showing taco had the most 1 on 1 wins for the day must be fake then, right? lol
Farrell's review of Charlton matches what other guys who were at the event told me. Take it for whatever it's worth. It shouldn't be surprising, though. It had already been well known and well demonstrated that Taco is not very good right now from a technical standpoint. However, he's got a nice frame and good athleticism (not a "freak" as some above have stated. That term is overused). Let's just say athleticism is one of his strengths, and he's one of the most athletic DE's in Ohio this year.
His review of Shane is a bit perplexing to me. I would agree that he had the best arm strength at the camp, but I'm not generally a huge fan of Shane's mechanics. His relatively low release point and pushing motion can sometimes lead to inconsistency. It leads to great days (Columbus) and very average days (Dallas). With that type of release, you are not sure what you are going to get on a given day. That said, he was probably the most physically gifted QB there along with Max Browne. I thought Hackenberg looked the smoothest and threw the best deep ball, but he made a ton of poor decisions. Speaking of mechanics, Browne has precisely the opposite problem that Shane has -- very high release point and an exaggerated over the top motion (very slow). It's a similar problem to what current Florida State QB EJ Manuel had when he came out of HS. Both Shane's and Max's problems with mechanics are fixable with good coaching and a lot of hard work.
What MF said about Charlton is not anything like what other analysts have said and to say he isn't an athletic freak is a bit ridiculous. How many guys his size can jump OVER a tackling dumby? That is pretty freakish if you ask me (which you didn't, but too bad).
Is that you?
Tell me how many DLman in the HISTORY of SPARQ have been over 100?
Most major programs do not have the "no visit" policy. There are advantages and disadvantages to it.
I have seen a lot of chatter on the 247 boards about Foster flipping to Auburn - from Alabama and Auburn fans.
I have seen a lot of chatter on the 247 boards about Foster flipping to Auburn - from Alabama and Auburn fans.
The thing that was posted about Taco being tied for 1 on 1 wins was after the first 2 days. Maybe Farrell only watched Taco on the 3rd day. Taco did tweet something about having the a very tough day on Sunday and maybe Farrell is taking most of his information from seeing him that one day. Who knows really, but you have to think he was hearing about his success the first 2 days and would temper his negative comments about his performance. Being out there does get page views.
Taco didn't get a lot of reps on Day 3 from what I've heard. At that point in the competition, the players were in pads and Taco, being from Ohio, wasn't allowed to suit up. As a result, he only could take reps against linemen who weren't in pads, which from what I've heard were very few and far between.
can't put a ton of stock in a QB's performance in 7 on 7's, especially in a guy like Shane who clearly seems like a win at all costs kind of guy.
Also, Mike Farrell is a complete tool I was following him on twitter for a couple months but realized I disagreed with every tweet he made so I unfollowed. Plus he gets SO agitated by angry fans. I've seen the "WHY DON'T WE JUST MAKE EVERYONE A 5 STAR" tweet like 6 or 7 times from this ass hat.