What type of season does BWC need to avoid "bust" status?
There was some arguing going on over at a premium site's message board after one of their moderators called Big Will Campbell a "bust".
I started to think about it a bit, and I don't think there's anyway to call him a bust (yet). He could conceivably have such an amazing senior year that we forget the last 3 years ever existed and he actually gets drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft.
This is very unlikely to happen, I believe, but haven't we seen this story before? You might have some names come to mind (David Harris, Gabe Watson, and Alan Branch perhaps). But are those cases as support for "BWC could dominate next year" valid?
- David Harris was a non-contributor before his junior season and didn't break through as a meaningful player until his senior year. Trouble is he had a knee injury that held him back the first two years, so it's not really fair to Harris to include him here.
- Gabe Watson broke through in his third year and was just as solid as a senior. Campbell can't exactly catch him, either.
- Alan Branch blossomed his junior year (did not redshirt) to the level that he was able to go pro after the season ended. He also played alongside Woodley, so there's that to consider.
In my opinion we've only seen this happen once in the last ten years. Where a player was lambasted most of their time at Michigan, but came through with a big enough senior year to leave positive memories in most fans' heads: Stevie Brown. Campbell needs a Stevie Brown-esque Senior Year improvement in order to avoid a "bust" label for his time spent at Michigan. That's what I hope happens, anyway.
February 8th, 2012 at 9:31 PM ^
We talked baout this on the ESPN boards a few weeks ago. If you look at BWC in 2010 he got plowed on a regular basis and that was the reason they moved him to O line. BWC made some pretty big strides under the new coaching staff and was a solid player in 2011. I don't see any reason why Michigan fans shouldn't exspect an even better 2012 season out of him. The kids working hard this season , I feel bad for him that he pretty much got cheated out of his first 2 seasons by richrods terrible defensive coaching staff.
February 8th, 2012 at 10:02 PM ^
February 8th, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^
February 8th, 2012 at 11:00 PM ^
Saying a player is a bust makes it sound like the player didn't live up to his potential. But maybe the problem is with the rating services more often than with the players. Why aren't the rating services the ones that are described as busts when their predictions don't pan out? For example, of the Rivals five star recruits for 1996, 11of 28 went undrafted by the NFL. That's nearly 40%. A couple of these were due to injuries, but most of those 11 players just never had the ability to become stellar college football players or even marginal NFL players.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ^
I share your sentiments. If BWC is now only maxing 370 at the bench press, why was he a 5 star to begin with? Do bench press, and having the ability to keep an OL off of you and fight through blocks have no correlation? That fact that he plays so high says a lot about his lower body strength (or lack of it) as well. Don't blame Will because the recruiting services did a bad job of evaluating him. I do; however, question his work ethic when I hear he just put up 370 as a max after 3 years in a DI S&C programming. He must have been benching sub 200 coming out of high school.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:30 PM ^
February 9th, 2012 at 12:41 AM ^
February 9th, 2012 at 12:42 AM ^
February 9th, 2012 at 12:48 AM ^
February 9th, 2012 at 1:32 AM ^
you can qualify someone as a bust, before their career is complete. I think he was solid last year, and being under the same defensive coordinator, that preaches technique, will do him wonders.
This post should be discussed next January.
February 9th, 2012 at 8:04 AM ^
at least yet. Lets see what he does. Plenty of guys don't live up to their ranking and many do better than their ranking. Its not his fault he was a 5 star. Measurables yes, but maybe he should have been a 4. Either way, the continuity of the program, especially defensively can only help. It's not like we hear rumors of him being lazy or uninterested. Lets give him this year..it is his time, lets see what he does with it! Obviously we all hope he is great this year! We need him to be to beat the likes of Bama.
February 9th, 2012 at 11:39 AM ^
Does anyone know how his career compares to the 4 DT ranked in front of him at Rivals that year? Some of the names ring a bell but I'm not to familiar with all their careers.
Sheldon Richardson, Jacobbi McDaniel, Gary Brown, and Chris Davenport.
Edit: I think Will ranks pretty good against the guys above. Jacobbi looks to be the only one you can really talk about.
February 9th, 2012 at 11:55 AM ^
he has a Nick Fairley type of senior season!
February 9th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
With some of the key lineman leaving this year, I think Big Will will have a great oppurtunity to shine this year
February 9th, 2012 at 9:44 PM ^
too tall to play where he is, his technique has seemingly improved but too often this is his problem. For me, he needs about 3-5 sacks, take up some double teams so our linebackers can get stops, after that, I don't care about any honors, play with good technique, get a few tackles for loss, help the team win!