Corey Cooper

[Rocco]

Pretty thin now at WR behind West. He was the one guy I thought might have a chance to see the field this year.

While unproven, there is a boatload of talent at WR.

 

[bnoro]

Took the SAT's 3 times and didn't get a qualifying score.

 

[JeremyCuse]

While unproven, there is a boatload of talent at WR.

Not to nitpick but I wouldnt use the word "boatload". On paper there is some talent but three guys who now have to step up - Flemming, Funderburk and Cornelius have exactly 0 catches at the D1 level, and two of them Funderburk and Cornelius have zero snaps at the D1 level. With cooper out, WR is now by far the position with the most concerns / questions marks going into this year.

 

[RMH44]

I feel badly for the kid, hopefully he takes it as an opportunity to improve on the academic side

Me too. It appears, from what I've read, that his problems with the SAT and academics aren't from lack of discipline or effort. Apparently Cory, like many other students, simply struggles with school.

I wish him the best in his quest to become academically qualified.

 

[money3189]

if he had to get a 980 or whatever it was, that means his core gpa wasnt high enough. So he struggled in the class room. His core was probably close to a 2.4 or 2.5

 

[upperdeck]

like a lot of kids, he can do the work, but you cant wait until your junior/senior year to take it serious.

 

[anomander]

I remember this being a possibility even when he committed.

At least they're going to get Estime on campus.

I will wait until he steps on campus before saying this...

 

[OrangeCrush22]

While unproven, there is a boatload of talent at WR.

Ben Lewis.

 

[Rocco]

Not to nitpick but I wouldnt use the word "boatload". On paper there is some talent but three guys who now have to step up - Flemming, Funderburk and Cornelius have exactly 0 catches at the D1 level, and two of them Funderburk and Cornelius have zero snaps at the D1 level. With cooper out, WR is now by far the position with the most concerns / questions marks going into this year.

That's why I said unproven. We will see as the season goes on. There is a ton of talent at WR... You can nitpick if you'd like, but I am telling it how I have seen it.

 

[007]

That's why I said unproven. We will see as the season goes on. There is a ton of talent at WR... You can nitpick if you'd like, but I am telling it how I have seen it.

Rocco, always look forward to reading your take. Aside from West, who else do you see from the WR pool with the talent to possibly contribute? This offense, in whatever form it takes, is going to need play makers at WR or it's going to be a long, long season of 8 in the box.

 

[JD]

I don't know about anyone else but I'm looking forward to seeing Yukon Cornelius play there's gold in those hands boys, GOLD I tell ya.

 

[upperdeck]

Konena made plays. clark made plays. I have more confidence in the returning kids then i would a freshmen unknown no matter the hype. we lost guys who made good catches, but they didnt run by people or make people miss after the catch, hopefully we can run the ball well enough that rcvrs will be able to get open.

 

[cuseincincy]

Konena made plays. clark made plays. I have more confidence in the returning kids then i would a freshmen unknown no matter the hype. we lost guys who made good catches, but they didnt run by people or make people miss after the catch, hopefully we can run the ball well enough that rcvrs will be able to get open.

Agreed. Granted I'd love for the kid to have qualified and made it on campus but to think losing a kid that may have been 6th or 7th on the depth chart is a crushing blow to this season is a bit knee jerk. Admittedly other than West there are no "proven" contributors but Clark, Kobena, Hale, Flemming are almost certain to be among the top 5 WR's. Even without Cooper there are going to be 5 freshman WR's on campus this fall. If one of them can make a huge leap great. I hope Cooper ends up on campus in January and is even more ready to contribute next year.

 

[TBCuse11]

Pretty thin now at WR behind West. He was the one guy I thought might have a chance to see the field this year.

totally disagree. Estime is going to be the next Tavon Austin, and Funderburke will be MUCH better than people think. We have plenty of guys who are capable. We are a "run early and often" team this year anyways. We might have one of the five best RB trio in America.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Agreed. Granted I'd love for the kid to have qualified and made it on campus but to think losing a kid that may have been 6th or 7th on the depth chart is a crushing blow to this season is a bit knee jerk. Admittedly other than West there are no "proven" contributors but Clark, Kobena, Hale, Flemming are almost certain to be among the top 5 WR's. Even without Cooper there are going to be 5 freshman WR's on campus this fall. If one of them can make a huge leap great. I hope Cooper ends up on campus in January and is even more ready to contribute next year.

Cooper would have easily been in the top 4 of the WR's on the roster if he made it, the kid was extremely talented. Clark and Kobena have been role players there entire careers and Flemming is a Senior with zero catches. Hale is out for the year with an injury. Perhaps the other Corey or Estime can make an impact but there are a lot more questions about this group then answers. Not to be that guy but there are a lot of people whistling past the graveyard on this unit.

 

[JeremyCuse]

totally disagree. Estime is going to be the next Tavon Austin, and Funderburke will be MUCH better than people think. We have plenty of guys who are capable. We are a "run early and often" team this year anyways. We might have one of the five best RB trio in America.

Doesnt matter if we have Jim Brown in his prime, if you cant throw on a stacked box its going to be tough to run no matter how good the backs are. We really need 1 or 2 Wr's to step up.

 

[Orangello]

totally disagree. Estime is going to be the next Tavon Austin, and Funderburke will be MUCH better than people think. We have plenty of guys who are capable. We are a "run early and often" team this year anyways. We might have one of the five best RB trio in America.

Neither of them has ever caught a pass in a D1 game. They may both be the next Jerry Rice but put me in the concerned column here. We lost a tremendous amount of game experience at the WR position. As Jeremy correctly points out, we are going to see teams stack the box and dare us to throw until we prove that we actually can with consistency.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Not to nitpick but I wouldnt use the word "boatload". On paper there is some talent but three guys who now have to step up - Flemming, Funderburk and Cornelius have exactly 0 catches at the D1 level, and two of them Funderburk and Cornelius have zero snaps at the D1 level. With cooper out, WR is now by far the position with the most concerns / questions marks going into this year.

WR having little/no PT is perhaps testiment to the guys that just graduated and were pretty good. We have 1 WR spot that is locked up by West, and a 2nd that has enough options to prove dangerous. Kobena, and Clark looked good in spurts and their are enough young guys pushing as well.

If/when we run 3/4 WR set's I'll be curious to see how many are actually WRs. In the slot I'm curious to see the new OC's creativity. Aside from the WR's we could also see Broyld, Wales, Parris, PTG, GMII, DMacfarlane or some other unknowns as well.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Can we get Derrick Roses' guy in short notice?

If only he went to Eric Bledsoe's HS we could have his GPA bumped up in no time.

 

[TBCuse11]

Neither of them has ever caught a pass in a D1 game. They may both be the next Jerry Rice but put me in the concerned column here. We lost a tremendous amount of game experience at the WR position. As Jeremy correctly points out, we are going to see teams stack the box and dare us to throw until we prove that we actually can with consistency.

neither has Corey Cooper... so this news should not have altered your views on this team in any way. We all know that if the Oklahoma gunslinger is no good, then the Cuse will be .500 at best. With our running game though, if he is good at all then there will be plenty of throwing lanes.

 

[RMH44]

Neither of them has ever caught a pass in a D1 game. They may both be the next Jerry Rice but put me in the concerned column here. We lost a tremendous amount of game experience at the WR position. As Jeremy correctly points out, we are going to see teams stack the box and dare us to throw until we prove that we actually can with consistency.

Can't say I disagree but teams will also stack the box until our NEW QB can prove that he can locate and connect with said wr's.

Imo, all the concerns over our wr corp is trumped by finding a QB that can get us in the proper play at the line of scrimmage (a very under-valued ability) and develop chemistry with his skill players. If a QB emerges...I'm not worried about the wr corp at all. There is enough talent there to get the job done.

 

[JeremyCuse]

WR having little/no PT is perhaps testiment to the guys that just graduated and were pretty good. We have 1 WR spot that is locked up by West, and a 2nd that has enough options to prove dangerous. Kobena, and Clark looked good in spurts and their are enough young guys pushing as well.

If/when we run 3/4 WR set's I'll be curious to see how many are actually WRs. In the slot I'm curious to see the new OC's creativity. Aside from the WR's we could also see Broyld, Wales, Parris, PTG, GMII, DMacfarlane or some other unknowns as well.

Outside of West (even he has some ? marks) there is a lot of unknowns. As you noted Lemon and Sales were both great college WR's, the loss of Lemon especially is going to be hard to overcome. Kobena and Clark have never been asked to be a significant contributor at the postion, they have been at best the 4th or 5th option. Can they step up and be a 2? I suspect we will see a lot of Broyld at WR, it makes the most sense. I also think it woudl be smart to cross train Thompson at TE despite his move to DE. Perhaps a guy like Lewis or Avant can surprise but its tough to rely on getting anything from Freshmen even if they are redshirts.

 

[JeremyCuse]

neither has Corey Cooper... so this news should not have altered your views on this team in any way. We all know that if the Oklahoma gunslinger is no good, then the Cuse will be .500 at best. With our running game though, if he is good at all then there will be plenty of throwing lanes.

Cooper was higher ranked then anyone on the roster save for maybe Funderburk. No one is saying he would have been Randy Moss but based on what we have seen to date he certainly would have helped.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Outside of West (even he has some ? marks) there is a lot of unknowns. As you noted Lemon and Sales were both great college WR's, the loss of Lemon especially is going to be hard to overcome. Kobena and Clark have never been asked to be a significant contributor at the postion, they have been at best the 4th or 5th option. Can they step up and be a 2? I suspect we will see a lot of Broyld at WR, it makes the most sense. I also think it woudl be smart to cross train Thompson at TE despite his move to DE. Perhaps a guy like Lewis or Avant can surprise but its tough to rely on getting anything from Freshmen even if they are redshirts.

At least we're at a point where we don't have to 100% rely on true frosh. If one of the Freshman are ready from day 1 great! If not, we've still got weapons if we have a QB that can properly use them. Kobena may not ever be an over the middle type wr but he has the speed to stretch defenses, and Clark will always be tiny BUT he has a knack to sit down in holes in the defense and has good hands.

We've got a lot of interesting pieces on offense at multiple positions. The trick will be to see how the new coaching staff employs them. If you're not showing the same exact look every snap you may as well give the defense a ton of different looks to digest.

 

[HeaterCuse22]

If only we had a 6'4" 230lb - Kid who is a tremendous athlete who was underutilized on the offense that maybe, just maybe, could help the receiving corps as well.