Class of 2015 - DB/CB Kielan Whitner (GA) Signed LOI | Page 4 | Syracusefan.com

Class of 2015 DB/CB Kielan Whitner (GA) Signed LOI

sutomcat said:
Good post.

I think sometimes we value athletic ability and raw speed over other attributes that are just as important. Intelligence, discipline, ability to recognize patterns and react, use of good fundamentals taking angles, making tackles, etc.

I won't name them but we have had a few great athletes at safety in recent years whose production at Syracuse maybe wasn't as great as you would think, given their athletic ability.

Some of our best safeties ever, guys like Quentin Harris and Markus Paul, weren't great athletes but they were exceptional smart players. I think he is a great player to take a risk on; if he can make some small improvements in what he can do physically, his other attributes could really allow him to shine after a couple of years in the program.
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Agreed. Someone can be 0.5 seconds faster in the 40, but if the other guy is 0.6 seconds faster in reaction time, who's going to make the play?

I'm not actually asking for equations here, by the way, in case anyone wants to be contradictory. I'm just trying to underline tomcat's point about how reaction time and anticipation makes up for speed in a lot of cases. Taking smart angles on a ball carrier, too - and Whitner is clearly a very smart kid, so I'd anticipate a lot of smart angles.
 
sutomcat said:
Good post.

I think sometimes we value athletic ability and raw speed over other attributes that are just as important. Intelligence, discipline, ability to recognize patterns and react, use of good fundamentals taking angles, making tackles, etc.

I won't name them but we have had a few great athletes at safety in recent years whose production at Syracuse maybe wasn't as great as you would think, given their athletic ability.

Some of our best safeties ever, guys like Quentin Harris and Markus Paul, weren't great athletes but they were exceptional smart players. I think he is a great player to take a risk on; if he can make some small improvements in what he can do physically, his other attributes could really allow him to shine after a couple of years in the program.
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Bingo. There are a ton of super athletes that aren't that good at football.

I don't think this gent looks athletically deficient and I don't think people realize how many of the claimed numbers for recruits are way off. Every year there are 100s of hs kids that claim a 4.4 40 and every year at the nfl combine there might be 10-20 kids that actually run that time. Recruiting highlight reels can be sped up, and recruits can claim whatever they want without a measurement to refute it.
 
I just watched his highlights. Has great ball skills when the ball is in the air, defeats blockers well, and he hits and drives his legs through tackles very well. A bit of a CB/S tweener that could find his way into the okie set sooner rather than later. Tall enough to cover TE's, fluid enough to cover slot WR's, and able in run support.

My favorite play is where there is an underneath completion to someone else's man, Whitner chucks the guy responsible for blocking him to the ground then goes up and sticks the ball carrier. Plays centerfield well on the deep balls also.
 
I wonder how many recruits Coach Sloan has managed to flip during his career?

As SUFan44 just pointed out, it's a part of the territory. Que sera, and all that.
 
ImperialOrange said:
Bingo. There are a ton of super athletes that aren't that good at football.

I don't think this gent looks athletically deficient and I don't think people realize how many of the claimed numbers for recruits are way off. Every year there are 100s of hs kids that claim a 4.4 40 and every year at the nfl combine there might be 10-20 kids that actually run that time. Recruiting highlight reels can be sped up, and recruits can claim whatever they want without a measurement to refute it.
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I just looked at last year's NFL combine numbers only 15 guys ran a 4.41 or better with the fastest being Dri Archer with a 4.26. HE had 10 carries for 40 yards all season.
 
SWFLCUSE said:
I just looked at last year's NFL combine numbers only 15 guys ran a 4.41 or better with the fastest being Dri Archer with a 4.26. HE had 10 carries for 40 yards all season.
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He's a lil mang
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Probably what we're hoping Brisley or Irv can resemble.
 
Well...we've definitely been on the flip side of this so it's hard to feel sorry for the guy. I'm sure there's plenty of 1AA schools out there he can poach a lot of players from. That's how it works.
 
Recruiting is a frustrating biz. This kid has a chance to play for a power 5 school and get a great education at Whitman. Just like their coach would jump at a P5 job, the young man jumped at the chance to play in the ACC. Recruiting is not for the faint of heart or thin of skin
 
I couldn't even imagine how tough that phone call must have been. It was hard enough calling coaches and letting them know you are going to commit elsewhere after talking with them 2-3 a week for close to a year, but to have to tell a coach I was flipping 5 days before NSD must have been agonizing.
 
Coach sounds like a classless dick, just like their fans.
 
Coach Shafer feels your pain Coach Sloan. See Malik Brown
 
anomander said:
I couldn't even imagine how tough that phone call must have been. It was hard enough calling coaches and letting them know you are going to commit elsewhere after talking with them 2-3 a week for close to a year, but to have to tell a coach I was flipping 5 days before NSD must have been agonizing.
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The Siena Saints recruited me pretty hard in 2000-20001. I never commmitted but they were somebody I kept in contact with throughout the majority of my recruitment. In January/February of my Senior season I still wasn't ready to decide on where I was going to school. The WR coach at the time, I forget his name, absolutely blew up on me on the phone when I told him I didn't want to commit to Siena, at least not right then at that point. I was 18 and this guy went up one side of me and down the other. However much I was considering them at that point, stopped immediately.

Luckily for me, that's the way it worked out. They dropped their football program the next season. He was the only guy I dealt with who treated me like that.

I never forgot it.
 
SUFan44 said:
Similar type players too. A half-step slow, a tad undersized (although I don't think this kid is by most metrics) but smart and know how to play football. Sign me up.
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there's track speed, and there's game speed. the former doesn't always translate to the latter
 
PhatOrange said:
Coach Shafer feels your pain Coach Sloan. See Malik Brown
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That is a name I had already forgotten. I just searched him and found out that he transferred from Tennessee to Bowling Green prior to the 2014 season.
 
Hey Guys,...form following this thread I bumped into a couple of links from the App. State fans on twitter about looking into this player.
Now I know we probably have no more need or room in the in for yet another linebacker, but his tape is actually pretty decent check it out.

A kid by the name of Seth Fallen
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1144392/highlights/180215383

I know we may have no need to another RB/SB/All Purpose Back
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1890496/highlights/195767376

Just thought that Geaorgia talent is always welcome by all programs. :)
 
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