K J Williams reopens recruiting (PS) | Syracusefan.com

K J Williams reopens recruiting (PS)

bummer.. but in the words of bart simpson

"meh.."
 
All recruit ratings are a crapshoot, but that seems to be even more true with WRs. When is the last time a "highly" rated recruit that and to SU ended up having an above average career?

Some of our best/most successful WRs in the past have been middle rated recruits (ie. Mike Williams, David Tyree, etc...). The most memorable "bust" was Johnnie Morant.

I had high hopes for KJ Williams, but until he did it on the field my expectations were non-existent.
 
jgeorge322 said:
i dont consider morant a bust. now, lavar lobdell...
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Lavar Lobdell was definitely a bust. I can see Morant going either way, but I don't think he lived up to the expectations most had of him.
 
i dont think morant was the AA some may have expected him to be.. but he was still drafted into the NFL and played a couple seasons so I wouldnt consider that a bust.
 
morant's one handed, over the shoulder catch on a bomb against wvu is still maybe the most impressive thing ive seen in the dome outside hakim warrick.
 
Based on Shafer's comments last week, there's a lot more to this story, and it sounded like Syracuse beat Williams to the punch and had already decided to move on.
 
Williams seemed to have some baggage. Grade issues disputed by his mother, but apparently true. The whole thing with his basketball team seemed problematic as well.

Going back to Morant, he had a nice career at SU, but he came in as the #1 WR in the East and according to a few places the #3 WR in the country. Only having 7 TDs in his career would qualify as a bust in my eyes. Had he been a 2-3 star recruit the term "bust" wouldn't even cross my mind, but as a top 5 WR recruit in the nation he didn't have the type of career you would expect.
 
Hoov50 said:
Williams seemed to have some baggage. Grade issues disputed by his mother, but apparently true. The whole thing with his basketball team seemed problematic as well.

Going back to Morant, he had a nice career at SU, but he came in as the #1 WR in the East and according to a few places the #3 WR in the country. Only having 7 TDs in his career would qualify as a bust in my eyes. Had he been a 2-3 star recruit the term "bust" wouldn't even cross my mind, but as a top 5 WR recruit in the nation he didn't have the type of career you would expect.
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I think that's fair. Based on his pedigree and expectations, Morant's college resume was a bust. Now was that all his fault? Probably not. He didn't exactly play on the most offensively talented Syracuse teams and he did still get drafted.

We've definitely had some disappoints over the past 15 years or so with blue chip WR recruits. Morant, Lobdell, Baskin, and now KJ Williams.
 
tep624 said:
I think that's fair. Based on his pedigree and expectations, Morant's college resume was a bust. Now was that all his fault? Probably not. He didn't exactly play on the most offensively talented Syracuse teams and he did still get drafted.

We've definitely had some disappoints over the past 15 years or so with blue chip WR recruits. Morant, Lobdell, Baskin, and now KJ Williams.
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You're definitely right about it not being Morant's fault entirely! Those were some inept (to put it kindly) offensive teams he played on. Deandre Preaster is another one who was going to be our next Art Monk and never even made it to campus.

Granted we didn't get him right out of high school, but Funderburke is another guy who was highly rated as a recruit and so far hasn't produced.

As a high school coach I can attest to the lack of pass defense in most leagues (regardless of the size of school). So putting up great receiving numbers in high school may not mean much a lot of the time. Another thing you notice about the "busts" we have had are that they are taller WRs who match up against shorter high school DBs. In college height advantage isn't that big of a deal because the DBs are more athletic. Tall WRs are similar to C in basketball, they get by in high school based on their size advantage and have to develop other parts if their game once the competition is better. Unfortunately, a lot of our WRs haven't developed (for whatever reason) in the past.
 
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Hoov50 said:
You're definitely right about it not being Morant's fault entirely! Those were some inept (to put it kindly) offensive teams he played on. Deandre Preaster is another one who was going to be our next Art Monk and never even made it to campus.

Granted we didn't get him right out of high school, but Funderburke is another guy who was highly rated as a recruit and so far hasn't produced.

As a high school coach I can attest to the lack of pass defense in most leagues (regardless of the size of school). So putting up great receiving numbers in high school may not mean much a lot of the time. Another thing you notice about the "busts" we have had are that they are taller WRs who match up against shorter high school DBs. In college height advantage isn't that big of a deal because the DBs are more athletic. Tall WRs are similar to C in basketball, they get by in high school based on their size advantage and have to develop other parts if their game once the competition is better. Unfortunately, a lot of our WRs haven't developed (for whatever reason) in the past.
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Yeah good point on Preaster too, I forgot about him. He was getting comparisons to Mike Williams since he was such a good basketball player too.

Right on Funderburk too, hopefully this is his year though. One or two good years out of him is better than none :)
 
I remember Morant dropping a long but catchable pass against #10 Georgia Tech back in 2001 that would have put us at least in FG range if not given a chance for a TD. We ended up losing by 6. Felt so bitter about that play and it sealed how I felt about Morant.

In retrospect, though, I felt like that team really played over their heads. I knew they got blown out by Miami to burst their bubble but they had some great play that season otherwise.
 
tep624 said:
I think that's fair. Based on his pedigree and expectations, Morant's college resume was a bust. Now was that all his fault? Probably not. He didn't exactly play on the most offensively talented Syracuse teams and he did still get drafted.

We've definitely had some disappoints over the past 15 years or so with blue chip WR recruits. Morant, Lobdell, Baskin, and now KJ Williams.
Expand...

And they wasted Morant's redshirt only to sit him for nearly all of his freshman year. That didn't help.
 
Hoov50 said:
Williams seemed to have some baggage. Grade issues disputed by his mother, but apparently true. The whole thing with his basketball team seemed problematic as well.

Going back to Morant, he had a nice career at SU, but he came in as the #1 WR in the East and according to a few places the #3 WR in the country. Only having 7 TDs in his career would qualify as a bust in my eyes. Had he been a 2-3 star recruit the term "bust" wouldn't even cross my mind, but as a top 5 WR recruit in the nation he didn't have the type of career you would expect.
Expand...


Bust is way too harsh. WAY too harsh--especially for a guy who had a fine senior year and actually made the NFL. If you want to say that he didn't live up to 5-star hype, then you'll get no argument from me. But I think it is important to keep in mind the following:

--Morant was rated that high because he was a physical specimen with impressive measurables, not because he was a "polished" receiver, per se. It was a "projection" ranking
--He didn't redshirt his freshman year, a mistake on the coaching staffs' part compounded by the fact that he only played a relatively small handful of snaps that year
--Despite being such a physical specimen, he was more of a finesse receiver; in other words, he played "small" despite being so big, which frustrated a lot of posters /may have clouded their impression
--Inconsistent QB play was rampant during his time here, which really hurt his productivity
--His senior year, when RJ had a pretty good campaign, not surprisingly Morant had a fine campaign where he was an impact player
--His senior year, he was arguably the second best WR in the conference, behind Larry Fitzgerald
--He never fully played up to to his physical potential, but he DID perform well enough that senior year to get drafted and carve out an NFL career--which is more than you can say for a lot of players
--I'm confident that he would have been even better if he'd been eligible to play a 5th year, as opposed to flushing his first season of eligibility down the toilet for a handful of snaps

He was far from a bust, but admittedly did not live up to the promise of being a high major five-star recruit.
 
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