Class of 2015 S Marquise Blair (OH) Committed and signed to Utah

[tep624]

Hadn't heard this name in a while but just ran into this while reading MMQB by Albert Breer. He only highlights 6 major prospects a week in his NFL column...

Interesting prospect to keep an eye on: Utah junior Marquise Blair, an interchangeable strong/free safety who, at 6'2", is being projected by some scouts to cornerback in the NFL. Why? The pros are hungry for longer corners, and willing to take on projects to do it. Virginia’s Juan Thornhill is another safety who some see as a corner down the line.

Talent was never the problem with him. He would have been an impact player here.

 

[RF2044]

Talent was never the problem with him. He would have been an impact player here.

...maybe even at LB -- a key position of need this year.

 

[gocraz4dasu]

Just got drafted at #47 by the Seahawks. Definitely a what could have been scenario but, to be fair, our safeties were obviously solid this year.

Congrats to Marquise Blair, though!

 

[money3189]

He was what we thought he was. Happy for him. He overcame the Juco jungle.

 

[BKCuse]

Props to Shafer for identifying & landing this kid.
Coach has taken his fair share of heat over the years but the Seahawks just proved he did a tremendous job with Marquis Blair.
I'm definitely rooting for him in the NFL

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Props to Shafer for identifying & landing this kid.
Coach has taken his fair share of heat over the years but the Seahawks just proved he did a tremendous job with Marquis Blair.
I'm definitely rooting for him in the NFL

He never enrolled here. I wouldn't say Shafer did a "tremendous" job.

 

[jgeorge322]

He never enrolled here. I wouldn't say Shafer did a "tremendous" job.

Best job ever by a head coach. Bigly. Recruiting had never been better.

 

[BKCuse]

He never enrolled here. I wouldn't say Shafer did a "tremendous" job.

IJS of all the subpar, undersized and non ACC level players SS brought in here Blair is actually a kid worthy of playing at a P5 program.

Poor Shaf still can’t get a lick of love. Oh well I tried lol

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

IJS of all the subpar, undersized and non ACC level players SS brought in here Blair is actually a kid worthy of playing at a P5 program.

Poor Shaf still can’t get a lick of love. Oh well I tried lol

Nothing personal. Obviously an awesome talent and we knew that from the get go. But Blair was so far off from qualifying, he had to go to JUCO. His offer list at the time was pretty scant - pretty safe to assume that everyone knew grades were an issue. The recruiting of Shafer's staff forced them to take a gamble like that.

 

[BKCuse]

Nothing personal. Obviously an awesome talent and we knew that from the get go. But Blair was so far off from qualifying, he had to go to JUCO. His offer list at the time was pretty scant - pretty safe to assume that everyone knew grades were an issue. The recruiting of Shafer's staff forced them to take a gamble like that.

Idk my understanding is he was very close to qualifying and there was some dispute over an online course the NCAA wouldn’t accept. If not for that issue he would have joined our class.

Typical of Shafer’s tenure, got zero good breaks and plenty of bad ones.

 

[RICuse44]

Idk my understanding is he was very close to qualifying and there was some dispute over an online course the NCAA wouldn’t accept. If not for that issue he would have joined our class.

Typical of Shafer’s tenure, got zero good breaks and plenty of bad ones.

You make your own breaks with recruiting. Look at Dino. There is plan A then B then C. Shafer had plan A and that was about it.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Idk my understanding is he was very close to qualifying and there was some dispute over an online course the NCAA wouldn’t accept. If not for that issue he would have joined our class.

Typical of Shafer’s tenure, got zero good breaks and plenty of bad ones.

I may be confusing Blair and Shaw. That said, if you go to JUCO it's more than one class - likely an issue of meeting core requirements from freshman / sophomore year of high school. If I'm remembering Blair correctly, he made a ton up his senior year, but that wasn't enough to overcome the fact that he didn't meet requirements in the timing required by the NCAA.

And in terms of recruiting, you make your own breaks when you recruit kids with issues like these.