Taj Harris transferring to Rutgers..Leaving Rutgers | Page 10 | Syracusefan.com

Taj Harris transferring to Rutgers..Leaving Rutgers

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I always liked Taj and I suspect that Dino has a more favorable opinion of him than the narrative that has been created by the fans. Still, even though I understand the "whys" given the nature of the rules, I hate guys hitting the portal in mid-season. Even more-so when they are a starter.

As for me, I move on mentally pretty quickly when an SU guy transfers. I know that there are fans who will follow Taj or Kadary with bated breath. Not me. Not even remotely. They are gone; good luck in life but somebody else can follow them now. Not sour grapes; simply no longer any reason for me to care.
 
Dick_in_MI said:
I always liked Taj and I suspect that Dino has a more favorable opinion of him than the narrative that has been created by the fans. Still, even though I understand the "whys" given the nature of the rules, I hate guys hitting the portal in mid-season. Even more-so when they are a starter.

As for me, I move on mentally pretty quickly when an SU guy transfers. I know that there are fans who will follow Taj or Kadary with bated breath. Not me. Not even remotely. They are gone; good luck in life but somebody else can follow them now. Not sour grapes; simply no longer any reason for me to care.
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^^^This^^^
 
RandomGuy said:
13 drops in 256 targets

Steve Ishmael 13 drops in 323 targets
Ervin Phillips 17 drops in 333 targets
Sean Riley 8 drops in 172 targets
Amba 16 drops in 208 targets
Jamal Custis. 7 drops in 120 targets
Devin Butler 9 drops 91 targets
Nykiem Johnson 11 drops in 180 targets
Trishton Jackson 6 drops 143 targets

About middle of the pack

Erv with Babers 13 drops 263 targets
Ish with Babers 6 drops 244 targets
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With giving up on routes and occasional alligator arms maybe it seemed like more drops.
 
Dick_in_MI said:
I always liked Taj and I suspect that Dino has a more favorable opinion of him than the narrative that has been created by the fans. Still, even though I understand the "whys" given the nature of the rules, I hate guys hitting the portal in mid-season. Even more-so when they are a starter.

As for me, I move on mentally pretty quickly when an SU guy transfers. I know that there are fans who will follow Taj or Kadary with bated breath. Not me. Not even remotely. They are gone; good luck in life but somebody else can follow them now. Not sour grapes; simply no longer any reason for me to care.
Expand...
Same for me. Taj leaving when he chose to likely has more to do with his becoming a father and needing to put himself in the best position (as he feels) to get an NFL pay day. He probably wants to provide for himself and family and at this point in his college career he has very tough decisions to make with short time tables.

Think this is more a gamble on himself than him being showed the door because of his me attitude. I know teammates and Dino like him.
 
RandomGuy said:
13 drops in 256 targets

Steve Ishmael 13 drops in 323 targets
Ervin Phillips 17 drops in 333 targets
Sean Riley 8 drops in 172 targets
Amba 16 drops in 208 targets
Jamal Custis. 7 drops in 120 targets
Devin Butler 9 drops 91 targets
Nykiem Johnson 11 drops in 180 targets
Trishton Jackson 6 drops 143 targets

About middle of the pack

Erv with Babers 13 drops 263 targets
Ish with Babers 6 drops 244 targets
Expand...
A startling number of Taj's drops were unfortunately certain TDs.

Let's look at catches per targets, which I would argue is just as important, maybe more important that drop ratio. To me, it gives insight into how good a WR is at getting open and making catches while covered. I bet Lemon was well over 70% at catching it when targeted. Harrison too.

Ishmael 323 targets 219 catches 67.8% comp 18 TDs 13 drops
Phillips 333 targets 224 catches 67.4% comp 20 TDs 17 drops
Riley 172 targets 119 catches 69.2% comp 4 TDs 8 drops
Etta-Tawo 208 targets 94 catches 45.2% comp 14 TDs 16 drops
Custis 120 targets 64 catches 53.3% comp 8 TDs 7 drops
N Johnson 180 targets 88 catches 48.9% comp 8 TDs 11 drops
T Jackson 143 targets 69 catches 48.3% comp 12 TDs 6 drops
Harris 256 targets 151 catches 59.0% comp 10 TDs 13 drops

You have to take WR role into account as well. Riley and Phillips were slot guys that got a lot of short passes that were easier to complete. Etta-Tawo and Custis mostly were targeted on long throws.

Taj was a little like Ishmael; kind of a hybrid between a slot and an outside WR.

In the final analysis, I think he was a good WR. Probably miscast as a primary, would have been great as a #2 WR.
 
capeorange said:
With giving up on routes and occasional alligator arms maybe it seemed like more drops.
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or the times he didn’t even raise his hands and try. there was a slant pass in the end zone a couple years back that he didn’t even put his hands up. But it was the giving up on routes that was the most irritating to me
 
Last edited:
sutomcat said:
A startling number of Taj's drops were unfortunately certain TDs.

Let's look at catches per targets, which I would argue is just as important, maybe more important that drop ratio. To me, it gives insight into how good a WR is at getting open and making catches while covered. I bet Lemon was well over 70% at catching it when targeted. Harrison too.

Ishmael 323 targets 219 catches 67.8% comp 18 TDs 13 drops
Phillips 333 targets 224 catches 67.4% comp 20 TDs 17 drops
Riley 172 targets 119 catches 69.2% comp 4 TDs 8 drops
Etta-Tawo 208 targets 94 catches 45.2% comp 14 TDs 16 drops
Custis 120 targets 64 catches 53.3% comp 8 TDs 7 drops
N Johnson 180 targets 88 catches 48.9% comp 8 TDs 11 drops
T Jackson 143 targets 69 catches 48.3% comp 12 TDs 6 drops
Harris 256 targets 151 catches 59.0% comp 10 TDs 13 drops

You have to take WR role into account as well. Riley and Phillips were slot guys that got a lot of short passes that were easier to complete. Etta-Tawo and Custis mostly were targeted on long throws.

Taj was a little like Ishmael; kind of a hybrid between a slot and an outside WR.

In the final analysis, I think he was a good WR. Probably miscast as a primary, would have been great as a #2 WR.
Expand...
Agreed.

His contested target catch rate was under 18% in 19, 20. I'll have to compare, but I'm guessing that's an area in need of improvement.

On the other hand? Of his 149 receptions he forced 49 guys to miss tackling him. (Seems pretty darn good), and he averaged 6.4 YAC for his Syracuse career.
 
sutomcat said:
A startling number of Taj's drops were unfortunately certain TDs.

Let's look at catches per targets, which I would argue is just as important, maybe more important that drop ratio. To me, it gives insight into how good a WR is at getting open and making catches while covered. I bet Lemon was well over 70% at catching it when targeted. Harrison too.

Ishmael 323 targets 219 catches 67.8% comp 18 TDs 13 drops
Phillips 333 targets 224 catches 67.4% comp 20 TDs 17 drops
Riley 172 targets 119 catches 69.2% comp 4 TDs 8 drops
Etta-Tawo 208 targets 94 catches 45.2% comp 14 TDs 16 drops
Custis 120 targets 64 catches 53.3% comp 8 TDs 7 drops
N Johnson 180 targets 88 catches 48.9% comp 8 TDs 11 drops
T Jackson 143 targets 69 catches 48.3% comp 12 TDs 6 drops
Harris 256 targets 151 catches 59.0% comp 10 TDs 13 drops

You have to take WR role into account as well. Riley and Phillips were slot guys that got a lot of short passes that were easier to complete. Etta-Tawo and Custis mostly were targeted on long throws.

Taj was a little like Ishmael; kind of a hybrid between a slot and an outside WR.

In the final analysis, I think he was a good WR. Probably miscast as a primary, would have been great as a #2 WR.
Expand...

The things these stats don’t show, which many of us saw, were:

Giving up on routes, such that a catch (or drop) wasn’t even possible.

Running the wrong route.
(And then staring down the QB like it was all their fault).

Being such a diva that QB’s felt they had to throw it to him, even when he was covered and/or other guys were open.

Literally never giving the effort to become a DB and break up a bad pass he couldn’t catch, so it didn’t become an INT.

I’d wager he was responsible for at least 2-3 INT’s / season like that.

Taj was an amazing RAC guy.
We will miss that, for sure.

Not so much all the other stuff.
 
Trueblue25 said:
Same for me. Taj leaving when he chose to likely has more to do with his becoming a father and needing to put himself in the best position (as he feels) to get an NFL pay day. He probably wants to provide for himself and family and at this point in his college career he has very tough decisions to make with short time tables.

Think this is more a gamble on himself than him being showed the door because of his me attitude. I know teammates and Dino like him.
Expand...

I suspect that you are correct. His tweet announcing that he was entering the portal was classy and decorated with orange hearts. Neither he nor Dino seem to have hard feelings.
 
Dick_in_MI said:
I suspect that you are correct. His tweet announcing that he was entering the portal was classy and decorated with orange hearts. Neither he nor Dino seem to have hard feelings.
Expand...
i think kids are being led down a really bad path of instant gratification with this portal thing.

I hold zero grudge for someone wanting to transfer but to do it in season is just the epitome of quitting on your team. It's ridiculous unless someone points to me that Dino was abusive to him or his coordinator. Absent that, suck it up for the year and then move on at the end.

Otherwise we are creating a society of cutting bait wayyyy too early in life.
 
RandomGuy said:
I would guess Babers is giving a decent recommendation? You have to think schools ask.

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Could be but it’s also still pretty early in the process. He’s not going to be able to start school until Jan wherever he ends up. Teams probably offering him now based on his production then will handle the character references (if they even care) as it gets closer to the end of the season. Everyone knows everyone else is busy so it’s one of those “offer now and get info later”. There’s no NLI for transfers so literally nothing that binds the kid to the school. There is a grant in aid form that his new school will have him sign but that locks the school in, not the kid.
 
RandomGuy said:
Agreed.

His contested target catch rate was under 18% in 19, 20. I'll have to compare, but I'm guessing that's an area in need of improvement.

On the other hand? Of his 149 receptions he forced 49 guys to miss tackling him. (Seems pretty darn good), and he averaged 6.4 YAC for his Syracuse career.
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He was among the best SU WRs ever at YAC and getting guys to miss.

That was, IMHO, his biggest strength. And the thing that I liked best about his game.
 
If coaches can get up and leave at the drop of a hat than the kids should be able to do the same. Market is wide open and just have to live with it. It's going to happen everywhere and I don't think it anything to pinpoint on specific coaches or programs. Taj doing what he thinks is best for him and so be it.

He's been a a polarizing figure but it's pretty easy to see that the move to Shrader wasn't going to put him in the best light and that is fine
 
IthacaBarrel said:
If coaches can get up and leave at the drop of a hat than the kids should be able to do the same. Market is wide open and just have to live with it. It's going to happen everywhere and I don't think it anything to pinpoint on specific coaches or programs. Taj doing what he thinks is best for him and so be it.
Expand...

Many years ago, otherwise fine academic institutions sold their souls to be in the entertainment business. For better or worse this is a natural evolution of that and it is going to continue in ways that we can only glimpse right now. At times, it will bite us in the butt and as fans we can gnash our teeth about it, but as you say we just have to live with it. Many horses are out of the barn at this point.
 
RandomGuy said:
So our QB, who entered the transfer portal last October, is a quitter as well?

As Elimunelson says in the following comment, "the epitome of quitting on your team."

Is one a quitter, and one not? Or were they trying to save a RS year?
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He was moved to WR, he wasn't a starting QB. If Taj got moved to corner and split it would be more like GS.

Taj is likely a flier to these programs. If he hits great if not they move on quick. Rough business.
 
IthacaBarrel said:
If coaches can get up and leave at the drop of a hat than the kids should be able to do the same. Market is wide open and just have to live with it. It's going to happen everywhere and I don't think it anything to pinpoint on specific coaches or programs. Taj doing what he thinks is best for him and so be it.

He's been a a polarizing figure but it's pretty easy to see that the move to Shrader wasn't going to put him in the best light and that is fine
Expand...
Coaches don't generally leave in the middle of a season. IMO that restriction needs to be applied to the transfer portal.

Coaches can also be fired at the drop of a hat. Maybe players should be, too. Oh wait, coaches are employees, so the same rules don't apply. Maybe we shouldn't be treating coaches and players similarly. Hm.
 
Dick_in_MI said:
Many years ago, otherwise fine academic institutions sold their souls to be in the entertainment business. For better or worse this is a natural evolution of that and it is going to continue in ways that we can only glimpse right now. At times, it will bite us in the butt and as fans we can gnash our teeth about it, but as you say we just have to live with it. Many horses are out of the barn at this point.
Expand...
Reminds me of Sonny Vaccaro taking down PSU Pres when he tried to play holier than thou.
 
elimunelson said:
i think kids are being led down a really bad path of instant gratification with this portal thing.

I hold zero grudge for someone wanting to transfer but to do it in season is just the epitome of quitting on your team. It's ridiculous unless someone points to me that Dino was abusive to him or his coordinator. Absent that, suck it up for the year and then move on at the end.

Otherwise we are creating a society of cutting bait wayyyy too early in life.
Expand...
We were already there with divorce rates ... just saying.
 
RandomGuy said:
So our QB, who entered the transfer portal last October, is a quitter as well?

As Elimunelson says in the following comment, "the epitome of quitting on your team."

Is one a quitter, and one not? Or were they trying to save a RS year?
Expand...
That would be a relevant comparison if Taj got moved to the scout team linebacker from WR and wasn't going to see the field.
 
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