TJ Neal -- FYI

[CIL]

Much has been made on this board about Marrone turning down TJ Neal. Just wanted to let you know that so has almost every school that has offered the kid. Heard he may end up at ECU or some other CUSA school. No idea if it's grades or talent.

My gut tells me it's a combination of both. He's a big strong kid that overpowered a lot of his competition at an earlier age, but is not the fastest of kids out there and may struggle in space at the next level.

 

[jr4750]

how many kids that this happened to actually turned out to be great players... There are a few I'm sure, but there is always more to the story than meets the eye. We need to trust DM and his staff, even if he misses here and there...

 

[sutomcat]

Much has been made on this board about Marrone turning down TJ Neal. Just wanted to let you know that so has almost every school that has offered the kid. Heard he may end up at ECU or some other CUSA school. No idea if it's grades or talent.

My gut tells me it's a combination of both. He's a big strong kid that overpowered a lot of his competition at an earlier age, but is not the fastest of kids out there and may struggle in space at the next level.

I haven't looked at his film and don't profess to be an expert but I will say this: there have been an astonishing number of highly rated players from the Pittsburgh area in recent years. I am not saying they are all overrated but sometimes players get rated higher than they should simply because they play in an area that is known for a high level of play. I think this is especially true of the players that are borderline between say BCS and non BCS level.

 

[Rocco]

I haven't looked at his film and don't profess to be an expert but I will say this: there have been an astonishing number of highly rated players from the Pittsburgh area in recent years. I am not saying they are all overrated but sometimes players get rated higher than they should simply because they play in an area that is known for a high level of play. I think this is especially true of the players that are borderline between say BCS and non BCS level.

Great point. There is also a high level of exposure in these areas. Kids is rural parts might have to really work to get their name out.

 

[RMH44]

I haven't looked at his film and don't profess to be an expert but I will say this: there have been an astonishing number of highly rated players from the Pittsburgh area in recent years. I am not saying they are all overrated but sometimes players get rated higher than they should simply because they play in an area that is known for a high level of play. I think this is especially true of the players that are borderline between say BCS and non BCS level.

It would be interesting to see how many of these players initially received interest from Pitt which would automatically raise their value because of Litchenfels.

 

[tep624]

It would be interesting to see how many of these players initially received interest from Pitt which would automatically raise their value because of Litchenfels.

This was definitely the case with a few UCONN commits I believe in 2009. They had early Pitt interest, got the bump, offers never materialized, ended up at UCONN as they only school that offered them yet were still ranked 3 star players.