ADVERTISEMENT

IMG Academy

So with Bookie going to Oklahoma, that marks the third player just this year who transferred there from California NOT to attend a Pac-12 school. (Him plus TJ Pledger and Brian Hightower).

Are these kids who simply want to get out of California for college? Seems that way but any insight behind that would be interesting.

What I've been told about a DB target...

I spoke to someone I trust about Anaheim Servite HS DB Julius Irvin. I was told Irvin isn't too focused on the recruiting process right now because of his recent family emergency. This family emergency is a very big deal and a life changing event. I'll leave it there.

That being said, Irvin still has a decision to make. He will sign in February and has one official visit left if he wants to take it. There's a possibility that could happen.

Irvin has already been to four of his top 5 schools on official visits, so there's a possibility his final visit will be to USC. I was also told there's a chance he visits a school outside of his top 5 (Florida could be a school to watch as the Gators offered him a scholarship in late December).

This person I talked to said, in his estimation, it's currently a Notre Dame, USC and Washington battle. But he believes another team could possibly emerge. It's worth noting that there are some around Irvin who prefer Utah (apparently the official visit was the most impressive by far.)

This person also said that while Irvin hasn't made a decision, he would guess USC and Washington before Notre Dame. He believes Washington is a serious dark horse candidate that too many people are counting out. He believes Washington is right there with the Trojans and both are likely ahead of Notre Dame. But it wouldn't be a shock at all if the Irish pulled it off and got Irvin.

When I asked if Irvin's family emergency could factor into him staying in Southern California and attending USC, I was told it definitely could. It's a serious enough matter that it could, without question, keep Irvin at home and put him in cardinal and gold.

But I was also told, again, that Irvin's family still isn't happy with how USC has recruited him recently. Irvin was set to sign during the early period and the Trojan coaching staff told him to hold off.

"They screwed up," this source said. "If they let him sign early, it would be over and we all know he would have picked USC."

There's also concerns outside of how USC recruited him. There are some around Irvin that aren't impressed with the product the Trojans have put on the field this season. The recent Cotton Bowl was just more evidence to those around him that have doubts.

I'll you all updated if I hear anything else.

Login to view embedded media

Postmortem QB thoughts

Sam's been an amazing quarterback, we were lucky to have him. That being said, is it possible we've overrated him because his physical gifts are so tremendous (and easy to see) but maybe there's a lack QB IQ? Sam turned the ball over 22 times by himself (compared to 5 for the entire rest of the team). They weren't all his fault, but what about the pick-6 in the Cotton Bowl? That was a simple mental (missed the safety read) mistake at a critical big-game game moment. Forgivable for freshmen, but the number one overall pick? Our single back offense is designed around the QB option. How often did Sam run with the ball? The few times he did were almost always successful. Are we sure all those stuffed goal-line plays weren't read options where Sam probably should have kept the ball? It didn't look like our coaching staff trusted Sam to read defenses and audible, most of the time he was looking to the sideline after the defense lined up so the coaches could read the defense. We know Helton would never say so, he protects his players and staff to a fault.

Targeting JuJu Resulted In The Highest Passer Rating In The League

Pretry crazy for a 20 year old rookie. Highest ever passer rating for a rookie as well.

Juju is pretty, pretty good.


The Pittsburgh Steelers knew that they would be getting some good juju with their second-round pick in last year’s draft, but I doubt even they realized the extent to which that pick—wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster—would perform during his rookie season for a team with legitimate championship aspirations.

The 20-year-old came in and very quickly cemented a role for himself in the offense. He rotated as the slot receiver in the opener, even though he was not targeted, but he began producing through the air in game two, including his first touchdown.

It would not be long that he found himself logging the bulk of the snaps at wide receiver in two-receiver sets, effectively passing Martavis Bryant on the depth chart and pairing with Antonio Brown as the team’s two starting wide receivers.

That all culminated in the season finale, during which Smith-Schuster played 56 of 59 possible offensive snaps. The only three snaps for which he was not on the field were three snaps at the goal line where the offense utilized 23 personnel—two backs, three tight ends. And yet they even used him in a tight end role a few times.

Of course, he wouldn’t be getting the playing time if he were not producing, and he certainly has been. While he was robbed of two games in the second half of the season, his final seven games of the season were an outpouring of offense.


Including three 100-yard performances during the span, Smith-Schuster over his last seven games recorded 686 receiving yards on 41 receptions with four receiving touchdowns. To put that in a season-long perspective, those numbers would prorate out to 94 receptions for 1568 yards and nine touchdowns. Or, really, just about what Antonio Brown put up this season.

Of course, some of his best numbers came in the time that Brown missed over the past three games. In that span, Smith-Schuster caught 21 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns. He also recorded five receptions of 40 or more yards over his final seven games.

All of this, according to Pro Football Focus, ended up working out quite well for Ben Roethlisberger and Landry Jones, as their numbers show that the rookie, when targeted, produced a quarterback rating of 134.

That was the highest of any wide receiver in the NFL this season, based on their numbers, and, they claim, the highest of any rookie ever recorded, presumably during the Pro Football Focus era, which would begin in 2006.

Given that he also did this primarily as a 20-year-old, the youngest player in the league, it makes it all the more remarkable that he was able to be so fabulously productive. And of course he still has a full postseason ahead of him.JuJu Smith-Schuster
ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT