High School Football Recruiting

[ISUCajunfan]

Landor to Southern Miss

[the Big Ragoo]

Originally posted by USLfan88
Well it is good to hear that the Secondary sounds like it is going to be very athletic because it seems like all of the guys are capable of playing 2 or 3 differnt positions. This is going to be a big factor for the UL defense. I really hope that the JUCO corners can come in and help right away so that Fenton and Felders can keep maturing into good corners. I would not expect to see either of them move to a safety or rover position because they lack alot of physical presence which these positions call for. Does anyone know anything about JVC getting caught cheatingon an Exam, from what I have heard this is suppose to be true.

Fenton and Felders are both bigger than Jamal Smith, our starter this year at Rover. Our defense relies on speed, not size. Fenton was signed as a Free Safety, but had to play corner. Felders was a high school QB who had never played DB, but was signed to play Rover or Free Safety. Both guys had to move to corner to provide depth. Originally, one or both of them was to be redshirted, but Jerell Carter's injury forced them to both have to play at corner. There's not a rover on our depth chart that's over 5'9". At Free Safety, Prater and Lamy also are not over 5'10". If both of them are 5'10", I'd be shocked. Fenton and Felders are both better suited to play Rover or Free Safety. We'd be a lot better on defense if they could play there instead of corner. The fact that they're at corner shows that we lack depth at that position. How do you wind up in a situation where you have to play 2 true freshmen corners behind 2 seniors? Baldwin did a poor job recruiting, that's how.

[USLfan88]

I uderstand that our defense is built around speed. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that Jamal Smith may be 5'9 but he is bigger than Fenton and Feilders, and he made plays all season long. For one of these guys to take his position would be a miracle. Fenton and Felders are both 4.6 - 4.7 guys just like Jamal Smith. These guys are too young and not developed enough to be starters and I think that the coaches will feel the same way. As far as safety goes Lamy is 5' 10 and Prater is 5'11- 6'0 and both of those guys run 4.4's. Height isnt the question look at alot of the safetys in the leauge like Dawkins for example 5'10 200lbs.

[CajunGuru]

Good post Ragoo and I agree with your opinion on Felders and Fenton.Both have good size and speed and could easily carry 200 lbs. at safety.Let me just add that Lamy is a great kid and hard worker,but he is not a Div.1 talent.While he plays hard he lacks the recovery speed to play safety.When he does make a mistake,it cost the Cajuns several TD's last year.One specific instance was in the MTSU game.He took a bad angle on one of their WR's and he scored.On another play,he had deep coverage on the strongside and the WR got behind him.I watched Simon in practice last fall and he will come up and hit you,but he only weighed about 175 lbs and he lacks good speed as well at safety.Smith and Sanders could move to safety,but you are correct,neither are over 5-9.If Carter recovers and Murchenson is eligible along with JC's and highschool signiees,there will be enough talent at CB to move the two to safety.

[Cajun1997]

I know Felders played QB in high school but did'nt he play DB also? It is not unusual for a kid to play both ways at that level.

[CajunGuru]

You are correct Eric.Felders played both ways in highschool.He was All-State at QB and All-District at DB.

[the Big Ragoo]

Originally posted by USLfan88
I uderstand that our defense is built around speed. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that Jamal Smith may be 5'9 but he is bigger than Fenton and Feilders, and he made plays all season long. For one of these guys to take his position would be a miracle. Fenton and Felders are both 4.6 - 4.7 guys just like Jamal Smith. These guys are too young and not developed enough to be starters and I think that the coaches will feel the same way. As far as safety goes Lamy is 5' 10 and Prater is 5'11- 6'0 and both of those guys run 4.4's. Height isnt the question look at alot of the safetys in the leauge like Dawkins for example 5'10 200lbs.

I don't know if you're going by roster heights and weights, or if you've seen these guys in person a lot, but the big ragoo has eyeballed these guys almost every day. Fenton is probably the tallest DB and close to 200 pounds. He is not the strongest and will not play rover, but he could end up at Free safety (what he was recruited for) or Whip (which is essentially interchangeable as Free Safety in our defense. Felders is taller (5-10) than Jamal Smith (5-8), not as strong, but about the same weight (185). Felders will play rover, and it won't be a miracle for him to get playing time there. Smith made some plays this year, but in this defense your rovers and whips have to make plays. The problem is that Smith and Sanders made a huge amount of mental busts all year which really hurt us. That is why other guys will tried at rover and whip. If a you have to make a choice between playing an older guy who's going to make a lot of mistakes and a younger guy who's going to make a lot of mistakes, you play the younger guy so he can help you in the long run. Fenton started against Idaho because we basically played a Nickel scheme that whole game. Fenton and Felders both got a lot of snaps as freshmen and will be counted on to play next year. Last year, we needed them at corner. Now that we've got some JUCOs coming, we'll move them to the positions we recruited them for out of high school.

Lamy would be a stretch to be 5-10. He and Prater both are around 200, but both would top out at 5-10, unless they've both hit a growth spurt lately. They both are physical guys, but both are prone to make some costly mental mistakes at times. Simon is about 6-0 and gaining weight, but is pretty slow. He's a smart player and will develop into a whip. Prater has played just about everywhere in the secondary. Lamy will play free safety or whip. Prater could play rover, safety or whip, wherever needed.

The bottom line is that the rover, whip and free safety have to make plays (tackles) in this defense. They've got "fit, force and fold" responsibilities in this scheme and one of them is unblocked on every play. Too many mental mistakes were made at these positions at critical times during the season. That is why players will be shuffled in the secondary to fix these problems. The coaches have already moved guys around. The JUCO corners will be asked to come in and lock down the outside receivers. If that works out, Fenton will play some safety, because you can't ask Prater and Lamy to take every snap at Free safety. A JUCO rover will be brought in as well.

[USLfan88]

Lamy would be a stretch to be 5-10. He and Prater both are around 200, but both would top out at 5-10, unless they've both hit a growth spurt lately. They both are physical guys, but both are prone to make some costly mental mistakes at times

This was Lamy's first year to ever play safety so you can understand why he made mistakes but if you look back so did Charles, I think Lamy will have a better understanding of the D now and be able to contribute a little more. Even if Lamy is 5'10 he still goes out their and works hard and you cant ask for more. Prater has never played in this D but is a smart kid so I think he will be okay as far as mental mistakes go. He has enough physical ability to make up for mistakes if they come like Ivan and Charles did. Prater was brought here by Coach Bartel and I believe in Bartel because he brings in kids that can play. Prater from what I have seen can play any position in the secondary because of his speed and can play a outside backer spot cause of his strenght and physicalness. He is a DB who is at least 205 and has very good wheels and is very strong. He is going to be a fun one to watch. Fenton and Felders ae also going to be very good as well but I think that they still need alot of time to develop. It will really help the secondary when Jerrel Carter gets back because he is an older guy who can play and make things happen. Does anyone know about how his injury progress is. I would also like to say that I am glad to here that the #59 machine is back and UL will have the anchor of the D to feed off of.

GEAUX CAJUNS