Last year was his first playing organized football. He's a bit raw, but a hell of an athlete and with the depth we have at DT right now we can let him develop in the program before counting on him to be a starter. He may be the only DT we take in this class if we can't get the JUCO guy.
Just the other day, I wrote in my blog, "Always take a risk that a superior athlete will find a way to contribute." If he's a great athlete, but is a little under-coached to this point, sign him up and get to coaching him.
Point being: this staff has seen the type of talent needed to be drafted highly in the NFL for many seasons now (and Bo isn't too shabby either) - they know what to look for and therefore the guys they offer and accept commitments from carry more weight than Garner's evaluation. Whether they have bigger fish or not, they didn't feel like he was a top priority. We have big fish too, and we still took his commitment, which means something. Like virtually all of Miles' commits to this point, he is extremely versatile - DT, DE, OT, TE...all possibilities with this kid.
They certainly carry more weight with me, but Garner's seen plenty of talent as well. I absolutely believe in this staff's ability to spot talent. I was just showing the other side of the coin. I'm not familiar enough with UGA's depth chart to know, but they may need more of an immediate impact guy... or between several comparable talents they'd prefer the more polished guys. I dunno, just a thought. In deed this class does seem to be incredibly versatile. I don't think TE is a possibility, but OT probably would be.
Hagans also only has ONE season of organized football under his belt (that being his Jr. season). He's "raw talent" in every sense of the word and I'm sure that he's got tramendous talents (otherwise, LSU and UGA would have never offered him in the first place). And this may very well be just a shot in the dark, but with the depth that we have along the D-line, we have someone of an advantage in that we can bring him along slowly, coach him up properly and let him develop and polish his technique whereas UGA doesn't want/can't afford to have a player on scholarship that isn't ready to contribute right away?
That's exactly what I think we are doing. Getting a player with tremendous upside. Maybe not be polished yet, but a year or so in the program, and he could be a monster. Anxious to see see his films. :geauxtige
