Why is it that when people talk about recruits, specifically a RB or WR, it seems like many automatically want to put Athletes who can play mulitiple positions into the Defensive Backfield? Usually to Safety, sometimes CB, but mostly Safety. I've noticed this more & more over the past 4-5 years on LSU boards. Not that DB is any easier to play than WR or RB, it isn't. Take a look at Richard Murphy. Many were convinced Murphy would be a WR or a Safety, not a RB because he was too tall, too thin, etc, etc. Ron Brooks was the #6 WR in the Nation last year on Scout.com & 1/2 the LSU Nation has him pegged as a Cornerback this year. Same thing with the recruit we got yesterday, DeAngelo Peterson. "LSU Picks up WR" - seems fairly clear. But some are already predicting he'll end up at Safety. There isn't any film of him yet to even make an educated guess. We know he was very impressive at LSU camp as a WR though. CParso had a thread awhile back on recruting the ATL position, while I am personally very much in favor of it, it does seem to confuse the hell out of us recruiting fans :grin: Here are 2 recruits of interest to LSU, don't know if we'll get either or both, but people are divided about where they'd play. Here's my take, was wondering what others think about these guys. Kye Staley - I've watched his films a couple of times, which lists him at 6' 0" 210 lbs. Anyway he didn't have any defensive highlights, so it hard to judge his defensive prowess. Some feel he could be a Safety or WR. I would guess he's going to be a RB, possibly a WR. If he's a WR, I'd bet he does most of his damage, after the catch. At RB, he looks a lot like Richard Murphy did out of High School in many ways, if you ask me. He hits the holes fast & breaks to the outside corners very, very quickly. One concern is he's usually way out in front of his blockers, but will need to follow them in college, running between the tackles. Jerico Nelson - "Move him to Safety" I'm guilty! :lol: This guy looks like a damn good Safety prospect. He hits very hard, and seems to have excellent instincts as far as sniffing out plays & breaks on the ball very well. Others are convinced he's a RB. I can see that too. He does a good job of following his blockers, but at times tends to slow down & wait for holes, seems a bit tentative. He is pretty good at catching short passes and getting nice yardage out of it.
Two reasons, I think: 1. It's much harder to find an effective safety than a running back or receiver, so coaches tend to try their best athletes at safety. 2. In recent years, teams tend to put their fastest players on defense.
They go by the athlete, like how lots of QBs become WRs in college(a la Derrick Williams and Early Doucet)
You're talking about two different things here Perple. One is what fans think of how a prospect projects, and how they argue over it. The second is what is actually happening with the recruit - what the coaches are/aren't telling him and what they feel he will become once on campus. Why fans immediately start pronouncing certain prospects to offense or defense is a multi-faceted issue and one I don't care about because we don't matter. Where the coaches think/know he'll up at is much more relevant to me - and it's hard to know even when we have a quote from a kid because often times a coach will tell a kid one thing and then do another - either to get him here or to keep another kid from being scared off. So I just wait until he gets to campus to judge if the right decision was made. I do sometimes think to myself, as all fans do (and hence one of the reasons to the question you posed), what a kid may look like at a certain position based on his footwork, speed, hips, hands, aggression, instincts, and most importantly - team need.
I think you're right that we do this a lot, but I think there are good reasons for it. For positions like running back, wide receiver, and corner, you look for certain body types and specific ball skills. For a running back, you need a guy with good natural running technique, hands, speed, size without excess height, etc. For a wideout, you want a guy to be 6'3" or taller preferably, with speed and size and, again, good receiver technique and ball skills. For a corner, you want a height of around 6'0", swivel hips, blazing speed, but don't really need the ball skills so much. A safety is different. If you have a great athlete who isn't tall enough to be a receiver, doesn't have the hips to be a corner, and doesn't have teh ball skills or cutting ability to be a running back, you can always put him at safety and hope he develops a mean streak. Unlike what the gentleman said earlier about it being hard to find a safety, I think safety is probably the easiest position to find an athlete for and to coach him to play. Therefore, superb athletes who don't fit at any other position usually make good safeties.
The best football players in high school are all playing QB, RB, or WR. only if they play for a team that plays both ways do you see them playing defense. Of course there are cases where a team is just loaded and has the talent to put guys where they really should play, but not in most cases. I would venture to say that most of the defensive backs in major college football and the NFL did not gain their glory in high school at those positions. Saying all of that, coaches have to be able to look at film on a guy and be able to mentally place him at a position he best fits.
