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Azeem Victor: Doog Legend or Football Player?
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All this discussion of best position units got me thinking about the LBs. Per a series of posts (see @HFNY for example), consensus seems to be Feeney, Bierra, and Victor at the stand up spots.
Feeney - absent some maturation, UW will have a hugely physically talented backer prone to occassional brain farts, effort vacuums, and general head scratching play. There is the chance he notes that NFL dough is contingent upon his play and he plays consistently similar to Danny Shelton's change.
Bierra - thus far a solid contributor with the speed to play in space. There's a decent chance he can be a solid Pac-10 backer. While as white as Lake Wobegone, this is not Lake Wobegone and all LBs can't be All Pac 10... It's not a negative to be a solid backer....doesn't have to be All Pac 10 for UW to have success.
Victor - as far as I can see, if AZ is a football player this unit has a chance at being solid. I know he has feces in his throat and I know KJV lusts over this "specimen," but I don't know if he's a football player. His Doog Legend status is cemented because he was a diamond in the rough only Sark/Sirmon could find and wrassle away from San Diego St. Apparently his pops posts over there, and the kid "talks" or is "edgy" or whatever the current code word is for "let's make an excuse for his lack of discipline."
All this said, I do think the LB play hinges on Victor's performance. So my question is has anyone seen him play or practice or have a strong view on how he'll play or BBK will take over MLB by Pac 10 play?
Feeney - absent some maturation, UW will have a hugely physically talented backer prone to occassional brain farts, effort vacuums, and general head scratching play. There is the chance he notes that NFL dough is contingent upon his play and he plays consistently similar to Danny Shelton's change.
Bierra - thus far a solid contributor with the speed to play in space. There's a decent chance he can be a solid Pac-10 backer. While as white as Lake Wobegone, this is not Lake Wobegone and all LBs can't be All Pac 10... It's not a negative to be a solid backer....doesn't have to be All Pac 10 for UW to have success.
Victor - as far as I can see, if AZ is a football player this unit has a chance at being solid. I know he has feces in his throat and I know KJV lusts over this "specimen," but I don't know if he's a football player. His Doog Legend status is cemented because he was a diamond in the rough only Sark/Sirmon could find and wrassle away from San Diego St. Apparently his pops posts over there, and the kid "talks" or is "edgy" or whatever the current code word is for "let's make an excuse for his lack of discipline."
All this said, I do think the LB play hinges on Victor's performance. So my question is has anyone seen him play or practice or have a strong view on how he'll play or BBK will take over MLB by Pac 10 play?
Comments
Jood write a piece on them this spring that goes into more depth between the two: http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/scott-lawyer-and-azeem-victor-are-filling-some-big-holes-at-linebacker-for-uw-football/
I think we'll have a better idea after BSU of who'll be our MLB, but all indicators seem to point to Victor. That being said, I'll be interested if any of these freshman LB are able to leap frog some of the other LBs on the roster.
I like Feeney. He needs to put it together though. What we have seen is what we will probably get, but the potential is there to be great. I remember Bob Gregory saying something about Feeney being the most athletic LB, and that was including Shaq. I think he has the best shot of any senior on the team at making an NFL roster after this year because he's also a great special teams player.
Littleton - Meh. Definitely a good depth guy though.
Bierria didn't really do much last year, despite winning a starting job before the Hawaii game. He was young and I don't think his game was ready for the Pac 12 level. I think he will end up being an above average LB though. The fact that the coaches felt comfortable playing him over Feeney or Littleton makes me believe he has a chance.
Constantine is supposedly much improved and Petersen singled him out in Spring. He's probably a depth guy. It will be interesting if Lewis makes some noise this year. I thought O'Brien was going to be a good player out of high school, but it's not happening.
Out of the freshman, Bartlett is the only guy I think that has a chance at playing as a true freshman, at least in the LB depth. Hopefully none of the other freshman get wasted on special teams.
Players improved so mightily last year on D, though, it remains possible he'll get to first team All Pac-12, but I doubt he'll hit any mark higher than that.
Victor has intriguing characteristics as well, but Bierria fucking sucks at this point and wins the BBK award for being the size of a 1950 LB (I think Redman was bigger than him, honestly) and Littleton is the definition of a JAG.
Who else is there? No one. Don't even fucking bring up Constantine. I guess Scotty 'the non-playmaker' Lawyer will be out there some. Holy Fuckall.
Drew Lewis is a guy who, if he has lifted weights, could be really fucking good; but for some reason I think he's a lazy piece of shit like me.
With Victor it's very difficult to predict. It seemed like all the 2-star kids we stole from shitty schools have ended up about the same: kind of like, 'oh wow, you have physical shit, but you really aren't a great football player' - or in Feeney's case, 'oh you are naturally talented and physically gifted but don't give a shit at all'. In other words, there seems to be a limiting factor.
Dwayne Wawrshington only runs straight, etc. Victor seems like the DWawrsh of the D.
Sark was a great recruiter.
That being said, the 2nd to 3rd year is where you usually see the biggest jump in player development so Bierria, Victor, Constantine, or O'Brien (although probably not him) might turn some heads this year.
Scott Lawyer is a depth/special teams guy. It's not his fault. I'm sure he works his butt off but he was planning to go to a D-3 school until he randomly got a phone call from Sark one day. If he starts, we are in trouble.
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I wish Littleton would've redshirted. He also seemed like a better fit for Wilcox's D but glad to have him around for 2015.
Bottom line for Feeney is if you're not consistent in following your assignments, you're not going to play as much as you could for a Petersen coached team.
Berria wasn't totally ready to play as a RS-Frosh but seems like Gregory is high on him. He'll get a little bigger and I like his athleticism and agility.
I love re-reading threads from the offseason.
Also, holy shit with Victor. It's weird to see players play to their potential.