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Nick Harris: Worthless or Wattenburg Insurance?
Dennis_DeYoung
Member Posts: 14,754
So, after coming off my alcoholic stupor very busy week, I decided to go watch the Nick Harris film again. There has been some speculation that they took this kid to basically shore up with Wattenburg (Stanford was close to stealing him, perhaps) and maybe give the little fat kid something to live for.
The problem with Nick Harris is not that he totally sucks (he really doesn't, he's 'ok'), but it's that he's small. When a kid is listed at 6-1, I instantly worry that he is 5-11.
After carefully studying the #Petersencardboardcutout photo with him and Wattenburg (where Wattenburg looks like a giant), he is definitely a good couple inches taller than the Pete cutout they have, so that puts him right around 6-1. I consider that last sentence to fulfill my time in the obligatory 'bargaining' phase of grief.
As far as his play, he's got some things I like: he definitely can jerk people around in small space. That small space power is what really makes the difference between a guy like anyone good and Dexter Charles. Charles has a body that should work for his position, but he just can't quickly overpower people like, say, Danny Shelton can (or #myjojo).
It's one of the main things I look for in linemen film: does the guy surprise people who he is engaged with physically? If you are currently engaged with a blocker and he—all of a sudden—just throws you, that's impressive (look at Trey Adams' film to see this happen constantly). Harris does it some.
Harris is either a high one or a low two, but I'm still going with a one, because honestly it would be a pretty big surprise if he were ever an All Pac-12 player and my ratings are all relative to that.
However, if this is what it takes to keep Wattenburg, so be it.
I think Pete got some of his first tastes of true battles this year with Eletise and Eason. This wasn't finding people other people hadn't, getting to them early, etc. This is—hey, everyone knows about this kid and they're all dying to have him. That #okg shit is fine, but even DickRod has #okg shit. In the end, you want kids to commit and stay that way and I have a feeling we will be in for that much more than Sark/Mora ever will...
Still, this is the big time and kids have tons of pressures on them. They have recruiters looking for any opportunity to sway them.
My read on the whole thing is I think Pete felt like he was cruising and got out-hustled. He's also playing a message that is—what we call in Econ—a dominated option.
Selling kids that this is the Stanford of the NW is kind of stupid because they are better than us in academics and better than us on the football field. That message works fine with in-state kids, but we're going to lose every last out-of-state kid to Stanford if we're in the final 2 with them and they care about academis, football and life.
We are basically Stanford compared to Boise State Trucker U., but we aren't basically Stanford compared to Stanford. We are basically UCLA compared to Stanford, which is great and respectable, but we aren't Stanford.
As such, if Stanford's poking around take Nick Harris and be done with it.
Oh, and hire Arizona's Eletise-recruiting coach and fire one of ours. Nothing else matters.
The problem with Nick Harris is not that he totally sucks (he really doesn't, he's 'ok'), but it's that he's small. When a kid is listed at 6-1, I instantly worry that he is 5-11.
After carefully studying the #Petersencardboardcutout photo with him and Wattenburg (where Wattenburg looks like a giant), he is definitely a good couple inches taller than the Pete cutout they have, so that puts him right around 6-1. I consider that last sentence to fulfill my time in the obligatory 'bargaining' phase of grief.
As far as his play, he's got some things I like: he definitely can jerk people around in small space. That small space power is what really makes the difference between a guy like anyone good and Dexter Charles. Charles has a body that should work for his position, but he just can't quickly overpower people like, say, Danny Shelton can (or #myjojo).
It's one of the main things I look for in linemen film: does the guy surprise people who he is engaged with physically? If you are currently engaged with a blocker and he—all of a sudden—just throws you, that's impressive (look at Trey Adams' film to see this happen constantly). Harris does it some.
Harris is either a high one or a low two, but I'm still going with a one, because honestly it would be a pretty big surprise if he were ever an All Pac-12 player and my ratings are all relative to that.
However, if this is what it takes to keep Wattenburg, so be it.
I think Pete got some of his first tastes of true battles this year with Eletise and Eason. This wasn't finding people other people hadn't, getting to them early, etc. This is—hey, everyone knows about this kid and they're all dying to have him. That #okg shit is fine, but even DickRod has #okg shit. In the end, you want kids to commit and stay that way and I have a feeling we will be in for that much more than Sark/Mora ever will...
Still, this is the big time and kids have tons of pressures on them. They have recruiters looking for any opportunity to sway them.
My read on the whole thing is I think Pete felt like he was cruising and got out-hustled. He's also playing a message that is—what we call in Econ—a dominated option.
Selling kids that this is the Stanford of the NW is kind of stupid because they are better than us in academics and better than us on the football field. That message works fine with in-state kids, but we're going to lose every last out-of-state kid to Stanford if we're in the final 2 with them and they care about academis, football and life.
We are basically Stanford compared to Boise State Trucker U., but we aren't basically Stanford compared to Stanford. We are basically UCLA compared to Stanford, which is great and respectable, but we aren't Stanford.
As such, if Stanford's poking around take Nick Harris and be done with it.
Oh, and hire Arizona's Eletise-recruiting coach and fire one of ours. Nothing else matters.
Comments
Wattenburg insurance + Nick Harris being a 2 to 3 year starter = ABUNDANCE
Is it PurpledoogfanFS for me to predict a 17 year old kid to be a 2 or 3 year starter for the Huskies at the end of this decade? PROBABLY.
BUT, I watched his film and though he doesn't have the length to play OT, he has good feet and "heavy hands" which means his 6'1" frame can work at center. He'll redshirt, be a back-up, and then maybe challenge for the job as a RS-Soph since he'll be able to fire-off and strike DT's / NT's with hands and then move on to the 2nd level (should the play call for it).
Also, famous Steeler centers Mike Webster (RIP) and Dermontti Dawson weren't tall. Webster was listed at 6'1" and Dawson at 6'2" (on NFL.com) and both are HOF'ers. In addition to his ridiculous athleticism, Dawson's lack of height helped him be one of the few centers I've ever seen pull in the NFL. If he was 6'5", I doubt he could've gotten out there on toss sweeps or screens.
Disclaimer: I'm not saying Nick Harris will be a DD or a Mike Webster so don't twist.
This is speculation on my part, but I actually think we might have been bringing in Harris whether we got Eletise or not because we don't really have a center on the roster. Since Petersen has been here hes recruited some really big MF'ers on the line that don't really project at center at all. The only two that I could see sliding to center from his first 2 classes are James and Turner, and both of those guys are from the 2014 class.
If Harris pans out and is a solid player by his RS-soph year, that means he should be surrounded by guys like, Roberts, Adams, McGary, Sosseebeeee, etc. That can work.
Apparently, the kid is cerebral and an OKG, so Petersen likes him.
We'll see what happens to him in a few years, but with kids like McGary, Roberts, Adams, and Wattenberg ahead of him, I don't see him making as much of an impact.
McGary and Adams cannot play center, just can't. Roberts might be able to, but he looks like an ideal guard, same with Wattenberg. The point is that if Harris does develop into a serviceable player at Center that is great because we just don't really have a true center that Petersen has recruited (Turner is closest to that I guess)
If I understand it correctly, Kneip (RS-JR walk-on) is the #2 center and John Turner (RS-Frosh is the #3 center)....Tufunga will be gone this year and Kneip will be gone after Harris' RS year so he could provide depth pretty soon.
The question with any recruit that you view as being a bottom third guy in the class is the question of whether or not he can be a valuable depth player with at least a reasonable chance to develop and be a starter as an upperclassmen. In other words, if he finds himself in a position to be in the game, will he be able to hold his own or will he get thrown around like Nick Wood?
I know that everybody would love to have 85 4- and 5-star players on a roster. Problem with that though is that as those players start getting buried in the depth, they transfer out of the program and your attrition rates start to get really high. Players that are going to sit and develop for 2-3 years before contributing their last 2 years are not sexy players to the average Joe Fan, but they help in solidifying the depth of the roster and providing either options for when players in front of them get hurt or to be able to redshirt/develop younger kids as they come through the program.
After Harris arrives and redshirts, candidates for C will be Crane (ran with 1st team OG with Charles out this spring) and Turner (ran with 2nd team OG). Kneip will have graduated and Crane will be a SR while Turner is a JR.
So yeah, it looks like there'll be some room for Harris to play at C, unless we get another C in this class (Henderson) or we recruit some 4* kid next year that might jump Harris.
Either way, it'll be interesting.
As a hipster douche myself, I can tell you, hipster douches have no place in football. You want offense of lineman that look like Adams… They don't give a fuck about anything.
BoomerSosseebeeMullett.jpg
The quick reaction is to think about a guy like Crane and say he's a bust because we haven't seen much of him yet. In reality, he's been playing behind upper-classmen (Criste, Tanigawa, Charles, Tafunga), which is supposed to happen.
Ideally, you want your OL careers to go like this:
Freshman - RS
RS Frosh - ride bench, special teams, play when up by 40
RS Soph - backup for starters, start if there are injuries
RS Jr - start
RS Sr - Start
The only position where we're not there is Right tackle, which speaks to Sark's absolute incompetence in bringing in Tackle prospects. Ironically, it's also the position that looks most promising down the road (McGary, Adams)
*Cue the doogman posts, "but Criste made the Rimington pre-season watch list!"
Along with every other upperclassmen expected to start for a football school (or former football school). GTFO out. Criste sucked.
McGarycowboyhatandboots.jpg
Too soon?