Pete on Playing Guys Early

HeretoBeatmyChest

On the coaches show he said that the benefit of playing someone early is "they are so much better the following season." He said he prefers to RS guys but that incoming freshman are bigger, stronger and better prepared to play immediately compared to 10 years ago.

sarktastic

At Washington, he's able to recruit top level players who are ready sooner.

topdawgnc

HeretoBeatmyChest said:

On the coaches show he said that the benefit of playing someone early is "they are so much better the following season." He said he prefers to RS guys but that incoming freshman are bigger, stronger and better prepared to play immediately compared to 10 years ago.

Sounds better than:

The asshole before me would rather drink Patron and chase skirt than recruit.

Nevadaduck

Sarkingham likes to recruit OKD's

doogsinparadise

@TTJ true?

bananasnblondes

topdawgnc said:

HeretoBeatmyChest said:

On the coaches show he said that the benefit of playing someone early is "they are so much better the following season." He said he prefers to RS guys but that incoming freshman are bigger, stronger and better prepared to play immediately compared to 10 years ago.

Sounds better than:

The asshole before me would rather drink Patron and chase skirt than recruit.

That's what he means though

TTJ

Ben Riva disagrees:

Riva had “a crazy list” of injuries at UW. He explains: “My freshman year, I broke my foot. I had three stress fractures in my back. I broke my ankle. I wore out the cartilage in my knee. I broke my left arm my sophomore year and came back and played in five weeks.”

In 2010, Riva came to UW as part of a big recruiting class that featured fellow linemen James Atoe, Mike Criste, Micah Hatchie, Erik Kohler, Colin Porter and Colin Tanigawa. (That’s a ton of young talent, almost literally.)

Riva recalls some early words from then-line coach Dan Cozzetto, who told his new group that some of them were going to have to play as freshmen. Porter, the Bothell High product, started six games that fall as a true freshman and all 13 games the next season; Kohler started five games as a true freshman and all 13 games the next season. Injuries mounted and both Porter and Kohler ended up “retiring” early.

Riva played in 10 games as a redshirt freshman in 2011 and took over as the regular starter at right tackle in 2012.

“It’s very rare for a kid out of high school to be physically ready to play, and it’s even more rare for a kid to be mentally ready to play, especially as a lineman, out of high school,” he said. “You hear about fans talking about these kids coming and playing right away and it makes me sick. I really wish every kid did get to redshirt a year and got some time to figure things out on their own. For myself and for ‘Panda’ (Tanigawa) and Colin and Erik, you know, we had to pick it up early and had to grow up quickly. It was really hard. And it’s going to be hard, yeah, but I don’t wish what we had to go through on any other high school kid.

“There’s so much that goes into,” he added. “You look at Ohio State and any other of these prominent programs and most of the linemen they have playing are juniors or seniors, or they’re one of those genetic freaks. That’s the thing that made me mad — our fans always complained about the line. I just wish for a day they could see what goes into it — see the hand we were dealt and what we did with it. … I think every fan base would be better if they really understood what these guys put into it.

Fans dooging over true frosh is nothing new. 18-year-olds win message boards every summer; 23-year-olds win games every fall.

Fire_Marshall_Bill

Ideally the youngest lineman you start is a R SO and there's only one or two. That's how it was in the 80s and 90s, when our lines were good....

whatshouldicareabout

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Ideally the youngest lineman you start is a R SO and there's only one or two. That's how it was in the 80s and 90s, when our lines were good....

You mean back before the limit of 85 scholarships?

Also, you had to edit that?

LocalKineBronco

All of the OL that Pete played early at BSU turned out to be pretty good, although I don't think he ever played this many young OL at once.

Overall, outside of Fields and Bell, when Pete plays a young player (FR/RS Fr./SO), that player typically turns out to be pretty good. Especially in the secondary.

bananasnblondes

I'm not too concerned about guys like McClatcher, Gaskin, and Renfro playing as true freshmen. Certainly Pettis deserved all the playing time he got last year. It looks like Potatoe will be redshirted, along with most of the other defensive players which is very smart and un-Sarkish. I hope like hell that Adams doesn't take too much of a beating this year if he has to play

whatshouldicareabout

bananasnblondes said:

I'm not too concerned about guys like McClatcher, Gaskin, and Renfro playing as true freshmen. Certainly Pettis deserved all the playing time he got last year. It looks like Potatoe will be redshirted, along with most of the other defensive players which is very smart and un-Sarkish. I hope like hell that Adams doesn't take too much of a beating this year if he has to play

I wonder if any of the freshmen will be exclusively on special teams though, especially since we saw a few in the 2-deeps.

Fire_Marshall_Bill

whatshouldicareabout said:

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Ideally the youngest lineman you start is a R SO and there's only one or two. That's how it was in the 80s and 90s, when our lines were good....

You mean back before the limit of 85 scholarships?

Also, you had to edit that?

That limit started in '93.

droggins

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Ideally the youngest lineman you start is a R SO and there's only one or two. That's how it was in the 80s and 90s, when our lines were good....

I agree unless the true freshman is 20 years old.

TierbsHsotBoobs

whatshouldicareabout said:

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Ideally the youngest lineman you start is a R SO and there's only one or two. That's how it was in the 80s and 90s, when our lines were good....

You mean back before the limit of 85 scholarships?

Also, you had to edit that?

And back before NFL early draft entry?