The Story - Washington made offers to a handful of big-time tailbacks in the 2020 recruiting cycle with almost all of them residing in the Pac 12 footprint. However, they hedged their bets and looked around the Lonestar State during the winter and found Sunday who was a local-legend with his ability to run through tackles and defenses. On a trip to Seattle, Sunday fell in love with the program and in late May, he made the decision to commit to Washington over offers from schools like Baylor, Arkansas, Houston, Kansas and Kansas State.
Senior Season - While leading Connally to a berth in the semifinals in Region 2 of the Texas 4A D2 playoffs, Sunday rushed for nearly 2,200 yards and 35 touchdowns and earned Super Centex Sports Network Offensive Player of the Year and the District 8-4A Division II Offensive MVP. In his three years as a starter for Cadets, the hard-charging tailback rushed for over 5,000 yards and 80 touchdowns.
Opposing Coach's View - "We hated playing against them and he's a big reason why. I shouldn't say 'hated' because (Connally head coach) Shane (Anderson) is a good friend, but they made life rough on us. (Sunday) runs really hard. In boxing, you have boxers that have 'heavy hands', guys that hit you harder than you'd expect, well he's a guy that's like that. He has a great frame and he isn't small, but he just runs 'heavy'. He's almost impossible to bring down on first contact and you really have to go after his legs. His (leg) drive is outstanding. He just never stops churning them. He's got pretty good vision and his instincts are outstanding. I'd say the one thing that might cause him problems is he doesn't get up to top speed as quick as some of the big-time backs do. When he gets going, he's fine, but if you have a safety or linebacker with speed, they're going to be able to track him down. I'm sure they can work on some of that with him once he gets there. He's also a good leader. He rallied those guys all the time. He's a workhorse. To say we're glad he's gone would be an understatement. Good kid and a helluva football player. Should have worn a rubber though."
Opposing Players' View - "I played youth football with him and then against him for three years in high school. He's strong. You have to square up and make the tackle or he'll run right through your arm tackle. I know a guy who broke his arm trying to tackle him that way. Our coaches always talked about 'body tackling' and he was the guy they always showed us film of. We beat them once and held him to like 120 yards and counted that as a win. Our coaches pinched in a lot (along the defensive line) with him and then we brought our safeties up for contain and that frustrated him, but if he was able to get through the line, he was gone. Honestly, I don't know how you truly stop him because he can hurt you up the middle and bounce it outside if you don't have your (run) fits right. If you string him out though, he isn't a guy who can make you miss, so that was probably the one way to do it. Should have made sure that chick was on the pill, though."
I love the idea that these people need anonymity to give these takes. What a FS invention this is. Gotta be a Kim idea.
As @RoadDawg55 has pointed out, 81% chance these takes are complete bullshit and just them manufacturing content.
It's hard enough for Eklund to get a hold of any UW recruit as it is, how is he tracking down player's opponents and having them provide detailed breakdowns?
Opposing Coach's View - "We hated playing against them and he's a big reason why. I shouldn't say 'hated' because (Connally head coach) Shane (Anderson) is a good friend, but they made life rough on us. (Sunday) runs really hard. In boxing, you have boxers that have 'heavy hands', guys that hit you harder than you'd expect, well he's a guy that's like that. He has a great frame and he isn't small, but he just runs 'heavy'. He's almost impossible to bring down on first contact and you really have to go after his legs. His (leg) drive is outstanding. He just never stops churning them. He's got pretty good vision and his instincts are outstanding. I'd say the one thing that might cause him problems is he doesn't get up to top speed as quick as some of the big-time backs do. When he gets going, he's fine, but if you have a safety or linebacker with speed, they're going to be able to track him down. I'm sure they can work on some of that with him once he gets there. He's also a good leader. He rallied those guys all the time. He's a workhorse. To say we're glad he's gone would be an understatement. Good kid and a helluva football player. Should have worn a rubber though."
The criticisms of Boner are more than fair ... landing Adams is a MUST for him
There’s a ton of talent in Texas but Waco is 4th on the list in terms of areas behind Houston, DFW, and Austin ... Waco kicks just about every league in Washington out of the water though
For those that think that Texas recruiting doesn’t have upside this is a good example of some influence materializing ... it’s not that we got Sunday but it’s that we got him before the summer of his senior year
I was reading the Athletic’s State of the Program review for TCU that came out this week and thee was a really interesting quote from Patterson about how TCU has more respect outside of Texas than within it from a HS coach/recruiting standpoint ... it was a really telling quote for me because the general takeaway for me is that there’s a definite mindset in Texas about one upping others and being elite and that mixed with a good % that will just never leave Texas no matter what. If you can get the messaging right where UW is viewed as elite and a title contender, you’ve got a good chance going forward.
Moreover, the overall talent in Texas is such that you get guys like LJ Collier that are massively under recruited and turn out to be high end draft picks.
It wouldn’t shock me at all if Sunday gets some more attention as his senior season goes on ... signing with Washington will get people’s attention.
Sunday looks slow and awkward, he think gets moved to “FB” after his RS year and then transfer portals away to Texas state or Baylor or something in a year or two. But I’m not a teen boy stalker expert so who gives a fuck.
That being said... it’s all about cost/value of recruits like these. If it costs the same amount of resources to pull some 3 star from Texas as it does from Washington/Oregon I think you prefer the Texas guy.
The problem is I don’t think it does. The reality is that UW is less known than UH, Tech, Baylor, or TCU in Texas at this point. It’s much more likely that WE are spending a ton of resources to go after recruits we either won’t get out of the south or recruits that are so overlooked we actually have a chance at getting.
Given people’s complaints about lack of resources being spent on local recruits in the PNW this cycle, I’m not sure it’s really worth it.
TLDR: if we are filling out the backend of classes by stealing an overlooked recruit or two from the south after cleaning up the west coast that’s fine. If we are trying to build the program around a significant number of key players coming from Texas+south it’s likely a process that will lead to failure.
I called it before he ever got to campus... Just picked the wrong Texas Christian school... @DoogWhisperer
The criticisms of Boner are more than fair ... landing Adams is a MUST for him
There’s a ton of talent in Texas but Waco is 4th on the list in terms of areas behind Houston, DFW, and Austin ... Waco kicks just about every league in Washington out of the water though
For those that think that Texas recruiting doesn’t have upside this is a good example of some influence materializing ... it’s not that we got Sunday but it’s that we got him before the summer of his senior year
I was reading the Athletic’s State of the Program review for TCU that came out this week and thee was a really interesting quote from Patterson about how TCU has more respect outside of Texas than within it from a HS coach/recruiting standpoint ... it was a really telling quote for me because the general takeaway for me is that there’s a definite mindset in Texas about one upping others and being elite and that mixed with a good % that will just never leave Texas no matter what. If you can get the messaging right where UW is viewed as elite and a title contender, you’ve got a good chance going forward.
Moreover, the overall talent in Texas is such that you get guys like LJ Collier that are massively under recruited and turn out to be high end draft picks.
It wouldn’t shock me at all if Sunday gets some more attention as his senior season goes on ... signing with Washington will get people’s attention.
Sunday looks slow and awkward, he think gets moved to “FB” after his RS year and then transfer portals away to Texas state or Baylor or something in a year or two. But I’m not a teen boy stalker expert so who gives a fuck.
That being said... it’s all about cost/value of recruits like these. If it costs the same amount of resources to pull some 3 star from Texas as it does from Washington/Oregon I think you prefer the Texas guy.
The problem is I don’t think it does. The reality is that UW is less known than UH, Tech, Baylor, or TCU in Texas at this point. It’s much more likely that WE are spending a ton of resources to go after recruits we either won’t get out of the south or recruits that are so overlooked we actually have a chance at getting.
Given people’s complaints about lack of resources being spent on local recruits in the PNW this cycle, I’m not sure it’s really worth it.
TLDR: if we are filling out the backend of classes by stealing an overlooked recruit or two from the south after cleaning up the west coast that’s fine. If we are trying to build the program around a significant number of key players coming from Texas+south it’s likely a process that will lead to failure.
I called it before he ever got to campus... Just picked the wrong Texas Christian school... @DoogWhisperer
Comments
TYFYS
Senior Season - While leading Connally to a berth in the semifinals in Region 2 of the Texas 4A D2 playoffs, Sunday rushed for nearly 2,200 yards and 35 touchdowns and earned Super Centex Sports Network Offensive Player of the Year and the District 8-4A Division II Offensive MVP. In his three years as a starter for Cadets, the hard-charging tailback rushed for over 5,000 yards and 80 touchdowns.
Opposing Coach's View - "We hated playing against them and he's a big reason why. I shouldn't say 'hated' because (Connally head coach) Shane (Anderson) is a good friend, but they made life rough on us. (Sunday) runs really hard. In boxing, you have boxers that have 'heavy hands', guys that hit you harder than you'd expect, well he's a guy that's like that. He has a great frame and he isn't small, but he just runs 'heavy'. He's almost impossible to bring down on first contact and you really have to go after his legs. His (leg) drive is outstanding. He just never stops churning them. He's got pretty good vision and his instincts are outstanding. I'd say the one thing that might cause him problems is he doesn't get up to top speed as quick as some of the big-time backs do. When he gets going, he's fine, but if you have a safety or linebacker with speed, they're going to be able to track him down. I'm sure they can work on some of that with him once he gets there. He's also a good leader. He rallied those guys all the time. He's a workhorse. To say we're glad he's gone would be an understatement. Good kid and a helluva football player. Should have worn a rubber though."
Opposing Players' View - "I played youth football with him and then against him for three years in high school. He's strong. You have to square up and make the tackle or he'll run right through your arm tackle. I know a guy who broke his arm trying to tackle him that way. Our coaches always talked about 'body tackling' and he was the guy they always showed us film of. We beat them once and held him to like 120 yards and counted that as a win. Our coaches pinched in a lot (along the defensive line) with him and then we brought our safeties up for contain and that frustrated him, but if he was able to get through the line, he was gone. Honestly, I don't know how you truly stop him because he can hurt you up the middle and bounce it outside if you don't have your (run) fits right. If you string him out though, he isn't a guy who can make you miss, so that was probably the one way to do it. Should have made sure that chick was on the pill, though."
It's hard enough for Eklund to get a hold of any UW recruit as it is, how is he tracking down player's opponents and having them provide detailed breakdowns?
Quite honestly, that's what I took from his film.