DistrictDawg92
07-30-2014, 05:25 PM
I don't post a lot, mainly stick to reading, however, there are 31 days till kickoff and I feel as if there were 39 days til kickoff 31 days ago and find myself self consciously checking the stadium expansion cam 31 times a day, so all of this has caused me to crawl out of my shell. So as I sit here and procrastinate studying for my Calculus 3 final and in anticipation of this upcoming season, I am in the crowd that sees 10+ wins btw, I come to acquire the melting pot of opinions that is elitedawgs on two incoming freshman that have been somewhat "neglected".
Dontavian Lee 6-1 210 4.5ish RB
With Aeries Williams coming in, a top 10 RB in the class of 2014 and a sure fire future workhorse, and a balanced stable of RB's already on campus, everyone has seemed to completely neglect Lee. Ranked as the 65th and 80th best RB in the nation by scout and 247, respectively, only one SEC offer out of high school, and signing his LOI in the Dread lock filled shadow of Aeries Williams, Lee arrives to Starkville with a Nick James size chip on his shoulder. He possesses a nice size for a running back and average to above average speed, he seems to fit the mold of a slightly taller Vick Ballard. I am not sure about his catching or blocking ability, and that figures largely into whether a RB will make it in our system. I have seen some suggest a switch to defense for him in the future and I could agree with this, considering the RB talent we have coming in behind him in the class of 2015.
My prediction of Dontavian Lee- I do see Lee switching over to the defensive side of the ball. At 6-1 210, Lee has nice size for a RB but a bit small for a Collins linebacker. However, when I see Lee run and play ball on tape something screams out at me. Matt Wells. While lee is maybe slightly slower than Wells, he has very similar size and body language to Wells and I see Lee taking the exact same route as Wells playing the hybrid safety linebacker position. But what say ye elitedawgs?
Logan Cooke 6-5 200 P/K
It seems to me with our special teams being arguably our number one question mark going into camp that Logan Cooke's name would have been thrown around the board a bit more. Cooke was selected to play in the O/D All-American game following his senior season. I could not find his 2014 stats but in 2013 he went 2-6 on field goals but missed all 4 from (42,52,50,33). Cooke seems to be an exceptional punter and averaged 66.4 yards on his kickoffs in 2013. So OK, big tall white guy with a grenade launcher on the bottom of his foot, unfortunately, Mullen seems to prefer his grenade launchers without a scope mounted on the top it seems, cough cough Devon Bell cough cough. Cooke seems eerily similar to Bell to me, which isn't a knock because Bell is a preseason All-SEC punter and can kick the ball out of the back of the endzone, when Mullen allows him to(which really pisses me off, ill take it at the 25 every time rather then letting the opponent have a chance at a momentum swinging return or any kind of large return, Kick off returns for a TD are the biggest momentum swingers in football IMO and should be completely avoided at all times, but I digress). The only problem I have, and this might be shot down, is giving Cooke a scholarship. Bell has two more years and could become the best punter in the SEC or even country, I really do think Bell is a top shelf punter, heard from a former walk-on punter that Bell has the best leg he has ever witnessed, kicking field goals and punting. So the question begs, why the scholly to ANOTHER punter that won't punt until atleast 2016?? Actually our last three Special Team signees have been punters, Swedenburg, Bell, and Cooke, which seems very odd to me since field goal kicking has consistently been our kryptonite since Daniel Boone Mullen, the Black Bear slayer, arrived in the Vegas of the South in 2009. Offer every sure fire kicker in the nation a scholarship, money, girls, and the newest version of Nike Vapors, I don't care what it takes, SIGN A DAMN KICKER. Now is Mullen really this ignorant or does he see Cooke as the next Scott Westerfield? Cooke has the leg to be all world, but can he find a way to mount a scope on that grenade launcher of his?
ETA: The roster that was just released has Cooke listed as a K/P and Bell listed as a P/K. I may be looking into this too much or whoever types up our rosters may be dyslexic, but it seems to me from that small difference that Cooke may be Kicker first, Punter second. Logan pleaseeeee surprise us and be our scoped grendade launcher footed Messiah. Puuuuuuuuleeeeaaaaaasssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
My prediction of Logan Cooke- The way I see it, the indians continue to steal the last screw needed to mount the scope on our new shiny All-American grenade launcher, and Cooke has a nice career pinning opponents deep with his punts and kickoffs. Now I hope I am wrong and the 100th year breaks the curse of the Indians and we have a nice thanksgiving where we exchange eternal peace to the indians for all the many stolen scope mounting screws. But I dunno about those indians they are sneaky, just take a trip down to Philiadelphia and try to make some money and you will know what I mean. But what say ye elitedawgs?
Dontavian Lee 6-1 210 4.5ish RB
With Aeries Williams coming in, a top 10 RB in the class of 2014 and a sure fire future workhorse, and a balanced stable of RB's already on campus, everyone has seemed to completely neglect Lee. Ranked as the 65th and 80th best RB in the nation by scout and 247, respectively, only one SEC offer out of high school, and signing his LOI in the Dread lock filled shadow of Aeries Williams, Lee arrives to Starkville with a Nick James size chip on his shoulder. He possesses a nice size for a running back and average to above average speed, he seems to fit the mold of a slightly taller Vick Ballard. I am not sure about his catching or blocking ability, and that figures largely into whether a RB will make it in our system. I have seen some suggest a switch to defense for him in the future and I could agree with this, considering the RB talent we have coming in behind him in the class of 2015.
My prediction of Dontavian Lee- I do see Lee switching over to the defensive side of the ball. At 6-1 210, Lee has nice size for a RB but a bit small for a Collins linebacker. However, when I see Lee run and play ball on tape something screams out at me. Matt Wells. While lee is maybe slightly slower than Wells, he has very similar size and body language to Wells and I see Lee taking the exact same route as Wells playing the hybrid safety linebacker position. But what say ye elitedawgs?
Logan Cooke 6-5 200 P/K
It seems to me with our special teams being arguably our number one question mark going into camp that Logan Cooke's name would have been thrown around the board a bit more. Cooke was selected to play in the O/D All-American game following his senior season. I could not find his 2014 stats but in 2013 he went 2-6 on field goals but missed all 4 from (42,52,50,33). Cooke seems to be an exceptional punter and averaged 66.4 yards on his kickoffs in 2013. So OK, big tall white guy with a grenade launcher on the bottom of his foot, unfortunately, Mullen seems to prefer his grenade launchers without a scope mounted on the top it seems, cough cough Devon Bell cough cough. Cooke seems eerily similar to Bell to me, which isn't a knock because Bell is a preseason All-SEC punter and can kick the ball out of the back of the endzone, when Mullen allows him to(which really pisses me off, ill take it at the 25 every time rather then letting the opponent have a chance at a momentum swinging return or any kind of large return, Kick off returns for a TD are the biggest momentum swingers in football IMO and should be completely avoided at all times, but I digress). The only problem I have, and this might be shot down, is giving Cooke a scholarship. Bell has two more years and could become the best punter in the SEC or even country, I really do think Bell is a top shelf punter, heard from a former walk-on punter that Bell has the best leg he has ever witnessed, kicking field goals and punting. So the question begs, why the scholly to ANOTHER punter that won't punt until atleast 2016?? Actually our last three Special Team signees have been punters, Swedenburg, Bell, and Cooke, which seems very odd to me since field goal kicking has consistently been our kryptonite since Daniel Boone Mullen, the Black Bear slayer, arrived in the Vegas of the South in 2009. Offer every sure fire kicker in the nation a scholarship, money, girls, and the newest version of Nike Vapors, I don't care what it takes, SIGN A DAMN KICKER. Now is Mullen really this ignorant or does he see Cooke as the next Scott Westerfield? Cooke has the leg to be all world, but can he find a way to mount a scope on that grenade launcher of his?
ETA: The roster that was just released has Cooke listed as a K/P and Bell listed as a P/K. I may be looking into this too much or whoever types up our rosters may be dyslexic, but it seems to me from that small difference that Cooke may be Kicker first, Punter second. Logan pleaseeeee surprise us and be our scoped grendade launcher footed Messiah. Puuuuuuuuleeeeaaaaaasssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
My prediction of Logan Cooke- The way I see it, the indians continue to steal the last screw needed to mount the scope on our new shiny All-American grenade launcher, and Cooke has a nice career pinning opponents deep with his punts and kickoffs. Now I hope I am wrong and the 100th year breaks the curse of the Indians and we have a nice thanksgiving where we exchange eternal peace to the indians for all the many stolen scope mounting screws. But I dunno about those indians they are sneaky, just take a trip down to Philiadelphia and try to make some money and you will know what I mean. But what say ye elitedawgs?