About Matt Wells and player development

sounds like he put himself into the draft with his pro day performance ~ kudos to him. got me thinking about him a few years ago when he came onboard and most were wondering where he'd play in college - defense or offense? Well, coaches put him on defense and he's now NFL bound which got me thinking about that decision 5 years ago. Even Wells himself was iffy on the move, initially.

In retrospect, do you think it was the right decision?

I wonder what his career would've been like as a rb or safety and whether he would be in the position he is now had he played one of those other two positions since he must be a freak of an athlete. Had he played safety, would he be thought of as an early draftee with his 40 time, other pro day metrics, etc? That 40 time also seemed a lot better than most of the other RBs coming out this year, but makes you wonder if he had the skills to actually play rb.

A safety with that kind of speed would have to be highly coveted by the NFL though, right?

Anyway, food for thought and gives insight into the development projection that our coaches go through when evaluating recruits.

As for the other seniors, I think most had their college positions predetermined other than Christian Holmes or Jameon Lewis, but seemed like MSU got the most out of their talent as a LB and WR. I guess you could argue about MoJo and that playing TE was the best move for him too by the coaches which turned out to be.

This kind of is a similar debate on Shumpert of playing defense or offense that we had 2 years ago. Of course, shump is more a rb than a defender to me and he doesn't have the speed that Wells has either. I don't think Wells has the rb ability of shump either as well.

End of the day, really happy that yet another player in Wells is going to get a legit shot at playing in the NFL.

What say you?

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Originally Posted by justwin

sounds like he put himself into the draft with his pro day performance ~ kudos to him. got me thinking about him a few years ago when he came onboard and most were wondering where he'd play in college - defense or offense? Well, coaches put him on defense and he's now NFL bound which got me thinking about that decision 5 years ago. Even Wells himself was iffy on the move, initially.

In retrospect, do you think it was the right decision?

I wonder what his career would've been like as a rb or safety and whether he would be in the position he is now had he played one of those other two positions since he must be a freak of an athlete. Had he played safety, would he be thought of as an early draftee with his 40 time, other pro day metrics, etc? That 40 time also seemed a lot better than most of the other RBs coming out this year, but makes you wonder if he had the skills to actually play rb.

A safety with that kind of speed would have to be highly coveted by the NFL though, right?

Anyway, food for thought and gives insight into the development projection that our coaches go through when evaluating recruits.

As for the other seniors, I think most had their college positions predetermined other than Christian Holmes or Jameon Lewis, but seemed like MSU got the most out of their talent as a LB and WR. I guess you could argue about MoJo and that playing TE was the best move for him too by the coaches which turned out to be.

This kind of is a similar debate on Shumpert of playing defense or offense that we had 2 years ago. Of course, shump is more a rb than a defender to me and he doesn't have the speed that Wells has either. I don't think Wells has the rb ability of shump either as well.

End of the day, really happy that yet another player in Wells is going to get a legit shot at playing in the NFL.

What say you?

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He essentially played safety. They way he was used is the same way you would use a safety if you rolled your coverage.

He shouldn't have played RB. He was an ATH playing RB not a true RB. He was just so talented in HS he looked really good doing it. Like MSUMatt said Matt was basically a safety for us. He was pretty much an old dog safety. He plays the same position that Tony Conner plays for OM. We used him in the best position possible IMO.

Wells could have easily played RB and done well at it. However, are you going to bury one of our best athletes on the depth chart fighting for carries with Ballard, Griffin, Perkins, and J-Rob his whole career, or put him in a position where he can excel? Decent RB's (or "athletes" that end up RB's) are a dime a dozen in Mississippi and the south in general. Our current depth chart reflects that. But guys that have the rare athleticism to play the hybrid LB / S role as well as Wells did are much more rare. I think the coaches definitely made the right call. I think he will get a shot at SS in the NFL if he can distinguish himself beyond the special teams guys on the roster.

He's so valuable on a NFL roster because of how he was managed. He could play OLB and cover hybrid TEs, he could play S, he can play on kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kick return, punt return, FG block, punt block, onside kick return, onside kick, etc...

He's going to find a spot and be a 6-10 year guy in the league. The fact that he could, at worst, be both a 3rd string OLB and Safety is enough to get him a roster spot. Add a sub 4.4 special teams guy to that workload and he's a no brainer.

Where does he get drafted? I usually have some sort of close idea (guess) of where guys will get drafted, but with Wells, I don't even have a guess .

Wells worked at receiver and rb as well as defense during his redshirt year. I think its great that our staff puts in the time to look at players and decide what is the best fit for the player and the team. If you don't take the time to really evaluate each player you can easily have someone out of position for their career. It seems that our staff gets it right the majority of the time. A lot of the guys in Mississippi are playing out of position in high school just by necessity.
I really wish we could have seen Wells return some kicks. His combination of size and speed would be great for that in my opinion. I had never heard about his eyesight problems until this past season and I wonder if that may have influenced the decision for him not to return kicks and maybe influenced a little the decision for him to play defense.

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Originally Posted by tireddawg

Where does he get drafted? I usually have some sort of close idea (guess) of where guys will get drafted, but with Wells, I don't even have a guess .

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I can't see the Pats letting him fall further than the 5th, but wouldn't be shocked to see him go in at least the 4th. He's talented enough to move higher than that, but I don't think his stats are going to jump off the page at people.

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Originally Posted by MSUMatt

He essentially played safety. They way he was used is the same way you would use a safety if you rolled your coverage.

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?????? Not true.

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Originally Posted by HSVDawg

Wells could have easily played RB and done well at it. However, are you going to bury one of our best athletes on the depth chart fighting for carries with Ballard, Griffin, Perkins, and J-Rob his whole career, or put him in a position where he can excel? Decent RB's (or "athletes" that end up RB's) are a dime a dozen in Mississippi and the south in general. Our current depth chart reflects that.

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Plus how good can you be receiving the ball out of the backfield with one eye? Seems like defense in general would be just a better fit for him, even if he wasn't such a freak athlete.

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Originally Posted by Ifyouonlyknew

He shouldn't have played RB. He was an ATH playing RB not a true RB. He was just so talented in HS he looked really good doing it. Like MSUMatt said Matt was basically a safety for us. He was pretty much an old dog safety. He plays the same position that Tony Conner plays for OM. We used him in the best position possible IMO.

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Hell, if Dan says it was best then I guess I'll agree.