Epps playing as a Freshman?
- Thread starter RustShack
- Start date
I don't know how you could miss him. He made a splash when he committed because he is the cousin of Denver Johnson and you don't get cousins committing to the same program every day. Enough to make it stand out a little.
Now that you mention it, I do remember that. But I don't remember any talk about him during the Spring game or through summer practices until now.
As others have said, he's a WR; it's not like he has a bunch of physical development to go through. Plus I think a lot of people ignore special teams. A lot of people are saying, "If he doesn't have x catches or y number of plays as a WR it is a waste." I disagree, if he positively impacts special teams (more than the guy he replaced) then it was worth it. As someone else already said, it's not like we have a problem recruiting quality WRs, so unless this guy was going to be Amari Cooper as a 5th year senior, I don't have a problem with him not redshirting.
I hope ISU gets to a point where they recruit so well that 4-5 freshmen play a year. That will be a good thing and it happens all across the country.
If you look at guys that didn't redshirt at ISU the last 10 years, they are typically always our best players and in the NFL. This is a good thing!
Knott
Klein
George
Leonard Johnson
T. Benton (not in NFL but good)
Tribune
Lazard
Irving
Cotton Moya was set to play until he tore his achilles. I think he's pretty damn good.
If you look at guys that didn't redshirt at ISU the last 10 years, they are typically always our best players and in the NFL. This is a good thing!
Knott
Klein
George
Leonard Johnson
T. Benton (not in NFL but good)
Tribune
Lazard
Irving
Cotton Moya was set to play until he tore his achilles. I think he's pretty damn good.
I have to agree with you here. We don't want to become Nebraska and even though we have a 9 win season we fire the coach because we didn't win a conference championship or were not in contention for the national championship. I hope we never get to that point. Just a side note. Ferentz was named the second highest overpaid coach in college football at $4 million a year. Rhoads came in at number 10 with a little over $1 million. Talk about someone who should be on the hotseat it is Kirk Ferentz.
You left off every player we didn't redshirt that went on to be average. There are a lot of them to. I'm not saying every single player should redshirt. I'm saying that Rhoads has, ever since he's been here, wasted redshirts and in doing so it has cost us wins. You have to balance the season vs. the program, and even when his job wasn't on the line Rhoads hasn't done a good job of that.
Would our defense be better if Miller still was on the roster this year? I think the answer is yes. His light came on in the middle of last season and he'd have been very solid for us this year. Certainly better than undersized, underskilled guys who will be taking the field for us this season.
To use the most glaring example, was it a net positive to the program not to redshirt George? I'd say that playing George as a true freshman was a huge net negative for the ISU football program and cost us a minimum of one win over how many we would have had if he had redshirted. Possibly 2-3 wins. We don't go 2-10 last season with George running the defense. Give George a fifth year and he's for sure All Big XII, possible All American, and probably actually gets drafted instead of being a free agent.
Heck, I posted already about how he only had four tackles as a true freshman. It was worse as a sophomore. He has one tackle! 1! Good thing we got him out on the field as a true freshman so he could put all that experience to good use for that one single tackle as a sophomore.
You're assuming a lot. As I asked yesterday, do you think guys like George, Klein and Knott would trade where they are at now for another year of college? What if George ends up with a career ending injury instead of your assumed All-American season?
I didn't reply because the question had nothing to do with my post. But since you're asking again I'll reply. It doesn't matter if they'd trade where they are now for another year of college. I'm sure when they were told they weren't redshirting they were chomping at the bit to get onto the field. Just like when a guy gets a concussion he's always going to try to get back out there and play. I bet almost every single freshman on the roster would happily toss their redshirt aside if they could see the field next Saturday. And for those three, who made the NFL, I'm sure they're much happier getting a paycheck than getting a scholarship. But that doesn't change that the Iowa State Football Program would have been better off if they'd redshirted. None of them were a Lazard type player who stepped right in to being a full time starter or even a full time contributor. Redshirting vs. not redshirting wasn't their decision, it was Rhoads.
2 things:
1) I named 8 players where it was beneficial for ISU. You only listed one. Where/who are all the players that Rhoads wasted a RS?
2) Jevohn Miller wasn't your typical freshmen. He graduated HS early, got to ISU early and was there all throughout the spring.
It has everything to do with your posts. You are assuming them having another year would have been beneficial to the ISU program. There were a lot of things wrong with the last 2 teams that I'm not sure they would've covered up. Maybe we don't get blown out as bad by Baylor, TCU, OU but we won 3 and 2 games. Does it really matter if we had 1 or 2 extra wins?
I post: It would be beneficial to the program if they had redshirted
You post: They probably are happy they didn't redshirt
Two completely different topics.
As far as whether 3 and 2 games.... with Knott and Klein in the backfield we probably go bowling in 2013, and with George in the backfield last year winning 4 or 5 games is a hell of a lot better than winning 2. Win 4 or 5 games and you are a bad football team. Win 2 games and you are a laughingstock.
We won 3 the year before with George and that's the year we had Coe/Irving. I doubt we go from 2 to 4-5 with just George last year.
You are acting like Paul Rhoads and Iowa State is the only school in the country that plays freshmen, even if they aren't starters. That's not the case.
We had lots of close games last year, and a very weak linebacking corps other than the couple of weeks between when they moved Miller to his natural position and when he got hurt. I think having George in the lineup is a minimum of one extra win, and possibly 2 or 3 more. With George we beat at least one of Texas or Texas Tech at a minimum. And maybe keeps the team from giving up before the Kansas game even starts.
I don't think Rhoads is the only coach who wastes redshirts. Lots of coaches do.
We are in fantastic shape this year if George alone was enough for 3 more wins. We've added multiple good players and the ones who were playing already will be back with experience and a better grasp of the system.
