THN11, this is our first rodeo so I'll withhold the name calling and dive into the names you posted. If you'll recall, I asked you to highlight how they developed while at UNC, not just that they were drafted. Here's my take:
Trubisky-you really are saying Trubisky wasn't an elite recruit and likely to succeed no matter where he ended up? kid was Mr Football in Ohio and was the 7th ranked QB in his class by ESPN and considered a top 3 dual threat QB and arguably the best arm in his class. scholarship offers from places like Alabama, Tennessee, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, etc. If that's not elite then lord help...
Naz Jones-this one is interesting but he was also a 4* recruit per ESPN with scholarship offers from places like Auburn, South Carolina, etc. Definitely considered a big time target for P5 schools. This kid is just a phenomenal kid. I encourage you to read up on his health issues when he was 15 and 16 years old when he was paralyzed for a short period of time. To be fair, I don't think Fedora or any coach could say they were responsible for this kid's development. In reading his story years ago and following him through the years, this kid was destined to overcome and outwork anybody in front of him and I stand by that.
Mack Hollins-this one I will give you. He was a kid that developed while at UNC and I'll give Fedora some credit for that since he's the head guy. I'll also give a ton of credit just as Mack did to Coach Brewer who worked with Mack countless hours on route running and understanding spacing and gaps in secondary coverages, etc. He's got a nice combo of size and speed that showed well over the years.
Ryan Switzer-this one is right in the middle for me. Kid was also a 4* per ESPN with offers from places like Florida State, Penn State, etc. He was a big time recruit, don't kid ourselves because of his skill set. We can all admit that his size has hindered his perception coming out of high school and even going to the league, but nonetheless, there's a reason this kid was an X factor the minute he stepped on campus and produced for us in year 1 and was an elite returner. He was a jitterbug with enough move and shake to overcome his height limitations. He also possessed arguably the highest football IQ of a player we've had in a while. As a former coach myself, if you watch film of this kid, he has an uncanny ability to find pockets in the defense and run effective routes against different coverages, knowing that there's some variation required in each. Kid was just really damn good from the start.
TJ Logan-kid was a stud coming out of high school, wanted by any and everybody in the Southeast US. Many considered him to be the best dual threat RB to come out of NC in decades. Offers from Auburn, Clemson, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee, etc. Elite recruit that candidly just never truly developed or reached his potential while at UNC. You could also insert Elijah Hood here. Another elite RB recruit that we just never consistently gave the right amount of touches to that most other schools would have given our offensive scheme. We definitely didn't develop this kid or showcase his true ability while in Carolina blue.
Eric Ebron-again, this kid was a physical specimen and considered a top 10 TE recruit coming out of High School, 4* per ESPN. We were lucky to keep him in state honestly. I won't go into too much detail because he's matured quite a bit, but he had a lot of offers, but many of the top tier programs steered clear because of some perceived character issues here. Regardless, talent and ability were never in question. He was also a Butch Davis recruit. I do think we developed him while at UNC to help prepare him for the NFL, but feel pretty sure that he would have made it to where he is now regardless of where he went. I do think we were the "right" place for him and it worked out well for both sides.
All in all, I think it's fair to say that the kids above that played under Fedora, minus 1 or 2 max, were highly talented kids coming out of HS and projected to get a shot at the NFL with a steady diet of hard work and injury free college campaigns regardless of where they went to college. Even a few that were mentioned were majorly under utilized while at UNC and are still very productive at the NFL level. I'm not going to get into the weeds about our lack of discipline, game management and defensive output, but for the sake of talking about talent development, I don't think you can put talent development and a general lack of fundamentals and discipline in the same sentence. Fundamentals and discipline are key cornerstones of player development and growth and we lack those in a major way.
