commits to UNC. HUGE commitment. 6'4 1/2" 220 4.6 40.
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Payton Wilson
- Thread starter HeelFan58
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returned punts for his HS team. The kind of player you can build a "D" around. OK , Dax balls in your court.
A truly huge commitment. Yes, if Dax signs on as well, and perhaps a top DT, we will be seeing Tar Heel D that reminds us geezers of the Dooley days. Relentlessly swarming, smart, very tough D.
I have never seen him play, but from everything I have read I love this commitment. Best thing is he WANTS to be a Heel regardless the big names that have reached out to him. At a young age he understands the importance of closing the borders of North Carolina and keeping kids home. Hopefully he will be able to convince some of the other top talent in this state to say home.
I covered his annoucement. He was asked about NC kids leaving the state. He said it's disappointing to him to see them leave and he is going to do his best to get some of them to join him. He said UNC can be big-time.
UNC football can be Big Time, as long as that does not mean we have and fill a 90,000 seat stadium. But UNC can be a big winner in football, meaning competitive for ACC titles at least 3 times per decade, which should mean competitive for the Playoffs the same number of times. Getting that first ACC championship since 1980 - when some regular posters here were not yet born and most were not college age - could be the floodgates opened.
LB is the last piece of the puzzle for our D. We've recruited pretty well along the DL and very well at DB. Get some LBs in here that can run sideline to sideline and make tackles and we could be very solid on that side of the ball sooner rather than later.
Doesn't he also play lacrosse? Lacrosse requires you to see the entire field and move accordingly with both bursts of speed and power.
The class of 2018 could be a truly ideal dream LB class. If we add Dax Hollifield and either Channing Tindall of Columbia SC or Alan Tisdale of Greensboro NC, we would have a trio of LBs that are good enough - assuming no injuries - to start on a team that makes the playoffs.
Add a large DT like Jordan Davis, and you are talking Big Time class on D.
his coach, Van Smith, says he could see him excelling at either OLB or Inside LB.
The original gene chizik D requires an MLB that is a little rangier coverage-wise than your traditional 3 LB setup MIKE backer. Cover 2 needs someone that can cover rb/te/slot in the medium to deep central part of the field.
If Wilson has good instincts and good recognition in terms of making the play-calls, he could be fantastic in that role for us.
So who knows how Gemmel, Malik Robinson, Hopper, Kayne Roberts, Dom Ross will pan out, but it sounds a tiny bit like competition for PT.
Regardless I hope Dax comes.
The original gene chizik D requires an MLB that is a little rangier coverage-wise than your traditional 3 LB setup MIKE backer. Cover 2 needs someone that can cover rb/te/slot in the medium to deep central part of the field.
If Wilson has good instincts and good recognition in terms of making the play-calls, he could be fantastic in that role for us.
So who knows how Gemmel, Malik Robinson, Hopper, Kayne Roberts, Dom Ross will pan out, but it sounds a tiny bit like competition for PT.
Regardless I hope Dax comes.
If they wouldn't, they should be fired.
Staff needs to get its head out of its collective @$$ if it's only looking for 1 LB. Unless they're cool trotting out overmatched Cole Holcomb again. Ineffective LB play destroyed our defensive potential last season.
As for the 2018 class, I agree with @WoadBlue that it could be huge, especially on defense. We are sitting pretty with several in-state stud prospects. I'm more worried about the offensive side, especially if we don't get Jordyn Adams. Zamir White isn't coming to Carolina. He'll choose UGA most likely.
Holcomb is a senior when guys like Dax/Wilson hit campus and it is doubtful a true frosh would start over him. I think he'll be good enough to hold off even a really talented LB.
This spring Mike Ekeler has been raving about Holcomb's potential cause he proved to be one of the most winning guys in blue dawn, he's very fast for an LB and strong in the weight room. Just needs a little more weight and experience to be solid.
Yeah we heard raving reviews about Holcomb last spring too. How did that turn out?
We are woefully undermanned at linebacker. I'm talking in terms of quality, not quantity.
Unless Holcomb makes some major progress guys like Wilson and Dax would definitely have an opportunity to beat him out even as true freshmen.
Thank you. Holcomb is a good story and gives max effort, but by no means should he be a starter for a P5 program that just recently won its division. That's an indictment of how bad our LB corps has been. It also doesn't help that the light still hasn't (and I guess won't ever) come on for Cayson Collins.
regarding holcomb, an entire yr from now he'll be much better than he was last yr. He definitely wasn't ready last yr for starters minutes - he was a rs Soph, but had he ever played a single snap?
He might not have the pure instincts and ferocity of Andre Smith, but mentally he showed improvement over the yr (which is more than can be said of guys like Travis Hughes, Cayson Collins, etc). He looked small, but that will be a little diff this yr and the next.
He might not have the pure instincts and ferocity of Andre Smith, but mentally he showed improvement over the yr (which is more than can be said of guys like Travis Hughes, Cayson Collins, etc). He looked small, but that will be a little diff this yr and the next.
LOL ease up on the coffee. You certainly used your Jump to Conclusions mat on that one ;P
Would he get drafted if he left early?
Might just be me but Smith seemed like the most overrated player on our team last year.
Might just be me but Smith seemed like the most overrated player on our team last year.
He'd get drafted but not highly, unless he shows out this season. He is a tad overrated but his main problem is he tried to freelance too much last season to account for our outsider backers being godawful. As a result, he was often out of position.
I would love for him to have a good enough season to where leaving early was something for him to consider!
Mel Kiper calls Andre Smith the 4th best underclassmen LB in the 2018
http://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2018/i...l-draft-rankings-top-prospects-every-position
I think Andre Smith is our second best defender behind MJ. Good instincts, hard-nosed, pretty athletic. 6'0 LBs get drafted pretty high occasionally (lsu Duke Riley could be a comparison and he went 3rd round), but as a junior, i'd think Andre'd be in later rounds. But who knows - 'jump to conclusion' mat still in hand.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2018/i...l-draft-rankings-top-prospects-every-position
I think Andre Smith is our second best defender behind MJ. Good instincts, hard-nosed, pretty athletic. 6'0 LBs get drafted pretty high occasionally (lsu Duke Riley could be a comparison and he went 3rd round), but as a junior, i'd think Andre'd be in later rounds. But who knows - 'jump to conclusion' mat still in hand.
You need to play 6 LBs regularly. So even if neither Wilson nor Dax were to start as freshmen at UNC, each would play a great deal. I think each would be a shoo-in to begin the season on the 2nd team and have the chance to earn starter minutes quickly.
The fact of the matter is that if Wilson and Dax come to UNC, they will both play as true freshmen. They would be awesome special teams guys and they would, at a minimum, rotate in with the starters the first half of the season. After that, once they have gained the confidence of their coaches, I would assume that they would spilt time or takeover as the main starters by the end of the year. If Dax thinks that he is going to see the field earlier at VT than he would at UNC, then Foster and Fuentes deserve to win co-recruiters of the year for selling that load of crap.
In regards to Holcombe, I think that he will progress just like Schottemer did for us. What I read about Holcombe are the same things I used to read about Schottemer when he was forced to play, as a walk-on, way too early. But, by the time he was a senior, he was looked at as a heady veteran who we were going to miss when he graduated.
In regards to Holcombe, I think that he will progress just like Schottemer did for us. What I read about Holcombe are the same things I used to read about Schottemer when he was forced to play, as a walk-on, way too early. But, by the time he was a senior, he was looked at as a heady veteran who we were going to miss when he graduated.
Papuchis doesn't rotate LBers, so I'm not sure where y'all are getting this "you need 6 LBers" thing.
Because most top Ds in college football regularly play 3 LBs off the bench every game. It's the same as saying we need to play 4 DTs every game, with the 2nd teamers getting many plays.
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