2016 Recruiting: 19 Verbals (Known) *Updated 2/2*

[luckyintheorder]

We have the size in the interior of the defensive line and I actually think guys like Sarte and Tiuli will be very good players. Where we were hurting this year was the lack of ability to contain the edge.

D line will be a bigger positive next season with everyone back and healthy. Edge contain was better this year and we have special talent out there. Gonna chalk up deficiencies to coaching, injuries and "newness". Was generally pleased with the growth, 3rd downs late were atrocious and that was on the coaches IMO>

 

[Hambone]

I thought the D took some real strides the last 1/3 of the season while the O took a serious step back. Biggest immediate need seems to be running back and offensive linemen. I think we will be on the lookout for some help there, regardless of incoming freshman talent or high school players signed this year.

 

[LDopaPDX]

I thought the D took some real strides the last 1/3 of the season while the O took a serious step back. Biggest immediate need seems to be running back and offensive linemen. I think we will be on the lookout for some help there, regardless of incoming freshman talent or high school players signed this year.

The O definitely fell apart late, not sure what looked positive from the D though. They had a complete inability to make three decent plays in a row all year long. They need to improve about 5x to be one of the better FCS defenses.

I'd agree, DL is a major need as is safety. LB is the only position I feel fairly comfortable with our talent. After watching UW press the hell out of WSU and dominate them, I'd love to see us play that way. UW plays the kind of defense everyone ran against us the last three weeks of the season... Take away the short passes and everything else falls apart. I'm not sure we could play great D even if the talent was better, we just lay back and play passively and it is ugly to watch every year.

 

[loloman]

What I saw was our corners constantly being beat like drums. That was a big difference from 2-3 hrs ago. Don't necessarily be looking at the safeties as the fatal flaw for our pass defense problems. We need some lock down cbs and we aren't close at this time

 

[LDopaPDX]

What I saw was our corners constantly being beat like drums. That was a big difference from 2-3 hrs ago. Don't necessarily be looking at the safeties as the fatal flaw for our pass defense problems. We need some lock down cbs and we aren't close at this time

Yes, you certainly have a point. The very fact we couldn't lock anyone down with our corners led to a lot of problems. That's what made Wadood and Hoffman not seeing the field seem so strange. Wadood must've had an unreported injury, as he wasn't even suited up against PSU.

Also, you could easily argue our safeties are set up so badly even the best talent would struggle to make plays on our defense. We never press guys up (Raynes being an exception in the roving safety role) and play our two deep men so deep that they have no ability to either cover quick routes or make plays in run prevent.

 

[EWURanger]

What I saw was our corners constantly being beat like drums. That was a big difference from 2-3 hrs ago. Don't necessarily be looking at the safeties as the fatal flaw for our pass defense problems. We need some lock down cbs and we aren't close at this time

I don't disagree, but scheme was also part of the problem. Our Safeties, and at times LB's, played soooo far back that we were essentially giving up yards underneath anytime an opposing time wanted to go that route.

When we did try to blitz, it was almost amusing, because our guys were playing so deep that most of the time they weren't close to getting to the QB.

Not sure if the theme of this thread is supposed to be about HS recruiting, or a wish list for transfers, but I think this might be a year to break the mold a little and take a more serious look at who is available in terms of transfers.

 

[EWURanger]

I'm not all that enamored with drop downs, they are usually a drop down for a reason.

Sometimes, but this is not always true. Kids transfer for various reasons, and sometimes it is just to get an opportunity that they may not get at their current school. Not sure what "issues" BLM had at SMU, other than the fact that we wasn't going to be the starter there in 2010.

Even with the guys that potentially come with some baggage, it is risk/reward. Sometimes it is worth it to assume the risk if you are banking on the fact that a kid is going to walk the straight and narrow. A couple of examples of this are Tevin McDonald and Andru Pulu, who, despite their previous transgressions, turned out to be just fine during their time EWU.

I think we have been mostly successful with the transfers we have brought in, unlike our neighbors to the east.

 

[Eaglefanatical]

I have some serious concerns about what our offensive line is going to look like next year. I don't know how much of an immediate impact recruiting is going to have there unless it's transfers that already have experience playing college football.

 

[loloman]

I firmly believe in Coach Baldwin's judge of character when recruiting or bringing in transfers. It is a big reason why we don't have the issues that you see with our two neighbors to the east and south.

 

[luckyintheorder]

What I saw was our corners constantly being beat like drums. That was a big difference from 2-3 hrs ago. Don't necessarily be looking at the safeties as the fatal flaw for our pass defense problems. We need some lock down cbs and we aren't close at this time

I don't disagree, but scheme was also part of the problem. Our Safeties, and at times LB's, played soooo far back that we were essentially giving up yards underneath anytime an opposing time wanted to go that route.

When we did try to blitz, it was almost amusing, because our guys were playing so deep that most of the time they weren't close to getting to the QB.

Not sure if the theme of this thread is supposed to be about HS recruiting, or a wish list for transfers, but I think this might be a year to break the mold a little and take a more serious look at who is available in terms of transfers.

Gentlemen, what I am seeing in these comments is COACHING... Come on and just say it. The athletes are fine, their lack of improvement and on the field IQ is a reflection of the coaches. Scheme is fine when the situational decisions are better. Don't know how many times we saw Ebukam in 15+ yards deep coverage on long third downs and the opponent go right at him. Fooled nobody, but we ran it again and again. "feel" is an important part of play calling, but feel backed by knowledge of tendency is better. Coaching is the BIGGEST shortcoming. Not sure this is all Schmedding and the look of the defense at times had Grahams influence all over it. That is a stinky cologne.

Am high on the talent at EWU and want to believe Coach B will make the necessary mental changes; so remain positive about next season.

Another note, didn't see as many huge breakdowns in coverage this season. A lot of passes caught were contested and tackling was better. We have several DB (safety and corners) that redshirted and there will be competition again this spring and fall for playing time; more importantly the coaches stick to their two and three deep evaluations and play those players accordingly. Situationally, putting your third db or DL guy in in the red zone isn't very effective and dropping your best pass rusher on third and longs instead of turning him loose on the QB is ridiculous.

 

[LDopaPDX]

I would just say our defense seems to be based on trends that are 10 years old. That "keep everything in front of you" style is passe in the modern world. The new style that is being used against spread offenses is more of an attack-minded, press-the-hell-out-of-the-opponent system. UW is a perfect example of the modern system employed to stop spread offenses. Hell, look at how Weber, NAU, and Montana played defense against us. They put 5 and often 6 guys into blitz schemes and pressed our receivers to take away the quick routes. They contested every pass inside of 10 yards. And it was kryptonite to our offense. Coincidentally, WSU's air raid had no ability to deal with it against UW either.

I think we need to adopt some of these more modern strategies to handle what we play against. However, that is hard when we have no ability to get pressure with our DL. The only thing I could think of would be to run an overload blitz like the kind NDSU made popular and Montana now uses. ("Overload" is my term for stacking one side heavier with personnel than the other, and thus blitzing from the flanks; coaches call that a number of different things, so calling it "overload" may not resonate with everyone)

I'd also add that moving to a 4-2 was a spectacular failure. We need to have a base defense that can be our bread and butter and get us stops more often than not. We wound up playing an awful lot of 4-3, 3-4, and 3-3 simply because we couldn't get our base to be successful. That's a pretty obvious indication that what we're trying isn't working.

 

[LDopaPDX]

What I saw was our corners constantly being beat like drums. That was a big difference from 2-3 hrs ago. Don't necessarily be looking at the safeties as the fatal flaw for our pass defense problems. We need some lock down cbs and we aren't close at this time

I don't disagree, but scheme was also part of the problem. Our Safeties, and at times LB's, played soooo far back that we were essentially giving up yards underneath anytime an opposing time wanted to go that route.

When we did try to blitz, it was almost amusing, because our guys were playing so deep that most of the time they weren't close to getting to the QB.

Not sure if the theme of this thread is supposed to be about HS recruiting, or a wish list for transfers, but I think this might be a year to break the mold a little and take a more serious look at who is available in terms of transfers.

Gentlemen, what I am seeing in these comments is COACHING... Come on and just say it. The athletes are fine, their lack of improvement and on the field IQ is a reflection of the coaches. Scheme is fine when the situational decisions are better. Don't know how many times we saw Ebukam in 15+ yards deep coverage on long third downs and the opponent go right at him. Fooled nobody, but we ran it again and again. "feel" is an important part of play calling, but feel backed by knowledge of tendency is better. Coaching is the BIGGEST shortcoming. Not sure this is all Schmedding and the look of the defense at times had Grahams influence all over it. That is a stinky cologne.

Am high on the talent at EWU and want to believe Coach B will make the necessary mental changes; so remain positive about next season.

Another note, didn't see as many huge breakdowns in coverage this season. A lot of passes caught were contested and tackling was better. We have several DB (safety and corners) that redshirted and there will be competition again this spring and fall for playing time; more importantly the coaches stick to their two and three deep evaluations and play those players accordingly. Situationally, putting your third db or DL guy in in the red zone isn't very effective and dropping your best pass rusher on third and longs instead of turning him loose on the QB is ridiculous.

While I agree with your premise, I'm not sure I agree with the statement that our athletes are fine. We were undersized and too slow at safety (excluding Raynes). We also had big DTs, but neither could generate any pass rush. Our DEs were also incapable of getting to the QB. Ebukam is a good example; against poor tackles, he was a beast. As soon as someone had a good OT, he'd be invisible.

 

[marceagfan5]

I would just say our defense seems to be based on trends that are 10 years old. That "keep everything in front of you" style is passe in the modern world. The new style that is being used against spread offenses is more of an attack-minded, press-the-hell-out-of-the-opponent system. UW is a perfect example of the modern system employed to stop spread offenses. Hell, look at how Weber, NAU, and Montana played defense against us. They put 5 and often 6 guys into blitz schemes and pressed our receivers to take away the quick routes. They contested every pass inside of 10 yards. And it was kryptonite to our offense. Coincidentally, WSU's air raid had no ability to deal with it against UW either.

I think we need to adopt some of these more modern strategies to handle what we play against. However, that is hard when we have no ability to get pressure with our DL. The only thing I could think of would be to run an overload blitz like the kind NDSU made popular and Montana now uses. ("Overload" is my term for stacking one side heavier with personnel than the other, and thus blitzing from the flanks; coaches call that a number of different things, so calling it "overload" may not resonate with everyone)

I'd also add that moving to a 4-2 was a spectacular failure. We need to have a base defense that can be our bread and butter and get us stops more often than not. We wound up playing an awful lot of 4-3, 3-4, and 3-3 simply because we couldn't get our base to be successful. That's a pretty obvious indication that what we're trying isn't working.

This is spot on for our D.

We need to bring pressure on D. Blitzing with press coverage, eliminate the hot read, quick routes and get to the QB.

Look at how SDSU adjusted to the Griz in the 2nd half, they brought pressure and completely shut down the Griz, i'm sure NDSU will do it all game this weekend and will win going away.

Would love to see us start to blitz a lot more and not with our LB's 10 yards deep either...

 

[EdubU10]

I would just say our defense seems to be based on trends that are 10 years old. That "keep everything in front of you" style is passe in the modern world. The new style that is being used against spread offenses is more of an attack-minded, press-the-hell-out-of-the-opponent system. UW is a perfect example of the modern system employed to stop spread offenses. Hell, look at how Weber, NAU, and Montana played defense against us. They put 5 and often 6 guys into blitz schemes and pressed our receivers to take away the quick routes. They contested every pass inside of 10 yards. And it was kryptonite to our offense. Coincidentally, WSU's air raid had no ability to deal with it against UW either.

I think we need to adopt some of these more modern strategies to handle what we play against. However, that is hard when we have no ability to get pressure with our DL. The only thing I could think of would be to run an overload blitz like the kind NDSU made popular and Montana now uses. ("Overload" is my term for stacking one side heavier with personnel than the other, and thus blitzing from the flanks; coaches call that a number of different things, so calling it "overload" may not resonate with everyone)

I'd also add that moving to a 4-2 was a spectacular failure. We need to have a base defense that can be our bread and butter and get us stops more often than not. We wound up playing an awful lot of 4-3, 3-4, and 3-3 simply because we couldn't get our base to be successful. That's a pretty obvious indication that what we're trying isn't working.

This is spot on for our D.

We need to bring pressure on D. Blitzing with press coverage, eliminate the hot read, quick routes and get to the QB.

Look at how SDSU adjusted to the Griz in the 2nd half, they brought pressure and completely shut down the Griz, i'm sure NDSU will do it all game this weekend and will win going away.

Would love to see us start to blitz a lot more and not with our LB's 10 yards deep either...

This. This has always been my bitch about our defense; we play 35 miles off the line. More aggressive sets please.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Gentlemen, what I am seeing in these comments is COACHING... Come on and just say it. The athletes are fine, their lack of improvement and on the field IQ is a reflection of the coaches. Scheme is fine when the situational decisions are better. Don't know how many times we saw Ebukam in 15+ yards deep coverage on long third downs and the opponent go right at him. Fooled nobody, but we ran it again and again. "feel" is an important part of play calling, but feel backed by knowledge of tendency is better. Coaching is the BIGGEST shortcoming. Not sure this is all Schmedding and the look of the defense at times had Grahams influence all over it. That is a stinky cologne.

Am high on the talent at EWU and want to believe Coach B will make the necessary mental changes; so remain positive about next season.

Another note, didn't see as many huge breakdowns in coverage this season. A lot of passes caught were contested and tackling was better. We have several DB (safety and corners) that redshirted and there will be competition again this spring and fall for playing time; more importantly the coaches stick to their two and three deep evaluations and play those players accordingly. Situationally, putting your third db or DL guy in in the red zone isn't very effective and dropping your best pass rusher on third and longs instead of turning him loose on the QB is ridiculous.

While I agree with your premise, I'm not sure I agree with the statement that our athletes are fine. We were undersized and too slow at safety (excluding Raynes). We also had big DTs, but neither could generate any pass rush. Our DEs were also incapable of getting to the QB. Ebukam is a good example; against poor tackles, he was a beast. As soon as someone had a good OT, he'd be invisible.

See where you are coming from and didn't want to get too nuanced with this but will say, TV doesn't show me everything, don't believe the coaches are putting our athletes in the best position physically or mentally, don't believe the DL has to get a good rush in the middle especially against read option teams and the DE's/LB's/DB's aren't doing the right things in down and distance situations. As a non-coach, I could do better with the talent we have against the athletes EWU faces week in and week out and it starts with the mental part of the game. Other teams aren't beating us with 11 superior athletes on each side of the ball week in and out, they are beating us with 1 or 2 good athletes, execution and a sense of our defensive or offensive tendencies. Checkers, not chess.

To your point, wouldn't mind superior athletes though ;-) You have been at games, do our opponents look more physical? They look barely adequate to me and I watch a LOT of football. Don't believe I am asking our coaches to do more with less than the rest of the BigSky or FCS in general.. Wrong?

 

[kalm]

Gentlemen, what I am seeing in these comments is COACHING... Come on and just say it. The athletes are fine, their lack of improvement and on the field IQ is a reflection of the coaches. Scheme is fine when the situational decisions are better. Don't know how many times we saw Ebukam in 15+ yards deep coverage on long third downs and the opponent go right at him. Fooled nobody, but we ran it again and again. "feel" is an important part of play calling, but feel backed by knowledge of tendency is better. Coaching is the BIGGEST shortcoming. Not sure this is all Schmedding and the look of the defense at times had Grahams influence all over it. That is a stinky cologne.

Am high on the talent at EWU and want to believe Coach B will make the necessary mental changes; so remain positive about next season.

Another note, didn't see as many huge breakdowns in coverage this season. A lot of passes caught were contested and tackling was better. We have several DB (safety and corners) that redshirted and there will be competition again this spring and fall for playing time; more importantly the coaches stick to their two and three deep evaluations and play those players accordingly. Situationally, putting your third db or DL guy in in the red zone isn't very effective and dropping your best pass rusher on third and longs instead of turning him loose on the QB is ridiculous.

While I agree with your premise, I'm not sure I agree with the statement that our athletes are fine. We were undersized and too slow at safety (excluding Raynes). We also had big DTs, but neither could generate any pass rush. Our DEs were also incapable of getting to the QB. Ebukam is a good example; against poor tackles, he was a beast. As soon as someone had a good OT, he'd be invisible.

See where you are coming from and didn't want to get too nuanced with this but will say, TV doesn't show me everything, don't believe the coaches are putting our athletes in the best position physically or mentally, don't believe the DL has to get a good rush in the middle especially against read option teams and the DE's/LB's/DB's aren't doing the right things in down and distance situations. As a non-coach, I could do better with the talent we have against the athletes EWU faces week in and week out and it starts with the mental part of the game. Other teams aren't beating us with 11 superior athletes on each side of the ball week in and out, they are beating us with 1 or 2 good athletes, execution and a sense of our defensive or offensive tendencies. Checkers, not chess.

To your point, wouldn't mind superior athletes though ;-) You have been at games, do our opponents look more physical? They look barely adequate to me and I watch a LOT of football. Don't believe I am asking our coaches to do more with less than the rest of the BigSky or FCS in general.. Wrong?

You should apply.

 

[Obzerver]

We need to recruit better athletes. One's who can run faster, jump higher and accept monumental challenges.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Gentlemen, what I am seeing in these comments is COACHING... Come on and just say it. The athletes are fine, their lack of improvement and on the field IQ is a reflection of the coaches. Scheme is fine when the situational decisions are better. Don't know how many times we saw Ebukam in 15+ yards deep coverage on long third downs and the opponent go right at him. Fooled nobody, but we ran it again and again. "feel" is an important part of play calling, but feel backed by knowledge of tendency is better. Coaching is the BIGGEST shortcoming. Not sure this is all Schmedding and the look of the defense at times had Grahams influence all over it. That is a stinky cologne.

Am high on the talent at EWU and want to believe Coach B will make the necessary mental changes; so remain positive about next season.

Another note, didn't see as many huge breakdowns in coverage this season. A lot of passes caught were contested and tackling was better. We have several DB (safety and corners) that redshirted and there will be competition again this spring and fall for playing time; more importantly the coaches stick to their two and three deep evaluations and play those players accordingly. Situationally, putting your third db or DL guy in in the red zone isn't very effective and dropping your best pass rusher on third and longs instead of turning him loose on the QB is ridiculous.

While I agree with your premise, I'm not sure I agree with the statement that our athletes are fine. We were undersized and too slow at safety (excluding Raynes). We also had big DTs, but neither could generate any pass rush. Our DEs were also incapable of getting to the QB. Ebukam is a good example; against poor tackles, he was a beast. As soon as someone had a good OT, he'd be invisible.

See where you are coming from and didn't want to get too nuanced with this but will say, TV doesn't show me everything, don't believe the coaches are putting our athletes in the best position physically or mentally, don't believe the DL has to get a good rush in the middle especially against read option teams and the DE's/LB's/DB's aren't doing the right things in down and distance situations. As a non-coach, I could do better with the talent we have against the athletes EWU faces week in and week out and it starts with the mental part of the game. Other teams aren't beating us with 11 superior athletes on each side of the ball week in and out, they are beating us with 1 or 2 good athletes, execution and a sense of our defensive or offensive tendencies. Checkers, not chess.

To your point, wouldn't mind superior athletes though ;-) You have been at games, do our opponents look more physical? They look barely adequate to me and I watch a LOT of football. Don't believe I am asking our coaches to do more with less than the rest of the BigSky or FCS in general.. Wrong?

You should apply.

Would love to be a part of the team. Unfortunately, my life choices took me in a different direction. Assuming you weren't trying to be a smartass. ;-)

 

[luckyintheorder]

We need to recruit better athletes. One's who can run faster, jump higher and accept monumental challenges.

Funny stuff Observer. Think I watched this jump 50 times already.. Seems like many people on the board think we need an upgrade. If we could get it, would love to see it.

It begs the following questions though before jumping into the deep end of that conversation. Do we think other programs in the BigSky are getting better athlete's? Across the board or just in spots? Are we missing on those few superior athletes that "fall" to FCS programs? How do other programs do it? Where is our staff falling short? Are we prepared to take more risks with the flaws of some of the young men we pursue? What is the measuring stick for determining these superior athletes? How do we know it isn't something else? Things to consider.

 

[clawman1]

We need to recruit better athletes. One's who can run faster, jump higher and accept monumental challenges.

Don't you think every coaching staff in the country at every level feels the same way? Generally speaking we have as good or better athletes than the rest of the Big Sky, sure there are exceptions but overall we have good players. I often wonder how it is we can stop the opposing team on 1st and 2nd down yet can not stop them on 3rd down. Same players on both sides of the ball. Is their offense better at play calling than we are at anticipating on defense? I really do not believe our guys subconsciously say "ahhh think I'll take a break here". No our players want to get a stop even worse than we as fans want them to get a stop. These kids have worked their asses off all year long, they want to win!