People are saying the same thing about Brice Turner. Kids do fall through the cracks, and if Rhule identified 2 of them immediately upon being hired I will never question an offer he makes again. I really do hope they both pan out, and totally agree they have a ton of potential. Ives being 6'3 (allegedly) and playing RB isn't the issue, it's whether he can succeed actually playing against other good athletes.
Every transition class has late offers to low-rated players that are "diamonds in the rough" or what have you. Few have panned out (here's hoping Ives is one of them), and it's mostly odd to make this move
now instead of late January. Go read
Mason Wald's thread if you want some background on why people are skeptical of out of the blue offers.