The Changing Climate of WRs

R

Roy CO HSKR

Five-Star Recruit
Fron rojo:

I. The heights of the coaches "All-Big 12 Wide Receivers" 2002-2005: (1st and 2nd team selections.)

--6’ 5” Todd Blythe, ISU

--6’ 5” James Terry, KSU

--6’ 4” Roy Williams, UT

--6’ 4” Justin Gage, MU

--6’ 3” Jarrett Hicks, TT

--6’ 3” Joel Filani, TT

--6’ 3” Dominique Zeigler, BU

--6’ 3” Travis Wilson, OU

.

--6’ 2” Robert Johnson, TT

--6’ 2” Rashaun Woods, OSU

--6’ 1” D’Juan Woods, OSU

--6’ 1” Terrence Murphy, TAM

--6’ 1” Reggie Newhouse, BU

--5’ 11” Mark Clayton, OU

--5’ 9” Wes Welker, TT

Over half of them are 6’ 3” or taller. It seems to be a case of “You don’t have to be tall…. But it helps.”

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II. No position has had more changes for us.

A. Three Wide Receiver coaches in three years.

--Ron Brown, Turner Gill, Ted Gilmore.

--This will be the first time since 2002-03 that our receivers will have had the same coach for two consecutive seasons.

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B. From “Blockers who can catch” to “Receivers who can block.”

An oversimplification. But the change in emphasis could be argued that way.

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III. Wide Receiver history since Bill Callahan arrived: (FWIW... Notice: Those over 6’ 3” have been few.)

A. Graduated:

--6’ 4” Matt Schroder

--6’ 1” Shamus McCoy

--6’ 0” Ben Zajicek

--6’ 0” Willie Amos

--5’ 11” Mark LeFlore

--5’ 10” Jack O’Holleran

--5’ 10” Joel Jackson

B. Moved on:

--6’ 2” Andy Birkel

--6’ 1” Tyler Kenney

--6’ 0” Ross Pilkington

--6’ 0” Santino Panico

--5’ 11” Kade Pittman

--5’ 9” Ronnie Smith

--5’ 9” Marque McCray

C. Returning for 2006: (’05 catches in parentheses)

--6’ 4” Todd Peterson, So (9)

--6’ 2” Nate Swift, So (45)

--6’ 2” Chris Brooks, So (0)

--6’ 0” Terrence Nunn, Jr (43)

--6’ 0” Frantz Hardy, Jr (25)

--6’ 0” Isaiah Fluellen, Sr (4)

--6’ 0” Dan Erickson, Jr (0)

--5’ 11” Grant Mulkey, Sr (26)

D. The Incoming: All are 6’ 3” or taller.

We’ve learned to wait to see just who arrives academically eligible, but it should be…

--6’ 5” Will Henry, Fr (Texas Class 5A All-State—Hon. Mention)

--6’ 4” Maurice Purify, Jr (Juco All-American; Scout.com 5-star; Rivals #1 Juco receiver.)

--6’ 4” Menelik Holt, Fr (Emfinger 5-Star; Rivals #44 WR.)

--6’ 3” Tyrell Spain, Jr (Now enrolled; Juco All-Conference—1st team)

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The Bottom Line:

Height isn’t everything. All-Big 12 Wes Welker (5’ 9”) is now with the Miami Dolphins. All-Big 12 Mark Clayton (5’ 11”) is with the Baltimore Ravens.

But… We’ve never had a group of incoming receivers quite like this.

Things are changing at Nebraska. The rest of the Big 12 is noticing it. We should be aware of it also.

Just some things to think about…..

 
Height isn't everything.
Click to expand...
Yeah, look at Steve Smith.

Here's the deal though. You can have smaller guys that have great speed and can burn the defense and get open. And you can have taller guys that can create mismatches. If you can get both at the same time, you have the perfect receiver. But, that doesn't happen very often. So, I think it just comes down to what kind of offense you're running.

With smaller guys with big speed, you're gonna be looking at getting them the ball down the field once they get open. Whereas, with bigger receivers you can hit them better on out routes, coming across the middle etc.. the kinda stuff we like to do here, short-controlled passing.

So that's why I think that's why we're bringing in more big/tall receivers.

Okay so I'm not a football guru, lol. Am I close here?

 
I'll take 3 bluchip WRs at 6'0

over four 2-3 stars that are 6'4

I don't care what the guys height is, it's how he uses it. More importantly, how he can be utilized in the system or game plan.

I'm not going to deny the advantages of height, but, obviouisly, there is more to it than that. Etc etc etc

 
Red Snow- In the last 3 yrs, the 1st string WRs in the Big 12 were 6'3" and above. Wouldn't they all qualify as blue chippers?

 
I was agreeing with the fact that most starters in the Big XII were likely blue chippers. I do believe the staff should not be pidgen-holed to recruiting only athletes of a certain height.

Earlier this year Milt Tenopir was talking about when he first started at Nebraska and they had a point system for how tall a player was, their weight, etc. He said he quickly threw that chart away and judged the players on how well they played the game.

 
The pros and cons of each theory change with what coaches want to do or need a receiver to do. In my younger days I coulda fooled them I was short and slow. :lol:

 
The fact is that this is not a new thing that football teams are doing. The NFL receivers are all getting taller and yes that is b/c the college receivers are getting taller (obviously). If we were to look at every position in the past 10 years the players are all getting bigger and bigger. The game has been changing and the athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger.

 
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