'13 FL RB Tarean Folston (Notre Dame Signed LOI)

[Ironman8]

Offers are only shown if the player has publicly stated he has received an offer. AQM doesn't have Alabama listed as having offered even though it is known they have. This happens often with players who do not talk much. People read too much into it.

This. Oregon has certainly let Folston know how much they want him. From their recruiting guys, Chip and Co. has been looking to add a 3rd RB for some time, and if Wilson leaves, that want is compounded even more. Oregon is definitely an option for Folston if he wants it.

 

[BeauBenken]

This. Oregon has certainly let Folston know how much they want him. From their recruiting guys, Chip and Co. has been looking to add a 3rd RB for some time, and if Wilson leaves, that want is compounded even more. Oregon is definitely an option for Folston if he wants it.

Talk about a stable. Tyner, Wilson, and Folston. Wowzers.

 

[Ironman8]

Talk about a stable. Tyner, Wilson, and Folston. Wowzers.

Yeah I don't think you could ask for a more dangerous Oregon backfield. A nightmare scenario for the rest of the Pac 12. If they had those three coming in and the Mamba still in his hybrid role that is a crazy amount of speed and talent on the field next year (to go along with Byron Marshall, who I love).

 

[beryirish]

Yeah I don't think you could ask for a more dangerous Oregon backfield. A nightmare scenario for the rest of the Pac 12. If they had those three coming in and the Mamba still in his hybrid role that is a crazy amount of speed and talent on the field next year (to go along with Byron Marshall, who I love).

I saw him a couple times when watching Oregon.....

 

[rtrn2glory]

I saw him a couple times when watching Oregon.....

one of if not my biggest disappointment we didn't land last year.

 

[Irish YJ]

Didn't realize Folston was playing CB at the UA game...

UA All-America Game Spotlight

By Tom Luginbill, RecruitingNation

Folston Tarean Folston
Cocoa (Fla.) High School

We are really looking forward to seeing how Folston holds up full time at cornerback during the practices as well as in the Under Armour All-America Game. He is an exceptional athlete and has extensive experience as a running back (which is where he could end up at the next level) and excels as a return man. This will be stiff one-on-one competition in coverage, and his competitive instincts should allow for him to make some plays but also take some risks and give up some plays. Regardless, Folston is an explosive prospect, and his versatility will be on display against top-flight competition.

 

[Emcee77]

Is Sherm freaking out? Nobody likes position switches more than Sherm.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Just like how GAIII played S at the Army Game.

 

[Luckylucci]

I understand that they want to get all these athletes on the field at the same time but GAIII at safety was ridiculous and Folston at CB will be just a waste of his talents.

 

[Irish YJ]

If he can pull a K. Russell, I'd be just fine with a switch to CB.

 

[ndfb3]

If he can pull a K. Russell, I'd be just fine with a switch to CB.

^^^. Exactly.

 

[dwshade]

If he can pull a K. Russell, I'd be just fine with a switch to CB.

No. We're fine at CB and we need more playmakers on offense.

 

[Irish YJ]

No. We're fine at CB and we need more playmakers on offense.

We have as many or more playmakers on O than we do in the DB space IMO. Our lack of glitz is a product of the coaches grooming a young QB, and complimenting a stiff D. To say we are fine at CB is debatable, very debatable. Safety maybe, CB, not so great. We're still playing catch up and musical chairs to work out the imbalance caused by various reasons over the past 4 years. For Russell, a true frosh to move from RB and start, and for Shumate, a true frosh to move from S, and contribute speaks for itself. 2013 class has one true CB and 2 projects IMO. Safety also loses 3 of 5 of it's top 5 depth, including ZM who is the leader of the DBs. Overall I like the youth movement but would not characterize our DB situation to be better than our O. Our O is stacked at RB with Bryant coming on. Neal and C. Brown will be studs soon, with a potential rich 2013 crop of WRs. 2014 will IMO be rich with DT and skill studs IMO.

 

[dwshade]

We have as many or more playmakers on O than we do in the DB space IMO. Our lack of glitz is a product of the coaches grooming a young QB, and complimenting a stiff D. To say we are fine at CB is debatable, very debatable. Safety maybe, CB, not so great. We're still playing catch up and musical chairs to work out the imbalance caused by various reasons over the past 4 years. For Russell, a true frosh to move from RB and start, and for Shumate, a true frosh to move from S, and contribute speaks for itself. 2013 class has one true CB and 2 projects IMO. Safety also loses 3 of 5 of it's top 5 depth, including ZM who is the leader of the DBs. Overall I like the youth movement but would not characterize our DB situation to be better than our O. Our O is stacked at RB with Bryant coming on. Neal and C. Brown will be studs soon, with a potential rich 2013 crop of WRs. 2014 will IMO be rich with DT and skill studs IMO.

If you can say Neal and Brown are going to be studs then I can certainly claim our young CB's will be the same. Brown and Neal as of now are not proven playmakers. At CB next year we have Jackson, Russell, Wood, Atkinson, Brown, Luke, Kinlaw and Butler. Essentially 3 returning starters and Luke and Kinlaw have the potential to be outstanding. Folston is the kind of player who you want to have the ball in his hands. He's that good on offense.

 

[Irish YJ]

If you can say Neal and Brown are going to be studs then I can certainly claim our young CB's will be the same. Brown and Neal as of now are not proven playmakers. At CB next year we have Jackson, Russell, Wood, Atkinson, Brown, Luke, Kinlaw and Butler. Essentially 3 returning starters and Luke and Kinlaw have the potential to be outstanding. Folston is the kind of player who you want to have the ball in his hands. He's that good on offense.

Our young DBs doing well this year is somewhat a product of our front 7. Losing Teo, Kap, possibly Nix to the NFL, possibly Fox and/or Carlo due to 5th year availability, all could change the dynamics of the D. Hoping it's only Teo and Kap, but even that will be tough. I'd like to see TF stay on O as well, just saying things happen. Regardless, I trust the coaches to get the best players on the field regardless of position orientation.

 

[IrishLion]

Nice problem to debate...

On the surface, I would love to get a Folston commit and see him come in and play CB alongside Luke. The only problem with that is, it takes a big time prospect off of the field for a lot of snaps, because Russell is going to be a star for three more years. Now you're talking about Luke and Folston competing for the other starting spot once B.Jackson is gone. Whoever wins, the other could play nickel, sure, but that leaves another hybrid-type member of the secondary off the field.

For example, it could be Shumate. With Collinsworth for potentially two more years, along with Farley and Barratti, there is a log jam of talent in the secondary.

The easiest answer is to leave Folston on offense, and let a guy like Kinlaw or Butler develop into talented corners like the original plan. In the nickel, one of your four talented safties can come in (like Shumate now), and in a dime situation we've seen Spond take some reps as basically a fourth CB, so the number of bodies only grows. You can put Spond in that 4th spot like he has been, or put a fourth safety on the field, or let one of the younger corners take the reps. You could even let Davonte Neal play defense in the dime.

With this, Kinlaw and Butler have time to develop, provide quality depth, and contribute on special teams while Folston focuses on offense and forms a dynamic duo with Bryant down the road.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Numbers-wise, our defensive backfield is in great shape. Assuming Shumate moves back to S, we've got 8/8 at CB, and we'll probably end up with 9/8 at S once Redfield commits.

The lack of experienced depth/ veteran leadership might become an issue at some point, but how is that helped by moving a true freshman from offense to defense?

 

[Emcee77]

Numbers-wise, our defensive backfield is in great shape. Assuming Shumate moves back to S, we've got 8/8 at CB, and we'll probably end up with 9/8 at S once Redfield commits.

The lack of experienced depth/ veteran leadership might become an issue at some point, but how is that helped by moving a true freshman from offense to defense?

We have three guys in this class who were recruited to play CB. Folston is a great fit for us at RB/Z WR. I have no idea why we would move him.

 

[Irish YJ]

There will be a potential log jam at RB/Z. To borrow a point Whiskey made a day or two ago, we're now 8/8 at RB/Z. If Folston jumps on, we're actually in an overload. Whiskey goes into it in the 2014 thread. Honestly I'd like to keep him at RB as he has great hands.
And who knows how he would work out at CB. Just saying, I'd happily take him as a CB if we needed him, and he has Russell like skills.

 

[Luckylucci]

Watch Folston run routes out of the backfield at those camps at the potential to be a Theo type back is way to great to move to cornerback. Just because he's going to be doing at the AA game doesn't mean he should in college. Exibit A, GAIII playing safety at an all star game.

 

[Emcee77]

There will be a potential log jam at RB/Z. To borrow a point Whiskey made a day or two ago, we're now 8/8 at RB/Z. If Folston jumps on, we're actually in an overload. Whiskey goes into it in the 2014 thread. Honestly I'd like to keep him at RB as he has great hands.
And who knows how he would work out at CB. Just saying, I'd happily take him as a CB if we needed him, and he has Russell like skills.

The defensive backfield is just as crowded. But it sounds like your main point is the bolded; I can't disagree with that. I'm sure Folston would be a fine CB.

 

[Irish YJ]

The defensive backfield is just as crowded. But it sounds like your main point is the bolded; I can't disagree with that. I'm sure Folston would be a fine CB.

Yes, and it was my original point farther up the thread LOL. I'd much rather see him a the hybrid spot. Kid has crazy hands.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Yes, and it was my original point farther up the thread LOL. I'd much rather see him a the hybrid spot. Kid has crazy hands.

Ah, gotcha. Once we sort all of the RB/ Z WRs into their various categories, the hybrid spot would be the most crowded if Folston commits:

Pure RB
GAIII
Mahone
Bryant

Z WR
Neal
Hunter, Jr.

Hybrid
Carlisle
McDaniel
Onwualu
Folston

Though if you're going to overload with any one of those types, hybrid obviously makes the most sense due to flexibility. And please note that this is very rough guesswork on my part; I think the "Pure RB" section will probably end up being right, but anything could happen with the other 6-- Neal could end up in as a Hybrid, or Onwualu could end up as an X/W WR (he's the 2nd tallest WR in our class).

 

[Luckylucci]

I think that list has a lot of quality but if we want to be winning 11-13 games every year we need elite depth. So in my mind you would take Mcdaniel and Mahone out and it doesn't look so crowded.

 

[ResLife Hero]

I would have thought Onwualu to be more of a pure WR prospect than hybrid. I know he played RB some in high school, but I see him being an ideal pure-slot receiver. Also, the little I did see of Carlisle at USC made me think he's a pure RB even if he does have good hands.

 

[Irish YJ]

Ah, gotcha. Once we sort all of the RB/ Z WRs into their various categories, the hybrid spot would be the most crowded if Folston commits:

Pure RB
GAIII
Mahone
Bryant

Z WR
Neal
Hunter, Jr.

Hybrid
Carlisle
McDaniel
Onwualu
Folston

Though if you're going to overload with any one of those types, hybrid obviously makes the most sense due to flexibility. And please note that this is very rough guesswork on my part; I think the "Pure RB" section will probably end up being right, but anything could happen with the other 6-- Neal could end up in as a Hybrid, or Onwualu could end up as an X/W WR (he's the 2nd tallest WR in our class).

All the talent and depth worries me a bit. As we continue to stockpile, I think we'll see more and more transfers as the years go by, and success grows. Good problems to have, and happy to be worried about transfers instead of depth.

Whiskey - question... as Neal develops, do you think he'll get some carries, primarily reverses/sweeps?

 

[Luckylucci]

Two things to keep in mind about transfers. One is that when your playing really good football a lot of kids get to play during mop up duty so it keeps them engage. Second is your winning and if they are getting some minutes, the team is winning, and your getting a stellar education not too many kids will probably transfer. Like Kelly said after his first recruiting cycle "winning cures a lot of problems."

 

[Irish YJ]

Ah, gotcha. Once we sort all of the RB/ Z WRs into their various categories, the hybrid spot would be the most crowded if Folston commits:

Pure RB
GAIII
Mahone
Bryant

Z WR
Neal
Hunter, Jr.

Hybrid
Carlisle
McDaniel
Onwualu
Folston

Though if you're going to overload with any one of those types, hybrid obviously makes the most sense due to flexibility. And please note that this is very rough guesswork on my part; I think the "Pure RB" section will probably end up being right, but anything could happen with the other 6-- Neal could end up in as a Hybrid, or Onwualu could end up as an X/W WR (he's the 2nd tallest WR in our class).

All the talent and depth worries me a bit. As we continue to stockpile, I think we'll see more and more transfers as the years go by, and success grows. Good problems to have, and happy to be worried about transfers instead of depth.

Whiskey - question... as Neal develops, do you think he'll get some carries, primarily reverses/sweeps?

 

[MNIrishman]

#firstrankedproblems

 

[scUM Hater]

Folston will have to play some running back at ND along with Def. back to have a shot at the heisman.