'14 NY DT Thomas Holley (Florida Verbal)

[BeauBenken]

Isn't that like saying great NGs are easy to come by because Alabama has no problem finding them?

Guys who can pass rush really well aren't nearly as hard to find. And LSU doesn't just always have a good defense, but a great one.

 

[NOLAIrish]

Guys who can pass rush really well aren't nearly as hard to find. And LSU doesn't just always have a good defense, but a great one.

See, now I would cite LSU as a fairly contradictory case: they've struggled mightily to find strong pass rushing ends despite having more DL talent than any other team in football (Alabama included).

Sam Montgomery might be the most successful pass rushing end in school history. Chuck Wiley and Jarvis Green are the only others who really have a legitimate claim to the contrary. All three were very good, but none were great and they're divided by some very lean years. 2009 and 2010, for example, saw their top DE compile 3.5 and 2.5 sacks, respectively. I think they get unwarranted credit for KeKe Mingo, who was more-or-less a total one-hit-wonder. He had 4.5 sacks last year (8 the year before and was the DE leader with 2.5 in 2010).

What LSU's been able to find consistently are really phenomenal DTs and run stuffing DEs who can provide a decent-but-not-great rush. Marcus Spears, Marquise Hill and Lazarius Levingston all played end at LSU and fit well in the 3-4 once they got to the NFL. Then there are Al Woods and Tyson Jackson who went from penetrating DTs at LSU to 3-4 DEs in the NFL. Ricky Jean Francois went the other way, starting as a run-stuffing DE at LSU before becoming an all-purpose DT in the NFL. Finally, there are guys who started as 3-techs at LSU and stayed there in the pros: Glen Dorsey, Michael Brockers, Kyle Williams, Drake Nevis, Chad Lavalais, and Bennie Logan. Soon Anthony Johnson and Ego Ferguson will join them.

 

[BeauBenken]

See, now I would cite LSU as a fairly contradictory case: they've struggled mightily to find strong pass rushing ends despite having more DL talent than any other team in football (Alabama included).

Sam Montgomery might be the most successful pass rushing end in school history. Chuck Wiley and Jarvis Green are the only others who really have a legitimate claim to the contrary. All three were very good, but none were great and they're divided by some very lean years. 2009 and 2010, for example, saw their top DE compile 3.5 and 2.5 sacks, respectively. I think they get unwarranted credit for KeKe Mingo, who was more-or-less a total one-hit-wonder. He had 4.5 sacks last year (8 the year before and was the DE leader with 2.5 in 2010).

What LSU's been able to find consistently are really phenomenal DTs and run stuffing DEs who can provide a decent-but-not-great rush. Marcus Spears, Marquise Hill and Lazarius Levingston all played end at LSU and fit well in the 3-4 once they got to the NFL. Then there are Al Woods and Tyson Jackson who went from penetrating DTs at LSU to 3-4 DEs in the NFL. Ricky Jean Francois went the other way, starting as a run-stuffing DE at LSU before becoming an all-purpose DT in the NFL. Finally, there are guys who started as 3-techs at LSU and stayed there in the pros: Glen Dorsey, Michael Brockers, Kyle Williams, Drake Nevis, Chad Lavalais, and Bennie Logan. Soon Anthony Johnson and Ego Ferguson will join them.

I'm smiling right now because you know way too much about LSU compared to me.

 

[NOLAIrish]

I'm smiling right now because you know way too much about LSU compared to me.

Haha, the perils of growing up in Tigerland. The most embarrassing part of it is I probably know more about the LSU's history than I do about ND's. Huey Long put something in the water down here.

 

[GoldenToTheGrave]

Those guys aren't easy to come by either.

Never said it was, but I would counter that finding a pass rushing OLB for a 3-4 (can pass rush or drop back) is at least as hard or harder, so you still have to account for that. Overall, it's easier to get 4-3 personnel than it is for the 3-4, especially in college. I would also contend that if you have a sh*t DC, the complexity of a 3-4 isn't necessarily a good thing.

 

[dublinirish]

read some articles today saying you cant stop the read option as easy with the 4-3 as you can with the 3-4 maybe this is what he is getting to

 

[stlnd01]

What LSU's been able to find consistently are really phenomenal DTs and run stuffing DEs who can provide a decent-but-not-great rush. Marcus Spears, Marquise Hill and Lazarius Levingston all played end at LSU and fit well in the 3-4 once they got to the NFL. Then there are Al Woods and Tyson Jackson who went from penetrating DTs at LSU to 3-4 DEs in the NFL. Ricky Jean Francois went the other way, starting as a run-stuffing DE at LSU before becoming an all-purpose DT in the NFL. Finally, there are guys who started as 3-techs at LSU and stayed there in the pros: Glen Dorsey, Michael Brockers, Kyle Williams, Drake Nevis, Chad Lavalais, and Bennie Logan. Soon Anthony Johnson and Ego Ferguson will join them.

Mostly I just love that LSU always has guys with names like Ricky Jean Francois, which is some lyrical Hoosier/Quebecois hybrid of a moniker rolled into a giant badass defensive tackle.

 

[EuropeanDomer]

His Crystal Ball is trending towards to OSU increasingly

 

[dublinirish]

Mostly I just love that LSU always has guys with names like Ricky Jean Francois, which is some lyrical Hoosier/Quebecois hybrid of a moniker rolled into a giant badass defensive tackle.

Creole you mean

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Creole you mean

Good get. Depends on what version of French they speak, whether it is from the islands or not. Creole, was the original French and Spanish from the first settlement of Louisiana, later influenced by the early slave colonies on Caribbean islands. Cajun, the other option, was specifically the displaced French from the other side of the St Laurence, from Quebec. So, actually they were never Quebecios, either!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Get an official from him and Diaconate working hard ND will land him.

 

[NDWorld247]

Syracuse should have better feel on where it stands with top prospect Thomas Holley within weeks | syracuse.com

- Will sit down with Mom, Uncle and HS coach on August 18 to discuss his options
- Will attend Aug 29 Penn St.-Syracuse game at MetLife Stadium (there goes my prediction of him attending our game vs. Temple. I stick by my prediction that he will be next to commit.)
- Hopes to commit before the start of his season (Sept 7 I believe), but will not decide unless his Mom has had a chance to visit the school
- Distance will not be a factor
- Wants to attend a school that he will a.) make an impact and b.) maximize his pro football potential

 

[dwshade]

From everything I've heard if he decides before the season it won't be ND. But even with an early commit I don't think his recruitment will be over until signing day.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Syracuse should have better feel on where it stands with top prospect Thomas Holley within weeks | syracuse.com

- Will sit down with Mom, Uncle and HS coach on August 18 to discuss his options
- Will attend Aug 29 Penn St.-Syracuse game at MetLife Stadium (there goes my prediction of him attending our game vs. Temple. I stick by my prediction that he will be next to commit.)
- Hopes to commit before the start of his season (Sept 7 I believe), but will not decide unless his Mom has had a chance to visit the school
- Distance will not be a factor
- Wants to attend a school that he will a.) make an impact and b.) maximize his pro football potential

That's not Syracuse then. Time for him to commit to the Irish.

 

[IrishLax]

Think he ends up at PSU or OSU... gun to my head I'd say OSU. The longer this plays out, the better for us.

 

[STLDomer]

Syracuse should have better feel on where it stands with top prospect Thomas Holley within weeks | syracuse.com

- Will sit down with Mom, Uncle and HS coach on August 18 to discuss his options
- Will attend Aug 29 Penn St.-Syracuse game at MetLife Stadium (there goes my prediction of him attending our game vs. Temple. I stick by my prediction that he will be next to commit.)
- Hopes to commit before the start of his season (Sept 7 I believe), but will not decide unless his Mom has had a chance to visit the school
- Distance will not be a factor
- Wants to attend a school that he will a.) make an impact and b.) maximize his pro football potential

Not looking good for us

 

[NDWorld247]

That's not Syracuse then. Time for him to commit to the Irish.

I wouldn't read too much into the last bullet point. While I do agree that's not Syracuse, he's mentioned academics in almost every other interview. I'm really surprised he didn't in this one as well. Any word on an Alabama visit? IIRC, he was going to visit Syracuse and Alabama this month.

The mom needing to see the school thing is the first I've heard of that. I believe Penn St is the only school his mom has seen. Maybe Rutgers as well but I don't think they're a serious player. Has his mom been on any other visits?

 

[T Town Tommy]

I wouldn't read too much into the last bullet point. While I do agree that's not Syracuse, he's mentioned academics in almost every other interview. I'm really surprised he didn't in this one as well. Any word on an Alabama visit? IIRC, he was going to visit Syracuse and Alabama this month.

The mom needing to see the school thing is the first I've heard of that. I believe Penn St is the only school his mom has seen. Maybe Rutgers as well but I don't think they're a serious player. Has his mom been on any other visits?

Don't know about his mom. I also don't think Bama is in the mix - even with our stellar academic offerings. I will keep an eye out for anything that happens during his upcoming visit. Right now there is not much chatter about it. However, the general consensus here is tOSU is the team to beat.

 

[Luckylucci]

Think he ends up at PSU or OSU... gun to my head I'd say OSU. The longer this plays out, the better for us.

This is exactly how I feel. IMO, we're running third. Hopefully I'm wrong because he's seems like a perfect fit but not being able to see the difference between educations and quality of staff members for OSU and ND worries me. I think it would be pretty obvious.

 

[LoveThee]

I wonder why the sudden drop off? Seemed like we were leading for a while but now its (seemingly) trending away

 

[STLDomer]

We never really led, ppl just assumed it given what ND has to offer and what Holley said he wanted. Basically it looked like a good fit. Still think we have a good chance of landing him IF he visits again. Doesn't look like that's gonna happen though

 

[johnnycando]

I wonder why the sudden drop off? Seemed like we were leading for a while but now its (seemingly) trending away

Dickerson.

 

[NDWorld247]

We never really led, ppl just assumed it given what ND has to offer and what Holley said he wanted. Basically it looked like a good fit. Still think we have a good chance of landing him IF he visits again. Doesn't look like that's gonna happen though

To be fair, I don't think anyone has ever "led" for Holley. He's handled the recruiting process about as well as a recruit can and has never tipped his hand. All of the "PSU is the team to beat", "OSU is #1 with PSU and ND running 2nd and 3rd", "He wants to go south", etc, is just recruitniks trying to read a HS kid that has played the poker game as well as any kid I've seen, and responding to their fan bases questions when asked. Everyone is just guessing, us included.

I agree with your 2nd sentence 100%, especially after the comments he made about his mother needing to see the school.

 

[LoveThee]

We never really led, ppl just assumed it given what ND has to offer and what Holley said he wanted. Basically it looked like a good fit. Still think we have a good chance of landing him IF he visits again. Doesn't look like that's gonna happen though

This definitely makes sense. I'd rep you but I have to spread it around

Dickerson.

Makes sense I guess, but we still ideally need one more DL and with Holley's talent I wouldn't think he would be scared off

 

[koonja]

Holley seemed to be trending away before Dickerson committed. I seriously doubt that Dickerson committing scares Holley off at all.

 

[koonja]

Syracuse should have better feel on where it stands with top prospect Thomas Holley within weeks | syracuse.com

- Will sit down with Mom, Uncle and HS coach on August 18 to discuss his options
- Will attend Aug 29 Penn St.-Syracuse game at MetLife Stadium (there goes my prediction of him attending our game vs. Temple. I stick by my prediction that he will be next to commit.)
- Hopes to commit before the start of his season (Sept 7 I believe), but will not decide unless his Mom has had a chance to visit the school
- Distance will not be a factor
- Wants to attend a school that he will a.) make an impact and b.) maximize his pro football potential

He could attend both the 29th game and ours on the 31st, no?

Or is that too close together?

 

[NDWorld247]

He could attend both the 29th game and ours on the 31st, no?

Or is that too close together?

Yes! I'm so foolish. My prediction is back on. Thanks!

 

[koonja]

Yes! I'm so foolish. My prediction is back on. Thanks!

Ok, I didn't know if there was some weird NCAA rule against officialling to two places in a weeks time or not.

But even if it's allowed, I'd say it's unlikely. Too much travel in a few days time.

 

[NDWorld247]

Ok, I didn't know if there was some weird NCAA rule against officialling to two places in a weeks time or not.

But even if it's allowed, I'd say it's unlikely. Too much travel in a few days time.

Not really. The PSU-Syracuse game is at MetLife Stadium in NJ. It's a quick train ride from Queens where Holley lives.

Edit: The PSU-Syracuse game is on Aug 31. I messed up the date in my original post. Fail.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Not really. The PSU-Syracuse game is at MetLife Stadium in NJ. It's a quick train ride from Queens where Holley lives.

Edit: The PSU-Syracuse game is on Aug 31. I messed up the date in my original post. Fail.

Define quick train ride. There is no quick train from queens to the meadowlands. There are many trains and transfers though.