It’s wild when we have guys like this that fly under the radar and then as soon as they step foot on campus people are like “uhhh yeah this dude can play.”
Like how is it so obvious once you have them in practice who can ball but so hard to project in recruiting?
Don't underestimate the challenge it is mentally to play really good consistently at this level, especially at a young age.
I think understanding what someone has upstairs is the most challenging with recruiting. I also believe most of your top recruits that don't pan out are due to mental reasons vs physical (not putting in the work, the focus, wanting something too quick, focus on money vs development, etc etc).
Moore was a solid texas recruit that didn't overly flash on film, but just played really well. He's doing the same thing now, just playing really well but not doing anything flashy. He probably has such a good head on his shoulders and knowledge of the game that's hard to pick up in recruiting. Mickey to me is the opposite (for a few reasons, not just his mom passing). From day 1 you could see his physical ability, but from day 1 he constantly made big mental mistakes. He never cleaned up his mistakes he made at ohio state his first game as a frosh, and I can only assume that's due to an inability to be mentally focused in practice and games at all times. It's tough.
On the flip side, 90% of ND fans that really look at film thought Watts was a safety even before he stepped on campus, and it took the coaches what 2 years to commit to that, now he's probably the most productive safety in ND's history.
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