'17 CA CB Thomas Graham (Oregon Verbal)

dwshade

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IF true...

Best news of the cycle. Probably the biggest recruit since Jaylon and Max when you consider Need & Ranking.

??????? CB is one of our strengths going forward. Crawford, Watkins, Pride, Love, Vaughan. A deep talented group.
 

BobbyMac

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??????? CB is one of our strengths going forward. Crawford, Watkins, Pride, Love, Vaughan. A deep talented group.

Without going through and comparing them one by one, all I'll say is Graham is on a different level than anyone on the current roster. ND needs 2 Thomas Graham's every 3 cycles, supplemented with what ND currently has in house.
 

pkt77242

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??????? CB is one of our strengths going forward. Crawford, Watkins, Pride, Love, Vaughan. A deep talented group.

You mean Crawford who missed all of last year and most of this year with injuries?
Watkins who has very little experience and missed this year?
The other 3 are freshmen who have played pretty well but in a very small sample sizes.

To me CB is our third biggest need only trailing S and anyone who can rush the passer. Also Graham is very highly rated and NDCrusader said "when you consider ranking and need".
 
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Cackalacky

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Yep .....due to injuries and lapses in recruiting, DB depth and quality is still a major issue.
 

GBdomer

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??????? CB is one of our strengths going forward. Crawford, Watkins, Pride, Love, Vaughan. A deep talented group.

I disagree with what you are saying. Graham is a top 50 player in the country and would be the best corner we have landed since??????

Crawford never healthy and is really a nickel back
Watkins who knows if he will ever be ready to roll 100%
Pride is gonna be a good one
Love has shown flashes but he's not on Grahams level
Vaughn could be a good one but I question his downfield speed and getting in and out of breaks with how big he is.

Graham is a step on the field and play right away guy, he's a damn good corner and would be ND's most talented player in the secondary right away if he land him.
 
N

ND Fan Vancouver

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I disagree with what you are saying. Graham is a top 50 player in the country and would be the best corner we have landed since??????

Crawford never healthy and is really a nickel back
Watkins who knows if he will ever be ready to roll 100%
Pride is gonna be a good one
Love has shown flashes but he's not on Grahams level
Vaughn could be a good one but I question his downfield speed and getting in and out of breaks with how big he is.

Graham is a step on the field and play right away guy, he's a damn good corner and would be ND's most talented player in the secondary right away if he land him.

I feel you know NDFB as well as anyone I know especially recruiting-wise so your words make me very stoked about our potential Corner/nickel situation going forward. Vaughn, Watkins, Crawford, Love (my guess is he ends up the best of the bunch by year 4), Pride, Graham, Hicks, Adebo........that is nuts! Loads of talent. LOADS of talent and of all styles, speeds, tendencies and sizes.

GO IRISH
 

dwshade

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I disagree with what you are saying. Graham is a top 50 player in the country and would be the best corner we have landed since??????

Crawford never healthy and is really a nickel back
Watkins who knows if he will ever be ready to roll 100%
Pride is gonna be a good one
Love has shown flashes but he's not on Grahams level
Vaughn could be a good one but I question his downfield speed and getting in and out of breaks with how big he is.

Graham is a step on the field and play right away guy, he's a damn good corner and would be ND's most talented player in the secondary right away if he land him.

Crawford isn't a nickel back. He can play outside and he's damn good at it. He proved that before the injury. You obviously haven't paid much attention to Vaughan. As Todd Lyght has said he will be an elite corner by JR. year. He has excellent hip flexibility for a kid his size. Your statement on Love is absurd. Graham is not a top 50 player. 68 by Rivals, 76 by Scout and 101 by 247 which is a drop of 21 spots from where they had him earlier this season.
 
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Luckylucci

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Kid is a really good prospect and that's where the conversation should end. I hope he balls out early, if not, he'll be good in the long run.

Love the player, he's going to need some college muscle. Long wiry prospect. Huge get if true.
 

GBdomer

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Crawford isn't a nickel back. He can play outside and he's damn good at it. He proved that before the injury. You obviously haven't paid much attention to Vaughan. As Todd Lyght has said he will be an elite corner by JR. year. He has excellent hip flexibility for a kid his size. Your statement on Love is absurd. Graham is not a top 50 player. 68 by Rivals, 76 by Scout and 101 by 247 which is a drop of 21 spots from where they had him earlier this season.

Ok, top 75 player so wait two years and hope for Vaughn to become that? He's playing playing good for a true freshman. Crawford at 5'9 maybe 5'10 best spot is in the nickel. How is my statement on Love absurd??
 
N

ND Fan Vancouver

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Ok, top 75 player so wait two years and hope for Vaughn to become that? He's playing playing good for a true freshman. Crawford at 5'9 maybe 5'10 best spot is in the nickel. How is my statement on Love absurd??

I know your question wasnt to me but I just thought I'd chime in as I've been paying a lot of attention to our db situation. I agree Crawford did well outside but I totally think he's better suited at nickel long term. My opinion is that nickel is more important than either corner positions. Just look at how we have Luke, our 3 year starter, playing Nickel right now. Also, I don't think what you said about Love is absurd at all. With all due respect though, I'd say he's shown more than just flashes. He displays very good instincts especially but also consistent good coverage and tackling. All that being said, I'd say Graham will be at a higher level day one at ND than any of our TF corners did day one THIS year. Graham's film and talent certainly warrants either a top 75 or top 50 ranking. Kid is like glue.
 

Luckylucci

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Get Graham and the future Defensive backfield would be a great selling point to perspective DC's.
 

Big23Head

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Biggins thinks top 3 are Zona, ND and UCLA. Zona's year hurt them worse than the others. Most likely early Dec annoucement

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rancho Cucamonga (Calif) DB Thomas Graham recaps weekend visit to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash">#Oregon</a>, could decide in next few weeks<a href="https://t.co/SnKnL2AWWU">https://t.co/SnKnL2AWWU</a> <a href="https://t.co/gvIqN6jyKX">pic.twitter.com/gvIqN6jyKX</a></p>— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregBiggins/status/798738944758190080">November 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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BobbyMac

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A lot of moaning about Rich Rod here in AZ. If they didn't owe him $8M, he'd be gone. If next year is like this one, they'll pay him $5M to leave. Hopefully something is up with Donte Williams. He's the DB coach working SoCal that has Greg Johnson and Thomas Graham. Maybe they'll see the problems in Tucson and don't care about the problems in South Bend?
 

BobbyMac

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Guess he doesn't start a game next year after all. Damn.

raw
 

TP81989

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Has to be hard to sell this program to kids who aren't committed right now.

#4winteamproblems
 

Luckylucci

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Has to be hard to sell this program to kids who aren't committed right now.

#4winteamproblems

Obviously, winning isn't a part of the equation if he ends up at Arizona. They are even worse than ND is right now, 2-8.

Not only that, but a majority of their losses are blowouts and utter embarrassments. Though ND has some terrible losses (because they weren't good teams), they are getting completely destroyed.

Margin of defeat:

UCLA - 21
Utah - 13
USC - 34
Stan - 24
Wazzu - 62
Colorado - 25

Combined that is a -179 over 6 games.

This isn't me making a case that ND is good, just illustrating how shitty Arizona is right now and this would have zero to do with winning, if he chose them.
 

GBdomer

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Basically it's a toss up and Graham talks to Zona everyday while ND focus is on trying to win this final two games
 

jerboski

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Basically it's a toss up and Graham talks to Zona everyday while ND focus is on trying to win this final two games

That 5 minute conversation it would take could be the difference between us winning and losing these football games

Smart plan .... Smh
 

TP81989

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Obviously, winning isn't a part of the equation if he ends up at Arizona. They are even worse than ND is right now, 2-8.

Not only that, but a majority of their losses are blowouts and utter embarrassments. Though ND has some terrible losses (because they weren't good teams), they are getting completely destroyed.

Margin of defeat:

UCLA - 21
Utah - 13
USC - 34
Stan - 24
Wazzu - 62
Colorado - 25

Combined that is a -179 over 6 games.

This isn't me making a case that ND is good, just illustrating how shitty Arizona is right now and this would have zero to do with winning, if he chose them.

It's more about all the other players they're going after to close this class and looking ahead to 2018. Arizona probably would have little to no chance of beating out ND for Graham if they were having a better season.
 

BobbyMac

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It's more about all the other players they're going after to close this class and looking ahead to 2018. Arizona probably would have little to no chance of beating out ND for Graham if they were having a better season.

The U of A staff is telling him and Greg Johnson they will play from day 1. They will both start next year at some point. There's not a lot of talent in the 3 deep. Add to that it's an easy 6 hour drive across the desert back home or a $59, 45 minute flight. Weather's great except for training camp and the first month of the season. Lastly, Donte Williams is a star recruiter.

You wanna fix BK's problems... hire Jimmy Lake of Washington to be the DC and Donte Williams to be recruiting coordinator and assist with DB's and ST's.
 

GBdomer

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I swear if Arizona lands Greg Johnson and Thomas Graham I will lose my mind
 

yankeehater

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Graham had a 72 yard Int Return for TD to seal their upset victory over Mission Viejo last night. Dude can fly!

Next up Mater Dei for them.
 

stlnd01

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Basically it's a toss up and Graham talks to Zona everyday while ND focus is on trying to win this final two games

I'm sure a phone call would be helpful every now and then, but if it's us and Arizona and he's not committing until December, I don't think this is the worst strategy. I assume the morning after the USC game, BK and Todd Lyght will get up, victorious, and drive the 45 minutes to this kid's house and be waiting outside with breakfast for him.
And then he'll make the right choice.
 

GBdomer

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Don't know if this has been stated but he is an EE and will host BK and Rich Rod and Mora before he decides

Bartow
 

Sherm Sticky

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He won't be hosting Brian Kelly. Unless Brian Kelly gets a new job before the new year.


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