'21 MO DT Gabriel Rubio (Notre Dame Early Enrollee)

Crazy Balki

Crazy Balki

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I'm super perplexed as to how Houstan and Vernon both failed to materialize.

I'd be more okay with it if that meant that Mukam was more involved, but he hasn't played much either.

Traore is the only one from the '23 DL class that's done much of anything and now he's hurt.
 
SeekNDestroy

SeekNDestroy

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Crazy Balki said:
I'm super perplexed as to how Houstan and Vernon both failed to materialize.

I'd be more okay with it if that meant that Mukam was more involved, but he hasn't played much either.

Traore is the only one from the '23 DL class that's done much of anything and now he's hurt.
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Dude. They’re sophomores. Strength, weight gain, and learning technique take time. It’s way too early to label any of them.
 
CanadalovesND

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SeekNDestroy said:
Dude. They’re sophomores. Strength, weight gain, and learning technique take time. It’s way too early to label any of them.
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His point was that now, by the end of their sophomore seasons, we've heard nothing positive on their developments. You usually know what you have in a player by Year 3 (particularly lineman), so a big off-season is needed from them. At least Mukam got some praise and playing time.
 
SeekNDestroy

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CanadalovesND said:
His point was that now, by the end of their sophomore seasons, we've heard nothing positive on their developments. You usually know what you have in a player by Year 3 (particularly lineman), so a big off-season is needed from them. At least Mukam got some praise and playing time.
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I guess I misunderstood what “failed to materialize” meant.
 
ulukinatme

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SeekNDestroy said:
Dude. They’re sophomores. Strength, weight gain, and learning technique take time. It’s way too early to label any of them.
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I think this is well put. Even if they're at the end of their 2nd seasons, OL and DL are often the hardest positions to break into early. You either have to be a phenom at the position, or your team has recruited poorly in the past so you're able to see playing time. Occasionally both are true. It often takes DL and OL players time to build up strength and size, get their footwork down, learn the schemes, develop all the little things, etc. That's why you often don't see true freshmen starting on the OL unless there were major holes, but at skill positions you can often see true freshmen.
 
Dale

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Vernon I get the disappointment but not Houstan. He was a borderline 4 star with an unimpressive offer sheet from Canada that got hurt since he’s been here. Expected RS freshman snaps?

He’s a Year 4 program guy.
 
Crazy Balki

Crazy Balki

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SeekNDestroy said:
Dude. They’re sophomores. Strength, weight gain, and learning technique take time. It’s way too early to label any of them.
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I mean, you never know, but the fact that we haven't heard anything good regarding Vernon or Houstan's development is pretty telling.

We heard more about Sevillano and Mullins as contributors moving forward than those two, and both are true freshmen with significant physical development yet to do.

It's definitely not a good sign that either of them are even considered to get even just a few reps, given how thin ND is now at DT. It's basically Cross, Hinish and Rubio, with maybe some dashes of Mukam.
 
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Dale said:
Vernon I get the disappointment but not Houstan. He was a borderline 4 star with an unimpressive offer sheet from Canada that got hurt since he’s been here. Expected RS freshman snaps?

He’s a Year 4 program guy.
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Yea, I still have hope with Houstan. His family having NBA athleticism with his brother + his bigger body type (definitely seemed raw) was always worth the shot.
 
Crazy Balki

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slick7410 said:
Yea, I still have hope with Houstan. His family having NBA athleticism with his brother + his bigger body type (definitely seemed raw) was always worth the shot.
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Hope so too, because I liked Houstan a lot as a prospect and thought he'd be a very quality NT.

But it's not a great sign that Sevillano seems to have already passed him.
 
T-Boone

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Crazy Balki said:
I mean, you never know, but the fact that we haven't heard anything good regarding Vernon or Houstan's development is pretty telling.

We heard more about Sevillano and Mullins as contributors moving forward than those two, and both are true freshmen with significant physical development yet to do.

It's definitely not a good sign that either of them are even considered to get even just a few reps, given how thin ND is now at DT. It's basically Cross, Hinish and Rubio, with maybe some dashes of Mukam.
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Rubio never played or got mentioned until last year and barely mentioned then.
The hope for Vernon is that he starts getting some playing time next season and then contributes big in 26 and 27 and he gets some good qualifications etc.
 
Irish du Nord

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T-Boone said:
Rubio never played or got mentioned until last year and barely mentioned then.
The hope for Vernon is that he starts getting some playing time next season and then contributes big in 26 and 27 and he gets some good qualifications etc.
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Rubio had plenty of snaps two years ago, he was basically the 4th DT behind Cross, Ademilola, and Chris Smith. Mills was still primarily an SDE and Jacob Lacey didn't play past the 4th game. He had 17 tackles and 4 TFLs, his most productive season to date.
 
stlnd01

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Irish du Nord said:
Rubio had plenty of snaps two years ago, he was basically the 4th DT behind Cross, Ademilola, and Chris Smith. Mills was still primarily an SDE and Jacob Lacey didn't play past the 4th game. He had 17 tackles and 4 TFLs, his most productive season to date.
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Yeah, Rubio has been a rotational DT for three years. Trouble is he's been stuck behind Cross and Ademilola/Mills. But all that practice/time should pay off next year. Hopefully Vernon follows a similar trajectory starting in September.
 
dublinirish

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being a reserve DL can be a pain though, a lot of the position is about setting the OL up for counters and stuff and to do that its about establishing a move on early reps and then countering/switching it up on later reps. Basically you are lulling or setting up the guy across from you so you can then pull off a big play on a key down. More reps = better performance.
 
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