I disagree. This class is faster than some of the other most recent ones. Especially on defense.
I strongly agree!
They do have more speed this year than in year's past, I will give you that. But we are still getting LB with 4.7. And we got a DB who has great speed who has to hit because we lack depth there overall and in this class.
Regardless of skill, defending the spread means not recruiting the slow LB and CB.
We have two DE prospects with great speed, but as they bulk up they may loose some of that. We have one DT with standout speed for the position, and the WR are solid speed wise.
I should amend my statement to say that while we did get some decent speed this year, our team overall still lacks speed on the depth chart. We will need 2-3 more classes of guys with above average speed to be able to play with the better teams in the country, especially those that run the spread or the top SEC-type teams whose entire roster is fast.
That is, if you want to play for a national championship. Right now we may be BCS quality in the next year or so, but I doubt we could keep up with the top 2-4 teams in the country straight up.
In a couple of years with these types of classes, maybe.
My problem in the past, in recruiting, with conversations like these is that I believed the standard bull shit. It is recruiting. Free market sales rules apply. Let the buyer beware. It is like the "super fast defensive player that was winding up as Kelly came in. Apparently he ran a 4.5 forty. The staff said bull shit and timed him. 4.8. His draft stock showed it, too.
Some of these guys come in claiming exquisite times. And then everyone claims that, oh they slowed down as they bulked up and got stronger. What a load if feces. I always assumed that kids got faster than ancient times when I played. Now I am thinking not so much.
There are a couple reasons that I think there is so much confusion, mystery and drama. A0.1 second increment in a forty may not even be a stride. Each of the differences between being in a uniform, on grass, hand down, hand or laser timed, and how you count the start and finished, can make a 30% difference on a given individual time.
Our old coach made us start from our normal positional stance in full equipment, on the field and he started the stopwatch at your first twitch. Because the only thing he used it for is to pick the guys on punt coverage (and sometimes kick coverage.) He had other thinks he looked for in determining the likelihood of a player logging game time; how quick were they off the ball in cadence drill?
How quickly could they meet the ball carrier in the cone drill? How good were they at the nutcracker drill? (A lot of people think that drill is entirely about power, but we looked at tape, and 90% of the winners, whether it is the blocker or tackler got into sound position first.)
We could go on, but you get the drift. The fact is in '08 the fastest ND starting linebacker probably ran a 5.03 second 40. That increased to about a 4.8 or so, and the size and playing weigh increased. This last year with Smith and Councell that improved again at the Dog position where you needed it. These guys this year have the strength of the former linebackers, as they came into ND, and much more speed, quickness, and agility. Have you watched their tape? It isn't even close.
So lets not confuse the two things. The general reports of fast 40's on the part of top recruits generally come undone at places like the Opening. And with that the Kelly staff is getting faster kids, that are better athletes and stronger than recent recruits were, (four and more years ago.)
And then you have guys like Williams (especially), Blankenship, Hayes, Trumbetti, Cage, and a couple of others that have tape showing them running down opposing linebackers from behind or bad angles. I mean this is some awesome stuff. Someone estimated on one tape of Jhonny Williams where the running back had quite a head start and he ran over forty yards to catch him and pull him down from behind, he ran the equivalent of a 4.5 second forty. In a game situation. Do I believe this is accurate? I don't care. But the last time we have had such a fast recruit that came in at over 6'6" tall? Let alone two? We may have had one ever. We have two guys in this class alone. And the other one Stephon Tuitt was routinely described by ND fans as a "project," even though he was a fairly solid four star on everyone's list and a five star on one.
Tuitt has done that in the past, and look how he rose in the crop he was recruited with. But this year we have three four, even five guys doing those freakish things. And then we have guys like Drue Tranquill! This class is freakishly faster by a pretty wide margin I believe.
I just don't get it. The more time you take slicing through the recruiting bull shit with this class, better and better it looks!
