I think things are beginning to come together with the WR group. I don't think one player will make or break the group, but the addition of a guy like Perdue can help everyone (we will get to that in a bit). Looking at this more with respect to next year as I will add LaQuvionte Gonzalez here (will throw in Braylon Royal as well), there are some things to look forward to this upcoming season and next season. With the way the current offense looks, I think it we can break the WRs down into four groups (where some WRs can overlap here):
"Go Deep/Speed" WRs - as the name suggests, these are the guys you can throw the bombs to down the field
1.) Quincy Perdue - the addition of Perdue gives the team it's first real deep threat that can play every play. The addition of a deep threat helps everyone out in this group as it opens the field up. For proof of this, see the clip JK posted in the other thread. I would also categorize him as an "all around" WR who can catch screen passes and run any route.
2.) Braylon Royal - he doesn't have the size of a Quincy Perdue, but he has impressive speed averaging nearly 30 yards per catch. He is a guy that can stretch the defense as well and that will be his biggest contribution to the team IMO
3.) Tyler Patrick - another guy with impressive deep speed, I still think his biggest contributions will be on special teams, but he is a guy you can put out there that can keep defenses honest as well
"The Vertical/Hitch" guys - similar to go deep guys in that you can hit them along the sidelines for 20+ yard passes but also are also big guys you can sit in a zone for a ten yard pickup. Not as big as a threat to get the 40+ yard passes as a go deep guy, but they can catch a pass on a seam route and take it to the house
1.) Kent Taylor - he showed us this in the Spring Game with his long catch, but this was common in his HS clips as he would take a seam route passes the distance but also drop into a zone for the safe catch
2.) Ben Johnson - similar to Kent Taylor, I am not sure he has the same speed/ability on those vertical routes, but do think he is a stronger guy for those hitch routes than him
3.) Chase Harrell - not nearly as thick as these two guys, he does have some height as well as showing the ability to catch those vertical passes but also drop into a zone
"The Jitterbug" guys - the guys that have that ability to juke people out of the cleats and make something out of nothing, especially effective on screen passes
1.) LaQuvionte Gonzalez - all I had heard about the guy before watching anything was he was fast. I was expecting him to be a deep threat that was going to stretch the field. Then I watched his HS clips and some clips of him at A&M and he wasn't used like that at all. He was used running sweeps and catching screens. Now the guy is fast, but his skillset translates more to this jitterbug role than a go deep role.
2.) Derrick Neal - I am still really high on this guy and excited to see what he can do in an offense like this. Give him some space and let him do work!
3.) Steven Sims - I was tempted to put him in the all around role because the guy can really run some routes, but he is pretty solid in that role of making something out of nothing as well.
"The All Around" guys - I see these guys as "technicians" when it comes to route running with them running really crisp routes. Doing so makes them capable of running anything on the route tree and combines elements of the three above categories
1.) Bobby Hartzog - I think he is the most naturally skilled route runner on the team. He was very fluid with all of his routes in his HS clips and was able to do everything from taking screen passes to running deep routes. I liked seeing he is now almost 190 lbs as I think that will allow him to take the physical punishment of running several routes
2.) Tre Parmalee - I have always called him a possession receiver in the body of a slot receiver. That could be taken as a shot on his deep speed, but I say that more because I thought he has been the best receiver the past few years of getting separation on the short to intermediate routes.
3.) Jeremiah Booker - He is not really a guy I expect to catch many screens, but I do think he is a guy capable of doing everything else. He was one of those guys on tape who looked the part not really standing out on one particular thing but doing everything well.
4.) Emmanuel Moore - It's hard to ignore his production in HS, of which you don't put up those numbers unless you can do a little bit of everything. I still think he looks like a safety or RB, but hey if you can get a rocked up WR out in space in this wide open offense, have fun trying to tackle that Mr. 170 lbs CB
5.) Darious Crawley - from the get go, he was a developmental guy. Played QB most of his time in HS, so there was going to be that transition to a new position for him. He shows excellent ability to change direction, so he can be molded into a position. Is that RB? Is that CB? Is that WR? We will see, but whatever it is I think they need to decide that now in hopes of developing him down the road. I am hopeful we redshirt him to allow him to develop as I don't think it was smart burning his RS last year...
It may take a couple of years for these guys to gel, but I think we got a pretty solid nucleus developing at this position that will look really good a few years down the road in this offense...
"Go Deep/Speed" WRs - as the name suggests, these are the guys you can throw the bombs to down the field
1.) Quincy Perdue - the addition of Perdue gives the team it's first real deep threat that can play every play. The addition of a deep threat helps everyone out in this group as it opens the field up. For proof of this, see the clip JK posted in the other thread. I would also categorize him as an "all around" WR who can catch screen passes and run any route.
2.) Braylon Royal - he doesn't have the size of a Quincy Perdue, but he has impressive speed averaging nearly 30 yards per catch. He is a guy that can stretch the defense as well and that will be his biggest contribution to the team IMO
3.) Tyler Patrick - another guy with impressive deep speed, I still think his biggest contributions will be on special teams, but he is a guy you can put out there that can keep defenses honest as well
"The Vertical/Hitch" guys - similar to go deep guys in that you can hit them along the sidelines for 20+ yard passes but also are also big guys you can sit in a zone for a ten yard pickup. Not as big as a threat to get the 40+ yard passes as a go deep guy, but they can catch a pass on a seam route and take it to the house
1.) Kent Taylor - he showed us this in the Spring Game with his long catch, but this was common in his HS clips as he would take a seam route passes the distance but also drop into a zone for the safe catch
2.) Ben Johnson - similar to Kent Taylor, I am not sure he has the same speed/ability on those vertical routes, but do think he is a stronger guy for those hitch routes than him
3.) Chase Harrell - not nearly as thick as these two guys, he does have some height as well as showing the ability to catch those vertical passes but also drop into a zone
"The Jitterbug" guys - the guys that have that ability to juke people out of the cleats and make something out of nothing, especially effective on screen passes
1.) LaQuvionte Gonzalez - all I had heard about the guy before watching anything was he was fast. I was expecting him to be a deep threat that was going to stretch the field. Then I watched his HS clips and some clips of him at A&M and he wasn't used like that at all. He was used running sweeps and catching screens. Now the guy is fast, but his skillset translates more to this jitterbug role than a go deep role.
2.) Derrick Neal - I am still really high on this guy and excited to see what he can do in an offense like this. Give him some space and let him do work!
3.) Steven Sims - I was tempted to put him in the all around role because the guy can really run some routes, but he is pretty solid in that role of making something out of nothing as well.
"The All Around" guys - I see these guys as "technicians" when it comes to route running with them running really crisp routes. Doing so makes them capable of running anything on the route tree and combines elements of the three above categories
1.) Bobby Hartzog - I think he is the most naturally skilled route runner on the team. He was very fluid with all of his routes in his HS clips and was able to do everything from taking screen passes to running deep routes. I liked seeing he is now almost 190 lbs as I think that will allow him to take the physical punishment of running several routes
2.) Tre Parmalee - I have always called him a possession receiver in the body of a slot receiver. That could be taken as a shot on his deep speed, but I say that more because I thought he has been the best receiver the past few years of getting separation on the short to intermediate routes.
3.) Jeremiah Booker - He is not really a guy I expect to catch many screens, but I do think he is a guy capable of doing everything else. He was one of those guys on tape who looked the part not really standing out on one particular thing but doing everything well.
4.) Emmanuel Moore - It's hard to ignore his production in HS, of which you don't put up those numbers unless you can do a little bit of everything. I still think he looks like a safety or RB, but hey if you can get a rocked up WR out in space in this wide open offense, have fun trying to tackle that Mr. 170 lbs CB
5.) Darious Crawley - from the get go, he was a developmental guy. Played QB most of his time in HS, so there was going to be that transition to a new position for him. He shows excellent ability to change direction, so he can be molded into a position. Is that RB? Is that CB? Is that WR? We will see, but whatever it is I think they need to decide that now in hopes of developing him down the road. I am hopeful we redshirt him to allow him to develop as I don't think it was smart burning his RS last year...
It may take a couple of years for these guys to gel, but I think we got a pretty solid nucleus developing at this position that will look really good a few years down the road in this offense...
