Gophers receive commitment from Florida wide receiver Douglas Emilien

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Watched his highlights. My thoughts from an untrained eye is that his route-running is precise, he gets good separation away from the DBs, and he has good hands. From his offer list this looks like a great get. And knowing our staff has a knack for building up WRs, this guy could be a major contributor in a couple of years.
 




Table. Reminds me of an old Army story from Private McKay. (Read this in your best Boston accent)

”I got in a fight with 20 Rangers. I kicked 10 of their asses. Then I got sucker punched. With a god damn table.”
 



Don’t forget the axe! said:
Let’s cool on this 40 time guys. Who timed him? Who confirmed it? How legit? As well, 40 times usually improve as these guys mature and get into legit training. Let’s not make it more than what it is.

I’d believe the time less if we read 4.34. By the way, I actually ran a 4.34 when I was in high school.
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That's right. It wouldn't surprise me if some of those guys he outran in the video have 40 times that are 0.2 seconds faster than his. ?
 


Gopher028 said:
Does he look fast running past high school DBs who won't play anywhere in college?...
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Of course. Which makes me think he is plenty fast enough to be a good college wr. There are higher rated receivers that have worse forty times. It’s not all about speed.
 





Gopher028 said:
Does he look fast running past high school DBs who won't play anywhere in college?...
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He looks faster than some of our other commits do running past high school DBs who won’t play in college. I’m calling BS on the 40 time. He wouldn’t have the offers he has, at that size if he was that slow. We don’t need Defensive tackles chasing down our WRs from behind.
 




I agree with @fmlizard and @Otis and others that there are a few WRs playing in college or have played in the NFL with slower than 4.6 40 speeds who have/had great careers. IMHO, Douglas Emilien may be in the same mold. That is, if he can back up the talk. Indications are there that he can.

He is smart to come to Minnesota. In Matt Simon, Kirk Ciarrocca, and PJ Fleck, the Gophers have one of the best WR teaching trios around college football. Minnesota will serve notice by putting WRs in the NFL. If you want to hone your skills and you have the right set of pass catching ability, this is the place to come to. Minnesota is Wide Receiver U.

Of course, they need to shore up the Offensive Line for both running and passing. This will mean that some of the Gophers blockers - OLs/TEs may end up in the NFL too.

Did Jerry Rice and Cris Carter have blazing speeds? No. Jerry Rice had 4.71 40 and Cris Carter had 4.63 40 speed. Jerry Rice is in the Hall of Fame. Cris Carter eventually. The difference is one was on a team that won Superbowls while the other wasn't (many Vikings greats were also snubbed for a long time). Of course, you have the other side of the spectrum. Randy Moss has 4.25 40 speed, is 6' 4", and has large hands. He is in the Hall of Fame. He is a super freak of nature.

There are different kinds of WRs out there. Are you a good route runner? Do you have sure hands? Do you have the ability to keep yourself open? Do you have the awareness when your QB is in trouble to adjust and get yourself open? Or do you have lights out blazing speed that force teams to always defend the vertical threat? Rashod Bateman is in between all these. Kudos to Matt Simon and others for evaluating and finding him. They struck gold early and won him over.

The thing is, you can have 4.3-4.4 speed and be dumb as an ox when it comes to football savvy. There are some players with certain innate abilities or drive that differentiate them from an average player to a good to great player. Tanner Morgan may be short by most standards. Not considered an archetype for a "successful" QB. He possess intangible skills that differentiate him. His drive to self improvement, his positive attitude, his desire to win, his accuracy, his leadership skills are off the wall. He had great teachers along the way including his dad. He is another fine find by PJ Fleck. It sounds like he had been recruiting him for a long time. They better find him more OL depth.

Does Douglas Emilien have those intangibles? Well, if LSU and other schools are after him, they must have also seen something PJ Fleck and company did. The proof will be in the pudding. Let's not anoint him quite yet. I hope we are right. The things that will derail a talented player - attitude and getting into trouble. You weed those out through detailed scouting and evaluations. That is not a hundred percent fool prove.

Imagine Bateman and Emilien together. That will be a coverage nightmare. Throw in Spann-Ford as a catching TE. We can't forget the other players that are red shirted like Adim-Maudemere, etc... Harrison Van Dyne showed showed flashes of his catching ability. I don't know if the reason why the Gophers TEs aren't catching the ball often is by design. I think they need to start evolving their offense to include TEs as pass catchers. Wisconsin killed the Gophers with their TE play last weekend.

Now, we have to worry about how the defense will improve.

I think when the Gophers start sending multiple players into the NFL each year, recruits will notice. Interestingly, there are eight WMU players in the NFL that are connected to PJ Fleck.

We want Big Ten Championships and National Championships! :cool03:
 
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hungan1 said:
Did Jerry Rice and Cris Carter have blazing speeds? No. Jerry Rice had 4.71 40 and Cris Carter had 4.63 40 speed. Jerry Rice is in the Hall of Fame. Cris Carter eventually.
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Not sure if you were implying otherwise, but Cris Carter is currently in the hall of fame. Class of 2013.
 

Word said:
Not sure if you were implying otherwise, but Cris Carter is currently in the hall of fame. Class of 2013.
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Glad you caught that. I didn't bother to check the update on him.
 

Don’t forget the axe! said:
Let’s cool on this 40 time guys. Who timed him? Who confirmed it? How legit? As well, 40 times usually improve as these guys mature and get into legit training. Let’s not make it more than what it is.

I’d believe the time less if we read 4.34. By the way, I actually ran a 4.34 when I was in high school.
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Haha well I actually ran a 4.24 in high school- Uncle Rico.
 



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