PiPress: Buildup to 2013 is on for Cretin-Derham Hall star

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Bob_Loblaw said:
As far as not noticing James, it's partially on you. He wasn't a huge name, so I don't blame you for not noticing him, but it sounds like you followed Woodbury pretty closely, he did score 2 TDs in that game. Combined, Onwualu had close to 1000 yards and 13 TDs, playing about 70% of his snaps at WR, on a team without a super effective passing game. How closely are you watching if someone who is going for 85 yards and over a TD a game, goes unnoticed, especially on the best team in the area (if you want to call CDH East Metro).

Kendrick Brewster is a good football player, so James was primarily a WR and Safety. It was more of a product of Brewster being a better RB than whoever the backup WR would have been. It was the way for Cretin to get the best players on the field.

As a JR, he was the best offensive football player on a top 5 team in the State.
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Bob, I think dboys opinion is similar to mine. It's not that JO isn't a nice player and D-1 caliber, it's that based on his current offer list you would have thought he ran for 2000 yards and 20 TDs. The fact is that I don't remember anyone in Minnesota having the offer list he has in February of his junior year, with the exception of maybe Seantrel Henderson. None of the top recruits this year had that kind of offer list a year ago, but yet someone like McDonald and Nelson certainly seem to stand out more in the games I've watched than JO. Heck, even Andrew Larson stood out more and he's going to Harvard. I realize Larson played with a better line, but as you point out, CDH still had a good team and made it to the state semis.
 

John Galt said:
Bob, I think dboys opinion is similar to mine. It's not that JO isn't a nice player and D-1 caliber, it's that based on his current offer list you would have thought he ran for 2000 yards and 20 TDs. The fact is that I don't remember anyone in Minnesota having the offer list he has in February of his junior year, with the exception of maybe Seantrel Henderson. None of the top recruits this year had that kind of offer list a year ago, but yet someone like McDonald and Nelson certainly seem to stand out more in the games I've watched than JO. Heck, even Andrew Larson stood out more and he's going to Harvard. I realize Larson played with a better line, but as you point out, CDH still had a good team and made it to the state semis.
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The recruiting process is kind of a two-fold ordeal. First, you need to be a really good player in HS. Second, you need to have the measurables to play D1 football.

Whenever you see a kid who is really good in HS, you need to try to determine how that will translate to the next level. Andrew Larson is a really good football, his numbers were good (so he passed that test), but his measurables weren't anything close to James Onwualu. James is bigger, faster, and stronger than Andrew Larson. James put up good numbers, they weren't as gaudy as come players. He was a kid who played all over. For instance, Maxx Williams and Will Johnson didn't have incredible numbers (for different reasons, Maxx moved around a lot).

He will have those huge numbers people are looking for next season. I mean, 1000 yards and 13 TDs is already pretty good. But the difference between Onwualu and most other players is that he will likely walk onto a college campus in August of 2013 at 6'3" 220 lbs with legit Big 10 speed, that's why the offers are pouring in.
 

Agreed, but it still doesn't explain how players from this year's class with great measurables AND similar or better production on the field were less heavily recruited at this point in their junior years (Hayes, McDonald, Pirsig, Williams, Nelson). I'll chalk it up to the CDH factor.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Bob, the false assumption you make with your response is that dboy knows anything about anything. He doesn't.
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dpod, you are a CDH expert now? i thought that was limited to ACC hoops. Virginia... too funny
 

Redbird said:
Have to chime in on this; I saw him in the section final against a decent Eagan team and he came in when Brewster went down with an injury. I believe he went for 150 plus and some long runs, and was very impressive.
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dont remember Floyd having to 'come in' when someone went down in his Jr year.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Huh? They went undefeated in the regular season and won their conference. They then went on to make it to the State semi's and got beaten up by Wayzata. It wasn't a "great" CDH team, but it sure wasn't a down year (they've only won 2 State Championships in their entire history).

As far as not noticing James, it's partially on you. He wasn't a huge name, so I don't blame you for not noticing him, but it sounds like you followed Woodbury pretty closely, he did score 2 TDs in that game. Combined, Onwualu had close to 1000 yards and 13 TDs, playing about 70% of his snaps at WR, on a team without a super effective passing game. How closely are you watching if someone who is going for 85 yards and over a TD a game, goes unnoticed, especially on the best team in the area (if you want to call CDH East Metro).

Kendrick Brewster is a good football player, so James was primarily a WR and Safety. It was more of a product of Brewster being a better RB than whoever the backup WR would have been. It was the way for Cretin to get the best players on the field.

As a JR, he was the best offensive football player on a top 5 team in the State.
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bob, the only things that stood out in the CHD/woodbury game were: 1.) chippy play by CDH ( at least 5 unsportmanlike penalties ), 2.) great CDH dline 3.) CDH had tiny dbacks.. that were some great tacklers..

too bad junius wilson couldn't play... a threat to go all the way every time he touched the ball.. now he you would notice. but even he is only MS-Mankato bound.
 

dboy said:
dpod, you are a CDH expert now? i thought that was limited to ACC hoops. Virginia... too funny
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Nope. Never said that. I certainly trust the opinion of several multimillionaire head coaches over the opinion of some anonymous know-nothing on a sports-themed message board.

And, re: Virginia, let's make a bet. If they make the Sweet 16, I'll go away and never post here again. If they don't, you go away and never post here again. Whaddya say, Big Mouth?
 

dpodoll68 said:
I certainly trust the opinion of several multimillionaire head coaches over the opinion of some anonymous know-nothing on a sports-themed message board.QUOTE]

Does this include Tim Brewster and Bret Bielema?
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How about taking the personal stuff to PM?
 




John Galt said:
Agreed, but it still doesn't explain how players from this year's class with great measurables AND similar or better production on the field were less heavily recruited at this point in their junior years (Hayes, McDonald, Pirsig, Williams, Nelson). I'll chalk it up to the CDH factor.
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I think you'd have a hard time naming 1 kid in MN with similar measurables who didn't have a lot of offers. The only kid I can think of is Andre McDonald, and he had a lot of offers.

Andrew Larson and Antonio Ford's measurables aren't anywhere near as good as Onwualu's and they play at programs who have even been more succesful. There are plenty of good Cretin players who don't get a ton of offers (Harden, whose production was the best of any defensive player in the state), etc.

The key is the measurables.
 

dboy said:
dont remember Floyd having to 'come in' when someone went down in his Jr year.
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James was already in, already the best player on the entire offense, he just switched from WR to RB. So yeah, you did never see Floyd switch from WR to RB, because it never happened. You also never saw Floyd run for 150 yards in a football game. But apparently, you don't see much when you go to the games because you are on here arguing that some kid who is going to Mankato is better than a kid who has offers from multimillionare expert coaches from around the country.
 

Bob, are you Mr. Onwualu? No need to get so defensive about him. He's obviously a good talent based on the offers he has, no one can dispute that he has lots of potential. Based on film and on-field production during his junior year, it seems clear that McDonald looked a lot better than JO. Yet at this time last year, McDonald had 1 offer (Iowa) and Onwualu has about 8, including half the
B1G, Notre Dame, and Stanford.
 



John Galt said:
Bob, are you Mr. Onwualu? No need to get so defensive about him. He's obviously a good talent based on the offers he has, no one can dispute that he has lots of potential. Based on film and on-field production during his junior year, it seems clear that McDonald looked a lot better than JO. Yet at this time last year, McDonald had 1 offer (Iowa) and Onwualu has about 8, including half the
B1G, Notre Dame, and Stanford.
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Nope and i'm not defensive about him. I ripped on dboy because his takes are utterly illogical. It's silly to compare Michael Floyd with James Onwualu because they are completely different players. Furthermore, it's bizarre to be on here talking about how he didn't see anything in James Onwualu and then talk about a Woodbury kid who is going to Mankato being better than him. That's illogical and it deserves ripping.

Yep, he has more than Andre and i'm a bit surprised by that, but not shocked. He will be larger, he is more versatile (could end up at LB, DB, WR, or RB), is an ideal off the field person and is probably a tinge faster. I actually think Andre is even better than his offer sheet, but I think James is a similar level of talent.

Andre is the only person in MN whose measurables were anywhere close to James Onwualu's. James is more versatile and the offers started coming in a tad bit earlier.
 

dboy said:
saw plenty of east metro this past fall.. i also didn't notice this kid..

best player was junius ? from Woodbury.. best open field runner i've seen in the HS ranks in some time. but he was hurt for the 2nd half of the season. three year starter.

if this CDH kid was so great, he should have had monster numbers this year.. CDH was down this year for thier standards.
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I haven't seen every kid in the East Metro play, but Junius Wilson is one hell of a football player. Other than blocking, Junius is definitely a better high school running back than Lamonte. Lamonte was bigger and stronger, but Junius is much better in the open field, has more football speed, and reads blocks better. Junius dominated high school more than Lamonte with a worse O-Line and Quarterback.

I never really played close attention to Onwualu because Brewster got more hype, but if you've seen Junius and Brewster play, Junius is better and it's not really that close.

As for Junius going to Mankato, that's actually false. He had an offer from them and many other D2 schools. I know he also had an offer from South Dakota, but that probably got yanked after he tore his ACL. Probably due to his knee, he's going to Iowa Central Community College next year.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Nope and i'm not defensive about him. I ripped on dboy because his takes are utterly illogical. It's silly to compare Michael Floyd with James Onwualu because they are completely different players. Furthermore, it's bizarre to be on here talking about how he didn't see anything in James Onwualu and then talk about a Woodbury kid who is going to Mankato being better than him. That's illogical and it deserves ripping.

Yep, he has more than Andre and i'm a bit surprised by that, but not shocked. He will be larger, he is more versatile (could end up at LB, DB, WR, or RB), is an ideal off the field person and is probably a tinge faster. I actually think Andre is even better than his offer sheet, but I think James is a similar level of talent.

Andre is the only person in MN whose measurables were anywhere close to James Onwualu's. James is more versatile and the offers started coming in a tad bit earlier.
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I realize I'm not in the majority, but Wilson did dominate high school more than Onwualu. Onwualu is MUCH more fit for college football though. Wilson is pretty small (5'9" 195).

Again, I don't have anything against Onwualu, I just think that, in high school, Wilson was pretty damn good.
 

RoyalGopher said:
I realize I'm not in the majority, but Wilson did dominate high school more than Onwualu. Onwualu is MUCH more fit for college football though. Wilson is pretty small (5'9" 195).

Again, I don't have anything against Anwualu, I just think that, in high school, Wilson was pretty damn good.
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I didn't even mean it as a slight to him, there are tons of kids who are fantastic HS football players, who just don't have the physical profile to play Big 10 football. That was more my point, that in comparing Wilson to Onwualu, it's silly.

They are completely different kinds of athletes, but it's like Lamonte Edwards. Edwards was a fantastic HS football player, but he probably put up considerably less gaudy numbers than a number of athletes who are D3 / D2 caliber players. It's nothing against those guys, but with Lamonte Edwards physical profile, comparing him to a good RB who is going to Winona would be kind of bizarre.
 

RoyalGopher said:
I haven't seen every kid in the East Metro play, but Junius Wilson is one hell of a football player. Other than blocking, Junius is definitely a better high school running back than Lamonte. Lamonte was bigger and stronger, but Junius is much better in the open field, has more football speed, and reads blocks better. Junius dominated high school more than Lamonte with a worse O-Line and Quarterback.

I never really played close attention to Anyanwu because Brewster got more hype, but if you've seen Junius and Brewster play, Junius is better and it's not really that close.

As for Junius going to Mankato, that's actually false. He had an offer from them and many other D2 schools. I know he also had an offer from South Dakota, but that probably got yanked after he tore his ACL. Probably due to his knee, he's going to Iowa Central Community College next year.
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(I mix up Anyanwu and Onwualu as well)
But your Edwards take is precisely my point. I imagine that there were a number of D2 kids who were 5'10" 180 lbs with OK speed who were much better RBs than Edwards.

I never thought Brewster was more than a D2 / D3 talent. He is a good football player, but he isn't in the same league as Onwualu in terms of talent.

Onwualu will put up those huge numbers next season (barring an injury). But i'd still expect to see him in a versatile role.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I didn't even mean it as a slight to him, there are tons of kids who are fantastic HS football players, who just don't have the physical profile to play Big 10 football. That was more my point, that in comparing Wilson to Onwualu, it's silly.

They are completely different kinds of athletes, but it's like Lamonte Edwards. Edwards was a fantastic HS football player, but he probably put up considerably less gaudy numbers than a number of athletes who are D3 / D2 caliber players. It's nothing against those guys, but with Lamonte Edwards physical profile, comparing him to a good RB who is going to Winona would be kind of bizarre.
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No, I completely agree with you. Even though I thought Wilson was just as good if not better of a high school player than Lamonte, I never doubted that Edwards would be a MUCH better college player.
 

I haven't seen these guys play but make me choose between 5'10" 180 lbs and 6'3" 210 lbs with basically the same speed, guess who I pick? The problem is that measureables don't always translate into success on the field. Also, guys that play multiple positions in HS sometimes can't find a position in college. For instance, Lamonte hasn't exactly lit it up yet. Sounds like Onwualu is getting a lot of interest because of his success (measureables) at camps. Hopefully he will have a great year on the field next year and Jerry can convince him to join the other native Minnesotans in bringing the U back to prominence!!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think you'd have a hard time naming 1 kid in MN with similar measurables who didn't have a lot of offers. The only kid I can think of is Andre McDonald, and he had a lot of offers.

The key is the measurables.
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Duke Anyanwu
 


Oh great - Floyd is best friends with Onwualu. You can hear Floyd..."You don't need to commit to the Gophers I didn't ".
 

John Galt said:
Duke Anyanwu
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I like Duke, but his measureables are absolutely not in the same league as Onwualu. If Duke ran an electronic timed 40 of 4.53 at an impartial camp, we would never consider making him into a TE. He'd be a WR and one of the fastest players on our team. Duke is a fantastic athlete, James Onwualu has elite athleticism.
 

LongTimeGopher said:
I haven't seen these guys play but make me choose between 5'10" 180 lbs and 6'3" 210 lbs with basically the same speed, guess who I pick? The problem is that measureables don't always translate into success on the field. Also, guys that play multiple positions in HS sometimes can't find a position in college. For instance, Lamonte hasn't exactly lit it up yet. Sounds like Onwualu is getting a lot of interest because of his success (measureables) at camps. Hopefully he will have a great year on the field next year and Jerry can convince him to join the other native Minnesotans in bringing the U back to prominence!!
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He was a freshman.
 

Why Wait?

dpodoll68 said:
Nope. Never said that. I certainly trust the opinion of several multimillionaire head coaches over the opinion of some anonymous know-nothing on a sports-themed message board.

And, re: Virginia, let's make a bet. If they make the Sweet 16, I'll go away and never post here again. If they don't, you go away and never post here again. Whaddya say, Big Mouth?
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No reason to wait out the Sweet 16...why don't you just go away? There's a lot of decent members tired of your acerbic, sarcastic, critical s#&t that you post on this respectable fan site.
 

Wahoo McDaniel said:
No reason to wait out the Sweet 16...why don't you just go away? There's a lot of decent members tired of your acerbic, sarcastic, critical s#&t that you post on this respectable fan site.
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I actually like dpod because he wants to keep the board factual and on-topic. Can he be an ass? Well, ya, so can everyone. But if you can't take criticism from some guy on the internet, how can you take it in real life?
 

I guarantee if you did a poll questions asking "Do you want dpodoll68 to go away?", it would overwhelmingly be in favor if him.
 

zambam said:
I actually like dpod because he wants to keep the board factual and on-topic. Can he be an ass? Well, ya, so can everyone. But if you can't take criticism from some guy on the internet, how can you take it in real life?
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Every board needs a dpodoll. He is sort of like the sheriff the town folk’s bring-in in westerns to clean up the town. Once he has done his job they then want him to leave. The good news for dpodoll I don't think this board will ever run out things for him to fix.
 

Killjoy said:
Every board needs a dpodoll. He is sort of like the sheriff they bring in westerns to clean up the town and once he has done that they want him to go away. The good news for dpodoll I don't think this board will ever run out things for him to fix.
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Most of the people who don't like Dpo are way too thin skinned. Almost everything he has corrected, he's right. If you come on here and post about a kid with a 4.3 40 time, i'd probably just ignore it but I don't blame Dpo for correcting it. It's nonsense. People just don't like to be corrected, especially when they are wrong. Dpo gets under people's skin because he is right way more often than he is wrong.
 

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