It does sound like an oxymoron so I will start with the obvious reasons for caution and speak on reasons to be optimistic.
It will take at least 2 more recruiting classes like the talent of the 2015 class to really turn things around. By this I mean, being able to compete Every game, finish a game, and win convincingly. We already know all the other reasons for caution and I don't want to beat a dead horse as we all know those things now.
Also, while EMU is not like most programs, other programs with similar rebuilding periods give coaches at a minimum 5 years to allow for full recruiting cycle (4years and extra year for redshirt freshmen). I am not advocating a term but just stating.
Reason for optimism.
I am in no way pointing the finger negatively but just sharing. We already have 6 freshmen contributing on special teams and of course the offensive/defensive player. In seeing the freshmen practice going up against the 1s, what stands out is the fact that although they have raw talent, they give the 1s fits. some will say "that is not saying much in regards to what shows on field on game days". But I am saying that they are not only giving the 1s fits, but there is a difference. The youngsters have swagger and are very confident in there ability and it shows.
Ex. take LBs position, as soon as the offensive hole opens, the gap is filled with hard nose hitting Lb. WRs, the route running and being able to separate is extremely fluid. DB's we have some "ball hawks" that can cover and tackle in space. The downside of these kids with raw talent I just discussed is the learning of the "system" But the great part about these kids is that they are "naturals" at their prospective positions and will thrive within any system they are placed into.
Of course we know not every single player will "stick" so to speak and that is a given or reason to be cautious but I must say with the continued recruiting of kids like we have (Creightons' Staff has done great job there), we will be fine. Last, but not least, I played sports from age of 4 to the age of 21, competed at the D1 level and played alongside many that went on to the NFL. Additionally, I coached for youth football ages 10-13 for 10 years and impacted numerous kids lives that went on to compete at the FBS and FCS level. Lastly, I had older son to compete at the college level and my youngest currently. I said all that to say that I feel like I have an eye for talent when I make the afforementioned statement.
I have not lost faith in Coach Creighton. I have talked to our past four coaches and Creighton seems to be the real deal. However, in order for recruits to believe in his system, he needs to demonstrate that it works by "winning". We must find a way to show improvement by winning at least 3 games. If we do not show improvement, the 2016 class won't be very good....this translates to starting off 2017 Recruiting class even worse. The first two Creighton classes may be OK because the kids only go on what he is promising them. However the future Recruiting classes will look for results.
I hope Creighton can do it. One thing for sure, he needs to take a stand on the QB position and quit waffling back and forth between Reggie and Roback. We all know that QB is the most critical position and Reggie is one dimensional and easily defended. For the betterment of this team , Reggie should move to WR. He would stretch the defense and open up running game.
In order to be optimistic, Creighton has to make adjustments that all of us know need to be made.
I have not lost faith in Coach Creighton. I have talked to our past four coaches and Creighton seems to be the real deal. However, in order for recruits to believe in his system, he needs to demonstrate that it works by "winning". We must find a way to show improvement by winning at least 3 games. If we do not show improvement, the 2016 class won't be very good....this translates to starting off 2017 Recruiting class even worse. The first two Creighton classes may be OK because the kids only go on what he is promising them. However the future Recruiting classes will look for results.
I hope Creighton can do it. One thing for sure, he needs to take a stand on the QB position and quit waffling back and forth between Reggie and Roback. We all know that QB is the most critical position and Reggie is one dimensional and easily defended. For the betterment of this team , Reggie should move to WR. He would stretch the defense and open up running game.
In order to be optimistic, Creighton has to make adjustments that all of us know need to be made.
I have not lost faith in Coach Creighton. I have talked to our past four coaches and Creighton seems to be the real deal. However, in order for recruits to believe in his system, he needs to demonstrate that it works by "winning". We must find a way to show improvement by winning at least 3 games. If we do not show improvement, the 2016 class won't be very good....this translates to starting off 2017 Recruiting class even worse. The first two Creighton classes may be OK because the kids only go on what he is promising them. However the future Recruiting classes will look for results.
I hope Creighton can do it. One thing for sure, he needs to take a stand on the QB position and quit waffling back and forth between Reggie and Roback. We all know that QB is the most critical position and Reggie is one dimensional and easily defended. For the betterment of this team , Reggie should move to WR. He would stretch the defense and open up running game.
In order to be optimistic, Creighton has to make adjustments that all of us know need to be made.
(10-25-2015 08:43 PM)Luckeyone Wrote: [ -> ]I have not lost faith in Coach Creighton. I have talked to our past four coaches and Creighton seems to be the real deal. However, in order for recruits to believe in his system, he needs to demonstrate that it works by "winning". We must find a way to show improvement by winning at least 3 games. If we do not show improvement, the 2016 class won't be very good....this translates to starting off 2017 Recruiting class even worse. The first two Creighton classes may be OK because the kids only go on what he is promising them. However the future Recruiting classes will look for results.
I hope Creighton can do it. One thing for sure, he needs to take a stand on the QB position and quit waffling back and forth between Reggie and Roback. We all know that QB is the most critical position and Reggie is one dimensional and easily defended. For the betterment of this team , Reggie should move to WR. He would stretch the defense and open up running game.
In order to be optimistic, Creighton has to make adjustments that all of us know need to be made.
Some valid points.
Thanks Candela, great insight from someone who has seen it up close, with the experience to know what he is witnessing.
I have heard some of the same, although haven't witnessed it with my own 2 eyes. Hear we've got wide receiver(s), a pass rusher, and defensive back(s) that can make a difference next year.
The rest of this class is critical, and the talent level has to continually be upgraded across the board, or no amount of coaching or culture change will make much of a difference. Hopefully the Florida, Texas, and Juco connections are being developed aggressively!
Recruit, recruit, recruit
Does anyone have access to the Scout team players of the week, or is this something that is posted anywhere? This would give us an idea about the top performing young guys.
(10-25-2015 09:26 PM)EagleTough Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone have access to the Scout team players of the week, or is this something that is posted anywhere? This would give us an idea about the top performing young guys.
Not sure if should post another thread
Scout team player of the week defensive for 3 weeks in a row 9/5,9/12 and 9/19 my son Justin Moody it was after that he began to be utilized on special teams.
Oct.8 defense/Chad Bata, offense/Austin Bray, special teams/Tyler Onda
Oct.15 defense/Thad Abram, offense/Sam Girodat, special teams/Jaevante Ray
Oct. 22 defense/Chris Hendricks, offense/Kezio Snelling, special teams/Aloyis Gray
Creighton needs to do some deep soul searching about the future of his defensive coordinator either at the end of this year or the end of next year when most of the defensive players are CCs. I'm going to be quiet right now about recruiting, we have 10-11 verbals and it may surprise you to know that most are two star recruits and some the stock is definitely rising. I don't want to lose any of our verbals, I expect a class of 17-19. So far I haven't see a great number of JUCO types being recruited on defense but yes we could use a JUCO DL, one or two JUCO LBs and DBs. Actually with the exception of Calderon almost all of the JUCOs CC recruited this year are contributing and none were recruited the staff seems to have an eye for JUCO talent I do know they're looking at some JUCO OL probably one.
The key is scouting and then development, I think the overall coaching staff does very well in that department and also our strength coach is one of the best in America period.
By the way we should have won the Old Dominion game, the Ball State game, I think the Army game took some air out of our tires. We have some winnable games left on the schedule and need to be continued focus and hard work. I would still consider 3 wins this year a move forward.
On the defense I have Dillion and Figueroa making contributions as true frosh most of the newcomers on defense are JUCOs.
On offense I have Daugherty as a true frosh.
Special teams I have Pickett, Russell and Moody.
Frankly I'm glad most of the 2015 class is redshirting.
Then there's the redshirt freshmen from the 2014 class guys like Vann, Ross Williams, Tim Gordon, Banham, Rachwal, Fuller to go along with the Beck and Harris.
Probably more impressive to me is the offensive line group of Armstrong, Hickey, Tallman, Hendricks and Bukoski who are the main backups as redshirt freshmen, if they continue to add weight and get stronger this should be a solid group going forward.
As you can see alot of the redshirt frosh are getting playing time this year and should get better with experience.
We tend to forget how young of a team EMU football is.
Not optimistic at all. EMU is not even competitive this year and other team's young players are going to get better too. Thursday will tell the tale. Let's see how much better P.J. Fleck's program looks. If EMU is competitive, there's hope, if they don't belong on the same field, we'll never close the gap because WMU is ALWAYS going to out recruit EMU.
If you don't like the truth that me and thousands of EMU alums are saying...don't get blown out, we'll worry about trying to win later. Next year, gotta get 6 wins.
More like a cast of you and a few Bob, I wish there were thousands of alums who really cared about EMU football either loving it or hating it and the same with EMU athletics in general. Positive change requires an investment of time (attending games) and money (donations). There are a few on this board who represent those who care. I prefer to be an agent of positive change rather than whining and pointing out my school's warts rather than focusing on the positive and EMU has made some positive strides overall in its athletic programs. I also prefer to focus on the now and moving forward because that's where we are now. All the past coaches of EMU football over the past 30 years were basically well meaning individuals. But remember this Genyk made a salary of 175k and there wasn't an indoor football facility until English. Prior EMU administrations made little or no investment in the program it was a pet rock nice to have if you let it sit there. English got paid more and an indoor facility but again the marketing of the program was nil. All of that infective as it may be is now at least being addressed.
(10-26-2015 08:37 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote: [ -> ]Not optimistic at all. EMU is not even competitive this year and other team's young players are going to get better too. Thursday will tell the tale. Let's see how much better P.J. Fleck's program looks. If EMU is competitive, there's hope, if they don't belong on the same field, we'll never close the gap because WMU is ALWAYS going to out recruit EMU.
If you don't like the truth that me and thousands of EMU alums are saying...don't get blown out, we'll worry about trying to win later. Next year, gotta get 6 wins.
Bitter and unhappy people will never trust or see good in anyone, because they don't see good or trust in themselves.
You still have a realistic shot at 2 more wins. 3 would be amazing.
In reference to the one who wrote ...."I wish there were thousands that actually cared about EMU"..
Well there are 50000 Alumni who care about EMU and we could sell out the stadium if we could win consistently. After enduring so many losing seasons, many Alumni are embarrassed to be affiliated with EMU football. During our homecoming, I had two Alumni friends fly in from Boston only to attend the UofM game. I went to the EMU game....sorry that I did after what I saw. However, my two EMU Alumni friends make big money (200k salary) and decided to take their entertainment money, and party to UofM. We cal all say we don't need them blah, blah, blah. The fact is we need all of our alumni.....they will all come back if we have 3-4 winning seasons. Heck, if we could win back to back MAC Championships we could get 30k in attendance. Need to win two more games this year and 6 games next year period.
Dear Luckeyone,
I hope you chastised your friends for attending the U-M game. In my opinion, people who are graduates of Eastern and support other schools should be reminded of where their loyalty lies. I have several friends that graduated from Eastern, but you would think they went to U-M, by the way they flock to Wolverine athletic contests. Their reply is always that they can support whom they wish, and that is correct, but I always give them the digs of where they belong.
(10-26-2015 08:46 PM)Ken Barna Wrote: [ -> ]Dear Luckeyone,
I hope you chastised your friends for attending the U-M game. In my opinion, people who are graduates of Eastern and support other schools should be reminded of where their loyalty lies. I have several friends that graduated from Eastern, but you would think they went to U-M, by the way they flock to Wolverine athletic contests. Their reply is always that they can support whom they wish, and that is correct, but I always give them the digs of where they belong.
Amen +1000000
(10-26-2015 07:21 PM)Luckeyone Wrote: [ -> ]In reference to the one who wrote ...."I wish there were thousands that actually cared about EMU"..
Well there are 50000 Alumni who care about EMU and we could sell out the stadium if we could win consistently. After enduring so many losing seasons, many Alumni are embarrassed to be affiliated with EMU football. During our homecoming, I had two Alumni friends fly in from Boston only to attend the UofM game. I went to the EMU game....sorry that I did after what I saw. However, my two EMU Alumni friends make big money (200k salary) and decided to take their entertainment money, and party to UofM. We cal all say we don't need them blah, blah, blah. The fact is we need all of our alumni.....they will all come back if we have 3-4 winning seasons. Heck, if we could win back to back MAC Championships we could get 30k in attendance. Need to win two more games this year and 6 games next year period.
50000 alumni where exactly? In the State of MI?