Quarterback of the two time defending Florida 5A championship team. Completed 61% of his passes on a 14-0 team in Florida 5A football. Program has won 27 consecutive games. Yardage stats aren't eye popping at 1504. 1504 in 14 games pretty much suggests his team must've been able to run the football pretty darned well. BUT, he did go 24 of 29 for 257 yards and 5 touchdowns in the State semifinal his team won in triple overtime so that kind of suggests he was able to step up when they needed him.
But he doesn't have any stars.
The only thing I can figure about how he ended up at McNeese is that his head coach, former NFL cornerback Patrick Surtain, went to Edna Karr High School in New Orleans and McNeese has kind of a relationship with that school. As I've noted before it's rare for McNeese to sign someone from more than maybe 250 miles from the school.
I wouldn't put any stock in that. If you look at JMU's 15 HS signees, only 4 2 star kids, no 3 star. Looks like one of JMU's weakest classes in the last doz + years stars wise.
If you look at the I-A offers, it was maybe the strongest I've ever seen. 12 had a I-A offer listed on their Rivals page, 10 of them multiple I-A offers, 3 with P5s. But 9 of the 12 with a I-A offer, and 7 of the 10 with multiple I-A offers, and even 1 with a P5 (UVA), had no stars. Of the 3 without a I-A offer, one of them was the highest rated of the four 2 star players. Go figure.
I see the McNeese kid's bio says he had a couple of G5 offers from Southern Miss and App State (Rivals only shows App State). To me, who else was offering (P5, G5, I-AA powers) is more important than having that 2 star designation.
..peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard..
..But you have to go home now. We have to have peace…
..I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.
JMU Football: 2022 & 2023 Sun Belt East Champions.
Quarterback of the two time defending Florida 5A championship team. Completed 61% of his passes on a 14-0 team in Florida 5A football. Program has won 27 consecutive games. Yardage stats aren't eye popping at 1504. 1504 in 14 games pretty much suggests his team must've been able to run the football pretty darned well. BUT, he did go 24 of 29 for 257 yards and 5 touchdowns in the State semifinal his team won in triple overtime so that kind of suggests he was able to step up when they needed him.
But he doesn't have any stars.
The only thing I can figure about how he ended up at McNeese is that his head coach, former NFL cornerback Patrick Surtain, went to Edna Karr High School in New Orleans and McNeese has kind of a relationship with that school. As I've noted before it's rare for McNeese to sign someone from more than maybe 250 miles from the school.
I wouldn't put any stock in that. If you look at JMU's 15 HS signees, only 4 2 star kids, no 3 star. Looks like one of JMU's weakest classes in the last doz + years stars wise.
If you look at the I-A offers, it was maybe the strongest I've ever seen. 12 had a I-A offer listed on their Rivals page, 10 of them multiple I-A offers, 3 with P5s. But 9 of the 12 with a I-A offer, and 7 of the 10 with multiple I-A offers, and even 1 with a P5 (UVA), had no stars. Of the 3 without a I-A offer, one of them was the highest rated of the four 2 star players. Go figure.
I see the McNeese kid's bio says he had a couple of G5 offers from Southern Miss and App State (Rivals only shows App State). To me, who else was offering (P5, G5, I-AA powers) is more important than having that 2 star designation.
The McNeese QB has decent size at 6-4 190 just gain a extra 20-30 lbs and stick him under center and let him play.
BDKJMU wrote:
I wouldn't put any stock in that. If you look at JMU's 15 HS signees, only 4 2 star kids, no 3 star. Looks like one of JMU's weakest classes in the last doz + years stars wise.
If you look at the I-A offers, it was maybe the strongest I've ever seen. 12 had a I-A offer listed on their Rivals page, 10 of them multiple I-A offers, 3 with P5s. But 9 of the 12 with a I-A offer, and 7 of the 10 with multiple I-A offers, and even 1 with a P5 (UVA), had no stars. Of the 3 without a I-A offer, one of them was the highest rated of the four 2 star players. Go figure.
I see the McNeese kid's bio says he had a couple of G5 offers from Southern Miss and App State (Rivals only shows App State). To me, who else was offering (P5, G5, I-AA powers) is more important than having that 2 star designation.
The McNeese QB has decent size at 6-4 190 just gain a extra 20-30 lbs and stick him under center and let him play.
20 lbs good chance. 30 lbs not as likely to gain of mostly muscle without losing a step speed/quickness wise & without juicing. His frame will have more to do with it than anything. Also HS listed weights are often inflated, so the kid might not even be 190. Maybe he didn't get more offers because he's rail thin.
JMU's backup QB the last 2 seasons Cole Johnson, listed at 6'5"/195 as a true Fr, 6'5"/210 as a Soph this past season (and I heard that weight was inflated). 3 way competition for the starting QB spot. If Johnson wins it #1 concern will be durability. Kid looks thin...
..peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard..
..But you have to go home now. We have to have peace…
..I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.
JMU Football: 2022 & 2023 Sun Belt East Champions.
I looked up the story of McNeese signing Cameron Smith of Florida American Heritage on Zem's Gems because I value his take. He's a high school coach in Texas but used to be a college football recruiter. He knows the game. What I found was interesting to me as a McNeese fan but I think it also provides some interesting perspective with respect to the effect of the new "early signing day" world. Zem's Gems is at https://zemsgems.wordpress.com and the part on Cameron Smith reads like this:
If Coach Lance Guidry appears to be giddy today, it comes naturally. I have been promoting Cameron Smith for about a week now after he committed to the Pokes. We did not know what to expect with this early signing period, but there were lessons learned from both coaches and players alike. There were many programs that spent their budget almost totally in December and sat back and cried at not having more scholarships in February. There were players who passed on signing in December with hopes of a better date come February. The result was there were several players left without a scholarship offer after turning down programs in December. It is the old “supply and demand” principal.
I questioned Guidry on his mental health in December when he refused to sign any players. I think he is getting the last laugh on his strategy. There is an old saying about “patience,” but it escapes me right now. LOL I think they got really lucky with Rayne’s Trent Winbush still being available. I am sure there were other factors involved such as a late surge in GPA or a better ACT score, but to get a player of this caliber in the final week was a boon. There were fans disturbed by the loss of the commitment of Prince Mavula in the final week of recruiting. I tried to pull people back off the ledge because all we were believing is what the young man was tweeting and discussing. McNeese never said one thing about Prince’s commitment.
My point was that he probably was not eligible to sign D1, or he was a partial, etc. I will tell you this; Prince is no Cameron Smith. There have been 6’5 quarterbacks before that McNeese could touch who lacked passing skills, but had running skills. There have been 6’3 to 6’5 quarterbacks who could throw the ball, but lacked wheels to avoid a rush or run the zone read. Guys who can do both rarely fall to McNeese. Cameron has gone 35 inches in the vertical jump, run a 4.4 shuttle which highlights quickness and direction moves, and he ran a 4.7 forty yard dash. This is not Sam level speed, but it is surely in the Derrick Fourroux range of speed.
I have been asked a dozen times on why he was not rated by 247 Sports. I am not going to outline all of the problems of these rating systems, but let’s just say they are not as accurate as you think. I have no doubt that scouts get it right on 5-star athletes. Ray Charles can pick out the elite players. Even 4-star players have some skills that are easily recognized. However, the difference between 3-star, 2 star, and NR is often just on who offered whom. There is no way a limited number of so-called “scouts” can rate 3000 high school players. As many newspapers and magazines have turned to, they call the players and ask who has offered them. In essence, they are believing what the kid says, or the promotion of the coach. We have seen the rating system change NR players a week before signing if an FBS schools offers them. I showed you a few cases right here in Louisiana.
So I admit that we all want to see stars behind their names. If it makes you feel any better, Rivals rated Cameron 2-Stars before they went under. He looks more like 3-star to me, but that is a whole different story. When the pads are put on in August, everyone will forget. The walk-ons and NR players often rise above higher ranked high school players anyway. I posted my recruiting story earlier in the week and if you read it closely, you noticed that Wisconsin does not recruit half of the talent that LSU does, nor does Northwestern of the Big 10. They seem to have a higher percentage of developing lower level recruits to have the winning percentage they do. As Coach Ernie Duplechain once told me, “It is what you do with your material once you have them on campus that matters.”
The Pokes have now used about 21 scholarships for 2018. With the typical retirement and attrition of a couple players every spring, I can assume Guidry has 2 or 3 full rides left. If he can pull in a transfer or two in May with these rides, it will indeed bring my “Incomplete ” grade for the 2018 class to Honor Roll consideration.
Well, I believe that I must tell the truth
And say things as they really are
But if I told the truth and nothing but the truth
Could I ever be a star? Deep Purple: No One Came
dal4018 wrote:The McNeese QB has decent size at 6-4 190 just gain a extra 20-30 lbs and stick him under center and let him play.
20 lbs good chance. 30 lbs not as likely to gain of mostly muscle without losing a step speed/quickness wise & without juicing. His frame will have more to do with it than anything. Also HS listed weights are often inflated, so the kid might not even be 190. Maybe he didn't get more offers because he's rail thin.
JMU's backup QB the last 2 seasons Cole Johnson, listed at 6'5"/195 as a true Fr, 6'5"/210 as a Soph this past season (and I heard that weight was inflated). 3 way competition for the starting QB spot. If Johnson wins it #1 concern will be durability. Kid looks thin...
Good point I forgot about Cole Johnson considering the fact I went to JMUs website and saw him yes 6-5 210 good size with room to grow.Yes Smith will look good at 6'4 210 but I think if the pro-scouts will say he needs to get up to 220 and that will be all nothing more.
BDKJMU wrote:Listed with JMU’s class are 15 that signed out of HS + 1 transfer (1 season UVA, 1 season Garden City CC).
Not listed are the DL transfer from UVA (started 5 games last season, already enrolled) and the Pitt QB transfer (started 6 games last season, already enrolled).
It’s possible the JMU DL will be:
DT starters:
-Former Rutgers transfer (returning 2 deeper who last season as almost a 5th starting DL rotated in at DE & DT, basically starter minutes)
-UVA transfer (5 starts last season for UVA).
DE starters:
-Former UVA transfer (3rd team All CAA last season).
-UVA transfer (played as a true Fr 2016) or WF transfer (WF 2 deep last 2 seasons).
And to boot could have a former UVA transfer starting at ILB (2 deep with a couple starts as a true Fr at UVA 2016, JMU 2 deep last season).
..peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard..
..But you have to go home now. We have to have peace…
..I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.
JMU Football: 2022 & 2023 Sun Belt East Champions.
BDKJMU wrote:Listed with JMU’s class are 15 that signed out of HS + 1 transfer (1 season UVA, 1 season Garden City CC).
Not listed are the DL transfer from UVA (started 5 games last season, already enrolled) and the Pitt QB transfer (started 6 games last season, already enrolled).
It’s possible the JMU DL will be:
DT starters:
-Former Rutgers transfer (returning 2 deeper who last season as almost a 5th starting DL rotated in at DE & DT, basically starter minutes)
-UVA transfer (5 starts last season for UVA).
DE starters:
-Former UVA transfer (3rd team All CAA last season).
-UVA transfer (played as a true Fr 2016) or WF transfer (WF 2 deep last 2 seasons).
And to boot could have a former UVA transfer starting at ILB (2 deep with a couple starts as a true Fr at UVA 2016, JMU 2 deep last season).
UVA transfers, huh? Seeking the more rigorous curriculum of JMU, no doubt. Well done!
BDKJMU wrote:Listed with JMU’s class are 15 that signed out of HS + 1 transfer (1 season UVA, 1 season Garden City CC).
Not listed are the DL transfer from UVA (started 5 games last season, already enrolled) and the Pitt QB transfer (started 6 games last season, already enrolled).
It’s possible the JMU DL will be:
DT starters:
-Former Rutgers transfer (returning 2 deeper who last season as almost a 5th starting DL rotated in at DE & DT, basically starter minutes)
-UVA transfer (5 starts last season for UVA).
DE starters:
-Former UVA transfer (3rd team All CAA last season).
-UVA transfer (played as a true Fr 2016) or WF transfer (WF 2 deep last 2 seasons).
And to boot could have a former UVA transfer starting at ILB (2 deep with a couple starts as a true Fr at UVA 2016, JMU 2 deep last season).
Looks like Cardon Johnson gets another year. Good news for you guys.
Well done!
