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Who will step up at WR?

walk

Member
If as some suggest Simas is gone, who fills the void? Simmons, Clemmons or the jr. transfer who had lots of catches during the spring game? I know Clemmons will be good, but can another step up for depth?
 
It is a little hard to think of Simas' departure as leaving a void, he played in what 8 or 9 games total? The kid is a player, but it's not like he's been a mainstay of the Buffs O either.
 
It is a little hard to think of Simas' departure as leaving a void, he played in what 8 or 9 games total? The kid is a player, but it's not like he's been a mainstay of the Buffs O either.

Yeah, but he was one of the few bright spots on an offense that had very few. He's a playmaker on a team with no playmakers. That's going to leave a void.

Clemmons and Simmons have to be the guys to make the plays now. Have to be. Throw in a little Celestine and some Scotty & Darden and hope it's sufficient.
 
We're going to need more than 1 to step up, Scotty can't be the only contributor. Between Clemons, Simmons, Celestine, Jefferson, and Thornton at TE, we need some major production from this group or Hansen and Speedy are going to give us nothing.
 
Don't worry, Hawk has a plan. We will see a rotation of Ham, Espinosa, Cefalo and Conte with Ebner as the big play guy. Hawk will sit anybody with a scholarship and stricktly play walk-ons who have their horns out and bring their lunch buckets. They won't have any catches for more than 5 yards but will all grade out in the 90's. Hawk will tell everyone that each of them was just one step away from breaking a big gainer on 6 or 8 plays.
 
Don't worry, Hawk has a plan. We will see a rotation of Ham, Espinosa, Cefalo and Conte with Ebner as the big play guy. Hawk will sit anybody with a scholarship and stricktly play walk-ons who have their horns out and bring their lunch buckets. They won't have any catches for more than 5 yards but will all grade out in the 90's. Hawk will tell everyone that each of them was just one step away from breaking a big gainer on 6 or 8 plays.
Man, that is uncalled for. I'd bet those kids would give all they have. And you know what? I wouldn't be surprised to see any onr of them contribute.
 
I would be

OK, I'll stay calm here. Calling out guys who work there butts off and putting them down is bull ****. These kids are great kids with a lot of ability and a lot of pride. The walk ons work every bit as hard as the scholarship players without any of the perks. I think you guys calling them out by name is low class ****ing bull****.
 
I could be wrong, but I don't think anybody's calling out the players, rather calling out Hawkins for relying on these guys to make plays, when he is supposed to have other guys to do that. Walk ons are great, but you can't build a program with them. You want your walk-ons to be your special teams lunatics, not your starting wide receiver.
Put another way, if your best wide receiver is a walk on, you've been doing a pretty sh*tty job of recruiting.
 
It sounds like Clemons is good enough to where we won't have a huge dropoff at Simas' position. The key is going to be who plays the 3rd WR spot. Jefferson? Simmons? Celestine? It'd be nice to have someone that could get deep so Clemons, McKnight, and our TEs can work the short to mid areas of the field.
 
I could be wrong, but I don't think anybody's calling out the players, rather calling out Hawkins for relying on these guys to make plays, when he is supposed to have other guys to do that. Walk ons are great, but you can't build a program with them. You want your walk-ons to be your special teams lunatics, not your starting wide receiver.
Put another way, if your best wide receiver is a walk on, you've been doing a pretty sh*tty job of recruiting.

Or you've been doing a pretty sh*tty job of using and developing the recruited talent that you have.

If you go back and review my post on this site over the years I have been as strong a proponent of walk-ons and a solid walk-on program as anyone. Scotty was a walk-on and will likely get a look from the NFL if not as a late round pick as a free agents with multiple options (probably end up in NY since he knows a certain QB there who was a #1 draft pick.) I respect the efforts of the WOs and believe that they should get a fair shot at playing time based on their ability to perform on the field.

My problem is that Hawk has taken things to the extreem. Last year when we had a three WR alignment on the field at times that consisted of Scotty, Espy, and Ebner while Simmons and Simas were standing on the sidelines watching along with Wright who we burned a year of eligibility off of tells me that the WR coach was either doing a terrible job of developing his scholarship WRs, motivating his scholarship WRs, or selecting who he should recruit as his scholarship WRs. By the way, the HC can't claim that the WR coach wasn't doing his job since it was one and the same.

I stand behind the kids, all of the kids, who put on the uniform and go out on the field. At the same time it is absolutely impossible to support a HC who in 4 years at a school that was one of the top 20 winningest programs in the 20+ years prior to his arrival, has failed to record a single winning season and has multiple embarassing losses. I will continue to question strategy decisions, staff decisions, and personel decisions by this coach until either he is gone or by some miracle he has shown that he is deserving of a more respectful approach on my part.

If/when he is replaced, I will give my full and unconditional support to the new coach until and unless he proves himself not to be worthy of it, just as I gave my full and unconditional support to Hawk for the better part of three full seasons with hopes in the fourth despite clear signs like the games against CSU, E. Washington, Montana State, ISU, etc.
 
I could be wrong, but I don't think anybody's calling out the players, rather calling out Hawkins for relying on these guys to make plays, when he is supposed to have other guys to do that. Walk ons are great, but you can't build a program with them. You want your walk-ons to be your special teams lunatics, not your starting wide receiver.
Put another way, if your best wide receiver is a walk on, you've been doing a pretty sh*tty job of recruiting.
Using players names as a way of ridiculing Hawkins is bull****. And I didn't say our best wide receiver is a walk on.
 
Losing Simas sucks - IMO, he was the best player on our offense, regardless of what NFL scouts think about one of our offensive lineman. That being said, if Hawkins can leave the blue-collar-boise-bull**** behind and actually use his most talented players, WR will be fine.
 
Simas will hurt no doubt but Clemons can play. All McKnight has done is produce since he got here and that isnt easy with our qb situation. Cefalo looked good in the spring game as did Thornton. Thornton can be a very key player, I hope they keep him about 230 and not much more. Use him wide so we can get a matchup we want and at TE as well. Interested to see how Jeff, Celestine, Darden, etc.. play as well.
 
The only true answer you can give right now is Scotty McKnight. That guy might go his entire career playing out of position and still be one helluva productive WR.
 
If you are looking at "replacing" Simas from last season, then the easy answer is Toney Clemons. He seems like a very good all-around WR with great leaping ability, good hands, and polished route-running. Will be great to see if he can be a YAC-monster.

Scotty will command the slot which helps take pressure off the other guys, so we really need a guy that will stretch the field and draw some deep coverage. He will continue to frustrate defenses while racking up receptions.

So the third spot is a toss up between Simmons, Jefferson, Celestine, and the inexperiences underclassmen.

Reserving judgement on Andre Simmons until fall camp, as the new WR coach might be able to get through to him; in the absence of Simmons stepping into the #2 role, then I feel very comfortable with Will Jefferson continuing his development there this year. It's not ideal, but with Will Jeff, Darden, and Celestine I think we will still be OK. Obviously pairing up McKnight, Simas, and Clemons would have been a huge boost in our confidence going into the season, but we all recognized that depth at WR was our strength. Now, with Simas gone and Ussery changing positions we are back to "neutral" in the talent/depth/class progression IMO.
 
Just to throw some pepper into the conversation, Justin Castor was his team's leading receiver at Arvada West.

In 2009, Castor was the team's leading receiver (29 catches, 596 yards, five touchdowns). He had a huge catch for a 36-yard touchdown the past week against Regis Jesuit and six more for 158 yards and a touchdown along with four PAT kicks and a 25-yard field goal against one of 5A's other semifinalists, Pomona.

Arvada West's Castor More than Kicker
 
I hope Thornton really hits the ground running, he reminds me of Bubba Franks and I played against that big ****er as a sophomore. He sucked when he got too big in the NFL. I hope we use Thornton Sharpe style.
 
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