No way as in you don't think that Kirk thinks Wadley has charactor issues? Or no way as in you think Kirk would lie?
Akrum Wadley
- Thread starter tksirius
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No way as in you don't think that Kirk thinks Wadley has charactor issues? Or no way as in you think Kirk would lie?
hawkeyebob62
Well-Known Member
OK, for the conspiracy-prone, tin-foil-hat-wearing, slobbering morons on the board, IF Kirk REALLY wanted to blackball Wadley, he would have "encouraged" him to leave after last season, and he would have ridden the Toren Young/Ivory Kelly-Martin horse this season.
WTF "negative" would KF have to say?
"We wanted him to gain weight. He did, to some degree"
"We wanted him to be an all-around, versatile back. He was, including a great KO return in the Pinstripe Bowl, two highlight reel TDs out of the backfield against Iowa State and Penn State, and pretty nice couple of TD runs against Nebraska"
"My advice? Don't draft him!"
WTF "negative" would KF have to say?
"We wanted him to gain weight. He did, to some degree"
"We wanted him to be an all-around, versatile back. He was, including a great KO return in the Pinstripe Bowl, two highlight reel TDs out of the backfield against Iowa State and Penn State, and pretty nice couple of TD runs against Nebraska"
"My advice? Don't draft him!"
Way to go directly to the extreme. Try seeing the gray area. There were a few teams that were debating taking a chance on him with a late pick. They asked Kirk about him. Kirk says "he was a little immature and that kept him off the field a bit. He got better as he got older." That's negative. That's also possibly enough to make a team choose the other guy.
Don't lump me into your stupid tin foil crap. It's a legit possibility that Kirk doesn't love Wadley's personality. It's a legit possibility he gave his true opinion if asked. And it's a legit possibility that it was enough to turn teams away.
It's also all but fact that Kirk didn't like Wadley's personality early in his carrer. But it's very possible that Kirk loves everything about Wadly now and doesn't have a negative thing to say about him. Either way, it's not the big deal you're making it out to be. Kirk thinks Wadley is a bit immature. Kirk tells truth. That doesn't make Kirk an asshole.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Many legit points but if the NFL shied away from every player who wasn't mature as a freshman and had some growing up to do there wouldn't be enough draftable players. The NFL knows that players do a lot of their growing up during their college years. Hell, Fred Barr, Collin Cole and Abdul Hodge had to be talked out of going home more than once. So if a player gets more mature as he gets older that's not negative, that's normal, if not admirable. I'll bet it's happened, unreported, with some of the biggest stars in the college game.
Ever since DJK, who made his own bed, publicly questioned that Kirk blackballed him, there has been this undertone bubbling under the Kirk geyser. By that logic, perhaps we should blame Kirk for Desmond King getting passed over. After all, he was once suspended for first quarter of a game. Might be some issues there.
If Kirk was solicited for an opinion, he probably responded the way a job applicant would when asked what they would not like about a company. They would immediatey spin any negative into a positive. Kirk was proud of how far Wadley had progressed as a person, regardless of how he felt about him earlier. Hell, he had Akrum take ISM under his wing. No way would Kirk had thrown Akrum under the bus and prevented one of his own from getting drafted. DJK, another story.
Robowe
Well-Known Member
See, that's the thing. I looked at your statement "he was a little immature and that kept him off the field a bit. He got better as he got older." as a positive because he matured. 32 teams will have many different ways to look at that statement. It only takes one team to draft a player.
Have you heard of Anthony Calloway? He is a WR from Florida who was drafted in the 4th round (# 105 overall) in this year's draft. Here's his list of off the field issues (from the link below), If you have the talent, teams think they can make it work.
https://www.catscratchreader.com/20...wide-receiver-first-round-talent-on-the-field
He faced a sexual assault trial between his freshman and sophomore year but was cleared of those charges before the 2016 season by admitting during the hearing he was “so stoned” he did not want to have sex with anyone. He was also cited for marijuana possession in May 2017 as a passenger in a car stopped because the driver wasn’t wearing his seat belt; he pled no contest to possession of paraphernalia in July 2017. Calloway never played in 2017 because of his involvement in a credit card fraud scheme with other teammates.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Kirk is pretty good at spinning negatives into non-speak or into positives depending on the situation. He's been doing it since he got here.
You know, "That's Football" or "We'll clean a few things up and go from there"
I think a team could have been 75% set on taking DJK and changed their minds after a conversation with Kirk. If they were 90% sure, they probably take him anyway. (Numbers are made up to prove point). With Wadley, maybe they were a true 50/50 and if they were 55%, they would have taken him anyway. The point is, these guys have tough decisions and sometimes it comes down to a small comment being the difference.
There are 3 possibilities. One is the writer made it up (very possible). One is Kirk doesn't like extravagant personalities and said something (we all know he doesn't so it's possible). The third is the NFL teams saw something themselves (if that's the case, it means Wadley gives off that vibe and Kirk dealt with it too and would probably say something if asked).
One last thing. Kirk doesn't even have to say anything that bad to sway a decision. For instance, if a team was truly 50/50 on if they should pick Wadley or Jewell, and the deciding factor was to talk to Kirk, I'll bet my life's worth on who the team takes. There is a big window between raving about a kid and blackballing him.
Yet, even that says a lot. If he doesn't come right out and say this is an NFL-ready guy that you should pick, then he is essentially not endorsing someone. And by the time it gets to the late rounds, I doubt if he is going to go out on a limb for anyone and say that they are NFL ready because they probably are long-shots. I wouldn't expect him to "go to bat" for anyone beyond the second round. At that point, the market has spoken and he would have heard them.
No one needs to convince me the NFL will overlook character issues if they have enough talent.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
You sound like you speak from experience. In my case, that experience is 21 years of marriage. Anything not construed as immediate unbridled enthusiasm, even if comes down to something like a new restaurant she wants to try out or an outfit she wants to look good in, can be interpreted as a negative. I learned from experience. If you have honest assessments about the restaurant, or her outfit, wait till dessert to discuss them. I'm hoping for another 21 years, or 41 years.
guffus
Well-Known Member
Although it is true, for the most part, that Wadley matured and fell in Line as he got older at Iowa, there were still signs as a 5th year senior that he was still being an immature individual at times that was intentionally doing things that his coaches were telling him not to do.
Now I don't personally care if a player high steps into the endzone, but I am fairly confident that Wadley was told repeatedly by coaches to don't do it. Does not matter if you deserve a flag or not, the coaches don't want you to do it and Wadley was still high stepping into the endzone as a 5th year senior.
Now I admit the high stepping probably gets too much attention, but it does make you wonder what else Wadley was doing that the coaches didn't want him to do.
I forget, was Wadley a captain? If not you have to wonder why not, given how important he was to the offense.
Just things that make you go hmmm...
Don't get me wrong. I am rooting for Wadley to do well at the next level just like I rooted for him every time he scored a TD for Iowa. Nobody thinks Wadley is a criminal or anything that bad, so instead we end up looking at these minor things , like the high stepping, for an answer instead.
Now I don't personally care if a player high steps into the endzone, but I am fairly confident that Wadley was told repeatedly by coaches to don't do it. Does not matter if you deserve a flag or not, the coaches don't want you to do it and Wadley was still high stepping into the endzone as a 5th year senior.
Now I admit the high stepping probably gets too much attention, but it does make you wonder what else Wadley was doing that the coaches didn't want him to do.
I forget, was Wadley a captain? If not you have to wonder why not, given how important he was to the offense.
Just things that make you go hmmm...
Don't get me wrong. I am rooting for Wadley to do well at the next level just like I rooted for him every time he scored a TD for Iowa. Nobody thinks Wadley is a criminal or anything that bad, so instead we end up looking at these minor things , like the high stepping, for an answer instead.
homes
Well-Known Member
Maybe he was told not to high-step, but it's like telling a kangaroo to stop bouncing all the time. It's part of his makeup, his personality, not malicious, just his essence. All of the rope-a-dope, okey-doke moves he puts on defenders isn't planned (or taught), it's just in him, and sometimes that joy in running spills out (barely) into other areas like a high step into the end zone. To the contrary, I think he did a great job of curbing himself this past year.
Watch again his catch and run for the TD against ISU. 10 yards from the endzone, he essentially stops, jumps up in the air, freezes the defender, then he plows forward into the endzone. No way was that planned, and no way most RBs could pull that move off (or even think of it). Pure joy. Spectacular.
Watch again his catch and run for the TD against ISU. 10 yards from the endzone, he essentially stops, jumps up in the air, freezes the defender, then he plows forward into the endzone. No way was that planned, and no way most RBs could pull that move off (or even think of it). Pure joy. Spectacular.
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EXACTLY.
Character, give me a break, Cromartie has like 18 kids with how many women and is he paying all his child support? then the dude who was on the 49ers is it that has been arrested several times, and wife and girlfriend beaters, c'mon if most of us werent addicted to watching football as kids we wouldnt waste much time on the NFL, and a lot of people have stopped watching them.
The NFL does a great job of promoting the JJ Watts of the world and he and others do great things but there are and have been a lot of thugs playing in the NFL.
Who are some of the other low lifes?
Maybe KF didnt say much about wadley to NFL people but I really doubt he said anything negative. If that kind of crap gets out it really hurts recruiting and KF has enough trouble recruiting
DMLadyhawk
Well-Known Member
I am pretty sure he was a captain for at least one game and was very proud as he should have been.
earlkoppelman
Well-Known Member
Concerns? Size yes! A waay cool teamate ect ect.A HUGE mistake.Watch and See.
skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
Akrum was a team captain vs North Texas. The same game he was flagged for high-stepping. I believe the only game he was ever a team captain.
IMO Akrum was the most elusive Hawkeye tailback (and the most fun to watch) since Ronnie Harmon.
I have said it before, Pops and Jr didn't use Akrum properly. Ironically, Kirk compared Akrum to Ronnie before the season began but that is where Kirk's talent as an offensive coach ended apparently.
Ronnie caught 49 balls his senior year averaging 12+yards per catch. Akrum only caught 28 balls this year, also averaging 12+ yards/catch. A more creative OC would have gotten him the ball in space more. Very simple really. Not rocket science. I like Nick Easly but he caught 51 averaging only 10 yds/catch; from the WR position. I would rather have seen Akrum targeted 51x from the backfield or the slot or somewhere on the football field for crying out loud. He was a threat to take it the distance every time he touched the ball. How many times was he caught from behind in the open field during his career?
And our OC seemed to really go conservative in the run game with Akrum once James Butler went down. I wondered why he didn't give Toren Young more reps and put Akrum out in space. Someone else mentioned BF acted like Akrum was Mike Alstott. Silly and truly lacked creativity.
The NFL puts so much stock in straight away speed- 40 yard dash times. But Akrum is so elusive, and cuts so quickly, that it is really a poor measure. Akrum has football speed and if the Titans, or some other team, can be smarter than our offensive geniuses and utilize his talents then he will do ok. If you recall Ronnie was used more as a receiver than a tailback, mostly from the slot, for the San Diego Chargers.
Who knows if Akrum will "make it" and actually have success in the NFL, but I am a big fan and rooting for him. If the NFL doesn't work out, I too think he would have a very successful career north of the border.
IMO Akrum was the most elusive Hawkeye tailback (and the most fun to watch) since Ronnie Harmon.
I have said it before, Pops and Jr didn't use Akrum properly. Ironically, Kirk compared Akrum to Ronnie before the season began but that is where Kirk's talent as an offensive coach ended apparently.
Ronnie caught 49 balls his senior year averaging 12+yards per catch. Akrum only caught 28 balls this year, also averaging 12+ yards/catch. A more creative OC would have gotten him the ball in space more. Very simple really. Not rocket science. I like Nick Easly but he caught 51 averaging only 10 yds/catch; from the WR position. I would rather have seen Akrum targeted 51x from the backfield or the slot or somewhere on the football field for crying out loud. He was a threat to take it the distance every time he touched the ball. How many times was he caught from behind in the open field during his career?
And our OC seemed to really go conservative in the run game with Akrum once James Butler went down. I wondered why he didn't give Toren Young more reps and put Akrum out in space. Someone else mentioned BF acted like Akrum was Mike Alstott. Silly and truly lacked creativity.
The NFL puts so much stock in straight away speed- 40 yard dash times. But Akrum is so elusive, and cuts so quickly, that it is really a poor measure. Akrum has football speed and if the Titans, or some other team, can be smarter than our offensive geniuses and utilize his talents then he will do ok. If you recall Ronnie was used more as a receiver than a tailback, mostly from the slot, for the San Diego Chargers.
Who knows if Akrum will "make it" and actually have success in the NFL, but I am a big fan and rooting for him. If the NFL doesn't work out, I too think he would have a very successful career north of the border.
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tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
It really is amazing how inept the Ferentz family is at offense.
