Derrick Mitchell, Jr is the 'surprise of the Spring'

[Eda]

^^ Exactly. A lot of hawk receivers make 10-20 catches a year and I really noticed the two catches you reference above because they were huge. Willies missed a hot read by the goalline in the Purdue game and not sure if that had something to do with his continued lack of play after the first two games last year. Then he was said to be nicked-up and before you know it he was gone.

You could see his potential and if there were no other real impediments to him playing then shame on the coaches for not having him play 15+ plays a game at least, mainly passing plays. Willies may have burned some bridges by saying some things internally before he quit and we wont know all the circumstances.

I think he actually missed hot reads on a couple of occasions. In his short tenure, I think that's an indication of his lack of knowledge of not only his position, but also of the other positions and the offense in general (not to mention an inability to read the defense). Couple that with the fact that he was "dinged up" (KirFer's words) during the first half of the season and he left halfway thru the year; it is ample amount of explanation as to why he had limited stats/playing time.

Yet with all that, you think he should have played at least 25% of the offensive snaps?

 

[RocknRollface]

I think he actually missed hot reads on a couple of occasions. In his short tenure, I think that's an indication of his lack of knowledge of not only his position, but also of the other positions and the offense in general (not to mention an inability to read the defense). Couple that with the fact that he was "dinged up" (KirFer's words) during the first half of the season and he left halfway thru the year; it is ample amount of explanation as to why he had limited stats/playing time.

Yet with all that, you think he should have played at least 25% of the offensive snaps?

yes.

 

[uihawk82]

I

Yet with all that, you think he should have played at least 25% of the offensive snaps?

YES. Willies showed big play potential and the ability to get deep, use him even as a decoy most of the time if that is what you want.

The hawks need some juice on offense man, I saw one new receiver at Valley who looked to have some speed and I hope he can be a deep threat.

 

[MoseSchrute]

Oh, I realize that. It's just that, sometimes, OK4P gets a little lazy with his Nick-shtick and gets so obvious that it takes the fun out of it.

It's supposed to be fun?

 

[uihawk82]

It sounds like Mitchell and Wadley ran the best today. Canzeri and Daniels not so well so lets see what happens in August and whether KF will go with the upper classmen. I hope the talented youngsters get the carries they are due.

 

[HawgEyeState]

It sounds like Mitchell and Wadley ran the best today. Canzeri and Daniels not so well so lets see what happens in August and whether KF will go with the upper classmen. I hope the talented youngsters get the carries they are due.

Wadley probably was the most impressive, today. Then, maybe Mitchell.
Wadley has some really great jump-cuts and acceleration was strong today.
I thought Jordan Canzeri had a good day, also.
And nothing really negative about LeShun Daniels........I did see him make a nice catch on a
ball from Sunshine.

 

[NCHawker]

I dint' think Mitchell was all that great. I'll watch again though.

 

[Knight78]

I also recall one of our other receivers dropping a TD pass in the back of the end zone. One hot read mistake and you are out I guess never mind dropped TDs and other passes.

I can understand that there may have been more behind the curtains than we know with Willies but this is a bottom line results business. This coming years attendance, 70 dollar consession give aways, lack of students, etc., etc. point just to that. When you allow your talent level to sag so badly then you have little margin to run any player with abilities. I wish it were not the case, but this still points back to the ruler of the program. Not playing a guy like Willies and running him hurts very badly. It may be too late now to get serious.

It was two hot reads that he missed. I believe two hot reads in three plays. You can forgive drops. Drops happen, even in the pros. What you can't forgive is mental mistakes. You spend hours going over film, you spend hours doing walk-throughs and you spend hours talking about situations. When it doesn't sink in, that's something you can't have. Especially when he was pulled, told about the hot read and then put back in and the same thing happened.

He was physically gifted. But if he can't master Iowa's offense, you know... REALLY complicated (sarc) then, well, draw your own conclusions.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

News flash....he's a troll doing a bit.

A really obvious one.

~EXACTLY~

 

[ArvadaHawk]

Question: Derrick Mitchell was listed on the 2014 roster as a Soph running back, if he is looking good now just 4 months after the bowl game smashdown why didnt this offensive coaching staff run him last season.

I dont get it, was he a receiver last season or a running back. Whatever he was he didnt play as a soph. I thougnt he looked really good at Valley High two weeks ago, what is this coaching staff looking at?

Because MW was still on the roster in 2014.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

^^ Exactly. A lot of hawk receivers make 10-20 catches a year and I really noticed the two catches you reference above because they were huge. Willies missed a hot read by the goalline in the Purdue game and not sure if that had something to do with his continued lack of play after the first two games last year. Then he was said to be nicked-up and before you know it he was gone.

You could see his potential and if there were no other real impediments to him playing then shame on the coaches for not having him play 15+ plays a game at least, mainly passing plays. Willies may have burned some bridges by saying some things internally before he quit and we wont know all the circumstances.

It wasn't a "hot" read but he was the "pass option" for the running play that was called. CJ saw the DB playing too off the LOS and threw to DW instead of handing the ball off. So this would be a good example of DW's inexperience that only playing time can fix. This isn't an example of DW not having talent or being just hype.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

It was two hot reads that he missed. I believe two hot reads in three plays. You can forgive drops. Drops happen, even in the pros. What you can't forgive is mental mistakes. You spend hours going over film, you spend hours doing walk-throughs and you spend hours talking about situations. When it doesn't sink in, that's something you can't have. Especially when he was pulled, told about the hot read and then put back in and the same thing happened.

He was physically gifted. But if he can't master Iowa's offense, you know... REALLY complicated (sarc) then, well, draw your own conclusions.

Knight, I actually believe it's the other way around, you cannot forgive drops, but you can forgive a player making mistakes due to a lack of playing time, i.e. game experience. I stated many times last season that DW was a type of talent that you have to just let play and live with some mistakes. I still believe that.

 

[PCHawk]

Knight, I actually believe it's the other way around, you cannot forgive drops, but you can forgive a player making mistakes due to a lack of playing time, i.e. game experience. I stated many times last season that DW was a type of talent that you have to just let play and live with some mistakes. I still believe that.

I think you're both wrong. All mistakes are forgivable. You need to factor in all mistakes and all made plays and decide from there what player brings more value to the team. Ome thing you shouldn't due is play a guy who makes 2 physical mistakes and 0 plays over a guy who makes 1 mental mistake and 3 plays just because you hate mental mistakes.

 

[Knight78]

It wasn't a "hot" read but he was the "pass option" for the running play that was called. CJ saw the DB playing too off the LOS and threw to DW instead of handing the ball off. So this would be a good example of DW's inexperience that only playing time can fix. This isn't an example of DW not having talent or being just hype.

So playing time will make you pay attention to the QB signals? Shouldn't you be doing that BEFORE you get playing time?

 

[Knight78]

Knight, I actually believe it's the other way around, you cannot forgive drops, but you can forgive a player making mistakes due to a lack of playing time, i.e. game experience. I stated many times last season that DW was a type of talent that you have to just let play and live with some mistakes. I still believe that.

And I disagree. The NFL also tends to disagree. They forgive guys who drop the ball more than they forgive guys who don't read defenses or "listen" to the QB when he communicates what has to be done. (The word "listen" is in quotes because they probably can't hear the audibles but do get other signals that they have to interpret and carry out)