[BostonCard]

Hold on there, I suspect the coaches had a lot more to do with that than the players themselves. I doubt the coaches wished Holder would play last year and he refused, or vice versa.

I think WIM's point is that if you try too hard to project career trajectory based on how much someone plays as a freshman, as OutsiderFan does, you can run into problems.  Using that logic, you would have expected Alexander to be a star (he not only played as a freshman, he was the fourth cornerback -- behind Carter, Lyons, and Harris, so essentially the first off the bench).  Certainly with Carter and Lyons gone, we might have expected Alexander to win the CB spot opposite Harris, so we were all surprised when he wound up as the nickelback, and further surprised when he seems to have fallen behind Meeks.

On the other hand, Holder redshirted last year, which by OutsiderFan's portends for a not-so-good career, yet Holder is now our starting corner opposite Harris and slated for a long and productive three or four year career as a Stanford corner.

BC

[BostonCard]

Hold on there, I suspect the coaches had a lot more to do with that than the players themselves. I doubt the coaches wished Holder would play last year and he refused, or vice versa.

I think WIM's point is that if you try too hard to project career trajectory based on how much someone plays as a freshman, as OutsiderFan does, you can run into problems.  Using that logic, you would have expected Alexander to be a star (he not only played as a freshman, he was the fourth cornerback -- behind Carter, Lyons, and Harris, so essentially the first off the bench).  Certainly with Carter and Lyons gone, we might have expected Alexander to win the CB spot opposite Harris, so we were all surprised when he wound up as the nickelback, and further surprised when he seems to have fallen behind Meeks.

On the other hand, Holder redshirted last year, which by OutsiderFan's portends for a not-so-good career, yet Holder is now our starting corner opposite Harris and slated for a long and productive three or four year career as a Stanford corner.

BC