(10-09-2020, 07:28 AM)GK3 Wrote: +1 I haven't seen very many clips of Taitz play, but O'Connell is clearly an excellent athlete and clearly has spent some time in the weight room. He won't be a guy who gets knocked around too much. His clips show him more than willing to take it to the basket and score through contact. Also seems to have a nice mid range jumper taken off the dribble. He was 175 in high school and would not be surprised to see him closer to 185 when he takes the floor at Stanford. Has the body to easily handle the extra weight. His brother ended up 6'2" and 195. Strength and quickness are necessary attributes of a high level lacrosse player and he certainly falls into that category. FWLIW I remain convinced he will play a lot at Stanford.
O'Connell's team - Blair Academy in NJ - was loaded. The starting five featured a fellow 2020 committed to UVA, another committed to Penn, two 2021s with major P5 offers including PG Jaylen Blakes whom we are/were recruiting (not sure anymore now that we got Isa Silva), and a 2022 whale rotating in regularly. O'Connell was the second-leading scorer (18ppg vs the leader's 19 ppg), leading assister (5apg), and pulled down 5 rebounds a game as a PG. He transferred in as a senior and took a bonafide P5 prospect's starting PG job. (That's how we found him, by the way. Staff went to watch Jaylen Blakes and went "who is this senior who took his job?")
After watching his film post-commitment, 247sports immediately gave him a 4* rating as the #100 prospect in the country. (Funnily enough, that's higher than Tyrell Terry.) If anything he'll certainly be way more able to handle a beating - listed right now at 6'2" 180, and formerly a top-100 lacrosse prospect. He's got 20-25lbs on Terry at this stage, and doesn't have to be our leading scoring threat. Just has to play solid D (Terry couldn't as much, given size limitations) and stir the drink/keep TOs to a minimum.