10-16-2012, 08:11 AM
I raised this question in another thread yesterday.
As I pointed out in that post, we have 5+ WR recruits on the roster who were rated 3-star or higher. What's the probability of none of them developing into at least average D1 players? Really, the only elite WR of the Harbaugh-Shaw era is Baldwin, and even he only blossomed in his senior year after being mediocre at best until then (seemed more like a light bulb going off in his head at some point between junior and senior years rather than a gradual progression through good coaching). The Whalens were invaluable but they seemed to remain on a plateau rather than improve through the years. Maybe they had a low(er) ceiling or maybe they never progressed much beyond whatever they showed to get from walk-ons to scholarships. Owusu did seem to progress through his career at Stanford but hard to really tell because of all the injury-related ups and downs. So I also wonder if there's a WR coaching issue given the near-complete lack of player development at this position.
As I pointed out in that post, we have 5+ WR recruits on the roster who were rated 3-star or higher. What's the probability of none of them developing into at least average D1 players? Really, the only elite WR of the Harbaugh-Shaw era is Baldwin, and even he only blossomed in his senior year after being mediocre at best until then (seemed more like a light bulb going off in his head at some point between junior and senior years rather than a gradual progression through good coaching). The Whalens were invaluable but they seemed to remain on a plateau rather than improve through the years. Maybe they had a low(er) ceiling or maybe they never progressed much beyond whatever they showed to get from walk-ons to scholarships. Owusu did seem to progress through his career at Stanford but hard to really tell because of all the injury-related ups and downs. So I also wonder if there's a WR coaching issue given the near-complete lack of player development at this position.