Anyone see Ekuale take O'Connell down in the practice video?
- Thread starter YakiCoug
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Cody "the Enigma" O" Connell. Does it surprise you? Red shirted, then doesn't play a single snap on O for two years, not even in mop up duty, on teams with limited depth at OL. He then becomes is a consensus AA right out of the box, but then is only a P-12 HM. That isn't the crazy part of the story. As a HS soph/junior he was an unimpressive 43 ft shot putter, but improves 19 ft his senior year, puts the shot 62 ft, winning state in a walkover. But he doesn't throw the discus, at all, not once, suggesting serious timing, balance and coordination problems, but wait, you can't throw 50 feet, let alone 60, no matter how big and strong you are unless you are quite coordinated, especially while keeping 6'8" in the circle. You try to make sense of it, I can't!
So it doesn't surprise me if, on a play or two, Cody gets schooled. Wouldn't surprise me if he looked like the second coming on Anthony Munoz at other times as well.
All I know is had he thrown 62 ft BEFORE signing day, he'd probably would have gotten much better offers. An OL that puts the shot 45 feet (Cody on signing day) is a "reach" prospect, one that puts 60+ becomes a blue chipper.
So it doesn't surprise me if, on a play or two, Cody gets schooled. Wouldn't surprise me if he looked like the second coming on Anthony Munoz at other times as well.
All I know is had he thrown 62 ft BEFORE signing day, he'd probably would have gotten much better offers. An OL that puts the shot 45 feet (Cody on signing day) is a "reach" prospect, one that puts 60+ becomes a blue chipper.
Virtually everyone knew it would require a few years of development for O'Connell out of high school, and Ekuale getting the best of him in a one-on-one in the so-called pit doesn't make him an enigma. Perhaps Ekuale is a stud?
when are you going to stop hating the Cougs? your drivel is really getting old
Dude, that was Pippens taking him down....
This definitely explains it. Pippins is the man!
One play really means nothing. The element of surprise is always there. A player s consistency is what counts. When he was in HS,i thought his tapes were impressive,especially for a man his size. At the same time Notre Dame had a HS recruit who was 6'8 350 and everyone was making a fuss over him, I said at the time that Cody looked far better on tape than the ND guy. I bet he bombed out? I do not remember his name.Cody will be drafted high and he will have fulfilled his potential.Sometimes it takes time with the big guys.He has reached the pinnacle of success as a college player and should do well in the pros.
Here is the lowest common demoninator version for you, Longtime - Cody is/was a blue chipper, but the path he has taken to where he is now is puzzling (an enigma).
You don't improve 69% in the shot in one year, even your first in junior high! He went from not being even state meet caliber, to state champ and #3 on the west coast in one off season. We lucked out because had he been a 58-60 ft putter as a junior, he would have been considered a top OL prospect, as it is objective evidence of the ability to harnness speed, size and strength. A 6'8" 285 kid who can't put 44 feet is a warning sign that he isn't an athlete. But one month after signing day, in his first track meet of the year Cody throws 55'6," a 12ft PR, and by season's end he is getting track scholie offers, even though he didn't throw the disc.
Yaki, or ANYONE -- name me one "project" player out of HS on signing day who became an AA and Outland finalist, at any school, any time? You hope that "project" players can contribute - someday --most never do. Your post only strengthens the premise that Cody is an enigma of all enigmas -- thanks.
Frankly, 43' putting Cody may have been a project, but when we discovered he was putting 60 ft, he quickly became a "diamond in the rough" -- you kinda ignored that part, Yak.
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O'Connell wasn't a "blue chipper" coming out of high school. Neither was Mike Utley. Same goes for Rien Long. If you had talked to coaches who saw O'Connell play in high school, as I did and still do (I also talked to players) you wouldn't be puzzled at all, your fixation on the shot put aside. Virtually everyone said if he'd have a shot at playing for WSU if he continued to develop, but there were at least six high school linemen rated well above him coming out of high school. The knock on O'Connell was that he was too slow afoot, but that if he got his meat hooks on you, you were done. Even now, however, some WSU defenders are running circles around him (Mata'afa beat him three times the other day).
As for the shot, I really don't care about it as it pertains to O'Connell's football progression, although kids who are new to an event can show dramatic improvement from the first to second year. I don't know if he had been throwing since middle school, but I don't care.
All that said (or written), I'm glad he's a Coug who came back for his senior season. Ekuale got under him on a one-on-one drill and got the best of him, but it might say as much if not more about Ekuale's talent than anything else.
I view it kind of like a box you want checked. First, participating in other sports, and second some level of success. You'd want to see Cody playing basketball too- at 6-8, 300ish in high school he should be getting PT in the Big 9. Even if he couldn't shoot worth a damn, he's got five fouls and ought to be dominating boards.
That OL recruit from Central Valley High School that ended up at Utah concerned me. CV has a solid HS basketball program, but anyone that was 6-5 and 260+ should have been seeing PT.
Yes, a lineman who can run the floor well in basketball is relevant. Don James once said in hind sight that he should have offered Mike Utley, whom Walden watched run the floor in a high school basketball game. Mike Price's staff discovered Rien Long in part from watching another recruit's highlight video, in which Long ran that same kid down after chasing him the length of the field. Neither Utley or Long were major recruits out of high school, but they achieved AA and/or Outland Trophy status.
WSU had another AA lineman, but I don't know if Dan Lynch was highly recruited out of high school.
Remember when we signed him he was a very ordinary 43" shot putter. Nothing about that was says "athlete" unless you are tiny. Three month after we signed him, Cody is a top of the heap shot putter on the west coast -- top three of more than a thousand.
That may explain Cody quite a bit, and why Yaki bad mouthed him as a "project" recruit. Think about it, 6'8" 285, and you are only placing 4th in local HS meets, that is like a 6'8" bench warmer in HS basketball -- a true athletic PROJECT. Then bang, Cody is the best in state by 4 ft., that's dominant -- but only after he sign his LOI. The whole dynamic shifts. The our track team hasn't signed a kid that good in years.
Compare that to Cody -- If Leach saw video of him in the circle, it was from his junior year, when he was getting beat by kids half his size. Flash forward one year, after he signed, and that same Cody is kicking sand in those same kids faces, throwing 10-15 feet further than them.
Don't conflate lightly recruited with "a project" player, like you indicate Cody was. Our roster is full of lightly recruited kids, We are WSU, not USC. While Long and Uttey may have been lightly recruited, they started games as freshmen, Utley in game 1. They weren't projects, they were should we pull their redshirt kids. Lynch -- I don't recall.
It isn't the shot put pers se, it is the improvement. If I can break down "haterism" for you, when Cody put his mind an effort into something he has shown he can be really good. The poor shot speaks to his lack of effort in his craft.
It would be like a guy who is capable of a big squat number but gets by recording DB numbers yet is a 290 pound lineman. I think what Socal is speaking to is that Cody had the body to compete at the Pac 12 level as a true freshman. Utley and many lineman before did not.
Is Cody the best player on the line play in and play out? My guess it is Socal's belief she should be. And because he doesn't think one player has live up to his vast potential doesn't make him a hater.
And Dick Baird thought Long was the second coming and professed it as a huge miss by UW even though it is said they came in late.
On the original comment about Ekuale beating O'Connell on the play, the statements about looking at the big picture instead of focusing on one play is important. I played football in high school and would often get the unenviable task of slowing down our best punt gunner in practice. The guy was 4" taller than me and outweighed me by at least 30 lbs. Dude looked like a college linebacker compared to me. I'd bet that he put me on my a$$ or blew by me 40-50 times over the course of the year. I stonewalled him a couple times. If you only saw the video of the couple times that I got him, you'd wonder how in the hell he could get owned by some scrawny kid. Obviously the talent disparity between scholarship players will not be nearly as significant, so it would be bad for Ekuale if there weren't numerous examples of him making good plays in practice. I wouldn't focus too much on the one play.
Do you see the word "project" in any of my posts here? Btw, you have Coug Ediot defending you now, which is a strong indicator you are missing the mark here.
Precious. The Little Dick Baird citing Dick Baird as evidence. Are you wearing the mutt T-shirt your mutt kid bought for you?
