Today the AFCA released the first team, with Golden Tate at the top of the list.
Not that it's much of a surprise given that he should be in Heisman contention despite an ND 6-6 record, but it's a great achievement nonetheless.
We spent some time giving Tate props recently, here, here and here because he's been just ridiculous, and frankly just deserves it.
Good stuff Golden, much deserved and congratulations!
The amazing thing about Tate is that I don't think he's even near his potential as a WR. His route-running, concentration and decision-making are good, not great. His athleticism, strength and speed are outstanding. If he gets those first 3 to match the second 3? GOOD LORD.
By SDI December 3, 2009 - 1:48 pm
Biscuit–how do you explain the seeming inconsistencies of Rob Ianello’s performance as receiver coach? His guys don’t really seem to consistently run good routes (maybe Floyd excluded) and there is plenty of criticism of him on those grounds, yet ND has churned out some pretty ridiculous receiving stats since he has been in charge of that position. Is it just his luck to have guys with huge talent to work with? Or is it a tougher job than people appreciate?
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By The Biscuit December 3, 2009 - 5:44 pm
I think 2 things. First, he just has ridiculous athletes in Floyd and Tate. That’s a big part of it. Floyd runs great routes, but he was doing that on day 1. So you can point to him a success, but I’m not sure how much Ianello had to do with it. Tate came in having no clue how to be a WR, and he’s an All-American. Some of that is Tate’s natural ability and ridonculousness, but you have to give Ianello some of the credit for developing him. That said, I think a lot of the sloppiness we see from time to time in routes, mental mistakes, etc should also be noted. And while I think some of that falls on Ianello, some of that falls on the shoulders of Weis – we all know there were coaching deficiencies in the organization, and those pockets of sloppy and undisciplined play (across all positions, but not excluding WR) were symptoms of that problem. So yeah, it’s a mixed bag. I like Ianello because he’s a great recruiter, a stand-up guy, and because he got results. I don’t know that he’s the best guy in the world at developing players, but I think he’s a solid assistant, especially if he’s in a program that can help him get the best out of his kids (which we havent seen yet).
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By The Biscuit December 3, 2009 - 5:48 pm
Gotta give him (and Weis/Quinn) some credit for the Shark and Stovall as well…
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