Keith over at Inside the Irish has posted everyone’s picks for the top 5 players on the ND roster. He’s also got links for all of the other picks we did before that too. Check it out.
Quick thoughts:
- The Walls thing: If you’ve read all my posts on the matter, I sort of can’t believe I left Walls off my list. And not because I didn’t think he didn’t deserve to be in the top 25. I just completely forgot the guy. I didn’t painstakingly go over the roster and compare ever guy’s numbers. I simply built a list from memory 25, slotting them where I thought they should go as I thought up the names. I probably considered, total, about 35 dudes. I figured a good rule of thumb for building the list was that if I couldn’t just bring them up from memory, they shouldn’t make the list no matter how I could spin their stats in their favor. So I guess given that rule of thumb, my philosophy dicates that Walls doesn’t belong on the list. Still, it feels more like a failure of memory. So who would I kick off the list if I placed Walls on it? Would I just kick #25 down to “also receiving votes?” Nah. I’d probably ditch the kicker.
- Darius Fleming: I thought I might get some flack over putting Darius up so high in my rankings, but Pat bailed me out a bit, also giving Darius a #5 ranking. We ran the numbers and about every 18 minutes of field time the kid got last year, he made a tackle for a loss. The defense needs play-makers like that. Get 3-4 kids on the field who can match that TFL rate, and suddenly you’re racking up TFLs.
- Michael Floyd is #1: I’m actually a little surprised to see that Floyd got the #1 ranking in 4 of the 6 ballots. I picked him too, largely because when I look at the kid’s ability to play and perform in all facets of his position, I feel he’s more developed than Rudolph at this time. But that might be a bit unfair to Rudolph, given that he’s got to learn to do real blocking – a skill that’s far more difficult than any single skill a WR ever has to develop.
- Zeke Motta is a standout: I made only one player selection that nobody else placed on their rankings at all, and that was Zeke Motta. Like I said in my blurb, this was almost entirely hunch based. I figured I should take at least one flyer if I could stand it, and this is it. I know the current coaching staff likes him, and I also know that Tenuta liked him. Say what you will about the performance of the Tenuta/Brown bastardization of a defensive system, but Tenuta’s known a fair number of excellent defensive players in his time. I’ll still take notice if the ornery son of a gun has something nice to say about a kid.
- Manti Te’o: Mine was the only ballot that didn’t put Manti in the top 5. Pretty surprised by this. There are only a handful of defensive plays from 2009 that make me salivate when I think of them, and Manti’s featured in nearly all of them, but truth be told, I initially slotted him in at #4, and he just kept getting pushed down the list by the guys who I now have above him in my rankings. I hope that means I have a very high opinion on the guys in the 6-1 spots. I’ve got a strong suspicion that by year’s end, I’ll have him in the top 5 though.
Frank of UHND has some thoughts on his ballot and the overall rankings too, so go check that out as well. Soon as I see other analysis, I’ll let ya know.
Latest posts by Matt Q. (DMQ) (see all)
- Friday Roundup: That Was Fast Edition - December 14, 2018
- Ian Book Is Smokey and the Bandit - December 12, 2018
- Don’t Call It A Comeback - December 10, 2018
tricerapops
i for one cannot wait to see what motta does this year.
SDI
I was surprised to see that some folks had a tough time deciding between Rudolph and Floyd. As good as Rudolph is, would you rather try to replace 9 tds and 800 yards, or 3 tds and 364 yards? I know Rudolph blocks also, but so does Bobby Burger and he isn’t in anyones top 5. I wouldn’t want to lose either of them, but I’ll go with Floyd and Ragone over Rudolph and Kamara or whoever the 2nd best receiver is any day of the week.
TLNDMA
mq, As I stated earlier, Love the Motta pick. Even if he doesn’t get the oppurtunity as a DB, my bet is that he shines as a gunner on special teams.
As far as omitting Walls, you picked two corners, so you must think the secondary is going to play better. That will be fine with me.
On Manti, you may wish you had him higher. We are witnesses though, that you are the first to compare him to a “Jurassic Park raptor”…..Mantisauras T-Rex!