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Soni Fonua “N”?

I’ve seen on more than one occasion that MPM will be a project. What makes a four star player a project? Are we asking him to play a position he hasn’t played?
 
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I’ve seen on more than one occasion that MPM will be a project. What makes a four star player a project? Are we asking him to play a position he hasn’t played?

He hardly played his last 2 years of high school, he missed his entire junior year with injury and most of his senior year because he transferred schools and had to sit out. So his film isn't all that impressive, but you have to factor that he didn't play for almost 2 years, so he was pretty rusty. I don't think he's a kid you can expect to come in and play right away.
 
He hardly played his last 2 years of high school, he missed his entire junior year with injury and most of his senior year because he transferred schools and had to sit out. So his film isn't all that impressive, but you have to factor that he didn't play for almost 2 years, so he was pretty rusty. I don't think he's a kid you can expect to come in and play right away.

He must have impressed somebody on film to be rated a 4* wouldn't you think?
 
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I don't think that is right. I am pretty sure that transfers only count against the 85 and not the 25.

I hadn't heard of anything stating that transfers would count against recruiting class totals. Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention, but I would think this topic would have garnered much more attention by sports news outlets if it had changed.
 
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Our coaches do celebratory tweets before the kids announce?
Coaches tweets always are no-name tweets that just offer a hint that someone committed, not who it was. They're not allowed to disclose names of recruits before they sign their letters. And yes, those tweets come sometimes before the recruit himself made an announcement.
 
I hadn't heard of anything stating that transfers would count against recruiting class totals. Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention, but I would think this topic would have garnered much more attention by sports news outlets if it had changed.
Well of course they do count against total scholarship limits which is the real key unless the transfer is walking on. As always when you get close to the limit of scholarships it is a balancing act to project between saving some space for later additions vs. projecting potential attrition.
 
I’ve seen on more than one occasion that MPM will be a project. What makes a four star player a project? Are we asking him to play a position he hasn’t played?
He must have impressed somebody on film to be rated a 4* wouldn't you think?
He must be viewed as having a high ceiling. He's a 4-star on all three sites.
Isn’t it nice to be after a 5.8 4* “project” compared to the 5.4 2 stars we’re used to.
 
We can't take all of these guys, unless we don't sign Mills or Bland. If we sign Mills and Bland, we only have 4 more spots available.

I predict the final guys we sign are:
RB Dedrick Mills - arrives in summer.
OLB/DE Soni Fonua - 3/2 guy who pass rushes. NU wants him at OLB. From Utah so snow didn’t scare him.
WR Charles Njoku - from NJ so snow didn’t scare him. Loved his visit.
CB DJ James or Jamel Starks - James is a tough pull with Oregon after him hard.
S Noa Pola Gates - 80% chance we land him.
And either DT Matthew Pola Mao OR another LB yet to visit. It’s interestng we haven’t heard much about coaches visiting Pola Mao and his visit would supposedly be the last weekend in Jan. Doesn’t seem like a high priority to me. Perhaps there is junk in his trunk... ie grades, or something else.

I don’t think we take Dylan Jordan or Steven Parker. I think there’s junk in their trunks and that’s why their offer lists aren’t bigger.

We may leave one spot open for a GT player that emerges this spring/summer.
 
I don't think that is right. I am pretty sure that transfers only count against the 85 and not the 25.

15.5.1.10.1 Limitation on Number of National Letter of Intent/Offer of Financial Aid Signings—Bowl Subdivision Football. [FBS] In bowl subdivision football, there shall be an annual limit of 25 on the number of prospective student-athletes who may sign a National Letter of Intent or an institutional offer of financial aid and student-athletes who may sign a financial aid agreement for the first time. (Adopted: 1/16/10 effective 8/1/10, Revised: 1/14/12 effective 8/1/12, 4/26/17 effective 8/1/17 for signings that occur on or after 8/1/17)

Here is LSU not being happy after it switched

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_f03e6112-0a8c-11e8-9dd4-2b23fb9d9fbe.html

In an interview last week, Orgeron called the new stringent policy “very unfair.”

“We signed 22 last year and had three (available scholarships) that could have went to early enrollees,” Orgeron said. “We would have signed 28. Those are three good players we had to let go (and not sign).”

The three major-college transfers the program brought in last spring — defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko, tight end Thaddeus Moss and receiver Jonathan Giles — filled up LSU’s class last year, leaving them without any empty spots. Transfers have always counted toward a program’s 25 new enrollees, said Blair Napolitano, LSU’s assistant athletics director for compliance.

In previous years, with a more lenient 25-man rule, coaches found ways to manipulate numbers with transfers. That’s no longer possible, and it was not possible when the Tigers signed Division II transfer kicker Cole Tracy during the early period. He counts toward the 25, Napolitano confirmed.

http://www.dandydon.com/DandyDon_Q_and_A_on_25-Signing_Cap_and_related_rules.php

Dandy Don: Do all transfers (graduate transfers and undergraduate transfers) count toward the signing limitation per class?

Napolitano: Yes. Any incoming student enrolling at LSU for the first time – graduate transfer, undergraduate transfers (junior college and four-year) or any high school student – count toward the 25 for that year. For instance, DT Breiden Fehoko, who transferred to LSU from Texas Tech after the 2016 season, counts in the Tigers' 2017 signing class from last February.
 
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I predict the final guys we sign are:
RB Dedrick Mills - arrives in summer.
OLB/DE Soni Fonua - 3/2 guy who pass rushes. NU wants him at OLB. From Utah so snow didn’t scare him.
WR Charles Njoku - from NJ so snow didn’t scare him. Loved his visit.
CB DJ James or Jamel Starks - James is a tough pull with Oregon after him hard.
S Noa Pola Gates - 80% chance we land him.
And either DT Matthew Pola Mao OR another LB yet to visit. It’s interestng we haven’t heard much about coaches visiting Pola Mao and his visit would supposedly be the last weekend in Jan. Doesn’t seem like a high priority to me. Perhaps there is junk in his trunk... ie grades, or something else.

I don’t think we take Dylan Jordan or Steven Parker. I think there’s junk in their trunks and that’s why their offer lists aren’t bigger.

We may leave one spot open for a GT player that emerges this spring/summer.

I agree with all of the above except that I think MPM is a higher priority than what you're illustrating. But I do think we take Mills, Blank, Fonua, Njoku, NPG and MPM. If Blank makes it, we take him too.
 
He must have impressed somebody on film to be rated a 4* wouldn't you think?

He could be rated for athleticism and upside. Get him in a good college S&C program with right diet, accountability, and a strong culture. Redshirt him and then coach him up. He’s not one who will slide right in as a fish, he will need a couple of years before you will know if he was a diamond or a bust.
 
In the Dylan Jordan thread it says that Nebraska is no longer recruiting him. Says something about information was uncovered and we are out on him now? Not sure if true or what the information uncovered was but might be down another OLB prospect if true?
 
I predict the final guys we sign are:
RB Dedrick Mills - arrives in summer.
OLB/DE Soni Fonua - 3/2 guy who pass rushes. NU wants him at OLB. From Utah so snow didn’t scare him.
WR Charles Njoku - from NJ so snow didn’t scare him. Loved his visit.
CB DJ James or Jamel Starks - James is a tough pull with Oregon after him hard.
S Noa Pola Gates - 80% chance we land him.
And either DT Matthew Pola Mao OR another LB yet to visit. It’s interestng we haven’t heard much about coaches visiting Pola Mao and his visit would supposedly be the last weekend in Jan. Doesn’t seem like a high priority to me. Perhaps there is junk in his trunk... ie grades, or something else.

I don’t think we take Dylan Jordan or Steven Parker. I think there’s junk in their trunks and that’s why their offer lists aren’t bigger.

We may leave one spot open for a GT player that emerges this spring/summer.
MPM I think may already be part of a package of silent commits. I would bet we would take Parker but it sounds like he didn't care for the cold so that may be a tough sell. I'll be a little surprised if we don't get Fonua if we want him. IF we can land the Polynesian Triumvirate of MPM, NPG, and SF with a CB to go with them, I'll be very happy. We may be viewing NPG as a corner prospect so I don't know how critical getting a guy listed as a corner is. One of the WRs would be icing on the cake.
 
He could be rated for athleticism and upside. Get him in a good college S&C program with right diet, accountability, and a strong culture. Redshirt him and then coach him up. He’s not one who will slide right in as a fish, he will need a couple of years before you will know if he was a diamond or a bust.
Jalin Barnett was a high 4* too. After the Rivals staff saw him at the High School All American game though they noted that he had been over rated.
 
MPM I think may already be part of a package of silent commits. I would bet we would take Parker but it sounds like he didn't care for the cold so that may be a tough sell. I'll be a little surprised if we don't get Fonua if we want him. IF we can land the Polynesian Triumvirate of MPM, NPG, and SF with a CB to go with them, I'll be very happy. We may be viewing NPG as a corner prospect so I don't know how critical getting a guy listed as a corner is. One of the WRs would be icing on the cake.
With all the struggles of landing Polynesian players, I think it really speaks volumes about Frost if he lands these 3 to go along with Vainuku.
 
Any way it shakes out, what a nice change to talk about how we can fit promising kids into a big class. A lot of years of scraping the bottom of the barrel around this time and the homers screaming, "I TRUST THEM COACHES MORE'N I TRUST YEW ABOUT IF A KEEYID CAN PLAY ER NOT!!!!"

With regard to Fonua, two things:

1) IMPOSSIBLE that he liked NU, you guys. It's cold AND it snowed. It was my understanding that kids from warm places die instantly when the weather in Lincoln touches them. (Don't tell anyone there's snow on the mountains in Hawaii)

2) Even if he doesn't turn out to be the "elite pass rusher" NU is still hunting for, I'll damn sure take a high motor kid who does his job every play. Setting the edge doesn't look sexy to the untrained eye, but you sure notice it when it's not there.
 
So someone help me. This kid is 6'4", 264 lbs and is an OLB with 51 tackles, 16.5 for loss and only .5 sacks? And we want him as a edge rusher?
 
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With regard to Fonua, two things:

1) IMPOSSIBLE that he liked NU, you guys. It's cold AND it snowed. It was my understanding that kids from warm places die instantly when the weather in Lincoln touches them. (Don't tell anyone there's snow on the mountains in Hawaii)

Isn’t he from the SLC area or am I thinking of someone else?
 
Any way it shakes out, what a nice change to talk about how we can fit promising kids into a big class. A lot of years of scraping the bottom of the barrel around this time
True, but the old way kept us on the edges of our seats and we were so worried about the class being filled, we didn't have time to attack each other on the HO Freeboard.
 
I'm with ya, days like yesterday I don't miss having livestock, hog waters would freeze and self feeders would plug, cattle it would darn near take all day to clean bunks make sure tank or other sources of water weren't frozen. Then you feed, nothing like a open winter so cattle can feed on corn milo stalks
Sounds like we've got another doozy on the way this weekend. 6-24 inches. Ugh
 
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So someone help me. This kid is 6'4", 264 lbs and is an OLB with 51 tackles, 16.5 for loss and only .5 sacks? And we want him as a edge rusher?
While I wasnt paying real close attention, a glance at his film made it look like at least several of the TFLs were actually sacks.
I liked how he looked aggressive attacking the LOS.
Just for comparison, Steven Parker has great stats (and I don’t want to minimize them) but a casual glance at the film made it look like he frequently was going untouched, free shot at QB which could artificially inflate those numbers some.
 
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With regard to Fonua, two things:

1) IMPOSSIBLE that he liked NU, you guys. It's cold AND it snowed. It was my understanding that kids from warm places die instantly when the weather in Lincoln touches them. (Don't tell anyone there's snow on the mountains in Hawaii)

Parker is the one who didn't like the cold/snow (he's from Texas). I don't think it bothered Fonua.
 
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With regard to Fonua, two things:

1) IMPOSSIBLE that he liked NU, you guys. It's cold AND it snowed. It was my understanding that kids from warm places die instantly when the weather in Lincoln touches them. (Don't tell anyone there's snow on the mountains in Hawaii)

Fonua is from Utah. I'm sure he has seen snow a few times.
 
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He just entered the portal. 27 tackles and 6.5 TFLs last yr.
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He just entered the portal. 27 tackles and 6.5 TFLs last yr.
I don't know his specific situation but IF he just entered the portal he most likely would NOT be eligible to play for any new team this year unless it is a lower division school.
 
I don't know his specific situation but IF he just entered the portal he most likely would NOT be eligible to play for any new team this year unless it is a lower division school.
That would be correct.
 
Even grad transfers have a May 1 deadline for Fall Sports. He can petition for a waiver but will need a waiver to be immediately eligible.
Heck ncaa passing them out like.......you fill in the blank 😳. But then again it's NU so it probably won't happen
 
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