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| Mesquite (TX) West Mesquite wide receiver Eldridge Massington (image via 247 Sports) |
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 205 lbs.
Position: Wide receiver
Class: 2013
School: Mesquite (TX) West Mesquite
Notes: Holds offers from Arizona, Baylor, Colorado, Connecticut, Houston, Michigan, Mississippi, Mississippi State, North Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Purdue, SMU, TCU, Tennessee, UCLA, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Washington State . . . As a junior in 2011, had 41 receptions for 666 yards (16.2 yards per catch) and 6 touchdowns . . . ESPN 4-star WR, 80 grade, #20 WR . . . Rivals 4-star WR, #32 WR, #245 overall . . . Scout 4-star WR, #24 WR . . . 247 Sports 4-star WR, 92 grade, #20 WR, #185 overall
Strengths: Tall receiver with good frame . . . Jump ball extraordinaire . . . Very good at catching ball away from body . . . Times jumps well . . . Uses bigger frame to shield ball from defenders . . . Good straight-line speed . . . Big and fast enough to beat press man coverage . . . With size and reach, should be an excellent blocker
Weaknesses: Not particularly shifty with ball in hands . . . More of a power runner . . . Gets sloppy with route running at times
Projection: Wide receiver. Massington is a potential deep threat, more because of his size than pure speed. Cornerbacks are going to struggle with a player his size who has a little bit of giddyup. His high school team obviously loves to throw him jump balls, and he makes the play consistently, sometimes even in double coverage. Any big plays he makes in the short passing game will probably come after shaking off a tackler or two rather than making people miss, but there's a lot of big play potential there. We just saw a player with similar skills go in the first round to the Arizona Cardinals (Michael Floyd), and Massington is probably a little faster coming out of high school than Floyd was.
Reminds me of: David Terrell
I don't know how the community is going to handle you being more positive on a prospect than average.
ReplyDeleteI will probably be eviscerated either way.
DeleteI'd take a guy who can bring the ball down rather than someone who can get another couple yards because he's shifty.
ReplyDeleteWould you say that sloppy route running is sometimes indicative of talent and size exceeding the necessity for fundamentals? If I'm bigger and faster than everyone else, why run a perfect route when I can just blow past or over top of everyone else...
Route running is perhaps the easiest thing to fix, because it typically refers to a kid's coaching and his effort level. You're right that sometimes elite athletes don't run great routes because they can beat other kids, anyway. Obviously, they have to get better as the competition does. But elite athletes have the coordination and spatial awareness to run good routes, so the only thing that holds them back once they get to college and the NFL is whether they work hard at it and don't get lazy mid-play.
DeleteThat's exactly what I was thinking. I'm hoping that this staff can get rid of problems in the laziness or motor department, Big Will will hopefully be an indication this year of their ability in that department.
ReplyDeleteMagnus,
ReplyDeleteShould it be a concern that a guy like this from Texas is lacking offers from any of the big Texas schools, or say, Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc.? Or is it more indicative of the amount of talent in Texas that a 4 star-type can slip under their respective radars?
Either way he seems to fit our needs at wide out. I'd like to have him at Michigan.
I haven't heard of any concerns about Massington. It might be just a thing. Texas already has Jake Oliver, and I'm not sure how many receivers they want in this class.
DeleteSeems to be getting attention from a lot of the top pro-style and spread-passing offenses in the country.
ReplyDeleteFloyd and Terrell were both much higher ranked as recruits though.
If things fall through with Treadwell, Massington sounds like be a good alternative.
the dude ran a 10.52 laser timed 100m. that is absolutely INSANE for a guy his size. sadly he just committed to U$C. as a texas fan, I feel like we just missed out on a big one. our entire fanbase is kicking ourselves over not offering him at the moment.
ReplyDeletehorn