Former Butler (NC) & Georgia WR Uriah Lemay to transfer to Charlotte

Charlotte 49er Football 🏈
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ODU’s first full year in CUSA will be this year (they were transitional last year). It’ll be interesting to see how they compete. It’s tough to tell where we’ll be in 2015, but unless there’s dramatic improvement this year from our opponents we “should” be able to compete with FIU, Georgia State, and Temple (these teams were not very good), and Presbyterian should be a W.

It’ll be interesting to see too, how we stack up against the better FCS teams on our schedule (The Citadel, Coastal Carolina, and JMU) with another recruiting class and a year for our other guys to mature.

I’m positive but also a realist…there will be some major lumps taken as well. Still, it’s pretty incredible where our program is sitting after one year :slight_smile:

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[quote=“Niner National, post:40, topic:28822”][quote=“NinerAdvocate, post:39, topic:28822”]This season will tell us a lot about where our line play is.

Truthfully, unless we just dominate the line of scrimmage every game this season, we’re not going to have any chance in 2015. There’s an opportunity for the D line to get noticably better (because it was so bad last year) and still not dominate this season.

We’re stocking WRs so deep that it seems likely we’ll be set there, and maybe we can even convert one or two to DBs. But until we own those lines of scrimmage, we’re nowhere near competing at the FBS level. If we push every opponent 5 yards off the ball on every down this year, then maybe we’ll be able to hold our own in 2015. Maybe.

Football is just such a different beast than hoops. In the old days of hoops, you were elite if you had a top flight C and PG. Rule changes, especially the 3pt shot, levelled the field. That hasn’t happened in football. You have got to have the horses on both of the lines. You can have NFL players at the skill positions, but if you cant block or pass rush/run defend, you’re screwed. There’s no faking it.

And then look at the freaks the SEC has at LB. Was watching that UGA-North Texas game last year and UGAs LBs were ridiculous. They were so much bigger and more athletic than anything NT had. It’s such a stacked deck. UNT had some vets and some decent skill guys, and they hung with them for a while, but UGA just overpowered them with 3 deep size and athleticism. Even if we can get our 1st stringers to respectable, we’re gonna get overpowered when our subs come in.

It takes years to build that kind of depth into a program. It requires much much more patience as a fan. You can’t recruit Rodney White and suddenly become a contender like we did in hoops.

And to that point - Im excited about adding a player with this kids prep credentials, but we will need linemen to make these types of commitments work for us. He needs time to get open and our QB needs time to throw to him.[/quote]Spot on.[/quote]

Yup - the good news is we are not competing with SEC level talent week in and week out. It will take time to build the program and hopefully everyone knows that. I actually like Matt Johnson a lot. When the line kept him clean and didn’t allow people diving at his feet he was way better than I expected. When guys start diving at his feet and he can’t step into the throw his accuracy goes out the window - which pretty much illustrates exactly what NA said. The line is really the key to everything.

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[quote=“Ninerfan2012, post:36, topic:28822”]I think with how our players are developing and the recruits we are getting, I don’t think its so crazy to think we can get 3 maybe 4 wins in 2015. Which wouldn’t be too bad.

With our offense, not having the best offensive line won’t kill us, if we have a smart QB and good WRs, we can overcome that. Its the defense (defensive line) I’m really concerned about. Thats what really hurt us last year, we couldn’t get pressure on the QB and disrupt the running game.[/quote]

Agreed.

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[quote=“NinerWupAss, post:42, topic:28822”][quote=“Niner National, post:40, topic:28822”][quote=“NinerAdvocate, post:39, topic:28822”]This season will tell us a lot about where our line play is.

Truthfully, unless we just dominate the line of scrimmage every game this season, we’re not going to have any chance in 2015. There’s an opportunity for the D line to get noticably better (because it was so bad last year) and still not dominate this season.

We’re stocking WRs so deep that it seems likely we’ll be set there, and maybe we can even convert one or two to DBs. But until we own those lines of scrimmage, we’re nowhere near competing at the FBS level. If we push every opponent 5 yards off the ball on every down this year, then maybe we’ll be able to hold our own in 2015. Maybe.

Football is just such a different beast than hoops. In the old days of hoops, you were elite if you had a top flight C and PG. Rule changes, especially the 3pt shot, levelled the field. That hasn’t happened in football. You have got to have the horses on both of the lines. You can have NFL players at the skill positions, but if you cant block or pass rush/run defend, you’re screwed. There’s no faking it.

And then look at the freaks the SEC has at LB. Was watching that UGA-North Texas game last year and UGAs LBs were ridiculous. They were so much bigger and more athletic than anything NT had. It’s such a stacked deck. UNT had some vets and some decent skill guys, and they hung with them for a while, but UGA just overpowered them with 3 deep size and athleticism. Even if we can get our 1st stringers to respectable, we’re gonna get overpowered when our subs come in.

It takes years to build that kind of depth into a program. It requires much much more patience as a fan. You can’t recruit Rodney White and suddenly become a contender like we did in hoops.

And to that point - Im excited about adding a player with this kids prep credentials, but we will need linemen to make these types of commitments work for us. He needs time to get open and our QB needs time to throw to him.[/quote]Spot on.[/quote]

Yup - the good news is we are not competing with SEC level talent week in and week out. It will take time to build the program and hopefully everyone knows that. I actually like Matt Johnson a lot. When the line kept him clean and didn’t allow people diving at his feet he was way better than I expected. When guys start diving at his feet and he can’t step into the throw his accuracy goes out the window - which pretty much illustrates exactly what NA said. The line is really the key to everything.[/quote]Yeah Matt was fine when he didn’t face pressure, but he was pretty bad with pressure in his face. If our o-line lets the defense put pressure on him every play when we move to FBS, we’re not going to win a game.

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[quote=“Tintin, post:37, topic:28822”][quote=“Ninerfan2012, post:36, topic:28822”]I think with how our players are developing and the recruits we are getting, I don’t think its so crazy to think we can get 3 maybe 4 wins in 2015. Which wouldn’t be too bad.

With our offense, not having the best offensive line won’t kill us, if we have a smart QB and good WRs, we can overcome that. Its the defense (defensive line) I’m really concerned about. Thats what really hurt us last year, we couldn’t get pressure on the QB and disrupt the running game.[/quote]

I disagree. A slow or small offensive line (compared to CUSA d lines) will neuter a running game and not allow a qb time to throw thus killing the effectiveness of a stellar wr core.
And we saw what an ineffective d line looked like late last season. We were picked apart by Wesley and Pembroke. Imagine what a an average BCS team could do.
I do think we are getting better players and are going in the right direction, but 2015 will be a long season.[/quote]
The insane amount of misdirections, draws, and counters we run will help offset a bad o-line in the running department. Same with the short passes and bubble screens we like to call as well. I’m not saying we can have a bad O-line and not struggle, but it won’t hurt us as bad compared to us running something akin to Big 10 offense (pound it up the middle, play action passes). My point is that our O-line needs to be mediocre and we the good WRs we have can shine.

Another angle I feel like posters are ignoring is the growth our guys will experience as players. Having two playing seasons under players belts going into 2015 is going to improve a lot of these guys.

I agree with you on the D-line though, it worries me.

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That’s true, physical age and maturity matters more in football than it does in some other sports (especially for linemen). Really hoping to see some big improvement (literally!) this year on the lines. :slight_smile:

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[quote=“Ninerfan2012, post:45, topic:28822”][quote=“Tintin, post:37, topic:28822”][quote=“Ninerfan2012, post:36, topic:28822”]I think with how our players are developing and the recruits we are getting, I don’t think its so crazy to think we can get 3 maybe 4 wins in 2015. Which wouldn’t be too bad.

With our offense, not having the best offensive line won’t kill us, if we have a smart QB and good WRs, we can overcome that. Its the defense (defensive line) I’m really concerned about. Thats what really hurt us last year, we couldn’t get pressure on the QB and disrupt the running game.[/quote]

I disagree. A slow or small offensive line (compared to CUSA d lines) will neuter a running game and not allow a qb time to throw thus killing the effectiveness of a stellar wr core.
And we saw what an ineffective d line looked like late last season. We were picked apart by Wesley and Pembroke. Imagine what a an average BCS team could do.
I do think we are getting better players and are going in the right direction, but 2015 will be a long season.[/quote]
The insane amount of misdirections, draws, and counters we run will help offset a bad o-line in the running department. Same with the short passes and bubble screens we like to call as well. I’m not saying we can have a bad O-line and not struggle, but it won’t hurt us as bad compared to us running something akin to Big 10 offense (pound it up the middle, play action passes). My point is that our O-line needs to be mediocre and we the good WRs we have can shine.

Another angle I feel like posters are ignoring is the growth our guys will experience as players. Having two playing seasons under players belts going into 2015 is going to improve a lot of these guys.

I agree with you on the D-line though, it worries me.[/quote]

I think this is very important. We have basically thrown most of our guys into the deep end. They will get better, stronger and will get more comfortable with the speed of the game. Their experience getting tons of PT, especially with each other; will be a great benefit going into 2015. We have another Year and a half in the weight room with these guys too.

I like the idea of bringing in some JUCOs to help with the line depth, but for the most part, these will be our guys going into 2015.

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[quote=“NinerWupAss, post:42, topic:28822”][quote=“Niner National, post:40, topic:28822”][quote=“NinerAdvocate, post:39, topic:28822”]This season will tell us a lot about where our line play is.

Truthfully, unless we just dominate the line of scrimmage every game this season, we’re not going to have any chance in 2015. There’s an opportunity for the D line to get noticably better (because it was so bad last year) and still not dominate this season.

We’re stocking WRs so deep that it seems likely we’ll be set there, and maybe we can even convert one or two to DBs. But until we own those lines of scrimmage, we’re nowhere near competing at the FBS level. If we push every opponent 5 yards off the ball on every down this year, then maybe we’ll be able to hold our own in 2015. Maybe.

Football is just such a different beast than hoops. In the old days of hoops, you were elite if you had a top flight C and PG. Rule changes, especially the 3pt shot, levelled the field. That hasn’t happened in football. You have got to have the horses on both of the lines. You can have NFL players at the skill positions, but if you cant block or pass rush/run defend, you’re screwed. There’s no faking it.

And then look at the freaks the SEC has at LB. Was watching that UGA-North Texas game last year and UGAs LBs were ridiculous. They were so much bigger and more athletic than anything NT had. It’s such a stacked deck. UNT had some vets and some decent skill guys, and they hung with them for a while, but UGA just overpowered them with 3 deep size and athleticism. Even if we can get our 1st stringers to respectable, we’re gonna get overpowered when our subs come in.

It takes years to build that kind of depth into a program. It requires much much more patience as a fan. You can’t recruit Rodney White and suddenly become a contender like we did in hoops.

And to that point - Im excited about adding a player with this kids prep credentials, but we will need linemen to make these types of commitments work for us. He needs time to get open and our QB needs time to throw to him.[/quote]Spot on.[/quote]

Yup - the good news is we are not competing with SEC level talent week in and week out. It will take time to build the program and hopefully everyone knows that. I actually like Matt Johnson a lot. When the line kept him clean and didn’t allow people diving at his feet he was way better than I expected. When guys start diving at his feet and he can’t step into the throw his accuracy goes out the window - which pretty much illustrates exactly what NA said. The line is really the key to everything.[/quote]

Well, if the Kentucky rumor pans out, then we might be playing the SEC very soon 8)

I pretty much agree with everyone that replied. The O Line was the better of the two units last year, it looks like they added more size and depth, and our offense can mask some of our shortcomings (though I dislike the sideline to sideline strategy).

But you cant fake it on D. Nope. Not one bit. We seriously need the defensive line to take a big step foward this year, and hopefully our LB and DB play doesnt fall off with all the personnel losses. It still drives me nuts that we play a 3-4 and let the QB sit back and pick us apart. We let a DIII QB do that to us. Can you imagine how much time Kentucky’s QB is gonna have?

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clt says the observer finally noticed.

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@ Niner Advocate

I would like to make two points:

  1. Keep Calm and Frack on.
  2. Drill baby drill!
    :)) :)) ^-^ ^-^ :cool: :cool: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
    (Off topic, total de-railment here, should open new topic, too lazy.)
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[quote=“Honest Niner, post:50, topic:28822”]@ Niner Advocate

I would like to make two points:

  1. Keep Calm and Frack on.
  2. Drill baby drill!
    :)) :)) ^-^ ^-^ 8) 8) :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
    (Off topic, total de-railment here, should open new topic, too lazy.)[/quote]

There already is a topic in our politics forum. Please feel free to visit it.

Also, apropos:

2RwSMN3.png495×983

Back to football…

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Don’t worry, this thread was derailed many posts ago. Although good conversation and interesting for the most part, anyone hoping to get some insight to our new recruit will be dissappointed. I, too, am not adding much to the topic but I will say that I am extremely happy to have Uriah at Charlotte and eager to see him in action. He does get to practice with the team though, correct? So even if he doesn’t get on the field this year, I expect big contributions from him in 2015.

Welcome to CHARLOTTE!

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[quote=“NinerLove, post:52, topic:28822”]Don’t worry, this thread was derailed many posts ago. Although good conversation and interesting for the most part, anyone hoping to get some insight to our new recruit will be dissappointed. I, too, am not adding much to the topic but I will say that I am extremely happy to have Uriah at Charlotte and eager to see him in action. He does get to practice with the team though, correct? So even if he doesn’t get on the field this year, I expect big contributions from him in 2015.

Welcome to CHARLOTTE![/quote]Yeah he gets to practice with the team even if he’s not eligible to play (which he likely won’t be).

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a bit of an aside but i was just looking on app’s message board and reading through some of their bragging; for all their past “success” and despite the fact that they are a year ahead of us in the transition to fbs, we still have more three star recruits for the class of 2014 than them. i hate to hear people say that they will be one of our main competitors for recruits, i disagree. i think once the last transition year has been completed, we will far surpass them in recruiting and will compete less with app for recruits and recruit more against bigger programs. we have already started doing this, beating schools like tenessee, multiple ecu recruits, wake forest, pittsburgh, arizona, temple, etc. we will probably battle with app. for our filler players but i think the sky is the limit with our coaching staff and facilities. Add some success on the field to that and we could be bringing in some four stars soon, especially with the amount of talent in the area.

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I hear ya; but be careful you don’t start to sound too much like SJ. We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of improvement that needs to occur, and several hurdles to cross. I’m still excited to just have football, and I think we have a lot of potential; BUT, it remains just that (potential) until it’s realized.

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I hear ya; but be careful you don’t start to sound too much like SJ. We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of improvement that needs to occur, and several hurdles to cross. I’m still excited to just have football, and I think we have a lot of potential; BUT, it remains just that (potential) until it’s realized.[/quote]

absolutely. i’m not saying that we have arrived but i see the potential. i was also a bit annoyed at the attitude that app fans seem to have considering all the potential we have and all the advantages we have over them. i do not want them to be a rival, i want to aim higher. i’m not saying we have surpassed them as a football program but i am excited as to where we could be headed. adding players like lemay to an already loaded wide receiver crop gives us something to look forward to. we are bringing in some very good talent and the depth will improve soon.

57

I hear ya; but be careful you don’t start to sound too much like SJ. We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of improvement that needs to occur, and several hurdles to cross. I’m still excited to just have football, and I think we have a lot of potential; BUT, it remains just that (potential) until it’s realized.[/quote]

absolutely. i’m not saying that we have arrived but i see the potential. i was also a bit annoyed at the attitude that app fans seem to have considering all the potential we have and all the advantages we have over them. i do not want them to be a rival, i want to aim higher. i’m not saying we have surpassed them as a football program but i am excited as to where we could be headed. adding players like lemay to an already loaded wide receiver crop gives us something to look forward to. we are bringing in some very good talent and the depth will improve soon.[/quote]
We will have a chance to prove it on the field in 2018, but I tend to agree with you. I really admire what App accomplished a decade ago, and the fan enthusiasm they were able to drum up because of it. I think those were their best days though, and ours are clearly ahead of us. I cannot imagine we will not compete for players–and we will lose some–but we should be able to out-recruit them overall very soon.

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By the way, if you want to piss off the Mountaineers click on the link below, then click on App or WCU and vote for WCU. Stem! :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/best-outdoor-school/

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I hear ya; but be careful you don’t start to sound too much like SJ. We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of improvement that needs to occur, and several hurdles to cross. I’m still excited to just have football, and I think we have a lot of potential; BUT, it remains just that (potential) until it’s realized.[/quote]

absolutely. i’m not saying that we have arrived but i see the potential. i was also a bit annoyed at the attitude that app fans seem to have considering all the potential we have and all the advantages we have over them. i do not want them to be a rival, i want to aim higher. i’m not saying we have surpassed them as a football program but i am excited as to where we could be headed. adding players like lemay to an already loaded wide receiver crop gives us something to look forward to. we are bringing in some very good talent and the depth will improve soon.[/quote]
We will have a chance to prove it on the field in 2018, but I tend to agree with you. I really admire what App accomplished a decade ago, and the fan enthusiasm they were able to drum up because of it. I think those were their best days though, and ours are clearly ahead of us. I cannot imagine we will not compete for players–and we will lose some–but we should be able to out-recruit them overall very soon.[/quote]

We are 2 schools in a similar geographic location fighting from behind for relevancy in D1 athletics.

They have a strong following for the primary sport that drives the bus…but they have a small enrollment at a school in a terrible (non-existent) tv market.

We have an incredible location as it relates to tv market and a huge and growing enrollment…however, we have no history of support for a sport that will find a home in a no-name conference with established programs. Our only history in fan support is fair-weather at best for our most well known and most successful program, basketball.

We each have our issues and question marks in regards to making a D1 Football jump successful…and at this point, I’m not sure who holds the edge.

If we had Apps football history…or if App had our location…success would be all but certain at the D1 level. But that’s exactly why both programs are behind and fighting for a semblance of D1 relevancy at this point.

It will be very interesting to see where both schools are 10 yrs from now on the D1 athletic landscape.

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[quote=“ninerfan55, post:54, topic:28822”]a bit of an aside but i was just looking on app’s message board and reading through some of their bragging; for all their past “success” and despite the fact that they are a year ahead of us in the transition to fbs, we still have more three star recruits for the class of 2014 than them. i hate to hear people say that they will be one of our main competitors for recruits, i disagree. i think once the last transition year has been completed, we will far surpass them in recruiting and will compete less with app for recruits and recruit more against bigger programs. we have already started doing this, beating schools like tenessee, multiple ecu recruits, wake forest, pittsburgh, arizona, temple, etc. we will probably battle with app. for our filler players but i think the sky is the limit with our coaching staff and facilities. Add some success on the field to that and we could be bringing in some four stars soon, especially with the amount of talent in the area.[/quote]it all depends on the site you’re looking at.

On 247sports.com, App has wayyyyyyyyyyyy more 3 stars than we do. By 247’s rankings, they had the 2nd best class in the Sun Belt for 2014 and 93rd overall. Now some of that has to due with the fact that they simply had more scholarships to give than most of their SBC counterparts, but they also had a pretty impressive haul based on 247’s rankings.

At this level, so much depends on coaching, luck, and fit more than rankings. Boise State was getting mostly 2 and 3 star guys several years ago when they were just starting their amazing run of success. They probably had high caliber transfers thrown in there as well that weren’t on the recruiting records, but they got the most out of guys that were overlooked. It’ll be up to our coaching staff to do the same.