Shane Beamer cautions fans on expectations for Harbor

[18IsTheMan]

Says to remember that Harbor is 18 and has a lot to learn about college football.

Whenever coaches do this, you take it one of two ways:
1. He genuinely expects the player to take some lumps his freshman year and doesn't want fans to be disappointed with the learning curve

or...

2. He knows he's got something special and expects the player to blow up his freshman year but wants to keep other teams off-guard

Probably 1. Hopefully 2.

 

[18IsTheMan]

One thing that makes me a little nervous with Harbor is how the staff talks about using him. They talk about his crazy athleticism and all the various ways he could be utilized, but we don't have a great recent track record doing that. I hope they find one position and just let him excel there.

 

[Big JC]

Says to remember that Harbor is 18 and has a lot to learn about college football.

Whenever coaches do this, you take it one of two ways:
1. He genuinely expects the player to take some lumps his freshman year and doesn't want fans to be disappointed with the learning curve

or...

2. He knows he's got something special and expects the player to blow up his freshman year but wants to keep other teams off-guard

Probably 1. Hopefully 2.

I'd lean towards 1. The step up from HS to college is the biggest step in all of football. Harbor is going to go from a situation where he was the best athlete on the field in every game he played to being one of the best athletes at his position on his team. In HS, he probably never faced an opposing player that was really even close to him as far as physical ability. Combine this with the fact that HS football is mostly about physical matchups and college has a lot more mental aspects to playing and the learning curve can be pretty steep.

 

[Taco73]

One thing that makes me a little nervous with Harbor is how the staff talks about using him. They talk about his crazy athleticism and all the various ways he could be utilized, but we don't have a great recent track record doing that. I hope they find one position and just let him excel there.

As far as I can see it seems his career is headed to track. I don't see him doing Defensive End. So it makes sense to keep him a receiver.

 

[Deleted11512]

Good for Beamer. I’m excited about Harbor, but I’m not expecting much from him this year. We have plenty of weapons in the passing game. He's going to play, but I'm not expecting him to take many snaps from Juice, X, Brown, Knox, Simon.

 

[Deleted11512]

One thing that makes me a little nervous with Harbor is how the staff talks about using him. They talk about his crazy athleticism and all the various ways he could be utilized, but we don't have a great recent track record doing that. I hope they find one position and just let him excel there.

The only thing I've seen is they plan to use him as a WR. I don't think you're going to see a Bell situation with him.

 

[18IsTheMan]

The only thing I've seen is they plan to use him as a WR. I don't think you're going to see a Bell situation with him.

I hope you are right. In Beamer's recent comments, he spoke of his versatility, being able to catch the ball, run the ball out of the backfield and rush the passer. I just want to avoid another uber-athletic player who we can't nail down at a particular position.

 

[GcockNan13]

I’m sure he’s extremely raw on the route tree besides go routes and posts. If he’s never played WR it will be a learning curve. Dude has the athleticism to learn it quick but by quick I mean mid-to-late in the season and probably likely more on the later side. We have a good receiving room with lots of speed already so luckily we don’t need to rely on him a ton this year and let him get his feet under him.

 

[Cluster Cock]

Harbor is a track guy playing football, not a football player that runs track - the coaches have repeated this numerous times. Track sprinters run in a straight line as fast as they can. Receivers have to break down and cut and other complex motions while locating the ball. I have been in a small group setting with the coaches and they said these are things he's having to work at. At his size, it's hard to stop, cut and reach top end speed quickly. But, he's a superior athlete and, with our coaching, and he'll figure it out.

 

[Deleted11512]

Harbor is a track guy playing football, not a football player that runs track - the coaches have repeated this numerous times. Track sprinters run in a straight line as fast as they can. Receivers have to break down and cut and other complex motions while locating the ball. I have been in a small group setting with the coaches and they said these are things he's having to work at. At his size, it's hard to stop, cut and reach top end speed quickly. But, he's a superior athlete and, with our coaching, and he'll figure it out.

Agree. You can tell in his sprints he doesn't necessarily have quickness, but elite top end speed. Kind of like a faster Alshon. Just hope he has hands and ball skills like Alshon. That remains to be seen, and will likely have to be developed.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Harbor is a track guy playing football, not a football player that runs track - the coaches have repeated this numerous times. Track sprinters run in a straight line as fast as they can. Receivers have to break down and cut and other complex motions while locating the ball. I have been in a small group setting with the coaches and they said these are things he's having to work at. At his size, it's hard to stop, cut and reach top end speed quickly. But, he's a superior athlete and, with our coaching, and he'll figure it out.

It's funny because when you see him run track, he physically stands out as a football player who's running track.

 

[Prestonyte]

Agree. You can tell in his sprints he doesn't necessarily have quickness, but elite top end speed. Kind of like a faster Alshon. Just hope he has hands and ball skills like Alshon. That remains to be seen, and will likely have to be developed.

Faster Alshon would be great. Go up and get passes DB can't reach - "Sky Harbor" for the TD.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I'm not terribly concerned about his hands. Superior athletes have superior hand/eye coordination.

He looks pretty good catching the ball here and brings down the ball in some tight windows.



Just won't know until he takes reps though. Some 4* and 5* WRs get to campus and have bricks for hands. We've brought in dual threat guys who looked like lightning in high school but looked like their feet were in quicksand here. Then you have 3* guys who have the softest hands in the world.

 

[Prestonyte]

I think his attitude is a huge part and I don't think he accepts failure well - I see him accomplishing whatever goals he sets. The way he and his parents handled recruiting tells you a lot about his upbringing. Of course coaching him up as a receiver, particularly running routes, will be essential to his success. Speed is a great thing but it's not everything. There is a long history of great receivers who did not have great speed.