He is the real deal. One of my favorites on this Rebel team. Teams that haven't faced him are going to find out.

Didn't expect that one. From an under radar recruit to be ranked #1 in MWC and national watch list.

dcut03 said:

The hit rate with under the radar guys ( Jet Thomas, Jacob De Jesus) has been really good so far.

At this point I trust the staff with their recruiting. Also, some guys may just be projects/depth/development guys

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Those two names are more than enough for me to believe they can find diamonds in the rough, I just hope he is another one like those two! Jaco De-Jesus being recruited by nobody a year ago, and now he is an All-American!

Who have the deepest backfield in the MWC?

Jalen St. John is in the top 10?

Boise st tier 9
UNLV tier 13
Air Force, Oregon St, Washington St, SDSU, Wyoming, Fresno St tier 14
San Jose Tier 15a
Colorado St tier 17
Hawaii and Utah St Tier 18
UNR and UNM Tier 20

Total of 20 tiers

I dont blame a tier 13 rating. We had a good year. One in how many years? Want more respect have a year like last year again for 2-3 more years consecutive then maybe we can get more respect.
But notice how many MWC teams are above us compared to how many are ranked below us. I would say at this point probably right were we deserve before the season begins. Now lets go prove on the field we deserve better than this pre-season ranking.

Then you have Williams who threw for 2,597 yards, 19 TD's and completed 70% of his passes. I have no clue on Sluka v Williams and who should start. But based on experience IMO either could end up more effective than Maiava as a true freshmen.

Rebel1986 said:

I hope the coaching staff see something in him that other teams have not really seen. A look at the programs recruiting Mason Alnutt consist of Bowling Green, Bryant, Buffalo, East Tennessee State, Kent State, Monmouth and Stony Brook. Not exactly top level competition.

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Yes, but the guy's name says he has the balls for the game.

Rebel Hoya said:

Sluka has better ground game with his legs than Maiava so it should be a net positive!

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Only if he can make the throws he made or come close with fewer TO's.

There's not much to it. It's a pretty badly written "article." Tier 13 is QB issues. There isn't much rhyme or reason why he put each team in most tiers.

I was just looking back at articles on Sluka and last year he rushed for an all time FCS/FBS record of 330 yards in one game 😳. Seems like the perfect fit for the Go Go.

Rebel Hoya said:

I just looked and they have UNLV in “Tier 13” which is rank order #74-79. No respect from espn.

They have Kansas, Boise St, and Houston well ahead of us.

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A little lower than what I thought. Any chance you can copy and past the article in a spoiler in here?

Rebel Hoya said:

I’m terms of continuity I’d love to have had a stud freshman stay for many years. But for this offense I think we found a better fit in dual threat Sluka. Hopefully it works out that way.

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Speaking of continuity especially at QB is Sluka a 4'th or 5'th year senior. I know Haj is a 5'th year senior so I think Sluka should have an additional year due to the Covid rule.

j. spilotro said:

Maiava certainly had some head scratching passes …. But there were many times he threw a perfect ball, a lot on long routes, strong arm, nice flight and an easy catch.

Kind of what you expect out of a freshman.

I can’t say whether I’d rather have a sophomore Maiava who plays four or these two guys with one year each. I’ll let you know in January ….hopefully not sooner … and then I’ll affirm it or deny it with the next transfer class.

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I’m terms of continuity I’d love to have had a stud freshman stay for many years. But for this offense I think we found a better fit in dual threat Sluka. Hopefully it works out that way.

Haha..I called it. Top 75.

You guys don’t realize we are on a 3 game losing streak since last season.

I just looked and they have UNLV in “Tier 13” which is rank order #74-79. No respect from espn.

They have Kansas, Boise St, and Houston well ahead of us.

Boston Rebel 2 said:

As you said for better or worse. Sluka looks more conservative to me and not as accurate (from the one game I saw). But he won't make the turnovers Maiva made so we'll see how that all nets out.

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Sluka has better ground game with his legs than Maiava so it should be a net positive!

dcut03 said:

Running tempo can really work when you get momentum. You can lock defenses into certain packages, and really get them gassed.

But this really only works with productive plays on first downs, and it is the most effective from run plays. That has been our problem. The run game has not been good on early downs, pass plays that end in negative yards or incompletes kill tempo.

More than tempo, amount of plays, etc. To me the most important aspect to make this offense at it's most effective is being able to run the ball on early downs.

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Correct, as Peyton Manning would always say his focus was not to get to third down situations, he was always looking for a play that would move the ball past the sticks.