3 Star WR commits to Dan Mullen. Look at those schools, who he chose over.
WR Tatum Bell Jr Commits
- Thread starter WYNN or Dye
- Start date
Looks like a great get! Unfortunately, the first thing I think of when I see a signing like this is I wonder if I’ll get to see him play in a UNLV uniform. Or if for more than one season.
We are a G5 with limited NIL, I think you know the answer… 1 year if he flashes in his first season due to NIL, 2 years is more than likely if he doesn’t!
Sort of.
Our NIL is near the top of the G5. So player retention will be a little easier than most in the G5, Rebs were able to hang onto Ricky White...
But to your point, yeah it will still be tough to hold off bigger schools..UNLV can't win a bidding war vs P4 schools in most case.
Will have to be real selective.
One positive at least is that even with a lot of G5 players getting 'poached' by P4 schools, there's a lot of highly rated guys at P4 schools buried on depth charts that are moving down.
So in some ways it balances out a little.
Still stinks though.
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And which of the schools that he "turned down" are stashing him at UNLV for that year? I assume his dad is Tatum Bell who played in at NFL and Oklahoma State?
Who cares we are who we are, a G5 who has their players poached due to NIL.
Nobody should expect 4 year players at a G5 anymore, money talks whether it’s greed or need.
If we get 1 good year from him you take it and move on, end of story!
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It is what it is. I don't mind it. Probably bc I gravitated (somehow) to being more of a soccer/football fan.
My team Norwich is in 2nd tier. Yo Yo club. Sometimes in EPL Big club. Average 25k/game. The owner of the Brewers Attanasio just bought us.
The reality is we are a feeder club that buys young talent cheap, develops talent and then sells them for a profit. We get to love them with the understanding that the good ones are never going to stay. Bigger clubs to go to. James Maddison, Emi Buendia and soon to be Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz.
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I like trying to watch any film I can find on these new recruits and do a little bit of research
* Son of former NFL running back Tatum Bell who was a 3 year starter at Oklahoma State in the early oughts with 3600 scrimmage yards and one 1k yard season in the NFL with the Broncos.
* Listed at 5'11" 190 lbs
* 40 time listed between 4.5 and 4.62
* Played at Heritage in Frisco which is 5A (2nd division), transferred for his senior season to Lewisville which is a top 20 6A program.
* Ran track and posted a personal best 11.56 100M which is a pretty good time.
* Transfer apparently was surrounded by some drama, 'unfair accusations' and 'lack of communication' with Frisco ISD--but I couldn't find any really detail after an hour of searching.
* Jr year he put up pretty nice numbers 67 catches for 963 yards and 11 TDs.
* One year as a PG on the varsity BB team averaging 8.8ppg and 2.9apg.
No watching his hudl tape (understand these are all highlights) first the good:
* Can play as a split end, flanker, slot, or in the backfield. Strongest as a SE/X. Played on special teams (KOR). Versatile.
* Not blinding speed, but clearly very good 5A speed.
* Good natural balance when running/cutting.
* Decisive runner with really nice acceleration, turns good pursuit lines into poor pursuit lines. Sudden.
* Not particularly shifty, but very good one cut runner with the ball in his hands
* Surprisingly good catch radius for a guy his size, and seems to really excel in combat catch situations.
* Strong hands, and understands how to reverse them naturally depending on ball placement.
* Hand catcher, not a lot of letting the ball get to his body.
* Tracks the ball well especially on deep balls, high points balls very well despite not being a + jumper.
* Willing and aggressive run blocker.
* Understands how to help his QB in broken play situations, making himself available and finding space.
* Playmaker in space, very dangerous on WR and tunnel screens.
* Is happy to bully smaller DBs physically
Now the room for improvement stuff:
* Footwork in and out of routes is sloppy, clearly relies on his acceleration to get open.
* Routes are not crisp, lots of rounding and extra steps where not needed.
* Not good at selling route fakes.
* Didn't see how he worked against press coverage at all in his hudl videos. TBD.
* I don't think his speed will hold up at 6A or NCAA as well.
* Not a lot of other tools in his avoidance box besides the shoulder shake plant cut.
* Might be a tiny bit hot-headed, like a half step past 'playing with an edge.
If you can improve his route running he will be a very nice G6 player. If you can't, if you can scheme to get him the ball in space he'll be a very nice player at the G6 level. I think he lacks speed and sized to be a real threat to jump up to P4 without improvement. This is a smaller guy than we've seen Mullen go for in his first class, and since he doesn't really have any return-man acumen I have to assume they have a plan for the route running or avoidance development. I think his recruit numbers seem pretty solid (top 1200 overall, top 200 WR).
* Son of former NFL running back Tatum Bell who was a 3 year starter at Oklahoma State in the early oughts with 3600 scrimmage yards and one 1k yard season in the NFL with the Broncos.
* Listed at 5'11" 190 lbs
* 40 time listed between 4.5 and 4.62
* Played at Heritage in Frisco which is 5A (2nd division), transferred for his senior season to Lewisville which is a top 20 6A program.
* Ran track and posted a personal best 11.56 100M which is a pretty good time.
* Transfer apparently was surrounded by some drama, 'unfair accusations' and 'lack of communication' with Frisco ISD--but I couldn't find any really detail after an hour of searching.
* Jr year he put up pretty nice numbers 67 catches for 963 yards and 11 TDs.
* One year as a PG on the varsity BB team averaging 8.8ppg and 2.9apg.
No watching his hudl tape (understand these are all highlights) first the good:
* Can play as a split end, flanker, slot, or in the backfield. Strongest as a SE/X. Played on special teams (KOR). Versatile.
* Not blinding speed, but clearly very good 5A speed.
* Good natural balance when running/cutting.
* Decisive runner with really nice acceleration, turns good pursuit lines into poor pursuit lines. Sudden.
* Not particularly shifty, but very good one cut runner with the ball in his hands
* Surprisingly good catch radius for a guy his size, and seems to really excel in combat catch situations.
* Strong hands, and understands how to reverse them naturally depending on ball placement.
* Hand catcher, not a lot of letting the ball get to his body.
* Tracks the ball well especially on deep balls, high points balls very well despite not being a + jumper.
* Willing and aggressive run blocker.
* Understands how to help his QB in broken play situations, making himself available and finding space.
* Playmaker in space, very dangerous on WR and tunnel screens.
* Is happy to bully smaller DBs physically
Now the room for improvement stuff:
* Footwork in and out of routes is sloppy, clearly relies on his acceleration to get open.
* Routes are not crisp, lots of rounding and extra steps where not needed.
* Not good at selling route fakes.
* Didn't see how he worked against press coverage at all in his hudl videos. TBD.
* I don't think his speed will hold up at 6A or NCAA as well.
* Not a lot of other tools in his avoidance box besides the shoulder shake plant cut.
* Might be a tiny bit hot-headed, like a half step past 'playing with an edge.
If you can improve his route running he will be a very nice G6 player. If you can't, if you can scheme to get him the ball in space he'll be a very nice player at the G6 level. I think he lacks speed and sized to be a real threat to jump up to P4 without improvement. This is a smaller guy than we've seen Mullen go for in his first class, and since he doesn't really have any return-man acumen I have to assume they have a plan for the route running or avoidance development. I think his recruit numbers seem pretty solid (top 1200 overall, top 200 WR).
This breakdown is excellent! Other than height, almost everything else can be improved upon with a redshirt year. I am concerned about the speed; but some times you just need a guy that can catch everything for short yard gains. For context, freshman UNLV linebacker Alexander Green ran a personal best 100m of 11.58 at 6'2, 235.
Not a comparison but Jerry Rice ran a slow 40 time too.. game speed and track speed, there is a difference!
The 40 time was done so much differently back then, too. Jerry Rice has said in interviews that he had to learn how to run to improve his 40 time. You can't watch tape and say that Rice's top speed is the same as Jerome Bettis.
Rice was never one of those 'blazer' guys, but he was plenty fast. Rice's strength was route running, and knowing where seams were in zones. And his ability to accelerate.
I also suspect that the son of a NFL running back who also runs track will have some much more formal sprint track running--he ran the 100 after all. I also think Bell Jr's speed looked very good for his competition on tape. I think it's going to be enough to be okay with some more polish--and I think he has room for polish.
I don't know this to be fact but using a UNLV comparison...
In a 40 or 100 meter I think Charles Williams might beat Lexington Thomas.
But in 10-20 yards Lex would win. He was more explosive in short areas and hit top end quicker than Chuck. If Lex made a cut he was back at top speed in fewer steps. Chuck seemed to need a little more space to get going. Tim Cornett was like Chuck. Give him a lane he's gone, but less effective in short areas or changing direction.
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Dominique Dorsey is another guy in that club, as well as Jacob DeJesus and Jerami Rudolph are some others that come to mind.
Probably one of the greatest signings in EFL history. Got him for free and I don't know how that happened. I think it was his 2nd year with us that dude literally scored goals off his ass, balls and tits. No joke. There was a song for that.
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DeJesus’s change of directions was fantastic. All of these guys were more quick than fast. But the key is they were fast enough. I believe Bell falls into this category.
