The actual easiest thing, to me, about analyzing players is discerning whether or not they have anything elite going on. It’s not the end of the world if a recruit doesn’t, but folks writing this stuff, or following it daily, tend to go to hyperbole rather quickly when discussing a recruit or commitment. Not all players have the best hands ever. Not every OL commitment has the best feet ever. But does someone have 80+ inch wing span at tackle or DE? Is the WR legitimately 6’5” or do they have a sub 4.15 shuttle? Is the CB putting people into the hospital in run support? Does the QB recruit have Vince Young’s alpha personality? I don’t need anything more than one thing that I, and everyone else, can point to indisputably and say about a player that makes him different.
Given that, I’d say the key to Rondale Moore is that it’s hard to compare anybody to his change of direction + acceleration. Maybe that winds up being Bowman, but that’s not what I saw on film. I did see elite ball skills, above and beyond anything else, for Bowman. He looked like the Honey Badger, so put that fucker at NB and let him scare the shit out of OC’s when they call a pass play.
To these points, my only issue with Hester is that I don’t see an elite skill or trait. Maybe he’s got one I’m missing, but I understand why OU would pursue Trajan Bridges instead. That doesn’t mean Hester can’t play and be a very productive WR in Herman’s offense. Marcus Washington doesn’t have an elite skill or trait, of which we’re aware at least. He was still someone everyone was excited about, and there’s more there on film, sure. But nothing elite. Anyway, apparently he was whipping ass this summer with Ehlinger in the passing competitions. Guys like Kwame Cavil have a place in this offense. There was nothing elite about that dude whatsoever, except, it turns out, his toughness. He was just fucking nastier than any DB lining up to cover him and he carried the offense in the passing game in 1999. I hope Hester isn’t just a depth guy. I hope they’re seeing something in him that has them excited. Otherwise, I don’t get it. Problem is, Mehringer is a proven dunce. Meekins hasn’t amazed anybody. So it’s a leap of faith that this board seems unwilling to take right now.