'15 ATH Kevin Dillman (Denton Guyer)

[BillySee58]

Why not give him a shot at QB.

Here are my thoughts on the position situation for him.

Kelvin Smith committed to us in late July and after that we didn't offer any other tight ends. We looked done at tight end for the class. Then Dillman parts ways with Nebraska (during the dead period) and we offered him a few weeks later (still during the dead period).

Here's why it's important that it was during the dead period. All the coaches had to base whether or not to offer Dillman was film. And, if they truly offered him solely to bring him in at tight end then they only have JV film to base whether or not to offer him. Sometimes in cases like that, especially with tight ends, coaches will bring in a kid for a workout and have him run some routes, pop some pads, and catch some passes and see if they like what they have to work with, then they'll decide whether or not to offer. But they didn't get to do that with Dillman. They offered him during the dead period before bringing him in for a workout would be a possibility, and they couldn't have worked him out before because he was committed to Nebraska when the dead period began.

That, plus the fact that it looked like we were done at tight end for the class for months, then we decide to offer a kid who has really only played tight end on the JV level for one year. But that player just so happens to be a former 5-star quarterback whose potential at QB was so great that he was offered by some of the premier programs in the country, such as Nebraska, Tennessee, UCLA, Florida State, and Auburn.

That's why I have a hard time believing that with the timing of everything we offered with the sole intention of coming in from day 1 and being a tight end all the way. It's definitely a possibility, but I'm still far from sold on the idea that the coaches have no intention of giving him a shot at quarterback. Especially if Houston, or another school, does choose to offer him at QB. I think that'd make it very hard to keep him. But we'll see. Regardless, this is clearly a huge commitment.

Edited January 17, 2015 by BillySee58

[BillySee58]

It's with great honor and pride to announce that I have decided to lay my future in the hands of the university of north Texas #GMG #blessed

— kevin dillman (@kevindillman10)

January 17, 2015

[UNTLifer]

Great news. You have to give this young man a shot at QB. He is the highest rated QB coming out of high school that I ever remember us getting.

[TheWestie]

Can we use him in the Wild Eagle?

[FirefightnRick]

I hope this kid has some wheels and can beat a double team to get pressure on the QB.

Rick

[UNTLifer]

So, you don't want to give him a shot at QB where he was a 5 star recruit, but want to move him to DE, a position he has never played? Makes perfect sense.

[IslandEagle]

Since he is an athlete, why not see how he develops and then make a decision where he can help the team the most?

[Mean Green 93-98]

Since he is an athlete, why not see how he develops and then make a decision where he can help the team the most?

I assume that's the whole point of classifying him as "athlete."

[TIgreen01]

Since he is an athlete, why not see how he develops and then make a decision where he can help the team the most?

This! Also, love seeing us get another player out of Denton high schools.

[BillySee58]

Posted this in his thread in the football forum:

For those who like to look at the ratings, Dillman is the highest-rated commitment we've ever received on ESPN (79 rating, 1 point shy of a 4-star) and 247 (86 rating, 4 points shy of a 4-star). He's our first 3-star high-school commitment for the class on Rivals and our highest rated commit on scout.

He's also, to my knowledge, the first player we've ever signed out of high school to be rated a 5-star at any point, as 247 had him rated a 98, which is considered a 5-star, last February. At least in the recruiting website era.

Hopefully we can finish strong with the other 3 uncommitted prospects at Guyer who we have offered.

[greenminer]

Billy, can you confirm which position Dillman was rated a 98 in?

[FirefightnRick]

So, you don't want to give him a shot at QB where he was a 5 star recruit, but want to move him to DE, a position he has never played? Makes perfect sense.

Yup, according to MeanGreenZen today, and according to his sources inside the Guyer program he would have sat behind a sophomore this past season had he been eligible for varsity play.

It's funny how I dismissed him playing QB yesterday with my wish for him to play somewhere(my choice was DE) other than QB, without even knowing that today?

Rick

Edited January 17, 2015 by FirefightnRick

[BillySee58]

Billy, can you confirm which position Dillman was rated a 98 in?

That was at quarterback.

Here's how, to me, it looked like things happened. 247 saw the kid's film, saw all the immense capabilities he showed, and saw an offer list that was fit for a 5-star and gave him that rating. However, once they looked a little deeper and saw that his stats (incredibly hard to find) were not that great, partly due to his season ending early because of the Achilles injury, and that he wasn't getting all state/county/district/whatever recognition they realized they needed to pull back the reins a little bit.

If you rate a kid a 5-star then you're basically saying he's a lock and he's almost assuredly going to a 3 or 4 year starter, and an NFL type prospect. If that player doesn't live up to those expectations then it looks bad on the integrity of your site's rankings and the site as a whole. So they bumped him down a few pegs, while still being very high on his capabilities, as many big time programs were as well. But there needed to be more production and development for Dillman to be rated that high.

Here's an article by JC Shurburtt, the main guy at 247. He said Dillman had more baseline talent than any QB Nebraska has signed since Tommy Frazier. He also acknowledged that Dillman still needed a lot of development, which he unfortunately hasn't been able to develop since then.

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaaf/eye-on-college-football/24515144/highest-of-ceilings-for-newest-husker

[FirefightnRick]

Someone forget to tell 24/7 that Nebraska doesn't think Dillmam is Superman anymore or are these offers still on the table for him?

Rick

[greenminer]

Someone forget to tell 24/7 that Nebraska doesn't think Dillmam is Superman anymore or are these offers still on the table for him?

Rick

Maybe it's already been covered by Billy or this thread, but I couldn't help but notice on their profile of Dillman that his player rating kept dropping during Feb.

[BillySee58]

Maybe it's already been covered by Billy or this thread, but I couldn't help but notice on their profile of Dillman that his player rating kept dropping during Feb.

Yeah, I said it earlier. Basically, the most likely reason is that the head guys at 247 loved his film, saw his offer list, and felt he had a 5-star film and offer list. Then they saw more of the situation and realized he didn't have great stats due to still being very early in his developmental process and only having about a season's worth of stats. So, while still believing he had the talent, they dropped him until he proved more on the field. Which he didn't his senior year.

As for the offers, Dillman committed in April and those other schools got their own QB commits from then through last month, when Nebraska parted ways with Dillman. Those schools also were probably banking that Dillman would finally have a full year to be a starter. That obviously didn't happen, so the question marks he had were left unanswered.

Edited January 20, 2015 by BillySee58

[BigDanTeague]

The kid had all the offers at one time or another, but QB spots fill faster than any other position. A March offer doesn't mean you'll still have that offer by January.

I love this get for North Texas.

As for anyone downplaying Dillman because he would've sat behind a sophomore had he been eligible, that sophomore is probably gonna be better than Jerrod Heard and may be the No. 1 player in Texas in the 2017 class.

[BillySee58]

The kid had all the offers at one time or another, but QB spots fill faster than any other position. A March offer doesn't mean you'll still have that offer by January.

I love this get for North Texas.

As for anyone downplaying Dillman because he would've sat behind a sophomore had he been eligible, that sophomore is probably gonna be better than Jerrod Heard and may be the No. 1 player in Texas in the 2017 class.

Completely agree. We've gone on talking about this kid ad nauseum, but I think another thing about Robinson is that I'd argue that he was further developed as a freshman/rising sophomore than Dillman was as a junior/rising senior. Dillman obviously is from Sweden and was injured midway through his first year as a starter as a junior. While Robinson grew up over here with a father who is a football coach, and had already started a full varsity season as a freshman at Saginaw Chisholm Trail.

But apparently Dillman will come to North Texas as a tight end from day 1. We'll see if that's true or not, but I don't know why he wouldn't be given a shot to play QB for us. Even with the logjam at QB.

[NT03]

Robinson may be the best football player to ever come out of Guyer when all is said and done

[FirefightnRick]

As for the offers, Dillman committed in April and those other schools got their own QB commits from then through last month, when Nebraska parted ways with Dillman. Those schools also were probably banking that Dillman would finally have a full year to be a starter. That obviously didn't happen, so the question marks he had were left unanswered.

I guess my question is,....if the Nebraska offer has been pulled off of his 247 site page, why hasn't all the others? Is it a mistake they are still listed?

Rick

[BillySee58]

I guess my question is,....if the Nebraska offer has been pulled off of his 247 site page, why hasn't all the others? Is it a mistake they are still listed?

Rick

Because the Nebraska offer is the only one that was officially/formally pulled. It's factual that the offer was pulled. It's obvious the other ones are no longer good, but schools rarely officially confirm that an offer to a player is no longer good. For example, none of those schools are going to come out and say "our offer to Kevin Dillman is no longer good. So they can't really report it as no longer good.

Also, sites don't always report offers that are no longer good/have been pulled. Usually sites just show who has offered at some point. They don't usually pull offers off a recruits page unless it is a case like this. Where the school officially parted ways and said the offer is no longer good. I believe 247 is the only site that pulled his Nebraska offer off his profile.

[FirefightnRick]

Because the Nebraska offer is the only one that was officially/formally pulled. It's factual that the offer was pulled. It's obvious the other ones are no longer good, but schools rarely officially confirm that an offer to a player is no longer good. For example, none of those schools are going to come out and say "our offer to Kevin Dillman is no longer good. So they can't really report it as no longer good.

Also, sites don't always report offers that are no longer good/have been pulled. Usually sites just show who has offered at some point. They don't usually pull offers off a recruits page unless it is a case like this. Where the school officially parted ways and said the offer is no longer good. I believe 247 is the only site that pulled his Nebraska offer off his profile.

Gotcha. Thank you sir!

Rick

[MeanGreenTexan]

Because the Nebraska offer is the only one that was officially/formally pulled. It's factual that the offer was pulled. It's obvious the other ones are no longer good, but schools rarely officially confirm that an offer to a player is no longer good. For example, none of those schools are going to come out and say "our offer to Kevin Dillman is no longer good. So they can't really report it as no longer good.

Also, sites don't always report offers that are no longer good/have been pulled. Usually sites just show who has offered at some point. They don't usually pull offers off a recruits page unless it is a case like this. Where the school officially parted ways and said the offer is no longer good. I believe 247 is the only site that pulled his Nebraska offer off his profile.

Don't these sites mainly go off of the player's word? I know they're connected with the schools too, so they can probably verify if a kid's word is good.

It may be possible that after he de-committed, or however it went down, the sites talked to him and he TOLD them the offer was no longer good. They probably didn't ask about the others, and he didn't say, so like you're saying, they're not verified as off the table.

[BillySee58]

Don't these sites mainly go off of the player's word? I know they're connected with the schools too, so they can probably verify if a kid's word is good.

It may be possible that after he de-committed, or however it went down, the sites talked to him and he TOLD them the offer was no longer good. They probably didn't ask about the others, and he didn't say, so like you're saying, they're not verified as off the table.

Yes. The guys who cover the schools on those sites, and especially subsites (i.e. Nebraska's subsite on 247) are able to confirm the offers. They all are connected within the program and are able to get the "inside" scoop from within, rather than just have kids go around and say all these schools have offered. Or confirm with the kid's high school coach.

Dillman publicly decommitted on twitter and said the staff basically didn't want him anymore. No need to really verify anymore than that. You're just unchecking an offer from a school that he's obviously not going to anymore.

[jquincy]

A few observations:

I'm decidedly less enthusiastic about Dillman if they intend to play him anywhere other than QB. I read through most of these posts, and I didn't see one person mention the idea of redshirting him as a QB and developing his fundamentals and his knowledge of the playbook, then let him compete next spring. But I did see a few people talk about how crowded the QB position is, as if the redshirt option is simply not in play in their minds.

Also, to those who are pining away for more D-line help: quality D-line recruits are a problem for most mid-major programs. High schools just aren't developing them as much anymore, and the ones that are worth a poot usually go to power 5 schools. This is only going to get worse as FBS college football becomes more and more of a two-tier system. Incidentally, I think D-line is an absolutely awful idea for Dillman.

Lastly, can we possibly get a fix on exactly how big Dillman really is? Everyone seems to agree on 6'4", but I've seen his weight range from 205 (on ESPN), to 220 (Dallas Morning News), to 230, 235, and as much as 243 (all on this blog). It seems like every post I see about him, he's put on somewhere between 5 and 15 lbs. I'm fully expecting in about a week for him to weigh 328 and be in the conversation for starting left guard.

Edited February 1, 2015 by jquincy