Hello: Nick Eubanks (TE)

Submitted by Indonacious on
Per himself on twiter.
 
 
Composite #15 TE with Big Time offers including Bama (visited 1/15), Florida, LSU, UGA, and a bunch of other top programs.
 
Scout is the one outlier in his rankings, listing him as the #29 TE/3*.
Rivals = #9 TE/4*
247 = #11 TE/4*
ESPN lists him at a position that other services dont have (TE-H #2) but overall #258/4*.
 
 
Per Lorenz, "He said Alabama led prior to his visit. He's no longer planning to officially visit Florida this weekend.
 

"I chose Michigan because it's a better fit for me," Eubanks said. "I can play right away as a true freshman. It's best for my future and for my work ethic. Plus coach Harbaugh coached Vernon Davis so I know he knows how to use the tight end. Michigan showed me stuff I've never seen before. Not at Florida or at Alabama. How they throw the ball to their tight end. How they flex the tight end out and use the position as a hybrid. No other school I was considering does that. That shocked me and shook my mind."

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Magnus

January 28th, 2016 at 8:00 PM ^

I'll take Harbaugh and Saban's opinions over mine, too, but everyone's bound to be wrong sometimes. I guess we'll see whether it's me or Harbaugh in this case. The smart money's on Harbaugh, of course...

EDIT: FWIW, a few of the recruits I've taken the most flak for being too rough on are Logan Tuley-Tillman, Kaleb Ringer, and David Dawson. Tuley-Tillman got booted from the team, Ringer transferred to Ferris State and Georgia State, and Dawson is probably still going to be a backup next season. Again, I'm certainly not claiming to be 100% accurate, but I'm not aiming wildly in the dark, either.

Joined: 07/17/2008

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Space Coyote

January 29th, 2016 at 3:36 AM ^

As an H-TE, I really like Eubanks first step and longer stride. He has good length in his arms and frame, and can be a guy that plays at 230-245 off the LOS most of the time. WIth his burst and straight line speed, he can be a threat in the seam, on deep crosses, on corner routes, as well as crossing underneath the route and attacking the flat. For the most part, besides the last route, the fact that he fights the ball a bit in the air isn't as much of a concern.

But Eubanks isn't going to be Butt as a TE. He does fight the ball a bit in the air, lets the ball into his body, etc. My biggest critique, similar to Magnus, is his blocking. And while he seems "willing", it seems to me that he's willing to pop kids, but he really didn't show a willingness to block kids. It's one thing to be raw in his blocking technique, you see that a lot of places, but you don't really see a great effort for blocking, which is a concern, along with the other things Magnus noted.

The thing with Eubanks, and why even when I ranked prospects I did it differently, is because ultimately, Eubanks could end up just about anywhere. He has the athletic skill and size to be a very dangerous receiving threat, he also shows some concerns in areas that could leave him as a player that never really makes an impact. He really is a boom or bust type prospect, IMO.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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alum96

January 29th, 2016 at 5:14 AM ^

Thanks for that eval.  Personally I like hearing everyone's views as no one gets everything right.  There are highly paid nFL scouts who have 4 more years of data than HS evals and they get it wrong half the time.  I am realistic that of a class of 10 you will have 2-3 total flameouts and a few underachievers.  So in the end if you get a 50% "starter" hit rate you are happy.  So out of these 30 2016s I would be happy if 15 eventually are starters and that means 15 will probably underachieve to what most expect as every recruit people say is the next "Golden Tate" or "Devin Funchess" or "name NFL DB" or "name a top 20 player in college".  But who knows which ones. 

It also makes me respect Devin Funchess' talent even more - yes he was a horrid blocker but he played right away out of HS at a very tough position.  First year at a place he didnt belong as a TE.  And had 3 very good years despite some "effort" issues there at the end in a doomed regime.  Compare to Bunting who many thought out of HS would be FUnchess 2.0 and in 2 years has yet to really see the field much at all.

This guy's body is like Bunting in that it needs weight on it to be a TE of any sort, if he is really 215ish rather than 230ish.

As for Magnus eval like he said in it, this guy's effort level will either improve dramatically or he wont be on the team in a few years because it wont stand in the program.  Difficult to be a TE if you don't have the will to do the blocking stuff.  Catching with body and not hands is also something that has to change over time.  Magnus  sees him more of a Khalid Hill type at H back as well....seems like you do too.

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Space Coyote

January 29th, 2016 at 5:42 AM ^

Funchess was forced into duty by the depth chart, which had approximately zero receiving talent at the TE position. I still think a Funchess that could get up to 240 and learn to at least marginally block makes him a very rare talent, even by NFL standards. My opinion is that his upside was higher at TE, it just didn't work out fully. Not that it didn't eventually work out in some way, but that's why I think he started and played so much there early.

Contrast with Bunting, who was stuck behind Butt, an improving Williams, a much more ready Hill, and bunch of other players more prepared to assist in the run game, and a handful of WRs. It makes sense that his turn hasn't completely come up yet.

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Rabbit21

January 28th, 2016 at 8:49 PM ^

I think the coaches like the speed and athleticism bit, and I thought the extracurricular were pretty funny and perhaps indicative of an attitude of being willing to mix things up and become more of a "nails for breakfast" guy. That said I was troubled by how he didn't sustain blocks as I thought there were a couple of big plays for the taking is he had stayed with guys he looked like he had blocked.



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Lie-Cheat-Steal

January 28th, 2016 at 8:56 PM ^

Doesn't like a commit or have him as highly rated as Harbaugh, he can go fuck himself...he knows nothing about football or talent evaluation. I trust the coaches, etc, derp

If he agrees with Harbaugh's assessment or envisions a higher ceiling for the kid, then Magnus has obviously done his homework and has a good eye for this sort of talent evalutation.

In the case of Eubanks, go fuck yourself Magnus, you know nothing.

Joined: 10/14/2015

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Magnus

January 28th, 2016 at 7:52 PM ^

I'm sure Harbaugh knows more about football, Nick Eubanks, etc. than you, me, or anyone else on the board. That's not in question.

However, a certain number of players are bound not to pan out for even the best of coaches. Not every Nick Saban recruit turns into a 1st round pick, and not every Brady Hoke recruit turns into a poor excuse for a football player.

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Roc Blue in the Lou

January 28th, 2016 at 9:12 PM ^

I, too, respect the Thunder, and his assessments, but when you line Harbaugh, Saban, Miles, UF, GA and a host of others on the opposite side, well, i know what sideline i'm going with.  Magnus does, at times, get something stuck in his mind and, like many of us, seems overly tied to his "gut" instinct...take Ty Isaac, for example, whom he championed throughout the season, and wasn't very high on Deveon, but DSmith was a hoss and the glue that held the O'fense together, IMO.  Grain of salt, is all i'm sayin'.

Joined: 12/09/2013

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Magnus

January 28th, 2016 at 9:47 PM ^

Yep, De'Veon Smith and his 4.2 yards/carry... Whoopee!

I'm not saying Isaac should have started over him, because those 2 fumbles against Maryland are enough to get anyone in the doghouse. But what I've said all along (and what I still stand behind) is that Isaac is a more natural, talented runner. Sample size blah blah blah but Isaac averaged 6.8 yards/carry, while Smith had the lowest YPC on the team - even lower than fullbacks Sione Houma and Joe Kerridge! - except for freshman Karan Higdon.

I'm sorry, but if your top two fullbacks are gaining more yards than your starting tailback, something's not right.

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turd ferguson

January 28th, 2016 at 6:07 PM ^

It's because Scout doesn't love him.  He's a 4-star to ESPN, Rivals, and 24/7, but Scout has him way down its list (#29 TE).  

His offer list definitely looks more like a 4-star than a 3-star, with Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia, USC, Oregon, Texas, and on and on, and a lot of those programs seem to be actively recruiting him.  Hopefully Scout just missed on this one.

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alum96

January 28th, 2016 at 6:14 PM ^

At this point the way teams spit out offers I think the "offer list" is going to have to be used with some grains of salt for all players.  I mean we have offers out to 2019s so in the 2019 class some kid is going to go to Western Kentucky and some dude on the WKU board is going to say "he had an offer from Michigan!"

It does sound like Alabama was interested of late though so Saban and Magnus seem to have a very different view on him. 

Sounds like both Allen and Eubanks are projects in the line of Ian Bunting where you get them in, get some weight on them and hopefully in a few years they develop.  Ian Bunting really should be the TE we focus on for 2016.

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turd ferguson

January 28th, 2016 at 6:22 PM ^

Fair.  It's a data point, but probably not as meaningful a data point as it was a few years ago.

Kind of tangential, I was looking at Scout's tight end rankings.  They have Eubanks #29 and Sean McKeon #30.  They list McKeon's 40 time as 4.52, which is the fastest among TEs.  If that's close to accurate, he could be an incredible weapon at about 6'5".  Rivals has him at 4.89, so I'm not sure what to believe.

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DMack

January 28th, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^

Really hope we arent out for Asiasi and Tagaloa. Is the staff making them a priority?Is somebody out there talking to Tagaloa's family????

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True Blue in CO

January 28th, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^

New model for Harbaugh and staff. Within 2 weeks, visit them, get them to campus, get them to commit, and leave no room for either party to change their mind before NSD. Only good drama.

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M-Dog

January 28th, 2016 at 7:56 PM ^

No need to even recruit until January.

Just swoop in the week before NSD, pick out who you like, and take them away.

Harbaugh is like the drummer in the band at closing time.  He takes whatever girl he wants home.  All you can do is hope it's not the one that you have been flirting with and buying drinks all night long.  

Cause Harbaugh don't care.

 

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alum96

January 28th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^

That's funny - what a ditz.  A cute ditz though.

I am old enough these game shows used to be on in replay back on channel 20/50 in the 80s back when we had only 6 channels and you had to actually go up to the TV to change the channel (20 to 50 was a long way to go!)  Eubanks was the man.

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LSAClassOf2000

January 28th, 2016 at 8:01 PM ^

You and I are relatively close in  age then because I remember those days well - "The Newlywed Game" used to be in the afternoon rotation on 20, I think, perhaps right before their news program (did anyone actually watch the news on 20? They had it for a while, but I can't imagine it had more than a cult following as news goes).

Anyway, my other favorite moment was one where Eubanks asks a couple something like:

"Where is the weirdest place that you and your spouse did it?"

The wife's reply:

"In the ass."

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M-Dog

January 28th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^

I'm old enough to remember when these shows originally ran.

Cool story bro:  That time period reminds me of my grandmother's top-of-the-line Zenith color TV that had an actual remote control in the mid 60's.  It was a "sonic" remote . . . you pushed buttons on it and they made different "ping" sounds that a sensor in the TV picked up, telling it to turn on/off or change the channel up or down.

There was a motor on the channel dial and when you pushed the channel button up or down on the remote, it would "ping", and the channel knob would turn as if an invisible hand was turning the dial.  It was the coolest damn thing in the world for a little kid to play with.  

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