Bat
I see we agree on several of the spots. I know I keeping yelling Griffin at safety and there is reason behind this. I have followed this kid in high school. When he was recruited, many stated that he was from a 2a school that did not play a lot of talent but that is not true. I first me this kid when Lonnie Marts (former 11 year NFL Veteran Linebacker -I only shared this info to provide a little insight on the person evaluating the talent) Rod Harris former NFL receiver and myself were watching a game with Griffin's team Trinity Christian vs Yulee that featured Alabama commit Derick Henry RB and South Carolina WR now linebacker Kelvin Rainey. Griffin started out covering Kelvin Rainey 6'233. Rainey averaged well over 100 yards a game but in the first half he had 0 catches. Griffin jammed him and even got a pick that was called back because of a penalty. Derrick Henry was destroying Trinity on the ground so Trinity switched Griffin to Middle Linebacker. On the first play Griffin blitzed and dropped Henry. Henry stood up and fell to the ground. he was hurt He went out for a series and returned. Yulee put Henry in the wildcat and he ran a sweep. Griffin makes breaks through a block and literally picks Henry up in the air and slams him to the ground. The crowd went crazy!!! Lonnie and I were like who in the Hell is this kid. I ended up going to the school because I wanted to talk to my boy coach Gus who is a coach at Trinity and former DB for the NE Patriots. His exact words was this. "Lynn is a beast!" he will hit anyone. We refuse to back down from anyone. The one thing that will hurt him with recruiting is he plays to many positions. LB, DE, S, Corner, RB, QB in Wildcat, 2nd string kicker. He continued by stating that the kid would end up a college safety but will have not exposure at the position. I started following Griffin and Nick Washington who is a Gator (poor guy needed to join the ACC better yet he need to be a Yellow Jacket).
Griffin has defended some great competition. He has a reputation in Jacksonville as a hard hitting, hard nosed DB.
Here is what is happening to Griffin at GT. I watched this happen to several guys who ended up being a monster in the league. Griffin was bringing it his first year. Several post where made about how he was able to cover and how he never shied away from contact. Griffin got injured (torn quad) and rushed to return. He was practicing and tore his quad again. Anyone who had that injury knows it is really painful. Well Coach Kelly stopped working with the kid. he no longer was allowed in the film rooms with the team, Kelly no longer spent the extra time to teach him the safety position. He was only allowed to condition so his knowledge of the safety position never developed. He was making plays not because he developed good technique but out of pure athleticism. He also was being taught to operate under the old defensive system (Groh). Fast forward..... Kelly takes over and Griffin is not getting reps in practice. He finally gets some reps in preparation for the bowl game and he dominates. His mistakes are due to a lack of reps. GT brings in coach Roof. Roof thinks that Griffin is a experienced Safety. Later finds out that Griffin had minimal reps at Safety. Because GT is trying to make a impact this year, Griffin is given a fewer reps but Roof feels that Griffin can get on the field earlier at CB. He felt that the other safeties had more game experience but Griffin was a better athlete. He felt that Griffin and DJ White would be in the rotation at CB. Griffin begins working with Coach Speed but Speed feels that Griffin lacks game experience and decides to rotate his experienced 3 (Thomas, Young, White). Guys that have played DB on both the college and Pro level feel Speed does not have the knowledge to properly teach the CB's. He is more of a Asst. LB coach. Griffin is going to be something special next year guys. Oh by the way, I got my info from speaking to coaches and Griffin's uncle who is a Alumni of GT. Bat don't get me wrong Watts has the size but watch Griffin very close. He is your sleeper!!!!
Hope I did not bore you to death!!!!!!
