How do we feel about our wide receivers?

[stylee]

Returning: Smelter, Waller, Autry, Dennis, Summers

New: Messick, Jeune

Smelter showed flashes of real talent. Has great hand-eye coordination, is eager to block, is physical. He lacks elite speed and we struggled to get him the ball sometimes.

Waller is a great physical specimen. Should be our deep threat but, again, we struggled to even target him downfield. Inconsistent effort in getting to contested passes. Decent to good blocker.

Summers is quick and seems to be high-effort but doesn't have good blocking technique yet. Not a bad route runner.

Dennis - blocks.

Autry - great blocker, seemed to have great spatial awareness and a real desire to mix it up with defenders. Will he be the same guy?

Can we expect Messick or Jeune to get any real snaps this year?

 

[IronJacket7]

Smelter has the best combination of hands and playmaking ability imo. When he hits his blocks he is one heck of a blocker as well.

Autry may be our best vertical threat. Maybe Summers also. Both in regards to pure speed. (i.e. Kelly Campbell)

Waller may be our best 1 on 1 threat with his height and weight advantage. Not sure why we don't throw the fade route to him more in goal line situations when the D stacks the box.

 

[stylee]

I agree, GTdrew. I think we need to get him the ball more. If that means simplifying certain pass reads, or throwing him more screens, or even more quick slants a la v UGA, I think we should do it.

 

[gtg936g]

I don't think they will get a lot of snaps this year due to our depth, but they are supposed to be good.

 

[techman78]

Im really looking forward to getting Autry back. It's a real shame that he has endured the back luck he has. With that being said IIRC though he wasnt the fastest reciever we had.

 

[techman78]

As for Smelter, that dude absolutely kills people on his blocks!! He has a mean streak in him I believe.

 

[ATL1]

As a group there OK. Truthfully I haven't seen enough to really know what we have. With the exception of Waller none of them have played beyond a season.

 

[Essobee]

I feel pretty good about our receivers. Most can block, most can run, some can even catch. Smelter impresses; he's good at all of it. I hope Autry plays healthy all year and we are able to get the ball to him deep. Waller seems to be getting the hang of it and may have a breakout year. Dunno what to expect from Dennis, Messick, and Jeune, but am anxious to see what they can do...especially since we will be losing some good ones to graduation after next season.

 

[Boomergump]

Smelter has the best combination of hands and playmaking ability imo. When he hits his blocks he is one heck of a blocker as well.

Autry may be our best vertical threat. Maybe Summers also. Both in regards to pure speed. (i.e. Kelly Campbell)

Waller may be our best 1 on 1 threat with his height and weight advantage. Not sure why we don't throw the fade route to him more in goal line situations when the D stacks the box.

If Autry raced Kelly Campbell he would be looking at the back of his a$$ and the bottoms of his feet. Summers would also lose by a fair margin btw. Look, I like Autry. I think he plays with a mean streak and has a good football IQ and instincts etc, but lets face it, he is not blessed with a lot of tools. He is light in the pants and he is not all that fast. Autry has a lot of "want to" in the blocking department and he is smart enough to run good routes and make good reads in the pass game and he will catch the ball. I think he will help us make a lot of plays, but he will not be a field stretcher. Let's be clear.

 

[Eric]

If Autry raced Kelly Campbell he would be looking at the back of his a$$ and the bottoms of his feet. Summers would also lose by a fair margin btw. Look, I like Autry. I think he plays with a mean streak and has a good football IQ and instincts etc, but lets face it, he is not blessed with a lot of tools. He is light in the pants and he is not all that fast. Autry has a lot of "want to" in the blocking department and he is smart enough to run good routes and make good reads in the pass game and he will catch the ball. I think he will help us make a lot of plays, but he will not be a field stretcher. Let's be clear.

Great summary...Autry is still good for us and his blocking and passion is a big addition.

 

[Fatmike91]

I am not worried about this position group next year. As a group, I think they will be strong.

/

 

[Rodney Kent]

I am the coach, and I decide who plays. You have been chosen my go-to receiver because you block better than the others!

 

[Techster]

If Autry raced Kelly Campbell he would be looking at the back of his a$$ and the bottoms of his feet. Summers would also lose by a fair margin btw. Look, I like Autry. I think he plays with a mean streak and has a good football IQ and instincts etc, but lets face it, he is not blessed with a lot of tools. He is light in the pants and he is not all that fast. Autry has a lot of "want to" in the blocking department and he is smart enough to run good routes and make good reads in the pass game and he will catch the ball. I think he will help us make a lot of plays, but he will not be a field stretcher. Let's be clear.

Thanks, Boomer. Pretty much what I said about Autry in other threads. Autry is gonna be a solid WR (think Tyler Melton light), just don't know where some GT fans get that he's some burner that's going to stretch the field.

 

[stylee]

I think it was the BC touchdown. He beat the cornerback off the line and managed to get in good position away from the near safety...but that cornerback wasn't covering him, he was covering the flat zone. Vad did a good job of looking off the safeties and delivered a nice pass.


Being able to get in good position on a route is just as important (if not more) as speed, but they're not the same thing.

 

[Techster]

Smelter reminds me of an Anquan Boldin/Ed McCaffery type. Not super fast, but fast enough. Attacks the ball, and great and finding openings and using his athleticism to put himself in position to get the ball. Definitely a different tier than the rest of our WRs.

For all the grief Waller got early in the season, he actually had a pretty good second half of the year. I hope he can continue to develop at the pace he did towards the end of 2013 because has the physical makeup to be a really good one if he can put it all together.

Summers to me is like Autry, but a step faster. Very solid receiver who's asset is more blocking. He was a freshmen last year, so he's going to get better (as is Autry once he's 100%).

Jeune is just a natural receiver. He may be another Deandre Smelter...good physical stature with good enough speed. Definitely the most promising of the young guys...of course, I'm just basing it off his HS tape.

No idea on Messick. Reminded me of BeyBey blocking wise in his HS film in that he wants to send messages when he blocks. Actually looked like he had pretty good speed. We'll see in 2014.

 

[AE 87]

Summers adjusted to the pass best imo, but blocking wasn't great by any WR 2013.

 

[Boomergump]

I think it was the BC touchdown. He beat the cornerback off the line and managed to get in good position away from the near safety...but that cornerback wasn't covering him, he was covering the flat zone. Vad did a good job of looking off the safeties and delivered a nice pass.


Being able to get in good position on a route is just as important (if not more) as speed, but they're not the same thing.

Thank you, and that is exactly what I was trying to say I guess. I think Autry has a good feel for the position. To be truthful, I would rather have that than a burner with no sense. He also made some good plays in the Climpsum game a couple years back, putting himself into position and getting some YACs to boot.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Thank you, and that is exactly what I was trying to say I guess. I think Autry has a good feel for the position. To be truthful, I would rather have that than a burner with no sense. He also made some good plays in the Climpsum game a couple years back, putting himself into position and getting some YACs to boot.

Kinda similar to Laskey vs Snoddy at Bback.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I was worried about this group heading into the season. Was fairly happy with WR play during the season for the most part. I'd like to see more consistent blocking from the group but that was true for most every position last year outside of the QB and Godhigh. (Smelter can certainly lay some wood though...damn that block he laid on the kid from Ole Miss reminded me of the hits we laid on Cam Chancellor ) We just need to be able to pass block long enough to let the WR run the routes and QB deliver. Feel pretty good about their overall speed and pass catching ability. Our success on O will be determined by line play and QB aptitude in our offense.

 

[IronJacket7]

If Autry raced Kelly Campbell he would be looking at the back of his a$$ and the bottoms of his feet. Summers would also lose by a fair margin btw. Look, I like Autry. I think he plays with a mean streak and has a good football IQ and instincts etc, but lets face it, he is not blessed with a lot of tools. He is light in the pants and he is not all that fast. Autry has a lot of "want to" in the blocking department and he is smart enough to run good routes and make good reads in the pass game and he will catch the ball. I think he will help us make a lot of plays, but he will not be a field stretcher. Let's be clear.

I thought I was clear. They both have the capability to stretch the field. Not saying they are Kelly Campbell or will ever be as good as him. They both have the ability to be vertical threats for us. Both have legit 4.4 speed as does Summers. Summers has actually posted a 4.3 time.
Your tone in your response came across as very pompous. I don't think my post deserved that type of a response.