Cam Hergott commits to Akron

[gchs_uk9]

Akron isn’t a great team but that might play to Hergott’s advantage. Earlier playing opportunities and getting in on the ground floor of a rebuild in a typically balanced, winnable league. 

[Unrivaled97]

8 minutes ago, theguru said:

My gut feeling is if Cam played for Trinity (assuming he would have started this year) he would have had several D1 offers. 

First of all, I'm thrilled the young man is getting a shot to play D1 football (FBS).  Very few get that opportunity and he's deserving of it.  As for if he played for a school like Trinity, I can't necessarily argue that for his case specific, but I can say that it doesn't always help.  Take someone like Nathan McElroy.  I would say he had 2 pretty good years the last few seasons, especially last year, yet, he was committed to Butler, which is FCS, non-scholarship and then de-committed and went with UofL as a PWO, which means no scholarship.  I would say based off of that, he didn't have many D1 offers, but you would think he would.  Just my 2 cents.  Maybe that would have been the case for Cam Hergott and maybe not.

[theguru]

Just now, Unrivaled97 said:

First of all, I'm thrilled the young man is getting a shot to play D1 football (FBS).  Very few get that opportunity and he's deserving of it.  As for if he played for a school like Trinity, I can't necessarily argue that for his case specific, but I can say that it doesn't always help.  Take someone like Nathan McElroy.  I would say he had 2 pretty good years the last few seasons, especially last year, yet, he was committed to Butler, which is FCS, non-scholarship and then de-committed and went with UofL as a PWO, which means no scholarship.  I would say based off of that, he didn't have many D1 offers, but you would think he would.  Just my 2 cents.  Maybe that would have been the case for Cam Hergott and maybe not.

Good summary.  I was going with a gut feeling on this "what if" scenario.  McElroy was amazing this year for Trinity but if Cam was in the Trinity program for four years and ended up starting I believe he would be a more developed QB and therefore would have had some D1 offers.  Again everyone, McElroy was great!

[gbballfan21]

If Covid doesn’t happen, Hergott would have had multiple D1 scholarships. All of the summer camps at Universities were canceled, this year didn’t count against player eligibility, and the transfer portal turned into the Wild West this year because players can transfer out and not have to sit. All of these factors came into play this year. Hergott playing at Beechwood has nothing to do with him not getting a D1 offer.

Beechwood plays a tougher schedule than many of the bigger schools in the state, and the kid won Mr Football, I don’t think where he went to school was the reason he didn’t get an offer. It was a crazy year for seniors, and had he gotten to show his improved arm strength at those one day camps, he would have had plenty of MAC offers.

[theguru]

14 minutes ago, gbballfan21 said:

If Covid doesn’t happen, Hergott would have had multiple D1 scholarships. All of the summer camps at Universities were canceled, this year didn’t count against player eligibility, and the transfer portal turned into the Wild West this year because players can transfer out and not have to sit. All of these factors came into play this year. Hergott playing at Beechwood has nothing to do with him not getting a D1 offer.

Beechwood plays a tougher schedule than many of the bigger schools in the state, and the kid won Mr Football, I don’t think where he went to school was the reason he didn’t get an offer. It was a crazy year for seniors, and had he gotten to show his improved arm strength at those one day camps, he would have had plenty of MAC offers.

Are you saying D1 schools are giving out less scholarships to QBs this year because of COVID?

[gbballfan21]

There were 400 less scholarships given out this year by FBS schools than normal in 2021 recruiting class.

https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-recruiting-teams-signed-400-fewer-recruits-than-normal-in-2021-160649532/?fbclid=IwAR1lg5b45jyZvdPNHr5LQO99RQE4jNuqWYIA0rZQiJGupv4gXc1Yu57Lr6g

[Kenny Powers]

5 minutes ago, theguru said:

Are you saying D1 schools are giving out less scholarships to QBs this year because of COVID?

In my opinion the biggest reason Cam did not receive the deserving number of scholarship offers from bigger schools was the fact that he could not attend the summer camps because of Covid. For better or for worse, a LOT of scholarships come from players going to camps during the summer. You can see this with Cam's own family; one of the biggest reasons Cam's older brother, Austin, got a scholarship out of high school was because of these exact summer camps. 

[theguru]

8 minutes ago, gbballfan21 said:

There were 400 less scholarships given out this year by FBS schools than normal in 2021 recruiting class.

https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-recruiting-teams-signed-400-fewer-recruits-than-normal-in-2021-160649532/?fbclid=IwAR1lg5b45jyZvdPNHr5LQO99RQE4jNuqWYIA0rZQiJGupv4gXc1Yu57Lr6g

I read that article but I have a hard time accepting that Cam Hergott is one of the "victims" here.  

[gbballfan21]

1 minute ago, theguru said:

I read that article but I have a hard time accepting that Cam Hergott is one of the "victims" here.  

Well when almost all the MAC schools asked him to come to their camps this past summer to show them that he had improved his arm strength, and then those camps did not happen, then I would say that he was a victim of circumstance. His arm was much improved from his junior year, and he did not get to showcase that.

[theguru]

Just now, gbballfan21 said:

Well when almost all the MAC schools asked him to come to their camps this past summer to show them that he had improved his arm strength, and then those camps did not happen, then I would say that he was a victim of circumstance. His arm was much improved from his junior year, and he did not get to showcase that.

I do know we both want to see Cam excel as a Zip. 

[Unrivaled97]

7 minutes ago, gbballfan21 said:

https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-recruiting-teams-signed-400-fewer-recruits-than-normal-in-2021-160649532/?fbclid=IwAR1lg5b45jyZvdPNHr5LQO99RQE4jNuqWYIA0rZQiJGupv4gXc1Yu57Lr6g

Good article and brings things into perspective.  However, there are a couple of things in there that actually worked in the favor of Cam, if you take the article at face value.  They mentioned many states who didn't play football and that hurt a lot of those seniors.  Kentucky wasn't one of those states so you figure that would play to his favor.  Also, a quote in the article stated how a lot of the fringe recruits were passed on in favor of transfers that schools knew could play.  I wouldn't think he would be considered a fringe recruit, but can't say for sure.  Also, you mention he would have had a bunch more MAC offers.  He plays a premium position and the MAC didn't play the first 1/2 of the season and once they did start playing, there were many games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  That left plenty of Fridays open for a short drive down from Ohio to catch a player at a premium position.  Are summer camps important....yes, but they are not the end all be all.  Again, I'm thrilled he's getting an opportunity to play football at the FBS level regardless of school.  Like I tell my own son, Miami of Ohio is a free education the same as Miami of Florida and they're both D1.

[BlueKernels]

Rooting for Cam to succeed at Akron. After watching him a couple times this year I could honestly see him excel more quickly as a receiver, possibly in the slot. He seemed to give teams much more trouble with his legs than throwing the ball. 

[tcjkbt]

As for his future, has does Cam compare to UC's QB Desmond Ridder?    Was Desmond a scholarship player from the git-go?   I just saw a little of Cam this season and IMO he is built like Desmond.   Maybe his future can parallel Desmond's---which would be great for him.   

[Voice of Reason]

I've often wondered why it is some players are highly recruited and some aren't. Often times it is puzzling because very good high school players don't get recruited as expected and other high school players who are just OK based on production do get recruited highly.  My belief is God-given size and athletic ability are number one by a wide margin when it comes to D1 recruiting.  Height, weight, speed, arm strength, etc are significantly more important than high school production,  the level of competition you faced in high school, etc.  D1 recruiters don't care if you rushed for 3,000 yards in a season if you are 5' 6" 160 pounds and run a 4.7 40.  All it takes is a couple inches too short or a frame they don't think can carry the needed weight or a couple tenths of a second too slow and they aren't interested.

[rjs4470]

59 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

I've often wondered why it is some players are highly recruited and some aren't. Often times it is puzzling because very good high school players don't get recruited as expected and other high school players who are just OK based on production do get recruited highly.  My belief is God-given size and athletic ability are number one by a wide margin when it comes to D1 recruiting.  Height, weight, speed, arm strength, etc are significantly more important than high school production,  the level of competition you faced in high school, etc.  D1 recruiters don't care if you rushed for 3,000 yards in a season if you are 5' 6" 160 pounds and run a 4.7 40.  All it takes is a couple inches too short or a frame they don't think can carry the needed weight or a couple tenths of a second too slow and they aren't interested.

Yep. So much of it is related to the things that can't be taught. Size, speed, arm strength. Sure you can improve on some of those things, but for the most part, your ceiling is based on what you were born with. College coaches and recruiters do this stuff for a living. And while they do sometimes make mistakes, and miss the boat on kids, they are right an awful lot of the time.