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2022 *Transfer* LB Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey


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25 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

5-10, 215 on paper...is he really going to play LB?

Yes, unless you’d rather have the perfect-sized Luke Brockermeyer in a starting LB position. 

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1 hour ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

5-10, 215 on paper...is he really going to play LB?

He is a one year rental. He has had success at the FCS level. I am not betting he is Zach Thomas or Dat Nguyen. Jalen Pitre was one of the best BIg 12 defenders last year and he was a pseudo-LB for Baylor. I wouldn’t bet on any of that, but what’s the risk? He balls out, he is a starter, and is an instant fan favorite. He is mediocre and he is depth at a position that sorely needs it. Remember Overshown has never played a full season. I see 0 risk here, so I am happy to let it play out and hope he is the exception to the rule. 

Edited by Codaxx
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2 hours ago, Codaxx said:

He balls out, he is a starter, and is an instant fan favorite. He is mediocre and he is depth at a position that sorely needs it.

I know you’re just cranking out a post on a message board, perhaps in a hurry or distracted, but I had to read this multiple times to figure out you had an implied “If” at the beginning of each sentence. Not trying to be a dick, just hoping to help others who may have had the same reaction I did.  Hook ‘em.

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“If” this guy is where he is supposed to be on the majority of snaps he gets and stops people from getting past him, then that is a huge improvement over what we’ve witnessed for a while now. “If” that happens, I really don’t care about his size, or much else. Just get the job done. That will be much welcomed and appreciated. I hope he becomes a real nuisance to our opponents.

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Note sure what some of y’all  think an extra  2 inches and 15# is  gonna do if you are always out of position.  If being a bit smaller helps him get to the ball carrier quicker and slow him down, even a bit, that is lightyears ahead of where we were last year.

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12 hours ago, Horn Dog said:

Note sure what some of y’all  think an extra  2 inches and 15# is  gonna do if you are always out of position.  If being a bit smaller helps him get to the ball carrier quicker and slow him down, even a bit, that is lightyears ahead of where we were last year.

Id have to imagine most FCS players nutrition programs consists of thr regular student meal plan. 

I dont think its a stretch that he could put on 10-15 lbs. By fall camp.  

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10 hours ago, NorLa Horns said:

Id have to imagine most FCS players nutrition programs consists of thr regular student meal plan. 

I dont think its a stretch that he could put on 10-15 lbs. By fall camp.  

I don't think it is a stretch that he could grow an inch either.

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33 minutes ago, Teryor said:

https://theathletic.com/3343013/2022/05/31/diamonte-tucker-dorsey-texas-transfer-portal/?redirected=1

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Until the phone starts ringing, you don’t actually know how it’s going to go. That’s one of the many things Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey understood about how the transfer process actually works in college football.

More than 1,900 FBS scholarship players and another 1,100 from the FCS level have entered the transfer portal over the past 10 months. Many of them are realistic about what happens next. Many are not. That’s one reason why, at the end of an All-America season at James Madison, the linebacker didn’t test his luck by putting his name in the portal in the winter.

“I didn’t want it to blow up in my face,” Tucker-Dorsey said. “You could go in and there’s nothing there. You never know. That really could’ve been a reality and my life could be completely different, so that’s something I had to really seriously think about. You don’t know. It’s a risk.”

He watched his buddy Antwane Wells Jr., James Madison’s All-America receiver, go through this in January. Within a week, Wells was committed to play in the SEC at South Carolina. Tucker-Dorsey knew the wideout would have no problem finding a new home. But Wells had three more seasons of eligibility. Tucker-Dorsey is about to be a sixth-year senior. He has just this one shot.

Two weeks ago, he made his move. The first offer that came in? Texas. Now he’s heading to Austin for his final season. It’s one heck of an opportunity for a player who couldn’t convince Power 5 programs to offer him out of high school in Virginia. It’s also a big payoff for a more unusual approach. Tucker-Dorsey waiting so long to transfer worked out well. In his case, based on how his rapid recruitment played out, it might’ve been wise of him to be one of the last guys to hit the portal.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound linebacker has always had to fight the “undersized” label during his playing career. He says that helped make him a realist from the start. “I understood it,” he said. “I understood that I didn’t necessarily fit the landscape of college football at this time.” He understood, too, that it only took one offer to get in the door.

The Lake Taylor High standout figured Virginia Tech would be the one. He’d taken so many visits to the in-state school and believed then-defensive coordinator Bud Foster really did like him. But the Hokies didn’t offer. Wake Forest’s coaching staff told him to come to their camp and they’d decide on his offer after that. After sizing him up in person, they also passed. There was plenty to like on his junior tape, including multiple clips of Tucker-Dorsey knocking helmets off of running backs’ heads in the first minute. He was proud enough of the violence displayed in his senior highlights that they’re entitled “The Purge” on Hudl. How hard he played was clear to see. James Madison’s staff saw it and gave him his chance.

“I was always grateful for that,” Tucker-Dorsey said. “All you need is one. I got that one and look what I turned it into. Early on, when I was going through the process and everybody else was getting offers, it was in my head. I was thinking about it a lot. But once I got my JMU offer, I didn’t care. I was going there and I was going to make a difference. And I did that.”

But not right away. Tucker-Dorsey spent his first two seasons in the program on scout team. He had a lot of learning to do about scheme and playing defense at the college level. He admits that, early on, he used to hate watching film. He didn’t understand what he was watching. He thinks back on those early days and remembers a poor performance in fall camp and the final scrimmage going into the 2018 season. The coaching staff left him off the depth chart.

“Like I said, I’m a realist. I knew why,” Tucker-Dorsey said. “I wasn’t mad about it. I knew going into my junior year, I couldn’t make those same mistakes. I’m gonna look myself in the mirror, better myself and see what I’ve got to fix. It was never an ability problem. I just had to get on the field.”

That is the juncture, too, where so many college football players decide to hit the eject button. If they haven’t played much in their first two years, impatience sets in and the portal looks even more appealing. It’s certainly common for a player in that predicament to transfer out (and often down) just to get off the bench. But Tucker-Dorsey recognized the downside.

“I’m not a guy that likes change, especially when there’s a question mark behind it and no guarantees,” he said. “I was definitely not taking that route at that time. When you have no film and you’re an undersized guy, that wouldn’t have been the smartest thing for me.

“You’ve got to really take it seriously. It’s not just gonna happen for you. You can have all these people in your ear telling you how good you are and you’re this and that. But then when you get to college and you’re not playing, you can’t still be listening to the outsiders instead of listening to the people who matter — your teammates and coaches — who’re telling you what you can improve on and how to get there. That was the biggest thing, locking in and understanding I can do a lot more. Once I did that, that’s what flipped the switch for me.”

He still had to wait another season for his shot. He didn’t make the two-deep in 2019, either, but tried to make the most of the limited defensive snaps he got for a Dukes squad that played for the FCS national championship. His hard work finally paid off in 2020. The Will linebacker job opened up, and he went out and won it, started every game and was their second-leading tackler and a second-team All-CAA selection.

That breakthrough season wasn’t just validation, after four hard years, that he could be a starter. He says it gave him confidence that he could become a dominant player. And that’s what everyone saw in 2021 as the second-team All-American put up 116 tackles, nine tackles for loss and four interceptions for a 12-2 Dukes squad that reached the FCS semifinals.

When asked to name the game from last season he’d want everyone to watch, Tucker-Dorsey doesn’t hesitate. It’s the first-round playoff game against Southeastern Louisiana. Eight tackles, five pressures, a strip-sack on a blitz off the edge, an interception and then one more for a 43-yard pick-six against Cole Kelley, one of the top QBs in the FCS.


When the season ended, Tucker-Dorsey didn’t want to leave. He loved his time at James Madison, but he spent several months thinking about where he needed to be. James Madison is moving up to play in the Sun Belt this fall but, due to the FCS-to-FBS reclassifying process, can’t play for the conference title or even go to a bowl game. That was a factor worth weighing. More importantly, though, the linebacker recognized these next six months are of the utmost importance if he’s going to get a shot at playing in the NFL.

“That’s the biggest reason,” he said. “I’m trying to change my life and my family’s life. I’ve gotta put myself in the best position to do so.”

He went in the portal on May 17 and the offers rolled in, with Ole Miss, Florida State, UCF, Auburn and Texas A&M joining the race with Texas. Because he waited until after the May 1 one-time transfer deadline, Tucker-Dorsey will need a grad transfer waiver to play right away. He also put James Madison in a tougher spot to go sign a replacement. But the recruiting process he experienced was so much more straightforward.

“Nobody was reaching out to me if they didn’t really want me,” he said. “At this time of the year, spring ball has already passed. There’s no window dressing or stuff like that. Everybody is genuine and meaning what they say.”

Texas, in search of a linebacker for months, put the full-court press on Tucker-Dorsey with its entire coaching staff treating him like their No. 1 priority. His official visit, six days after entering the portal, sold him on their plan and how seriously they wanted him. Their defensive staff sees him as an experienced, versatile chess piece who can effectively play coverage, stop the run and bring pressure. Going through spring ball with the Longhorns would’ve helped, but the super senior isn’t nervous about this transition. The way he sees it, this shouldn’t be tough once he gets the terminology down.

Tucker-Dorsey was able to make it this far as a player, from two-star recruit and little-known backup to FCS All-American, by staying persistent and remaining a realist. As he packs his bags for Austin, though, it sure is tempting to be an optimist.

“I weighed my options out,” he said, “and came to the conclusion that life is about taking chances. I just felt like I’ve got to take one.”

 

Thanks for posting that article.  I am excited about this guy.  He may be undersized and all that but he is hungry, has the right mentality, and has 1 shot to make his mark.   He is gonna play balls to the wall and leave it all out every game he plays.   Colt is the last player I can remember that played like that for us. 

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4 hours ago, Horn Dog said:

Thanks for posting that article.  I am excited about this guy.  He may be undersized and all that but he is hungry, has the right mentality, and has 1 shot to make his mark.   He is gonna play balls to the wall and leave it all out every game he plays.   Colt is the last player I can remember that played like that for us. 

Roschon sure does.

Edit: NM. I didn't read the entire thread before posting.

Edited by MuellerHorn
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/27/2022 at 3:59 PM, Rimbo said:

We won a national title with a starting LB who was about that size.*

Not worried.

* and (at least) 13 guys across the entire defensive roster that played in the NFL.  

Not saying this guy can't play. We have had several regulation sized LBs that haven't panned out so why not give him a shot

Edited by Dennis Taylor
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16 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

I would love to spend about 5 to 10 minutes on that device every morning to stretch out my back. 

Inversion tables are pretty cheap these days, not sure what a vintage model would run you

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2 hours ago, Napoleon said:

I would love to spend about 5 to 10 minutes on that device every morning to stretch out my back. 

Yeah, maybe stick to the inversion table. The Rack is designed to separate shoulders first then the elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles are dislocated. Finally, your hips are dislocated. Cartilage and ligaments will snap and muscles will be torn so much that they would be useless if you survived. Spend too much time on a tight setting and your organs start to suffer leading to the loss of bodily functions. Plus, once you're on the Rack, you're at the mercy of your family and loved ones who can then rip your toenails out and put hot coals on your torso. It'd be a great time for your wife to question you about those porn links on your laptop and the odd credit card charges to something called OnlyFans.

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10 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

Yeah, maybe stick to the inversion table. The Rack is designed to separate shoulders first then the elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles are dislocated. Finally, your hips are dislocated. Cartilage and ligaments will snap and muscles will be torn so much that they would be useless if you survived. Spend too much time on a tight setting and your organs start to suffer leading to the loss of bodily functions. Plus, once you're on the Rack, you're at the mercy of your family and loved ones who can then rip your toenails out and put hot coals on your torso. It'd be a great time for your wife to question you about those porn links on your laptop and the odd credit card charges to something called OnlyFans.

ron burgundy GIF

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24 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

Yeah, maybe stick to the inversion table. The Rack is designed to separate shoulders first then the elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles are dislocated. Finally, your hips are dislocated. Cartilage and ligaments will snap and muscles will be torn so much that they would be useless if you survived. Spend too much time on a tight setting and your organs start to suffer leading to the loss of bodily functions. Plus, once you're on the Rack, you're at the mercy of your family and loved ones who can then rip your toenails out and put hot coals on your torso. It'd be a great time for your wife to question you about those porn links on your laptop and the odd credit card charges to something called OnlyFans.

Don't kink shame me.

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