Rockne's Roundtable

I was interested that Reggie Brooks was "wowed" by CJ's moves as a punt returner--he particularly focused on CJ's ability to make the first one or two defenders miss so that he at least had a chance to break free. Also,CJ does seem to have size and relatively decent speed, perhaps just the kind of hybrid defensive back-linebacker that Kelly is recruiting these days (Baratti, Turner, CJ, Shumate and even Badger).

I get the point about taking what coaches say with a grain of salt, but here I think you have to keep in mind what the coach actually said. If he had said,"C.J is an unbelievable player and neither his film nor his measurables do justice to his talent" I would agree that that would be meaningless coming from the player's own coach (and to the extent he said that, it is meaningless). But the coach was also saying that C.J. had not attended many of the combines, etc., so he may not have been accurately or fairly evaluated by the services. That part is objectively verifiable, and, if true, tends to indicate that C.J. is a better player than he is rated. No reason to dismiss facts just because they come from a coach; if they are true then it doesn't matter who they come from.