Parks had surgery today and Marini scheduled for tomorrow morning. Our tight ends have had a tough season.
Ricky Parks and Taylor Marini
- Thread starter usmstud
- Start date
I would add that Julian Allen was lost for the season in the August practices and JayShawn Washington was lost for the season in the first game. That means all 4 TEs for Southern Miss will be recovering from injuries in the off-season before spring football. I am not sure al lof them will be back in time for spring football.
wow, that's tough. I thought that they might move Parks back to DLine since we have real needs there. He played well in flashes at TE, and since he was pressed into service so early on, he played really well. I guess we need him on both sides of the ball. I hope baby brother Tez recovers from his surgery in time for Spring ball as well.
Do you know if the surgeries were for nagging injuries sustained during the season, or did they both get injured in the Washington game? At the beginning of the season I thought it was great the way they worked the tight ends into the passing game. In the game against State, Washington and Parks combined for 4 catches and over 80 yards including a TD. I imagined this would continue through the season and only get better. I know Washington was injured, but it seemed Parks and Marini were available through the rest of the season and both made nice catches in limited action. By the last half of the season it seemed like the tight ends were mostly phased out of the offensive game-plan....which I never understood. Here are the receptions by the tight ends during the final six games of the season:
UTEP- zero
Rice- zero
Old Dominion- Marini 1 reception for 6 yards
Louisiana Tech- zero
Western Kentucky- zero
Washington- Parks 1 reception for 7 yards
It will be interesting to see what happens next season. Both Parks and Marini are good, but if tight ends aren't going to be seriously used in the game-plan it seems like they should move Parks to the defensive line. But with only one season of eligibility remaining I wonder if he would be able to adapt well as a defensive tackle? Also maybe if Jay'Shawn Washington lost a little weight he might be good as a wide receiver. He played it well in high school and it might help to have a big receiver like him on the field. Is Julian Allen able to get a medical redshirt? If he's well, maybe he and Marini could be the tight ends. It would seem a waste to have a 4-deep rotation at tight end if the position is hardly going to be utilized.
UTEP- zero
Rice- zero
Old Dominion- Marini 1 reception for 6 yards
Louisiana Tech- zero
Western Kentucky- zero
Washington- Parks 1 reception for 7 yards
It will be interesting to see what happens next season. Both Parks and Marini are good, but if tight ends aren't going to be seriously used in the game-plan it seems like they should move Parks to the defensive line. But with only one season of eligibility remaining I wonder if he would be able to adapt well as a defensive tackle? Also maybe if Jay'Shawn Washington lost a little weight he might be good as a wide receiver. He played it well in high school and it might help to have a big receiver like him on the field. Is Julian Allen able to get a medical redshirt? If he's well, maybe he and Marini could be the tight ends. It would seem a waste to have a 4-deep rotation at tight end if the position is hardly going to be utilized.
While they certainly were not used as receivers much at all, they were a big part of why we had 2 thousand yard rushers this year.
We already have two 6'3"+ 200lbs+ JuCo receivers signed and starting class in a few days with another one committed. Monken realized big receivers have an advantage against the mostly undersized DBs in our conference, especially with so many 50/50 balls we throw in our offense. Look for Mullens to break the records he set this year, next year. Teams will hate playing us next year.
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