FLORIDA
During the All-American Bowl on Saturday, 4-star 2019 DB Chris Steele committed to the Florida Gators.
Steele indicated that Oregon was his second choice, but according to 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons, officiating may have been a factor in avoiding the Pac-12.
Per OregonLive.com, Simmons said Steele felt his physical style of play would get flagged more often by Pac-12 officials:
“Chris Steele.. it’s interesting, this is a kid who was headed the Pac-12,” Simmons said. “His physical style of play, he felt like translated better to the SEC. And he felt like even the referees in the SEC would be a little bit more forgiving for his style of play. Pac-12 refs losing them one here.”
That’s very interesting, and Pac-12 officials do have a reputation for flagging some of the more physical play between receivers and defensive backs.
Did that cost the Ducks a big-time recruit? Whatever the case, the Gators are happy to have Steele on board.
But they reverse or don’t call targeting …. hmmm
So his style is to play grab a$$ and hold every play.
You’ve obviously not played much football if you think physical play by a DB means grabbing and holding.
It figures Oregon homers would make excuses like that. I mean, he’s a smart kid, so maybe he preferred the better school. He’s a DB, so maybe he preferred the school with the better DB tradition. He’s from a sunny place, so maybe he’d prefer not live under a blanket of vitamin D deficiency malaise for six months a year. Or maybe he just prefers the better overall football program.
Nah… had to be the refs!
Sheesh
It specifically says “Simmons said STEELE FELT his physical style of play would get flagged more often by Pac-12 officials”…so maybe you went on a rant about nothing and it really was at least in part about the refs.
Hows bowl season?
DBU
He may be right. I will make this statement though. After watching the bowls, playoffs and NFL playoffs the officiating is worse than ever. If your gonna take 5 minutes for a review it should be right. Missing a call live is forgivable. There is a lot going on and maybe you didn’t/couldn’t see. How does the replay official with multiple angles and slo mo screw the pooch? He probably will think the SEC officials suck after the first game. Coryalan, I think your points are valid. This was just 1 of the reasons he choose to talk about.