D.J Woods

[westsidecat]

Man, talk about a tough game. I'm sure other boards will be lighting up to bash this kid. Just remember he is a kid who is playing for UC.

Keep your head up, D.J.

 

[nparker1]

I feel bad for the kid. You can see that his dying on the inside. Seven catches, 150+ yards, and a touchdown really helped this team. Plus this was against Oklahoma. Their defensive players are some of the best talents nationwide. I especially cannot hate on the dropped punt return. I do not know how these guys can catch a ball when there are five opponents collapsing upon them. If DJ can put up those numbers against Oklahoma, then the rest of the Big East is in trouble. Keep your head up DJ, this team needs you.
Go Bearcats!

 

[psax889906]

I feel bad for the kid. You can see that his dying on the inside. Seven catches, 150+ yards, and a touchdown really helped this team. Plus this was against Oklahoma. Their defensive players are some of the best talents nationwide. I especially cannot hate on the dropped punt return. I do not know how these guys can catch a ball when there are five opponents collapsing upon them. If DJ can put up those numbers against Oklahoma, then the rest of the Big East is in trouble. Keep your head up DJ, this team needs you.
Go Bearcats!

I agree with everything you said except this... he never should have even caught that ball for the exact reason you said... he wasn't in good position for it and there were too many OU players in the vicinity... I was screaming for him to run away from it and let it go... too much to be lost and not enough to be gained by catching that ball...

 

[Thegreatone]

He is going to be a big part of our future. He had nearly 200 yards receiving. He deserves some criticism but we is one of us and we got his back.

 

[psax889906]

He is going to be a big part of our future. He had nearly 200 yards receiving. He deserves some criticism but we is one of us and we got his back.

No doubt, he's a very important piece of the offense... made great plays tonight and made very poor plays tonight... he needs to move forward and improve.

 

[kpzero]

DJ will be just fine. He is making progress from his good season last year. He has had a few instances that make you shake your head this year but he should iron those out as he continues to progress. I am fully expecting for him to have an electric senior season.

Binns seems to disappear for long periods of time so far this season. If he wants to play on Sundays, he is going to have to step up his game.

It is good seeing Robinson getting some looks finally. Hopefully he can use the opportunity to learn for next year when we will need him to step up and take on a bigger role in the offense. With his size he could be a great red zone asset.

Four games in and I am starting to think that maybe we should start giving some of the young guys looks instead of Bones. Maybe I am being too critical but he just doesnt seem to have it.

McClung looks like he could be special in a couple years.

Has anybody heard anything on Howard recently? Has he had trouble getting back to playing speed from his injury or is it a lack of knowledge of the system that is keeping him off the field? He is a big target that could be useful with our struggling red zone offense. It would be nice to have a couple of options instead of having Collaros continually throwing to a double and triple covered Binns in the corner of the endzone every game.

 

[nparker1]

watching sportscenter this morning and heard a comment about butch jones regarding woods. espn said that butch jones said that "he would live and die with dj woods". i like this. butch is not giving up on the kid, and giving him some motivation. i still stand in my thoughts on butch jones, and i do believe the UC program is better off with him. he seems to really try to create and focus on the building a family and relationships with his players, and i think that will go along way. especially when the wins start accumulating.
Go Bearcats!

 

[JasonS]

watching sportscenter this morning and heard a comment about butch jones regarding woods. espn said that butch jones said that "he would live and die with dj woods". i like this. butch is not giving up on the kid, and giving him some motivation. i still stand in my thoughts on butch jones, and i do believe the UC program is better off with him. he seems to really try to create and focus on the building a family and relationships with his players, and i think that will go along way. especially when the wins start accumulating.
Go Bearcats!

Good post. Just to let everyone know, Central Michigan started 1-3 in Jones' first year and ended up going 8-5, won the MAC regular season and championship game (7-1 against the MAC) before losing to Purdue by 3 in a bowl game. While I hate being 1-3, this isn't unusual looking at Jones replacing BK at CMU and I think we can all agree that major progress has been made from week 1 to now, especially on the offensive line. We have to keep Pead healthy too. He is incredible and really something special. With this team being so young and essentially bringing everyone back next year (with the exception of Binns and maybe Hazelton), if they can get on a roll in Big East play it could pay big dividends next year.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

DJ is our best talent/playmaker and we need him. I'm sure he feels worse than any of us. He needs to own up to his mistakes and work to correct them. Butch believes in him and most of us fans do to. Mardy made some mistakes early his junior year and corrected them. DJ needs to put them in his past and play through it. I will say this, when Butch decides to put him back on punt returns (whether it's right away or if he has to earn it back) if he goes out there and reaches and dives for fair catches again he needs to lose his job permanantly. The muffed punt was bad, but the return before that he dove for a ball to try to catch it. Luckily it was going out of bounds. He needs to learn when to back away from a ball. He plays with such emotion, which can be good and bad. Right now he's trying to do too much.

I say we get a "D-J" chant going for the Victory Bell game to let him know we got his back.

 

[Daniel Drake]

I am sure even DJ would be critical of the fumbles, but we are not in the position we were in without him for sure. My bigger question is what is the deal with Binns. He seems to have a tough time getting seperation.

 

[kpzero]

David I actually liked what DJ did on the punt that you are referring to. He saved us some field position on that play. He dove and intentionally shoved it out of bounds. The way that ball was moving, it most likely would have been deep near the goal line.

 

[adrock]

As others have already said, DJ is a tremendous talent and playmaker, but mental mistakes are holding him back. Once he gets those ironed out he can be seriously, seriously good.

I was angry with him last night, but even during the game in my moment of rage I knew we wouldn't have been close if it weren't for his ability. I love his heart, and I think soon it will work for him instead of against him.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

David I actually liked what DJ did on the punt that you are referring to. He saved us some field position on that play. He dove and intentionally shoved it out of bounds. The way that ball was moving, it most likely would have been deep near the goal line.

I honestly didn't see where the punt landed because it was behind the bench and my view was blocked. All I saw was him diving for a punt. I'll take your word for it that it was a heads up play.

 

[JasonS]

I honestly didn't see where the punt landed because it was behind the bench and my view was blocked. All I saw was him diving for a punt. I'll take your word for it that it was a heads up play.

That play was a heads up play. I was on the opposite side of the field and had a pretty good view. It was going to land about a yard from the sideline and at that point who knows where it goes. He couldn't have gotten to it before it hit but he was close enough to smother it. That was a good play. The second one....well....

 

[applegbt]

I am sure even DJ would be critical of the fumbles, but we are not in the position we were in without him for sure. My bigger question is what is the deal with Binns. He seems to have a tough time getting seperation.

I haven't seen any of our games in person yet (only on TV), but my guess is the problem is not so much Binns but that the offense is just different and doesn't take advantage of what he brings to the table. Nearly every ball that I've seen thrown to him so far is the "throw it up and hope he can go up and get it" variety. I hope we can get him more involved soon. He's got such good hands and athleticism.