re: Ogletree vs Roquan

Just eye test wise, Roquan looks better than Tree to me. Not as freakishly athletic, but better on the whole.

Tree made a ton of tackles running plays down. Roquan hasn't been in that position really ever this year.

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there's just something a little extra about tree

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He definitely had "it." Smith probably diagnoses plays better. They both tackle well but there were always a few per game where Tree would make every fan watching cringe when he hit someone.

Just a reminder... Tree had to "learn" how to take on blockers. Early on, he just let them up on his body as he was reading the back. He would work around blocks and have to utilize his speed to make up the difference.

I remember being so impressed with Ramik Wilson because he would press the holes, take on the blockers, and shuck them to make the play a few yards closer to the line of scrimmage. Even if Ramik couldn't make the tackle, his efforts gave the safeties a chance to come downhill and clean up as a 5 yard gain instead of reacting and cleaning up the play at 9-12 yards.

The point is that the athleticism had a lot of benefits. But you could run right at him for a long time and he wasn't so effective with an OL releasing upfield.

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Is it basically a foregone conclusion he'll leave after this year?

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FWIW, Seth Emerson briefly discussed this on his mailbag and referenced that the current mock drafts don't have Roquan going in the first round... not that anything is solid there most of those mocks are based on pre-season, rather than what has happened thus far. If Roquan continues at his current pace, he will race up boards and likely project to round 1-2... if that's the case, then yeah. I think he's gone. That was largely the Bama way and I don't see Kirby encouraging anything different. If you have a chance to go round one or early round 2... go make your money young man, as there's not a lot that can go "right" in another year in college to improve the situation.

Nick, Sony, Davin, and Zo all came back largely because they were projecting lower and another year in the program likely helps them improve their stock. So far for Davin and Zo, it would seem to have easily been the smart move. Offensively, we need to find a way to open up some room for Sony and Nick... otherwise I worry that while they may not be any worse off, the may not improve their stock a ton either... Sony maybe has improved more so than Nick thus far due to the style of play that seems to be working for us. If we can get some games where Nick is churning out positive yardage though and hit some more home runs, it won't take much to clear up any injury recovery concerns.

Trent Thompson is an interesting one to me, as he has been more quiet as an individual. Not having bad games at all, but less focus due to the LB play thus far. Will be curious to see where he projects by season's end.