Apo

I believe that the trifecta of 2010 busts is finally complete. I have never bought into Apo's hype because he's never done anything but play soft, and last night's game was just embarrassing for him. He gave up on the long ball when he easily could have made a play and then he dropped the pass from Riley (yes, bad throw but come on you're a supposed D1 starter) which should have been a pick 6.



Thankfully the coaches saw what I saw and let Ridley and Henderson (whoever he is) take his reps. I'm done with Apo as a starter and look forward to seeing him ride the pine the next 2 years. If Riley is the personification of grit then Ross is the opposite.

mizzoucoug wrote:
He gave up on the long ball when he easily could have made a play

I've been holding on to my optimism for Apo, and will continue to hold out hope that he lives up to the hype in the next two years. Seriously though, that deep pass to Apo had me raising eyebrows too. Lark put A LOT of air under that thing. There should've been plenty of time for Apo to run under it. Honestly, it looked like he was jogging down the sideline.

tmoney35 wrote:

He gave up on the long ball when he easily could have made a play

I've been holding on to my optimism for Apo, and will continue to hold out hope that he lives up to the hype in the next two years. Seriously though, that deep pass to Apo had me raising eyebrows too. Lark put A LOT of air under that thing. There should've been plenty of time for Apo to run under it. Honestly, it looked like he was jogging down the sideline.

I felt the same way. The ball looked perfectly thrown. it was up an coming down slowly and apo seemed to just stop. i was baffled by that. my opinion of him changed from that one play.

jonnylingo wrote:

mizzoucoug wrote:
He gave up on the long ball when he easily could have made a play

I've been holding on to my optimism for Apo, and will continue to hold out hope that he lives up to the hype in the next two years. Seriously though, that deep pass to Apo had me raising eyebrows too. Lark put A LOT of air under that thing. There should've been plenty of time for Apo to run under it. Honestly, it looked like he was jogging down the sideline.

I felt the same way. The ball looked perfectly thrown. it was up an coming down slowly and apo seemed to just stop. i was baffled by that. my opinion of him changed from that one play.

Felt the same way but any time I see Hoffman or Apo run they look like they're just jogging because they're so tall so I'm not sure. I still have hope for him but he needs be more physical for sure.

Is it that they are tall or is it that they are actually slow or lack quickness.



Chambers is/was the same way. It would take him 3 - 4 steps to get going. Hoffman and Apo also appear to run the same.



On the other hand, look at Collie. Although he was "slower" in the 40 his explosiveness off the line and once he caught the ball was amazing. Took one step for him to get going.



I don't see Hoffman going to the NFL. Great hands and good at running routes but he doesn't get many YAC.

jonnylingo wrote:

mizzoucoug wrote:
He gave up on the long ball when he easily could have made a play

I've been holding on to my optimism for Apo, and will continue to hold out hope that he lives up to the hype in the next two years. Seriously though, that deep pass to Apo had me raising eyebrows too. Lark put A LOT of air under that thing. There should've been plenty of time for Apo to run under it. Honestly, it looked like he was jogging down the sideline.

I felt the same way. The ball looked perfectly thrown. it was up an coming down slowly and apo seemed to just stop. i was baffled by that. my opinion of him changed from that one play.

My opinion of him changed when I saw him jogging on all his routes against OSU. Sometimes you don't see this on TV but it was completely obvious live.

I think we're judging him a little prematurely. Dude has two more years to really make it count. Do I wish he'd try a little harder on the field? Sure, but I still think he has the tools to be very good if he puts in a little more work.

Until he proves it on the field by making a play (which he never has) I will consider him a bust!

Schmoe wrote:
I think we're judging him a little prematurely. Dude has two more years to really make it count. Do I wish he'd try a little harder on the field? Sure, but I still think he has the tools to be very good if he puts in a little more work.

Why wait until SR year to prove yourself. I like freshman/soph players who step up and look and play the part. Don't like APO...never have. No effort. He wouldn't even play if he was on D...even as a SR.

Ball4 wrote:

I think we're judging him a little prematurely. Dude has two more years to really make it count. Do I wish he'd try a little harder on the field? Sure, but I still think he has the tools to be very good if he puts in a little more work.

Why wait until SR year to prove yourself. I like freshman/soph players who step up and look and play the part. Don't like APO...never have. No effort. He wouldn't even play if he was on D...even as a SR.

Yes, because he plays wide receiver, why would he play D? I agree with "why wait?" but am trying to point out that it takes time for players to develop and maybe we should give the benefit of the doubt (most players don't see the field much as sophomores, much less start).

I was disappointed in Apo's play last night, he probably was too. He caused a pick and almost gave up at least 1 more. He needs to gain a hunger for the ball.

Apo is a disappointment because he is just like O'Neil Chambers. I wrote this about Chambers more than two years ago, and here it is again, but tailored to Apo:

http://cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5126&p=45950&hilit=chambers+black#p45950" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's Chambers Apo's biggest problem: he's black. And I don't mean this in any racist way. The problem is people associate being black with also being athletic and fast. BYU has never had a black wide receiver from Florida who was also offered by Texas. So the average fan has assumed he must be a burner. A super star in waiting. Some one is big fast and strong - like Terrell Owens or Randy Moss. Someone who would just dominate from the day he arrived on campus. After all, he is black and from Florida had offers from Texas.



OC Apo is not a speed receiver, he's a possession receiver. The problem is he's not meeting what the average fan was expecting from him. So he's been disappointing, even though to a certain degree he has been very productive at times and at other times instrumental in winning games (Utah last year, great returns against UNLV Hawaii and New Mexico State last year, etc.)



But when things start going south - as they have this year - the fans look for people to blame. Who better to blame than someone who hasn't been meeting the expectations fans had for them. So throw in some drops and fumbles and unmet expectations (Gee, why isn't our black super fast, super stud WR from Florida with offers from Texas totally dominating?) OC Apo has becomethe fan favorite target to blame the woes of the WR position group keep holding onto his hype and ignore his actual production and blame his struggles on others.

The problem is OC was a possession receiver whereas Apo isn't even that good.

Maybe every route that Apo runs we have Falslev run step by step with him so that when the ball bounces off Apo's hands and floats into the air JD is there for the reception.