5-Year Development Program for Frontcourt Players

[Pablo]

As we know, frontcourt players generally need more time to develop than perimeter players. Of course, there are exceptions such as Will Thomas and Ryan Pearson who are prepared to be impact players directly out of high school. But, it seems that many other frontcourt players would benefit with an additional year.

The 5th season could include a year at a post-graduate prep school; a non-medical redshirt season; a medical redshirt or a medical hardship waiver to allow the player to fully recover from an injury or surgery; or an NCAA-mandated redshirt year for transfers. ODU frequently utilized the non-medical redshirt to develop its frontcourt players.

How often have we seen frontcourt players who have been underutilized their freshman season because either they were not prepared to play at this level or there was too much experienced depth for them to get much playing time? Hasn't Marko Gujanicic and Jalen Jenkins benefited from the 5th year prep school and the non-medical redshirt year, respectively? Of course, there is the risk that the player who redshirted or received a medical hardship waiver will exercise the 5th year transfer rule.

 

[gmutom]

Imagine the player Arledge could have been had Larranaga redshirted him his freshman year. And then he got stuck behind Morrison and Pearson his sophomore year, which led to very little PT and experience.

It's obvious that Jenkins bulked up a ton last year while also having a year to practice with the team and get acclimated to college. If the staff is wise and Porter is open to it, they will do the same thing with him next year. I passed the kid on the concourse last night, and he is a legitimate 6-10 but needs to add a lot of muscle. I think Lockett and Mayimba might be able to hold their own next year, at least on the defensive end.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Trey Porter definitely might benefit from such an approach. I haven't seen him play, but he's really thin, and we have plenty of depth down low for next season. It's after next season that we'll really need him.

 

[Dawgs99]

Agreed, I too saw Porter yesterday and he could really benefit from the Jalen Jenkins red shirt season. The kid is a legit 6-10 and he might still be growing.