Reasons for Optimism in Fall 2021?

[The Jackal]

The government can, and frequently does, impose upon an individual's liberties for the betterment of society.

I do not believe the government can force the vaccine on anyone. I think "vaccine passports" and "mask mandates" are probably within the government's rights under the constitution.

We will see that play out in the courts, but I expect they will be upheld. The legal returns on that are still early.

[Furmanoid]

I tend to trust local voices more than national. Augusta, GA has more ICU beds per capita than all but 2 or 3 locations in the US. Many people who work in our hospitals say the beds are filling up faster than ever before. And there is pretty good agreement that 90% of the hospitalized Covid patients are unvaccinated. Hospitals were already way behind dealing with regular stuff because of Covid. Now it will be worse.

Those unvaccinated people have every right to get sick from Covid, but they should tough it out at home and stop using beds that others might need. They could probably rig up a ventilator using a leaf blower or something. Now I will say that I’m dumbfounded that with trillions spent we haven’t doubled or tripled our hospital capacity for epidemic events. But our health care system is run by idiots, and there is nothing we can do about that.

And another thing. The delta variant appears to be slightly harsher on young people. We pretty much took a year off from educating anybody last year because of hysteria about a strain that didn’t impact them at all. So the news media isn’t going to rest until Delta shuts down another year. This isn’t a minor problem. How long can you go without an education system? In SC we tried harder to do school than almost any other state, but that virtual and hybrid stuff is bogus. Everybody just cheats or does nothing. Same for college.

If everybody who can be vaccinated and hasn’t been infected already just gets their shots then we as a nation can say “Look we’ve done all we can. Now let’s get back to normal.” Sure the delta will still sicken and kill some people here and there, but as possible variants go, it isn’t so bad.

[soconjohn]

I think we will have a season in both football and basketball...As to whether or not we will have restrictions again....I have no idea...I hope we don't, but at this point, if you watch the news it can be depressing in that regard to say the least.

[soconjohn]

Back to football...Optimism abounds for Furman if it can find a big play threat at WR...I like what I see out of Joshua Harris....He is fast, has good hands and has relatively good size...We shall see.

[gman84]

The key to playing wr at Furman is you have to be willing to block down field. Over the years plenty of guys had pass catching skills and speed, but had limited playing time do to their inability to block down field. I listened to Troy Polamalu's HOF speech the other night. He referenced his first encounter with Hines Ward at training camp. They had a collision on a running play. Hines told him after the play, " I'm like no other wr !"

[AstroDin]

Back to football...Optimism abounds for Furman if it can find a big play threat at WR...I like what I see out of Joshua Harris....He is fast, has good hands and has relatively good size...We shall see.

Ditto on Joshua Harris - I've only seen one practice. But he has all the factors SoConJohn mentioned. I think you have to add Shiflet and Henderson into the conversation about WR with size and athletic ability.
Shiflett 6-2 201
Harris 6-2 177 - Harris is long but appears to have really good speed.
Henderson 6-1 207

the speed guys
Bell, Gunn, and Hughes were all-state track performers in HS. I'm not sure how often we will see Bell in that slot at 5-9 162, but Gunn at 5-10 184 and Hughes at 5-11 205 as they get PT will be a headache for defenses.

I'm still going to place my bet on KT being a dynamo in the future, we might just see flashes this season due to the insane depth at RB. KT can scoot, has got great hands, and he's bigger, now listed at 5-9 188.

[apaladin]

I agree that no one should be forced to do a medical procedure that he/she does not want to do. I guess what I'm having a hard time understanding is why so many people do not want to get the vaccine?

Over 600,000 people have died of Covid. I'm not sure out of how many cases, but my guess is between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 cases. Over 150,000,000 people have been vaccinated and how many have died? I haven't heard of anyone, but there must be a few.

Local doctors at Vanderbilt have said that 97% of the people in the hospital for Covid are unvaccinated.

Where is the logic in the "I don't want to get vaccinated" crowd? I'm not finding any.

One correction. 600,000 have not died from Covid. Maybe 10 percent of 600,000 died from just Covid. Prolly less. At least 90% had other conditions that was the actual cause, Covid just helped.

Your “correction” is just flat out wrong. Stick to the facts, please.

I admit I was wrong. Its lees than 10 percent. A reuters fact check from Nov. 30 said 14,000 of 260,000 US deaths at that time listed ONLY Covid as the cause of death. That is 5.4 percent without other causes/factors.

[Roundball]

I agree that no one should be forced to do a medical procedure that he/she does not want to do. I guess what I'm having a hard time understanding is why so many people do not want to get the vaccine?

Over 600,000 people have died of Covid. I'm not sure out of how many cases, but my guess is between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 cases. Over 150,000,000 people have been vaccinated and how many have died? I haven't heard of anyone, but there must be a few.

Local doctors at Vanderbilt have said that 97% of the people in the hospital for Covid are unvaccinated.

Where is the logic in the "I don't want to get vaccinated" crowd? I'm not finding any.

One correction. 600,000 have not died from Covid. Maybe 10 percent of 600,000 died from just Covid. Prolly less. At least 90% had other conditions that was the actual cause, Covid just helped.

Your “correction” is just flat out wrong. Stick to the facts, please.

I admit I was wrong. Its lees than 10 percent. A reuters fact check from Nov. 30 said 14,000 of 260,000 US deaths at that time listed ONLY Covid as the cause of death. That is 5.4 percent without other causes/factors.

November? Lol. As of today, Reuters is reporting 616,596 deaths related to covid. Even if one had other health issues, covid got them. It's the same as someone dying in a car accident that had heart disease. The death is counted as being by way of the car accident, not heart disease.

[Furmanoid]

And unfortunately we live in a country where almost everybody has an underlying condition. That’s why our Covid deaths total is so high. So if those without underlying conditions are safe, that’s great, but there aren’t hardly any of them. When I used to get an OSHA required physical every year the doctor was STUNNED that I could be in my 50’s and not be on any meds. It isn’t like that in Europe.

[Jasper]

The key to playing wr at Furman is you have to be willing to block down field. Over the years plenty of guys had pass catching skills and speed, but had limited playing time do to their inability to block down field. I listened to Troy Polamalu's HOF speech the other night. He referenced his first encounter with Hines Ward at training camp. They had a collision on a running play. Hines told him after the play, " I'm like no other wr !"

It seems to me that they key to playing wider receiver at FU or any other college football team is the ability to catch the football.

[gman84]

The key to playing wr at Furman is you have to be willing to block down field. Over the years plenty of guys had pass catching skills and speed, but had limited playing time do to their inability to block down field. I listened to Troy Polamalu's HOF speech the other night. He referenced his first encounter with Hines Ward at training camp. They had a collision on a running play. Hines told him after the play, " I'm like no other wr !"

It seems to me that they key to playing wider receiver at FU or any other college football team is the ability to catch the football.
[/q
Let me say it another way. The guys that can block down field the best have an advantage for pt, assuming their pass catching ability and speed are equal.

[The Jackal]

The key to playing wr at Furman is you have to be willing to block down field. Over the years plenty of guys had pass catching skills and speed, but had limited playing time do to their inability to block down field. I listened to Troy Polamalu's HOF speech the other night. He referenced his first encounter with Hines Ward at training camp. They had a collision on a running play. Hines told him after the play, " I'm like no other wr !"

It seems to me that they key to playing wider receiver at FU or any other college football team is the ability to catch the football.

I'll wager that if you can catch passes, but not block, your playing time in this offense will be limited.

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR’s All-Time Favorite WR’s Highlight reel - Texas A&M - 2012

WR blocking is the difference in 5 yard gains & 25 yard (or more) gains.

Pretty sure if you are a WR in this FU Offense and can’t or won’t block, you will be limited to being a role player in special situations only, at best - regardless of your speed, route running ability, ability to separate, and/or “hands.”

[The Jackal]

I appreciate that Texas A&M says their mindset is "physical" and "tough."

Certainly helps to have had Mike Evans on the field, of course.

[soconjohn]

I went to practice again this am...Continue to be impressed by the WRs...I know it's early, but I feel the ability is there to at least stretch opposing defenses...I never felt like that in the spring.