Johns Hopkins 2021

[pcowlax]

Wait a minute...

Following high school, he attended Gettysburg College where he was a three-time Division III All-America and three-time All-Centennial Conference pick.

This is the problem right here! This guy is the one warming up the goalies every game and he's only showing them DIII shots!

This is a pretty harsh entry, wonder if his page was edited by a Cornell fan:

"However, he struggled academically at Gettysburg and dropped out of the school with no more athletic eligibility and a few credits short of graduating."

[10stone5]

https://twitter.com/tyxanders/status/13 ... 5724933121

Former @AmherstLacrosse goalie Gib Versfeld will head to @JHUmenslacrosse as a grad student, per @BlueStarLax. Versfeld (6'4, 210 lbs.) took over as the starter for the DIII runner-up in 2019, stopping nearly 55 percent of the shots he faced.

I assume the Annino connection helped here.

6'4'' goalie saved 55% for the D3 runner-ups in 2019. Can't hurt! Great name too.

Agree on the name. I would temper my enthusiasm until he's a little more battle tested. He played in 8 full games in 2019. And he played behind a very strong defense along with an offense that often controlled the ball and dominated the match.

In HS, he played behind Levine now of Princeton until his senior year. And his defense in HS included Chris Fake of Yale.

He played with Jordan Wolf’s brother at Amherst.
I think the guy started off at Episcopal before moving
on to Hun. Maybe he got some exposure to Bates and
Doc Dougherty.
I don’t see why this guy wouldn’t have been recruited by
some DI schools.

[AOD]

https://twitter.com/tyxanders/status/13 ... 5724933121

Former @AmherstLacrosse goalie Gib Versfeld will head to @JHUmenslacrosse as a grad student, per @BlueStarLax. Versfeld (6'4, 210 lbs.) took over as the starter for the DIII runner-up in 2019, stopping nearly 55 percent of the shots he faced.

I assume the Annino connection helped here.

6'4'' goalie saved 55% for the D3 runner-ups in 2019. Can't hurt! Great name too.

Agree on the name. I would temper my enthusiasm until he's a little more battle tested. He played in 8 full games in 2019. And he played behind a very strong defense along with an offense that often controlled the ball and dominated the match.

In HS, he played behind Levine now of Princeton until his senior year. And his defense in HS included Chris Fake of Yale.

He played with Jordan Wolf’s brother at Amherst.
I think the guy started off at Episcopal before moving
on to Hun. Maybe he got some exposure to Bates and
Doc Dougherty.
I don’t see why this guy wouldn’t have been recruited by
some DI schools.

I don't know about EA, but I do know he spent 4 years at Hun. An injury created his opportunity in 2019 at Amherst. That Amherst team was loaded. In addition to Evan, they had the unstoppable Colin Minicus (drafted after graduation) and the unbeatable Dylan Finazzo.

[jhu06]

Not only that, I presume an Amherst transfer does not burn a chit with Admissions.

-admissions greenlit a 59 person roster this year and early recruiting. Until I see concrete evidence otherwise, they aren't standing in the way of Millimans success and if they are they need to be talked to.

[51percentcorn]

That's actually a good point that has not been directly (or often) expressed - if there was one thing connected with the lacrosse program that the warlock and his witches of Montecito could have easily stopped - it would have been early recruiting. In your best HAL voice "No Dave you can't talk to 8th graders and put us in that position." Certainly would have fit in with the narrative that the only thing they care about is admission standards.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Please identify the witches.

[51percentcorn]

Alanna and Jen - according to many - I realize they are not living in Montecito if that's why you asked

[jhu06]

Alanna and Jen - according to many - I realize they are not living in Montecito if that's why you asked

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... rdog/56350
that was qks thing from a year ago
-PM added strong staff
-No speed was added
-jay dyer was kept on, I don't notice any physical improvement
-the b1g tv contract is a joke that needs to be addressed. Homewood deserves $ from it and our games off btn+
-UVA/NAVY should be back next year. ACC doesn't condense their games in april, not sure why we have to. Would be better for the program and espn to have UVA/Navy in April when students are back and the stadium can fill up. No one at homewood cares about penn state/ohio state/michigan rivalries.
-I'm not aware of any tiresome press conferences, maybe this was made up like Qk's epstein rant a few weeks ago.
https://lacrossebucket.com/2020/09/21/u ... urnaround/
that turned out to be completely wrong.

[HopFan16]

-jay dyer was kept on, I don't notice any physical improvement

Your obsession with Dyer continues to be completely bonkers. He's considered the best in the sport. There's a reason he works with Team USA.

The reason you have felt like Hopkins is not physically impressive is because Petro recruited and often played physically unimpressive players. If you haven't noticed a speed or strength difference at SSDM this year compared to years past then you're not paying enough attention. BUT that has nothing to do with who the strength coach is and everything to do with the fact that we are now putting bigger, stronger, faster guys at that position.

With the exception of sometimes-middie Williams and Degnon (and now, it would seem—thank god—one Johnny Peshko), the offensive midfield is not particularly physical because it's a bunch of X attackmen. Angelus, Keogh, Baskin, McDermott. They are not prototypical midfielders. What is Jay Dyer supposed to do with that?

I actually disagree that there hasn't been *any* physical improvement—McManus has definitely been hitting the weight room, for instance. He's a pretty big kid but he's flattened more than one guy who's even bigger than he is. Regardless, the premise of the argument is ridiculous even if it were 100% true.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Alanna and Jen - according to many - I realize they are not living in Montecito if that's why you asked

Actually, I was setting everyone up for someone to insert a great Monty Python clip, but I guess everything is way too serious around here.

[OCanada]

I agree re Dyer.

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players. That is off as much as the Dyer comment. In the final analysis the players you play are the ones who accepted the opportunity to play at Hopkins. Each coach has a list of players ranked in some order of preference according to the requirements of the school. They then become captive to the decisions of the potential players and their parents.

[jhu06]

-jay dyer was kept on, I don't notice any physical improvement

Your obsession with Dyer continues to be completely bonkers. He's considered the best in the sport. There's a reason he works with Team USA.

The reason you have felt like Hopkins is not physically impressive is because Petro recruited and often played physically unimpressive players. If you haven't noticed a speed or strength difference at SSDM this year compared to years past then you're not paying enough attention. BUT that has nothing to do with who the strength coach is and everything to do with the fact that we are now putting bigger, stronger, faster guys at that position.

With the exception of sometimes-middie Williams and Degnon (and now, it would seem—thank god—one Johnny Peshko), the offensive midfield is not particularly physical because it's a bunch of X attackmen. Angelus, Keogh, Baskin, McDermott. They are not prototypical midfielders. What is Jay Dyer supposed to do with that?

I actually disagree that there hasn't been *any* physical improvement—McManus has definitely been hitting the weight room, for instance. He's a pretty big kid but he's flattened more than one guy who's even bigger than he is. Regardless, the premise of the argument is ridiculous even if it were 100% true.

His job is speed and strength and I don't see any players over the last decade who came and became stronger or faster.

[HopFan16]

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players.

Of course he didn't do that intentionally. But that is, in fact, what happened. Not across the entire roster (close D has always had adequate size/physicality), but in key positions up the middle of the field. And if you're not strong/fast in the middle of the field then you're not going to win many games.

[Big Dog]

I agree re Dyer.

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players. That is off as much as the Dyer comment. In the final analysis the players you play are the ones who accepted the opportunity to play at Hopkins. Each coach has a list of players ranked in some order of preference according to the requirements of the school. They then become captive to the decisions of the potential players and their parents.

Exactly. One of the big downsides to recruiting 13/14 year olds is that you can only take an educated guess how big, strong and fast that they will be at 18/19. Some kids only grow an inch or two during high school while others grow 3 inches over one year.

His job is speed and strength and I don't see any players over the last decade who came and became stronger or faster.

Perhaps Petro should have been taking muscle samples of the quads: without a lot of fast-twitch fibres, a kid will neve get fast no matter how much he trains.

[Typical Lax Dad]

I agree re Dyer.

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players. That is off as much as the Dyer comment. In the final analysis the players you play are the ones who accepted the opportunity to play at Hopkins. Each coach has a list of players ranked in some order of preference according to the requirements of the school. They then become captive to the decisions of the potential players and their parents.

Exactly. One of the big downsides to recruiting 13/14 year olds is that you can only take an educated guess how big, strong and fast that they will be at 18/19.

Brennan O’Neill is the only kid that I can remember that was justified as an early recruit based on the idea that “he already has D1 size”....most of those 9th grade monsters were just that....

[51percentcorn]

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players. That is off as much as the Dyer comment. In the final analysis the players you play are the ones who accepted the opportunity to play at Hopkins. Each coach has a list of players ranked in some order of preference according to the requirements of the school. They then become captive to the decisions of the potential players and their parents.

On the face of it - every sentence here is true. but as a whole it ignores the elephant in the room of early recruiting and Petro's penchant to not only early recruit but fill virtually the entire class up as soon as possible and then maybe take a couple stragglers. If you are dealing with kids who just finished 8th grade or freshmen year of high school you can't assess anything according to the requirements of the school. They haven't done anything yet academically. Then there is the growth issue as someone else pointed out - recruit a bunch of attackmen that are 5'9" or smaller when they are 14/15 and maybe they don't get any bigger and you end up with too many. Decisions of players and parents ARE affected by what goes on before them and if you were a sophomore or a junior and had not committed - you knew the chances of attracting Hopkins was slim because IL/Laxpower wherever already had a list as long as your arm of recruits and I do absolutely 100% know of parents told by Petro the class was full.

[51percentcorn]

Actually, I was setting everyone up for someone to insert a great Monty Python clip, but I guess everything is way too serious around here.

Sorry - missed the connection - if you had worked in something about ducks and wood I might have caught on

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Wlax won in OT yesterday over host Michigan. They play them again on Saturday.

Record is now 6-5.

[jhu06]

Petro didn’t intentionally recruit in order to play physically unimpressive players. That is off as much as the Dyer comment. In the final analysis the players you play are the ones who accepted the opportunity to play at Hopkins. Each coach has a list of players ranked in some order of preference according to the requirements of the school. They then become captive to the decisions of the potential players and their parents.

On the face of it - every sentence here is true. but as a whole it ignores the elephant in the room of early recruiting and Petro's penchant to not only early recruit but fill virtually the entire class up as soon as possible and then maybe take a couple stragglers. If you are dealing with kids who just finished 8th grade or freshmen year of high school you can't assess anything according to the requirements of the school. They haven't done anything yet academically. Then there is the growth issue as someone else pointed out - recruit a bunch of attackmen that are 5'9" or smaller when they are 14/15 and maybe they don't get any bigger and you end up with too many. Decisions of players and parents ARE affected by what goes on before them and if you were a sophomore or a junior and had not committed - you knew the chances of attracting Hopkins was slim because IL/Laxpower wherever already had a list as long as your arm of recruits and I do absolutely 100% know of parents told by Petro the class was full.

-college basketball coaches start following kids in 4th grade and nba scouts start following kids in 7th/8th grade and let's not start w/sports like figure skating and gymnastics. What Petro did wasn't unprecedented. Rabil swears by Dyer and I guess given the fact that paul looked like seth cohen from the oc when he showed up on campus that makes sense but still doesn't explain who else got stronger and quicker w/dyer.

[51percentcorn]

No one said what Petro did was unprecedented - there were others clearly in the room with him - what I said was year in and year out he was often the first guy to 10 kids/12 kids and when it became - I don't know what the right term is - acceptable I guess - to recruit at the youngest age/class he was in line as quick as anybody. Rising sophomores - let's go baby - freshmen - not a problem

In basketball - there is an overwhelming factor - height. If a kid in 6' plus by 10/11 years old and can be identified to have some level of high coordination - well there you go. The big programs also know they are going to have the special kids for one year and NBA teams know their draft is going to be filled with 18/19 year olds - and this is for enormous sums of money - so yes they HAVE to start earlier and as we all know - basketball recruiting is unseemly.

After watching "Athlete A" - I have nothing to say on gymnastics but shame on all involved

As far as Dyer - you, me and the guy next door have not one clue. Most of these changes are subtle. You think some coach at Princeton/BU made Sowers/Gray as quick as they are today? Nobody has a magic formula - they are all doing alot of the same things. Dyer was probably the guy that helped DeSimone gain 15-20 lbs - didn't work out so well - but I guarantee you he was alot stronger. Fraser is probably another example - when he was a freshman he could always drill holes in the wall with his shot but he clearly was more mobile by the time he left.