BYU 2022

[Brutus Buckeye]

[Zazu]

[Zazu]

[Zazu]

[Zazu]

[kk1971]

I am a big recruiting junky and follow volleyball closely. I want to share a few thoughts on each of the incoming recruits, with one post on my thoughts and observations on each.

Hannah Billeter

I initially wondered why Heather would sign a 3rd OH that is undersized in this class. Even if she is a great athlete, and I think she is, I believe she would struggle to ever see the court with the others already there and coming in at OH. And then I think I figured it out and now love the move.

Hannah plays as a 6 rotation OH for McKinney Boyd HS in Texas. My impression is that she is an excellent athlete and jumper, very skilled. Someone had commented earlier on her having more of an impact that we thought and mentioned her having a high point of contact to hit over blocks. My own belief is that she is being brought in to be a defensive specialist who actually is very skilled at attacking out of the back row if necessary--a hopefully more successful "Abbey Dayton move". Heather specifically speaks to Hannah's platform in the press release announcing her signing. The fact that she is graduating early and enrolling in January I think suggests that she could be a part of the Gretchen Reinert succession plan, along with Aria McComber and Morgan Bower. I have no inside knowledge, but would truly be surprised if we ever see her at the OH position while at BYU.

To get an idea of her game, here are some highlights I found of her on Youtube:




If she is as good at passing and effective in the back row as I think she is, she will help this class for years to come.

[bbg95]

Nov 19, 2021 16:58:38 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

I am a big recruiting junky and follow volleyball closely. I want to share a few thoughts on each of the incoming recruits, with one post on my thoughts and observations on each.

Hannah Billeter

I initially wondered why Heather would sign a 3rd OH that is undersized in this class. Even if she is a great athlete, and I think she is, I believe she would struggle to ever see the court with the others already there and coming in at OH. And then I think I figured it out and now love the move.

Hannah plays as a 6 rotation OH for McKinney Boyd HS in Texas. My impression is that she is an excellent athlete and jumper, very skilled. Someone had commented earlier on her having more of an impact that we thought and mentioned her having a high point of contact to hit over blocks. My own belief is that she is being brought in to be a defensive specialist who actually is very skilled at attacking out of the back row if necessary--a hopefully more successful "Abbey Dayton move". Heather specifically speaks to Hannah's platform in the press release announcing her signing. The fact that she is graduating early and enrolling in January I think suggests that she could be a part of the Gretchen Reinert succession plan, along with Aria McComber and Morgan Bower. I have no inside knowledge, but would truly be surprised if we ever see her at the OH position while at BYU.

To get an idea of her game, here are some highlights I found of her on Youtube:




If she is as good at passing and effective in the back row as I think she is, she will help this class for years to come.

Interesting analysis. Billeter seems to have a pretty heavy arm judging by those highlight videos.

[kk1971]

Continuing with my posts on the new BYU signees:

Nataly Moravec. She intrigues me. She plays in CT, not exactly a hotbed of top 100 recruits. My guess is that Heather found her at a BYU volleyball camp and was impressed enough to offer. She was also good enough to be invited to at least one national camp, and has absolutely dominated the competition in CT. I haven't been able to watch any of her club film, but have watched some HS film and in HS she DOMINATES in a way I am not sure I have ever seen before, hitting .550 for the season--truly dominant middle blocker numbers, not OH numbers. She hits a very heavy ball with a great deal of accuracy, and appears to be solid in all six rotations, although I think she needs to work on serve receive to be ready for the next level.

She appears to be athletic (mom played at BYU-H) and very skilled.

Here is a link to an article about Nataly from several years ago:

www.stamfordadvocate.com/sports/highschool/article/Hopkins-sweeps-King-for-FAA-volleyball-crown-14803579.php

OF note is that Hopkins just beat King again for the FAA title with Moravec again dominating. Those interested can find the Youtube video of that game (and others) here, but warning it is long (she is number 10):



How good is she? Honestly, it is really hard to say. She looks really good on film against weaker competition. If you watch CT volleyball there are some good players who could play anywhere, but there is no question she hits into a much softer block than if she lived in California or Texas. Passing is not as good, and serve receive can be an adventure that sometimes makes you laugh out loud. Prepvolleyball, which some on here love to criticize, doesn't rank her at all. On the other hand, she is a first team AVCA high school all american, has been invited to a national camp, has good size, and I think a very good volleyball IQ.

For all of that, I have a hard time seeing her beat out a Livingston, Stowell or Callahan from last year, and honestly Eden Bower (will write about her next) I think has more upside at the outside than most. And I wrote in another post that Claire Little will be the best OH to come into BYU in a long time when she comes in the following year. If it were me, since I see a logjam of talent at the OH position, I would redshirt her next year and allow some years of separation between her and some of these others. But assuming that doesn't happen, if Nataly sees the court, it will be because she is good enough and hard working enough to not care about rankings and that she comes from CT. She will earn it. And I love that. Intriguing, right?

[kk1971]

Part 3 in writing about the BYU signees for volleyball, this time on Eden Bower.

I won't write as much as I think she is better known by most here. I REALLY like her game. She has great size and frame, hits a very heavy ball, jumps very well, and well, is a Bower. So intense, a great athlete, is well trained, and is going to be great. I personally believe she is underappreciated by Prepvolleyball at 54. Remember that she lost a year due to recovery from surgery, and so her great last year wasn't preceded by as much development time as it should have been. Some on here have criticized her back row game, and I find this misguided because of this missed year. I think she is making up for missed time and will be a starting OH at BYU sooner rather that later and will be awfully good. My opinion, based on my belief that Eden is going to be really good, is that Heather bringing on Nataly too speaks highly of Nataly and her abilities, because I think it would have been easy to say that we already had our OH for this year. It is also part of the reason why I think Billeter ends up as a primarily back row player.

Some Youtube highlights of Eden:



I don't know that she is good enough yet to take court time next year. Livingston I think is a starter barring injury. I then think its a 4 person race to see who gets the swings at the other OH position between Stowell, Callahan, Bower and Moravec. Those are 4 awfully good outsides and will be creating a pretty competitive environment in practice. Its not improbable that at least one of those who get left behind then enter the transfer portal, because possibly the best of our young outsides comes in the following year. First world problem for BYU.

[Zazu]

Nov 19, 2021 16:58:38 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

I am a big recruiting junky and follow volleyball closely. I want to share a few thoughts on each of the incoming recruits, with one post on my thoughts and observations on each.

Hannah Billeter

I initially wondered why Heather would sign a 3rd OH that is undersized in this class. Even if she is a great athlete, and I think she is, I believe she would struggle to ever see the court with the others already there and coming in at OH. And then I think I figured it out and now love the move.

Hannah plays as a 6 rotation OH for McKinney Boyd HS in Texas. My impression is that she is an excellent athlete and jumper, very skilled. Someone had commented earlier on her having more of an impact that we thought and mentioned her having a high point of contact to hit over blocks. My own belief is that she is being brought in to be a defensive specialist who actually is very skilled at attacking out of the back row if necessary--a hopefully more successful "Abbey Dayton move". Heather specifically speaks to Hannah's platform in the press release announcing her signing. The fact that she is graduating early and enrolling in January I think suggests that she could be a part of the Gretchen Reinert succession plan, along with Aria McComber and Morgan Bower. I have no inside knowledge, but would truly be surprised if we ever see her at the OH position while at BYU.

If she is as good at passing and effective in the back row as I think she is, she will help this class for years to come.

When I first read what others wrote about her earlier this year, my mind immediately thought of Danelle (Parady) Stetler, who may be my all-time favorite player at BYU. She became primarily a back-row player behind RJP, McKenna Miller, Lacy Haddock, and Madi Robinson, but she could and did play front row on occasion, quite successfully in fact. She was also set in the back row about once or twice a match, mostly as an emergency option, and she often got kills with less powerful and unpredictably-placed shots. However, I think Hannah Billeter will be given every opportunity to possibly develop into a player like RJP. Remember RJP is only 5-11, as she liked to remind people. I remember watching her in her freshman season and wondering if she’d be able to harness that power into a more controlled swing, as well as develop more variation. She did that and more. I think if Hannah becomes what Stetler was for this program, that would be fantastic, but I do think she’ll have the chance for more, and I actually think Heather has that in mind as a possibility.

Edit: Meant to say thank you for doing this. I have almost no knowledge of recruits, unless they’re local, so I really appreciate your sharing of the skills and traits you’ve observed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[kk1971]

Nov 20, 2021 0:22:31 GMT -5 Zazu said:

Nov 19, 2021 16:58:38 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

I am a big recruiting junky and follow volleyball closely. I want to share a few thoughts on each of the incoming recruits, with one post on my thoughts and observations on each.

Hannah Billeter

I initially wondered why Heather would sign a 3rd OH that is undersized in this class. Even if she is a great athlete, and I think she is, I believe she would struggle to ever see the court with the others already there and coming in at OH. And then I think I figured it out and now love the move.

Hannah plays as a 6 rotation OH for McKinney Boyd HS in Texas. My impression is that she is an excellent athlete and jumper, very skilled. Someone had commented earlier on her having more of an impact that we thought and mentioned her having a high point of contact to hit over blocks. My own belief is that she is being brought in to be a defensive specialist who actually is very skilled at attacking out of the back row if necessary--a hopefully more successful "Abbey Dayton move". Heather specifically speaks to Hannah's platform in the press release announcing her signing. The fact that she is graduating early and enrolling in January I think suggests that she could be a part of the Gretchen Reinert succession plan, along with Aria McComber and Morgan Bower. I have no inside knowledge, but would truly be surprised if we ever see her at the OH position while at BYU.

If she is as good at passing and effective in the back row as I think she is, she will help this class for years to come.

When I first read what others wrote about her earlier this year, my mind immediately thought of Danelle (Parady) Stetler, who may be my all-time favorite player at BYU. She became primarily a back-row player behind RJP, McKenna Miller, Lacy Haddock, and Madi Robinson, but she could and did play front row on occasion, quite successfully in fact. She was also set in the back row about once or twice a match, mostly as an emergency option, and she often got kills with less powerful and unpredictably-placed shots. However, I think Hannah Billeter will be given every opportunity to possibly develop into a player like RJP. Remember RJP is only 5-11, as she liked to remind people. I remember watching her in her freshman season and wondering if she’d be to able harness that power into a more controlled swing, as well as develop more variation. She did that and more. I think if she becomes what Stetler was for this program, that would be fantastic, but I do think she’ll have the chance for more, and I actually think Heather has that in mind as a possibility.

Edit: Meant to say thank you for doing this. I have almost no knowledge of recruits, unless they’re local, so I really appreciate your sharing of the skills and traits you’ve observed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[kk1971]

still figuring out how to quote people. This is for Zazu and his comments about Hannah Billeter.

Love your bringing up Stetler. You are right that that could be exactly how Billeter is used. And I do agree that Olmstead will give all of these players, including Billeter, lots of chances to prove themselves and develop. As I said, the more I thought about using Billeter that way, the more it grew on me. The biggest drop off I think we will see next year, bar none, is someone to give us out of the back row even part of what we have been getting from Koerber. Billeter might be a partial step in that direction with more experience. Good comments.

[bbg95]

Nov 20, 2021 0:38:30 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

still figuring out how to quote people. This is for Zazu and his comments about Hannah Billeter.

Love your bringing up Stetler. You are right that that could be exactly how Billeter is used. And I do agree that Olmstead will give all of these players, including Billeter, lots of chances to prove themselves and develop. As I said, the more I thought about using Billeter that way, the more it grew on me. The biggest drop off I think we will see next year, bar none, is someone to give us out of the back row even part of what we have been getting from Koerber. Billeter might be a partial step in that direction with more experience. Good comments.

For future reference, just click on the "Quote" button, type your comment underneath the box with the quoted comment (↑), and then click "Create Post."

[Zazu]

Nov 20, 2021 0:49:29 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Nov 20, 2021 0:38:30 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

still figuring out how to quote people. This is for Zazu and his comments about Hannah Billeter.

Love your bringing up Stetler. You are right that that could be exactly how Billeter is used. And I do agree that Olmstead will give all of these players, including Billeter, lots of chances to prove themselves and develop. As I said, the more I thought about using Billeter that way, the more it grew on me. The biggest drop off I think we will see next year, bar none, is someone to give us out of the back row even part of what we have been getting from Koerber. Billeter might be a partial step in that direction with more experience. Good comments.

For future reference, just click on the "Quote" button, type your comment underneath the box with the quoted comment (↑), and then click "Create Post."

Also, if you accidentally find yourself typing inside the quote lines when you want to be typing outside of them, just hit the back button in your browser and it will take you back without posting. Or you can click on the tab at the bottom left of the posting screen that says BBCode and scroll to the very bottom of all the code where you’ll see [\quote]. Make sure your cursor is to the right of that and hit enter a few times and it will give you space again to type outside the quote. Maybe you don’t need that much help, but when I first started posting here seven years ago, I had trouble with this too.

[bbg95]

Nov 20, 2021 1:13:09 GMT -5 Zazu said:

Nov 20, 2021 0:49:29 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

For future reference, just click on the "Quote" button, type your comment underneath the box with the quoted comment (↑), and then click "Create Post."

Also, if you accidentally find yourself typing inside the quote lines when you want to be typing outside of them, just hit the back button in your browser and it will take you back without posting. Or you can click on the tab at the bottom left of the posting screen that says BBCode and scroll to the very bottom of all the code where you’ll see [\quote]. Make sure your cursor is to the right of that and hit enter a few times and it will give you space again to type outside the quote. Maybe you don’t need that much help, but when I first started posting here seven years ago, I had trouble with this too.

Yeah, the accidental backing into the quote and not being able to get out without using the BBCode button is pretty annoying.