Gopher Football
Cornerbacks
– Starters
An interesting development has taken place in the Gopher secondary since the end of last season. Three year starter Trumaine Banks has been moved to free safety, which in turn places redshirt freshman Keith Massey as the starter in place of him. Massey is only one of “œBrookhaven Trio” who redshirted last season. But, after that redshirt year it looks as though the coaches have seen enough positive things out of him to confidently pencil him in as a starter. Since Massey hasn’t played a down yet not much is known about him. In high school he was listed as having a 4.5 forty-yard dash, which is average speed for a cornerback. But the most noticeable difference with him is his 6’1″ 195 pound frame. That’s a little bigger body than we saw in the mix last season and it’s something I’m excited to see.
At the other starting spot is junior Jamal Harris. Even though it doesn’t really seem like it, Harris has already started 15 games as a Gopher and with the move of Trumaine Banks to second string free safety, he’s currently the most experienced member of the starting Gopher secondary. Jamal’s coverage skills still could use some work (and this is where new secondary coach Craig Bray comes in), but Harris is a physical corner who is a good tackler. Last year Jamal had 63 of them to finish 3rd on the team. This could be a reason why the Gophers coaching staff say they intend to play more bump and run coverage, it would seem to play into the strength of both Harris and Massey.
– Depth
There appears to be a lot of depth in bodies at cornerback for Minnesota, but just how talented those bodies are is unknown at this time. As of now the top returning backup is junior Desi Steib. At 6 feet tall, Steib is another tall cornerback for Minnesota, but he is relatively untested, having seen only occasional time last year as a backup. The Gophers added some depth in the last recruiting class with JUCO transfer Josh Robertson. Although Minnesota doesn’t have a great recent history with defensive JUCO transfers, Robertson did have some quality offers and it wouldn’t surprise me if pushed Keith Massey for the starting job. The other body who could figure into the rotation is redshirt freshman Michael McKelton. A quarterback in high school, McKelton could still be learning the position yet and might be a year away.
Safeties
– Starters
With the unfortunate news that former starting strong safety Brandon Owens will miss the 2006 season because of injury, it became assured that Dominic Jones will once again start at strong safety again this year. Dominic struggled last season, but fans have to realize that he was put in an impossible position. Before the injury Dominic was a true freshman playing cornerback. When Owens went down it was decided to move Jones from CB to strong safety and have him learn on the job. The results were pretty rough as would be expected, but Jones showed enough ability and tenacity to make many Gopher fans excited about his future. The comparisons are going to happen eventually, so I might as well start them now. “œDoesn’t Dominic Jones remind you of Tyrone Carter?!” Indeed, Jones and Carter do have some similar qualities. Both are undersized (Jones is generously listed at 5’8″) to play safety in the Big Ten, and both are hard hitting, sure tacklers. I’m not predicting that Jones will be the Thorpe award winner, but for those wondering what kind of player Jones will be I think looking at T.C. would be your best start.
Free Safety is a little more complicated. As I mentioned above, Trumaine Banks has been moved to free safety after spending three years as a starter at cornerback. What makes the move odd is that, ala Terrance Campbell in his senior season, is he’s being moved to a new position to be the backup of junior Dominique Barber. Dominique has not played a ton on defense yet, but has seen a lot of action on special teams. He did get one extensive look on defense against Penn State after the Owens injury, but after that game Dominic Jones was made the starter ahead of him. Barber is a good all around prospect with good size (6’0″ 200 pounds) and decent speed. The biggest thing for him will be to get some playing time early to build up his experience.
– Depth
Depth at safety is kind of scarce for the Gophers this year. It appears that Trumaine Banks will be the primary backup at free safety and that JUCO transfer Duran Cooley will be the backup at strong safety. However, it wouldn’t be totally surprising if Cooley competes for the starting job at free safety seeing that he has a season of JUCO experience. Barber also has the ability to backup strong safety as well, so this is another mess that we’ll have to wait until the fall to see straightened out. An interesting prospect that may be a ways off is true freshman Daron Love. The Florida native was a late qualifier, and thus could be one of those steal/bust players. If you’ve seen his pictures you know that he’s physically ready to play in the Big Ten right now, so it will be interesting to see if he can add depth to a thin group of safeties this year (or possibly at cornerback).
Around the Big Ten
“œDepleted” is a word that comes to mind when describing Big Ten depth charts at cornerback this fall. Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin are just a few of the teams that lose both starting cornerbacks from last year. One common theme with these is most of them (well, except Wisconsin) had stellar defenses last year, so the amount of quality corners lost is great. All in all approximately 15 of the 22 starting cornerbacks from last year in the Big Ten are gone. Michigan loses one senior starter, but does return Leon Hall who likely will be the top cornerback in the Big Ten. Hall, along with Northwestern senior Marquice Cole are the only returning CB’s of note in the conference. The next big thing in the conference could be Ohio State sophomore Malcolm Jenkins. Malcolm was able to break into the starting lineup for a few games last year for OSU, something that says a lot when you consider the defensive talent they have. The other good young player out there is Penn State sophomore Justin King. Because Penn State’s secondary was stacked last year King was limited to offense, but he was the top secondary recruit in the nation a couple years ago and will now get the chance to show it. Over at safety, Wisconsin’s senior duo of Roderick Rockers and Joe Stellmacher are widely considered the best tandem in the Big Ten.
Last year
It was a fairly typical year for the Gopher secondary. The safeties were good in run support but poor in pass coverage, the cornerbacks played soft and gave up yards in chunks, but to their credit were good in run support as well. That about sums it up. John Pawielski was the 4th linebacker at free safety and led the team in tackles with 86. The most embarrassing stat of the year is that the secondary managed to intercept just 3 passes all season. Pawielski had one, Trumaine Banks had one and Brandon Owens has one. That HAS to change is the defense is ever going to get better.
Bottom Line
This will be one of the more fun positions to watch this fall. Even though this gets thrown out a lot, I really believe that the Gophers have upgraded the talented in their secondary compared to the past few years. That, along with new position coach Craig Bray and the talk of tighter man coverage have me excited about the potential of this unit. Obviously the coaches know something about the Massey/Robertson/Steib situation that gave them the confidence to move Trumaine Banks to free safety, so I see that as an encouraging development. Jamal Harris is a junior and still improving, and many people feel that Dominic Jones is a future star. Of course, like any good secondary the Gophers will need help from the pass rush up front. But with the future looking better there as well might this finally be the year when the Gophers tighten up the pass defense?
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