BTN: Ranking Defensive Back Units in Big Ten West (#1: Minnesota)

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The Big Ten West is home to some fine secondaries. And it all begins with a loaded Minnesota defensive backfield that teems with talent and experience.

1. Minnesota. In a word, this group is loaded even with Cedric Thompson—an NFL draft pick–gone. Four senior are back to start from a unit that helped the Gophers rank No. 18 vs. the pass in 2014. Corner Eric Murray is the bellwether, a future pro who can shutdown wideouts. Briean Boddy-Calhoun—a key leader who made five interceptions last season–is opposite Murray. Damarius Travis and Antonio Johnson are the safeties. Travis is a big hitter for one of the Big Ten’s best coached defensive backfield under Jay Sawvel.

http://btn.com/2015/06/23/unit-rankings-minnesota-paces-big-ten-west-defensive-backfields/

Go Gophers!!
 

Hope sawvel sticks around. Could see him being poached for a d coord spot
 

The Gophers are not ranked lower than #3 at any position by the BTN in the B1G West.

#1 OL
#3 WR/TE
#3 QB/RB
#2 DL
#2 LB
#1 DB
 

im guessing the more likely scenario is that claeys gets a head coach job and sawvel is the new D coordinator here.

But I think that they have such a good working relationship that nobody really wants to move.
 

t-docious said:
im guessing the more likely scenario is that claeys gets a head coach job and sawvel is the new D coordinator here.

But I think that they have such a good working relationship that nobody really wants to move.
Click to expand...

Coach Kill takes good care of his coaches like he does "the kids".

He'll get them a praise before he gets one.
 


Let's face it - teams hiring new head coaches have generally underperformed in the past - so new head coaches more often than not take over losing programs. The question for Claeys, Sawvell, et al is this: would you rather be the head coach taking over a losing program and facing a rebuilding job - OR be an assistant under Kill at MN, where the program is trending upwards. Some coaches love a challenge - some might prefer job security.

But, no matter how dismal the program, there's always a coach out there who thinks he can turn things around.
 

I know it is just the BTN's take on this, but still means something.

TOTAL DEFENSE

DL LB DB Total

Mn 2 2 1 1.7
Wi 3 1 2 2
IA 5 4 3 4
NE 1 5 5 3.7
NW 4 7 4 5
Pur 6 3 7 5.3
IL 7 6 6 6.3

And, pardon for the poor spacing. Y'all get the picture.
 


WestTexasGopher said:
I know it is just the BTN's take on this, but still means something.
And, pardon for the poor spacing. Y'all get the picture.
Click to expand...
You can use "CODE" tags to get spacing to stay.

TOTAL DEFENSE
Code: 
	  DL		  LB		  DB		Total

Mn	  2		  2		  1 		  1.7
Wi	  3		  1		  2		  2
IA	  5		  4		  3		  4
NE	  1		  5		  5		  3.7 
NW	  4		  7		  4		  5
Pur	  6		  3		  7		  5.3
IL	  7		  6		  6		  6.3
 



It's also not a foregone conclusion that every successful coordinator wants to someday captain his own ship.

Head coaching brings with it a whole different series of issues and headaches.

/wishful thinking
 

t-docious said:
im guessing the more likely scenario is that claeys gets a head coach job and sawvel is the new D coordinator here.

But I think that they have such a good working relationship that nobody really wants to move.
Click to expand...

Limegrover has publicly said he enjoys working for a great boss and doesn't see a reason to leave. Claeys has basically said the same thing and that he's comfortable being a DC and the only way he would leave for a HC job is if the offer was too good to refuse. I imagine too good to refuse would be something along the lines of an established Power 5 school like a Missouri or better.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
The Gophers are not ranked lower than #3 at any position by the BTN in the B1G West.

#1 OL
Click to expand...

I find the OL ranking particularly amusing given that we have some big "fans" here telling us how poor our O-line was last year. I guess their replacements are just that much better?
 

Kuato Lives! said:
Limegrover has publicly said he enjoys working for a great boss and doesn't see a reason to leave. Claeys has basically said the same thing and that he's comfortable being a DC and the only way he would leave for a HC job is if the offer was too good to refuse. I imagine too good to refuse would be something along the lines of an established Power 5 school like a Missouri or better.
Click to expand...

I believe there's something to history as well. If you look at most coaches resumes/history, they tend to bounce all over the place. Just the fact that these guys have stayed together while not jumping for promotions elsewhere is a statement that they're not as inclined to hunt for titles as others. And that's not a knock on other coaches as I'm all for doing what's best for you and taking pay raises that you've earned. That said it seems like these guys are more inclined to stay in a comfortable situation then worry about career advancement. Personally I think it makes a lot of sense as the majority of guys don't stay in those promoted roles long anyway. Sawvel could bounce to a DC job for a few years, maybe bounce to a better DC job, eventually end up as a Power 5 DC and then maybe get canned if they have a poor season in a few years meaning 5-7 years from now he's back as a DC at a mid major or searching for DB Coach jobs again after bouncing around every other year. That doesn't appeal to everyone.
 




The only job that I can forsee tempting Coach Claeys, is if he were to be offered Kansas State when Bill Snyder retires again, that situation would worry me.
 

I hope all our coaches are in high demand...means we are winning.

"Next Up" goes for coaches too!
 

Yup. We've got to get used to the fact that success is a double-edged sword. No one talking about our coaches=losing program. The great thing about it is that if we do lose someone not named Kill, I'm pretty confident that the remaining coaching staff/program will be compelling enough to bring in top coaching talent. You wanna keep 'em together forever. But, unlikely to happen. Let's just enjoy it while we have it and if someone goes, then God bless 'em and expect to bring in someone great!
 

If Nebraska has a better defensive line than we do, then how did we run them up and down the field? They were weak at the point of attack, could not contain the back side, and that was at Lincoln.

Wisconsin linebackers come on is this from their 3-4?

Any way you cut it Minnesota has the top rated defense in the Western Conference. Is it good enough to win the Big 10 Championship? That is the only question. Defense wins Championships.
 

husker70 said:
If Nebraska has a better defensive line than we do, then how did we run them up and down the field? They were weak at the point of attack, could not contain the back side, and that was at Lincoln.

Wisconsin linebackers come on is this from their 3-4?

Any way you cut it Minnesota has the top rated defense in the Western Conference. Is it good enough to win the Big 10 Championship? That is the only question. Defense wins Championships.
Click to expand...

Their LB's were very weak and very often out of place. Collin's and Valentine was probably the best DT duo in the west duo and they weren't the reason why their D got gashed so much. It was in spite of them, not because of them.

And Vince Biegel and Joe Schoebert at Wisconsin combined for 30 TFLs last year. Thats 2.5 more than the gopher combined TFL total for all LBs was last year and if you take out Wilson, thats 13 more TFLs than our entire returning LB corps had last year.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
The Gophers are not ranked lower than #3 at any position by the BTN in the B1G West.

#1 OL
#3 WR/TE
#3 QB/RB
#2 DL
#2 LB
#1 DB
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dienhart wrote these pieces? It's maybe a fun exercise to look at these, for some of you, but Dienhart has a track record of garbage in, garbage out analysis. It's more fun to do a restrospective on season predictions, come January but we don't often see those. This character had our secondary ranked 11th or twelfth last year with an imaginary player patrolling the midway.

All that matters is the end of the year rankings. I worry about this team losing their mental edge if they start to believe the hype. Syracuse, Illinois, nearly Northwestern, nearly
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dienhart wrote these pieces? It's maybe a fun exercise to look at these, for some of you, but Dienhart has a track record of garbage in, garbage out analysis. It's more fun to do a restrospective on season predictions, come January but we don't often see those. This character had our secondary ranked 11th or twelfth last year with an imaginary player patrolling the midway.

All that matters is the end of the year rankings. I worry about this team losing their mental edge if they start to believe the hype. Syracuse, Illinois, nearly Northwestern, nearly
Click to expand...

Not going to lie. Nearly is as useless as tits on a boar hog
 

GopherVictory said:
You can use "CODE" tags to get spacing to stay.

TOTAL DEFENSE
Code: 
	  DL		  LB		  DB		Total

Mn	  2		  2		  1 		  1.7
Wi	  3		  1		  2		  2
IA	  5		  4		  3		  4
NE	  1		  5		  5		  3.7 
NW	  4		  7		  4		  5
Pur	  6		  3		  7		  5.3
IL	  7		  6		  6		  6.3
Click to expand...

Love how last year he ranked our D-line 5th in the West and 12th overall, LBs 6th in the west and 12th overall and DBs 5th in the west and 10th overall and now we have this. No way they got that much better in one year of course. I think Dienhart just got sick of all the flack he got particularly with Sawvel.
 


Think about our secondary back in the Brewster year's, just 5 years ago. Any team could throw the ball all over the field on us.

And now we have one of the better DB groups in the country.
 

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