Cooper at Strong Safety?

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EE_Gopher

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If according to Doogie, we are sitting pretty well at Linebacker, why not move Keanon Cooper to strong safety. I think he is the best athlete on the team and strong safety seems to be a better fit for his size.
 

EE_Gopher said:
If according to Doogie, we are sitting pretty well at Linebacker, why not move Keanon Cooper to strong safety. I think he is the best athlete on the team and strong safety seems to be a better fit for his size.
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It looks like Coach Butler addressed this in Doogie's article. Basically, they want speed at linebacker and Cooper was an attacking the LOS safety in HS and is better suited for playing in space at the LB position than deep at safety.

Depth is also something you hate to thin out, even if you have a need at another position.

FYI I saw Rallis on campus yesterday, dude looks big, also sporting the long hair look(not stupid long like A.J. Hawk, more like Small from last year.) Anyway, tough looking guy walking down 15th.

I've also seen Watkins around campus, he looks the part too, definitely +200 lbs and could be the answer to the safety depth problem.
 

There is also something to be said for instinct. Cooper may be a bit small for LB but it could very well be that he knows the game more at that position and could get lost at SS.
 

Ole said:
It looks like Coach Butler addressed this in Doogie's article. Basically, they want speed at linebacker and Cooper was an attacking the LOS safety in HS and is better suited for playing in space at the LB position than deep at safety.

Depth is also something you hate to thin out, even if you have a need at another position.

FYI I saw Rallis on campus yesterday, dude looks big, also sporting the long hair look(not stupid long like A.J. Hawk, more like Small from last year.) Anyway, tough looking guy walking down 15th.

I've also seen Watkins around campus, he looks the part too, definitely +200 lbs and could be the answer to the safety depth problem.
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I believe Cooper was basically a LB in HS. Butler said a hybrid up/down guy. I take that as often playing on the line of scrimmage. He is also 6' and 221 pounds. Not that small for a college LB (particularly since he is only a sophomore). The link to Doogie's article is below:

http://1500espn.com/sportswire/Hangin_with_Mr_Cooper_Tinsley_and_Rallis_will

On the safety front, I read that Manual showed up at a solid 210 pounds.
 

harrys ghost said:
I believe Cooper was basically a LB in HS. Butler said a hybrid up/down guy. I take that as often playing on the line of scrimmage. He is also 6' and 221 pounds. Not that small for a college LB (particularly since he is only a sophomore). The link to Doogie's article is below:

http://1500espn.com/sportswire/Hangin_with_Mr_Cooper_Tinsley_and_Rallis_will

On the safety front, I read that Manual showed up at a solid 210 pounds.
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DAMN, Are folks seeing things come together here? Watkins and Manuel in 2011 at the safties?
I can here some heads cracking right now! FEEL N IT!!!!!!!!!!!
 


I want to see Cooper as far away from the safety position as possible. Get that kid going balls to the wall at the qb from linebacker. Too valuable to use anywhere else.
 

frozengopher said:
I want to see Cooper as far away from the safety position as possible. Get that kid going balls to the wall at the qb from linebacker. Too valuable to use anywhere else.
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Be careful. I've made more or less this exact same argument on here before (that safeties are usually the worst players on most defenses) and got "Ronnie Lott", "Troy Polamalu", and "Ed Reed" thrown back in my face. And that person actually thought they had a good basis of reasoning.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Be careful. I've made more or less this exact same argument on here before (that safeties are usually the worst players on most defenses) and got "Ronnie Lott", "Troy Polamalu", and "Ed Reed" thrown back in my face. And that person actually thought they had a good basis of reasoning.
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I think perhaps you should continue to focus on your main goal of becoming the vocabulary champion of gopherhole,

ERGO your football IQ is borderline retarded.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Be careful. I've made more or less this exact same argument on here before (that safeties are usually the worst players on most defenses) and got "Ronnie Lott", "Troy Polamalu", and "Ed Reed" thrown back in my face. And that person actually thought they had a good basis of reasoning.
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It's not that I think safeties are the worst players on the field, I just think it doesn't suit our team or a player with the atheltic ability of Cooper to put him that far from the LOS.
 



Thunderlips said:
I think perhaps you should continue to focus on your main goal of becoming the vocabulary champion of gopherhole,

ERGO your football IQ is borderline retarded.
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How did Dpo not take this bait.

I was really hoping to watch an internet battle ensue while I unsuccessfully kill time this Friday afternoon.
 

harrys ghost said:
I believe Cooper was basically a LB in HS. Butler said a hybrid up/down guy. I take that as often playing on the line of scrimmage. He is also 6' and 221 pounds. Not that small for a college LB (particularly since he is only a sophomore). The link to Doogie's article is below:

http://1500espn.com/sportswire/Hangin_with_Mr_Cooper_Tinsley_and_Rallis_will

On the safety front, I read that Manual showed up at a solid 210 pounds.
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THIS +1

I don´t understand why anyone thinks Cooper is too small to play LB. Were you watching him last year? He is a beast, he isn´t undersized for an outside backer, and he will do a phenomenal job come fall.


And as stargenes repeatedly notes, the guys we have coming up at safety are gonna be something else.
 

EE_Gopher said:
If according to Doogie, we are sitting pretty well at Linebacker, why not move Keanon Cooper to strong safety. I think he is the best athlete on the team and strong safety seems to be a better fit for his size.
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He was already tried at safety.
 





Who else?

bankonit said:
Cooper is the best LB we have had in a decade
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So if Cooper is in the discussion, what other names might we include in a discussion of the, say, top five Gopher LB's since 2000? Might Campbell/Triplett be on that list? What about the elder Sherels?
 

I like Cooper a lot... but can he handle 60+ snaps per game? That being said, he is staying at WLB... not changing to safety.
 

Interesting discussion. I think whether or not a guy plays SS or OLB can be interchangeable depending on what the defensive scheme is. People tend to forget that Green Bay Packer ILB Nick Barnett was a SS until his senior year. Granted, SS in that defense was similar to the "monster" position in the old 4-4-3 defenses of the 1960s.

Cooper is a good player and I am sure he'll be moved around in the scheme to get the most out of his considerable athletic ability. All I know is that he broke up a pass about 30 yards downfield late in the MSU win with some awesome coverage.
 

ChiGopher said:
So if Cooper is in the discussion, what other names might we include in a discussion of the, say, top five Gopher LB's since 2000? Might Campbell/Triplett be on that list? What about the elder Sherels?
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Terrance Campbell, Mario Reese, and Bradley Vance (Physically gifted linebacker that was thrust into the starting lineup as a true freshman, showed flashes of being a top linebacker in the conference, earned Freshman All-America honors for his play in 2001 by The Sporting News. Bradley would have been a Greg Jones type if he would have stayed.
 


At what point can we stop the Cooper to safety topics?

1) Cooper played LB in HS and defensive players rarely move backward from the LOS (S->LB is more common than LB->S)
2) When the staff was forced to play one player recruited to play LB at S they chose Rallis instead of Cooper--presumably because even though Cooper is faster, Rallis was better than Cooper in coverage.
3) The staff has Cooper at WLB and Rallis at SLB. The coverage responsibilities for the SLB are more difficult because the SLB is lined up over the TE (TE=Strong side of the formation). This should further the presumption that the staff sees Rallis as better in coverage than Cooper.
4) Just watch Cooper in coverage. He runs well but his hips don't have the fluidity you expect or want from a safety. Could he be better than some other options?--Probably. But is that the best place for him or the place he helps the team the most?--Not at all.
5) Height/Weight is completely overrated at LB. Yes, the NFL has their prototypes that they look for but you can still be very successful in CFB as a 200 lb LB if you know how to play the game.

If you can't tell the move Cooper to Safety threads are the most annoying to me and for the most part just shows me who understands football and scouting football players and who doesn't.
 

grunkiejr said:
I really like Cooper but I'd be willing to bet he won't even be the best LB on the field for us next year.
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Who will be better? Check out the offer lists of all the LB's and also tell me who played in the UA all American game
 

bankonit said:
Who will be better? Check out the offer lists of all the LB's and also tell me who played in the UA all American game
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Yes, because all of these honors that happened during his senior year of HS over 2 years ago are really the best predictive tool. I have no idea who the best LB will be, though if forced to choose I would pick Tinsley (assuming he doesn't hacksaw his way out of the U). But using a kid's HS awards from years ago has no bearing on today. All it means is that Cooper is a really talented kid who has the potential to be a great player (and certainly has a shot at being our best LB). It doesn't predict anything.
 

There is a reason why safeties have gotten smaller and more athletic is recent history. No longer can you put a lb type on the back end. Today's offenses have mulitple receiver sets with pass catching Te's and rb's who run routes.

Today's safety must be able to fight through the block of a pulling guard, the crack back block of a 210wr, tackle a 220 rb or a 260 te and at the same time cover a wr in the slot or protect the deep end on a speedster wr. They must also be able to tackle the most elusive offensive players on the field.....in space.

Can one dimensional safties play great on a team with a tremendous pass rush where they are not asked to play man coverage? Sure look at Iowa and Wisconsin. Both of those teams safties or considered to be among the best in the big ten but if they played for a team where they had to actually cover....not so much.

D-coordinators love the best of both worlds, a safety who can tackle....and cover. Only one team in team in the Big Ten routinely asked a safety to cover the slot. That would be the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers who also had a safety lead the conference in tackles at the DB position. The Gopher also have a group of underclassmen who can do the same thing in Watkins and Lewis and hopefully Manuel who has a very smooth back peddle.

Cooper's best positon on this team is at Lb.
 


bankonit said:
Who will be better? Check out the offer lists of all the LB's and also tell me who played in the UA all American game
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Wow. By your logic Hayo Carpenter should have been starting ahead of Eric Decker because he had a better offer list. If I take it one step further the winner of the Mythical Recruiting National Championship is clearly the winner 4 years down the road so it isn't worth playing the games.

I just think all three LB's are really talented and I expect that if I'm taking Tinsley and Rallis and you're taking Cooper odds are that one of my two LB's will end up being better. At the spring game Rallis looked like the best LB out there and while it is only one game it is telling to me that he was the first LB to lock down a starting spot in the spring. But I guess by your logic Reeves should be starting ahead of Rallis because he had a more impressive offer list.
 

grunkiejr said:
Wow. By your logic Hayo Carpenter should have been starting ahead of Eric Decker because he had a better offer list. If I take it one step further the winner of the Mythical Recruiting National Championship is clearly the winner 4 years down the road so it isn't worth playing the games.

I just think all three LB's are really talented and I expect that if I'm taking Tinsley and Rallis and you're taking Cooper odds are that one of my two LB's will end up being better. At the spring game Rallis looked like the best LB out there and while it is only one game it is telling to me that he was the first LB to lock down a starting spot in the spring. But I guess by your logic Reeves should be starting ahead of Rallis because he had a more impressive offer list.
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Reeves is better than Rallis.
 


hopefully he breaks his leg again

grunkiejr said:
You and I disagree and the coaches are on my side.
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If you believe starting = better.

The stop watch, tape measure, talent evaluators and professional scouts are on my side as well as stats against superior high school talent. Mike Rallis played Minnesota high school football where anybody could put up big numbers.
 

hopefully he breaks his leg again???



I can't believe I just read this.

I wouldn't wish this on any player... on any team!
 


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