Corner Backs, Secondary?

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Ogie Ogilthorpe

Ogie Ogilthorpe

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We heard Kill with a little frustration over Troy's play in the passing game and obviously Wells had a great game all around. Vereen also with an interception.

I really haven't heard anybody, fans or media, really give much of a review of the others; Carter, Shabazz, Baltazar, (did Boddy play?). Anybody hear much of a review or want to offer much of a review?

I saw Carter in on a couple of plays, closing on receivers, etc. Didn't really notice much else. I noticed Baltazar, A. Johnson, D. Travis I think playing on special teams. Other than that, nothing really stuck out.

I'm hoping the three JUCO's get some serious playing time this year so there's not that much of a dropoff next year when Troy S. and Carter are gone.

I'm sure they'll ALL get plenty of work this Saturday against UNH's passing attack. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up.
 

Myself, dpo and a few others were way too busy dissecting the play of MG.:rolleyes:
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
We heard Kill with a little frustration over Troy's play in the passing game and obviously Wells had a great game all around. Vereen also with an interception.

I really haven't heard anybody, fans or media, really give much of a review of the others; Carter, Shabazz, Baltazar, (did Boddy play?). Anybody hear much of a review or want to offer much of a review?

I saw Carter in on a couple of plays, closing on receivers, etc. Didn't really notice much else. I noticed Baltazar, A. Johnson, D. Travis I think playing on special teams. Other than that, nothing really stuck out.

I'm hoping the three JUCO's get some serious playing time this year so there's not that much of a dropoff next year when Troy S. and Carter are gone.

I'm sure they'll ALL get plenty of work this Saturday against UNH's passing attack. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up.
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Carter played most of the game from what I can remember. Baltazar was the corner that made the play on the sideline when Wells had his first pick. Noticed Boddy on punt team.
 

50 yard line, 10 rows up at UNLV. The secondary looked great. imo, the D will be the strength of the team this year. Could use one more d lineman.
 

popeyoung5 said:
50 yard line, 10 rows up at UNLV. The secondary looked great. imo, the D will be the strength of the team this year. Could use one more d lineman.
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Not a good idea. That would result in a 5 yard penalty for too many men on the field.
 


You really can't truly judge anyone based on the caliber of the opponent

I the d-line got push and a pass rush but that oline was nothing like what the gophers will see in the big ten. Hageman has GOT to stay low. If he ever does he will be a all big ten type of player. If he doesn't.... well just watch what happens when he stands straight up when the ball is snapped.

Some (no names, could only be one) of the line backers resumed their 2011 play and should seriously be replaced. Beal looked great, especially when you consider this essentially his 1st game
since high school 4 or 5 years ago. I would love to see more of him.

Secondary? For the most part I thought Carter looked great, especially when you consider he hadn't consistently played in two years. Troy played about how I thought he would. He played the majority of his snaps at field corner (Vereen's old position). As a boundary corner he had less field to cover. Troy will only get better, he hasn't played a lot of defensive football and folks were way ahead of themselves when it came to expectations for Troy. I think his best football will come later in the season and in the NFL. Wells did some good things; the play that had big time written all over it was the tackle for loss. One on one with a RB in the open field is a very tough play to make and he nailed it. I worry that folks will have unreasonable expectations of him based on the one game. Keep in mind that was a QB making his college debut...as a true freshmen. It won't ever be this easy again the rest of his college career. Now with that caution out of the way I must say I was impressed. He made the plays that were there to be made and I never felt like the game was to big for him...even in nut cutting time. That's a lot to be said for a kid making his 1st start.

Rb's and offensive line? Can't call it, UNLV stacked the line and dared the gophers to throw. Kirkland is a beast and should have been arrested for assault and battery on UNLV's linebacker.

I thought the wr's overall looked good. While they routinely got open I'm going to hold my applause until I see them do it either against big ten play or a team who actually plays the past and doesn't dare us to throw.

QB? Gray is a big time athlete. He runs really fast and with power. For those who doesn't think he is moving fast; keep in mind his turn over (how fast he take steps) doesn't have to be fast because each stride is 3 or 4 yards. I trust he will improve his accuracy.

Coaching staff? With the exception of QB and linebacker, I saw improvement from every group. Again, I won't get to giddy until we play at least a bad team but I thought the team looked good.
 

Good analysis, but one minor quibble: Sherry is a RS Fr., not a true frosh.
 

I agree, good analysis. I'm hoping Beal gets more playing time.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Good analysis, but one minor quibble: Sherry is a RS Fr., not a true frosh.
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And he's still leaving his feet to throw the ball on 1st down in overtime (interception) instead of throwing the ball away!? Thanks for the correction.
 



I was pleasantly surprised with what some of the WR's did in space after the catch. Yes, it could be the last time this year they ever get THAT open but WOW; I had never seen enough of DC-T to be able to tell how fast he was, just what I had heard. He really flashed his jets a few times after the catch against UNLV. Can't WAIT to see KJ Maye a handful of times in games with the ball in his hands. A VERY solid 3 catches for decent gains against the Rebels. Even AJ Barker showed some speed after the catch.

I'm worried though, that how good the WR's looked was more a reflection on the UNLV defense than the WR abilities. We'll find out soon enough but I don't think it's getting emphasized enough just how HORRENDOUS that pass defense was that took the field for UNLV. Those DB's were all over the place, heads spinning, nowhere near the action most of the time. And when they got near the ball-carrier, they made efforts to tackle that would have made Chrystn Lewis proud. Worst secondary I have literally ever seen take the field in a college game.
 

Kill's main gripe was with the corners against the run. Secondary play is way more than just pass coverage. The corners lost outside leverage a few times which led to some longer runs. Carter got caught up a few times as did TS once I think.
 


I to would like to see more Beal and Hill and less Rallis

Gophers are a better defense with Beal and Hill in the football game. Rallis gives up leverage to often and can not shed a block like a guy should with as much experience. When have you ever seen him shed a block and stone cold stop a play?
Then when he blitzes and misses you have to ask, can a leopard change his spots and not over run the play? Rallis can play the game a little and has some talent,
but he get's a little to wild eyed and undisciplined at times. He is vulnerable to the cut-backs and change of direction plays because of that undisciplined nature.
I doubt it will change much though, the split in playing time, he will play a lot because he probably practices well.
 



Parski1 said:
That is so false.
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I kind of agree with both of you guys.

In some ways, we don't know how good our secondary is because of the caliber of our opponent. However, in other ways, we've been so bad on defense over the past few seasons that even against the worst competition, we were getting burned. I remember watching NMSU receivers running all over the field against us last season.
 

We'll find out a bit more this week against the no huddle. Albeit against probably a lower skill level.
 

Parski1 said:
That is so false.
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Nope...not at all.

IMO all we discovered from the 1st game is the gophers are not as bad as a bad UNLV and if they play that bad again they will have trouble winning 3 games on the year.

We have no idea how GOOD the gophers are, which I believe/hope to be considerably better than the team that played last week.

Educate me, I'm not right most of the time (at least according to my wife): what do you think we learned from the 1st game?
 

Sportsfan24 said:
Nope...not at all.

IMO all we discovered from the 1st game is the gophers are not as bad as a bad UNLV and if they play that bad again they will have trouble winning 3 games on the year.

We have no idea how GOOD the gophers are, which I believe/hope to be considerably better than the team that played last week.

Educate me, I'm not right most of the time (at least according to my wife): what do you think we learned from the 1st game?
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Learned:

>> A (finally) healthy Kirkwood could be a very effective runner this year, and I like the patience that Gillum runs with

>> Granted, against weak competition, but not nearly as concerned about receiver as I was 9 days ago.

>> QB is either still significantly inaccurate as a passer, or has trouble handling his emotions (or both)

>> Beal looked better than expected for his first real game action in YEARS. Definitely a positive.

That's about all I got. I understand the argument you're trying to make, even if it is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Yes, the competition was just woeful, but I still think it's a little stretch to say we learned nothing. Will definitely know a little bit more every week, that's for sure.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I kind of agree with both of you guys.

In some ways, we don't know how good our secondary is because of the caliber of our opponent. However, in other ways, we've been so bad on defense over the past few seasons that even against the worst competition, we were getting burned. I remember watching NMSU receivers running all over the field against us last season.
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The gopher’s defense has had its problems in the past. My belief is those problems have had little to do with the secondary on past teams. I would argue the proof is with 4 secondary members the last 5 seasons making NFL rosters or practice squads.

Last years secondary took a lot of heat at the position opposite Kim. In traditional secondary roles were the CB's get over the top help from the S's and the S's line up primarily 15 yards deep we would have been fine. Instead what happened was there was little to no pass rush so the Cb's had to cover longer. Because the line and backers couldn't stop...hell slow down the run the S had to be heavily involved in the run game leaving the poor cb's covering for ever with no over the top help!

Shady Solomon would have been fine in the traditional SS role but teams had all day to pass so they were able to isolate him in the pass game (his weakness), enter poor Crystyn who could play S in the pass game but took a beating in the run game and lost confidence because he was getting trucked by 230 rb's with 10 to 15 yard head of steam.

The coaching staff error badly in their assessment of d-line play prior to the season and the secondary took the heat. As the season went on the coaches made some adjustments schematically, the d-line got some pass rush and did a better job of keeping the backers clean, Gray got better and the team won some games.

I felt really good about the secondary going into this season as long as they weren't going to be asked to perform miracles. I knew our corners would be tight (as long as they had some type of pass rush) and a good corner can be outstanding in the pass game as a S. What I'm intrigued to see is what happens at the S position if they are forced to be heavily involved in run support. Not just one game but over the course of an entire season? I don't know that they can physically old up? The plus is I believe we are deeper at cb with the return of Troy and Carter being allowed to contribute and the juco And S with Brock, Wells and 27 (I’m old).
 

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