NU's Coverage Team Outlook for 2009

[Fuzzy]

Ive been struggling for two months trying to make picks and guesses to what the Coverage Team will look like this year, my safeties are pretty good, but the CB positions scare me. Aside from Anthony West and Lance Thorell, i cant really picture anyone else stepping up and contributing big time on a fragile bit of the defense that REALLY needs to step up this year.

From what ive counted we have 12 CB's

Anthony West, Anthony Blue, Lance Thorell, Prince Amukamara, Alfonzo Dennard, Jase Dean, Lazarri Middleton, Andrew Green, Dejon Gomes, Justin Blatchford, Dijon Washington, and Wil Richards.

Out of those twelve, the BOLD ones are Freshman or Redshirt-freshman. We all know Blue is coming off a knee injury, Dennard has been more confined to Special Teams, and Gomes, well i havent necessarily seen him play. So that doesnt leave very much behind the starters, does it?

#1. Anthony West

#2. Lance Thorell (knocked the pass away the play before Suh picked it off and ran it in for a TD)

#3. Prince Amukamara

#4. Alfonzo Dennard

#5. Lazarri Middleton

#6. Dejon Gomes

#7. Andrew Green

#8. Jase Dean

Honestly i have no trust in my choices beyond #3 so if anyone has other ideas or thoughts. Its really a toss-up to whether or not Thorell/Amukamara will be playing during the 4-3. Hagg, played the nickel position last year, while Thorell played the Dime, i think this year, with the fact that Hagg is now at safety, Thorell might see more playing time at Nickel, it has been mentioned that Hagg could come in and play the Dime spot if needed.

There used to be a video on youtube that featured the interception that Suh made against CU, but it also had the knocked away pass by Thorell, dont know what happened to it. I have to say after watching Suh run over hawkins like that, makes me even more pumped up to watch football this year.

 

[shyndy]

Ive been struggling for two months trying to make picks and guesses to what the Coverage Team will look like this year, my safeties are pretty good, but the CB positions scare me. Aside from Anthony West and Lance Thorell, i cant really picture anyone else stepping up and contributing big time on a fragile bit of the defense that REALLY needs to step up this year.

From what ive counted we have 12 CB's

Anthony West, Anthony Blue, Lance Thorell, Prince Amukamara, Alfonzo Dennard, Jase Dean, Lazarri Middleton, Andrew Green, Dejon Gomes, Justin Blatchford, Dijon Washington, and Wil Richards.

Out of those twelve, the BOLD ones are Freshman or Redshirt-freshman. We all know Blue is coming off a knee injury, Dennard has been more confined to Special Teams, and Gomes, well i havent necessarily seen him play. So that doesnt leave very much behind the starters, does it?

#1. Anthony West

#2. Lance Thorell (knocked the pass away the play before Suh picked it off and ran it in for a TD)

#3. Prince Amukamara

#4. Alfonzo Dennard

#5. Lazarri Middleton

#6. Dejon Gomes

#7. Andrew Green

#8. Jase Dean

Honestly i have no trust in my choices beyond #3 so if anyone has other ideas or thoughts. Its really a toss-up to whether or not Thorell/Amukamara will be playing during the 4-3. Hagg, played the nickel position last year, while Thorell played the Dime, i think this year, with the fact that Hagg is now at safety, Thorell might see more playing time at Nickel, it has been mentioned that Hagg could come in and play the Dime spot if needed.

There used to be a video on youtube that featured the interception that Suh made against CU, but it also had the knocked away pass by Thorell, dont know what happened to it. I have to say after watching Suh run over hawkins like that, makes me even more pumped up to watch football this year.

i think that unless hagg wins the starting safety spot he will play nickel again. I think Thorell will see some time at dime/special teams again. Pelini also mentioned that Thenarse might be able to play at the nickle spot. For the corners tho its gonna be West and Amukamara, but I will be interested, against some of these pass happy teams I think we may sub at this position more. I think number 2's at the pure corner post will end up being Dennard and Gomes. I think Dennard should see the field alot this year.

 

[RedDenver]

Since this thread is about coverage, what makes you think that the safeties are going to be good? In another thread I said why I'm concerned about the safeties, so I'm curious what makes some people more optimisitic.

As for the corners, West and Amukamara should start. I'm not sold on either one just yet, but they have potential. The coaches have mentioned that Hagg is the nickel back and Thorell is the dime back. As another poster said, Gomes and Dennard should get some PT as the backups. I also think Andrew Green will get some time - based on nothing but comments from the coaches and gut feeling.

I think the secondary as a whole has potential and will be better than last year, but that's not saying much. I remain concerned but hopeful.

 

[Nalow]

Blue was good... Before his injury.

 

[huzkerbob]

I have heard more than once that the secondary will be a strength for NU this season. My only question is, what gives anyone that impression? The secondary was HORRIBLE last year, and will have to make huge leaps both mentally and physically to be anything more than serviceable unit this fall.

It's quotes from the players and coaches themselves that make me doubt that the process will be a quick one.

“One day, they’ll come out and things are going very well, and the next day they slide down. That’s on me. I have to continue to impress upon them that they have to play at that (high) level every single play of practice, every single practice.” -Marvin Sanders

“(Tuesday), we didn’t get one deep ball caught on us, There’s days that we do it, and there’s days that we don’t.” -Prince Amakamura

Call me a skeptic if you like, but I don't expect much out of ANY of the DB's we have right now. Until they show they can keep there heads in the game, and not give up 60+ yard receptions to average TE's, I will be holding my breath every time I see an opposing QB in a five step drop.

And please, PLEASE, quite with all the Larry Asante hype! IMO he has more to prove this year than anybody else in the secondary. And I don't want to hear how poor corner play last season made him look bad, because that is B.S. Asante himself was the culprit far more often than fans want to admit. Sorry Larry, but your going to have to show me something, because I'm just not buying it!

 

[knapplc]

Call me a skeptic if you like, but I don't expect much out of ANY of the DB's we have right now. Until they show they can keep there heads in the game, and not give up 60+ yard receptions to average TE's, I will be holding my breath every time I see an opposing QB in a five step drop.
And please, PLEASE, quite with all the Larry Asante hype! IMO he has more to prove this year than anybody else in the secondary. And I don't want to hear how poor corner play last season made him look bad, because that is B.S. Asante himself was the culprit far more often than fans want to admit. Sorry Larry, but your going to have to show me something, because I'm just not buying it!

I really want to be a pie-eyed optimist about this group, I really do, but the above quote is how I typically feel about our secondary.

I'm waiting to see a couple of back-to-back games where they largely shut down an opponent's passing game before I get to happy about this group.

 

[caveman99]

Call me a skeptic if you like, but I don't expect much out of ANY of the DB's we have right now. Until they show they can keep there heads in the game, and not give up 60+ yard receptions to average TE's, I will be holding my breath every time I see an opposing QB in a five step drop.
And please, PLEASE, quite with all the Larry Asante hype! IMO he has more to prove this year than anybody else in the secondary. And I don't want to hear how poor corner play last season made him look bad, because that is B.S. Asante himself was the culprit far more often than fans want to admit. Sorry Larry, but your going to have to show me something, because I'm just not buying it!

I really want to be a pie-eyed optimist about this group, I really do, but the above quote is how I typically feel about our secondary.

I'm waiting to see a couple of back-to-back games where they largely shut down an opponent's passing game before I get to happy about this group.

Well the good news is that they get to show us one way or the other right out of the gate against a good passing game in FAU. Only 6 days and you shall have an answer.

 

[huzkerbob]

Call me a skeptic if you like, but I don't expect much out of ANY of the DB's we have right now. Until they show they can keep there heads in the game, and not give up 60+ yard receptions to average TE's, I will be holding my breath every time I see an opposing QB in a five step drop.
And please, PLEASE, quite with all the Larry Asante hype! IMO he has more to prove this year than anybody else in the secondary. And I don't want to hear how poor corner play last season made him look bad, because that is B.S. Asante himself was the culprit far more often than fans want to admit. Sorry Larry, but your going to have to show me something, because I'm just not buying it!

I really want to be a pie-eyed optimist about this group, I really do, but the above quote is how I typically feel about our secondary.

I'm waiting to see a couple of back-to-back games where they largely shut down an opponent's passing game before I get to happy about this group.

Well the good news is that they get to show us one way or the other right out of the gate against a good passing game in FAU. Only 6 days and you shall have an answer.

Agreed, the Owls are a lot better passing team than many fans want to give them credit for.

 

[Fuzzy]

ive never seen FAU play, so i cant really say too much about their team, but if you guys say that their passing game will be a test for coverage team, then ill be keeping my eyes on how well our secondary covers, swats, intercept and make tackles against the offense.

 

[huzkerbob]

ive never seen FAU play, so i cant really say too much about their team, but if you guys say that their passing game will be a test for coverage team, then ill be keeping my eyes on how well our secondary covers, swats, intercept and make tackles against the offense.

This game will be a great early test for NU's secondary. To give you an idea of what they bring to the table, FAU threw for 250+ yards eight times last year.

And before anyone says they played against horrible competition, one of those games was there opener at Texas, in which they threw for 255 yards.

 

[caveman99]

ive never seen FAU play, so i cant really say too much about their team, but if you guys say that their passing game will be a test for coverage team, then ill be keeping my eyes on how well our secondary covers, swats, intercept and make tackles against the offense.

This game will be a great early test for NU's secondary. To give you an idea of what they bring to the table, FAU threw for 250+ yards eight times last year.

And before anyone says they played against horrible competition, one of those games was there opener at Texas, in which they threw for 255 yards.

Not to mention that they are lead by a very talented Senior QB, Rusty Smith. The young man is on almost all of the preseason watchlists. There is talk of a ton of NFL scouts coming to the first game, alot want to see Suh, but a lot also want to see Rusty in action. Young man should go high in the draft.

 

[Igetbored216]

And before anyone says they played against horrible competition, one of those games was there opener at Texas, in which they threw for 255 yards.

In terms of yards given up per game, Texas had a worse pass defense than Nebraska in '08.

In fact, I'm not sure comparing how a team's offense did against any Big 12 team's D says much. Big 12 D last year was horrible across the board.

 

[Fuzzy]

And before anyone says they played against horrible competition, one of those games was there opener at Texas, in which they threw for 255 yards.

In terms of yards given up per game, Texas had a worse pass defense than Nebraska in '08.

In fact, I'm not sure comparing how a team's offense did against any Big 12 team's D says much. Big 12 D last year was horrible across the board.

Yea they did and it showed during the Texas Tech game.

 

[huzkerbob]

And before anyone says they played against horrible competition, one of those games was there opener at Texas, in which they threw for 255 yards.

In terms of yards given up per game, Texas had a worse pass defense than Nebraska in '08.

In fact, I'm not sure comparing how a team's offense did against any Big 12 team's D says much. Big 12 D last year was horrible across the board.

Considering NU is a Big 12 defense, Is it really that big of a stretch? :dunno