09 Secondary

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 3, 2009 4:30 PM EST

Now that 08 is over, time to take a look at 09. We all know that the back 4 who at times have gotten a lot of flack for being in that Cover 3 we all know and love are all graduating. So here's my little preview as to what we have both coming in and in-house already.

On the Roster

Drew Astorino (5-10), Cedric Jeffries (6-2), D'Anton Lynn (6-1), Nick Sukay (6-1), Knowledge Timmons (5-10), AJ (6-1), if they make a switch any of the Mike's (Mauti, Yancich, Zordich all over 6-0)

On the way:

Gerald Hodges (6-3), Darrell Givens (6-1), and Derrick Thomas (6-0).

Much has been made about the height of our DB's and you can see that we shouldn't be well short on talent back there.

I was also thinking, the last time we had a fairly Big Secondary was 05 with Zemaitis, Phillips, Harrell and Lowery and back then I remember Scrap allowed Alan and Anwar to play man to man a fair amount.

Thoughts?

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Secondary

Lynn/Givens CB
Astorino S
Timmons/Sukay/Hodges S
Wallace/Jefferies/Morris CB

I think the general consensus is that Thomas will start at WR.
Hodges is the heir apparent at safety. It’s a good thing that he’s enrolling early.
Morris is supposed to have great skills as a corner he’s just short at 5-9
Givens is also supposed to have great man coverage skills, hopefully Bradley realized awhile ago that we need to play more man as is recruiting to change the system some. The future looks bright for the secondary, it just might not be the immediate future.

by psuphiman80 on Jan 3, 2009 4:55 PM EST reply actions

i'm only really nervous

about 2 games next year, illinois and Tosu. i think they are they only two teams w/ the talent strong enough to light up our secondary. maybe minnesota but i’m not sure. iowa could but they rely to much on their running game.

by amandakt on Jan 3, 2009 5:32 PM EST reply actions

Mauti , Yanich, Zordich

will never play DB, those guys are too big and probably not fast enough.

I like Astorino alot and having TImmons/Sukay on the other hash should be an upgrade in speed.

We should be OK moving forward, I thought AS had a nice career and is a ball hawk but got exposed by the speed of USC

by SweepTheLeg on Jan 3, 2009 5:33 PM EST reply actions

Maybe Stupar?

by SweepTheLeg on Jan 3, 2009 5:42 PM EST up reply actions

I wasn't sure of their speed

More of their ability to hit like a truck a la Taylor Mays (just not leading with the crown of the helmet).

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 3, 2009 6:12 PM EST up reply actions

Or Brent Carter...

we could have used his size and speed back there the other day. I am sure that is why Joe was looking at him there for a while, too bad he got hurt.

Basically, take one of our undersized LB’s who can can run like a deer…give em a shot at Hero. There are so many good young LBs in the system, I am sure one can transition to Safety.

by SweepTheLeg on Jan 3, 2009 5:41 PM EST reply actions

Secondary

Carter getting hurt really put a damper on that idea. I think he could have made a pretty good safety and at least contributed depth at the position. I don’t know about Stupar because he seems to be able to get off of blocks really well. AS had a decent career but he didn’t improve as much after his Sophomore season.

by psuphiman80 on Jan 3, 2009 5:46 PM EST up reply actions

I think the whole fight issue

Has something to do with AS not doing better. He had a decent career, but the fight seemed to have toned him back.

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 3, 2009 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

Chaz

I know Chaz has been playing WR, any idea they move him back to CB considering that was one of the reasons they brought him to State College. Don’t get me wrong I love watching his burst, but would it help to have him back in the secondary.

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 3, 2009 6:16 PM EST reply actions

I'm not so much concerned with the height of the DB's

Really, you’re not going to find any DB’s taller than 6’1" or 6’2" because those guys are inevitably moved to WR at some point in their careers. I’m not an expert on DB play, but a few problems stick out to me:

1. The scheme. Effective? Yeah, usually. But you read the USC comments leading up to the game — we play the same defense on practically every play. When our front four don’t get pressure (USC ‘09, Ohio State ’07, etc.), our DB’s aren’t good enough to cover for an extended period of time. Hell, most DB’s can’t do it. Which leads me to…

2. Ineffective blitzing. I think this is my biggest complaint about the defense. How many times did we blitz linebackers who were immediately neutralized at the LOS? We had to have a 90% FAIL rate on our blitzes. And I certainly don’t recall many corner or safety blitzes.

We have a defensive gameplan that is good enough to beat bad and average teams. When we play teams that can pass protect with any sort of success, the defense really struggles.

--
Mr. Bob Dobalina

by Run Up The Score on Jan 6, 2009 3:48 PM EST reply actions

RUTS

I was just suggesting that since people seem to bemoan the fact that our DBs were undersized that we have some decent height in the new comers. Granted we were facing 3 guys like Randy Moss so its hard to cover guys that tall regardless of height.

As far as game planning I totally agree with you. Would it kill us to run a corner or safety blitz here or there.

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 6, 2009 8:12 PM EST up reply actions