Position Battles Cooling Off

I think that Rich Rod has to get Stevie Brown off the field, because he clearly needs to study the game more. I think that he is the classic case of a player who skated through high school on his athletic ability, and I would not be shocked if he did not take work on technique or film sessions too seriously. Maybe, he will learn a little bit about taking proper angles and field geometry by watching a little more closely from the sideline.

McGuffie and his running syle really is starting to grow on me, but I am miffed that Carlos Brown has not been more of a player in this offense. I know that he is dinged up, but I cannot believe how little he gets on the field.

Threet should be the starter, but I think he is only a caretaker at the position. What I really wonder is whether we can reasonably expect one of the new recruits to come in next year and play? This looks like a minimum of two years to rebuild this offense.

IMO Stevie Brown has got to be awesome in practice. that, or the fact that we have no other safeties in competition with him. He is a great athlete but he just doesn't execute.. really anything.

Some good insights.

I think that Threet will still need to steadily improve through the season (I think he will) to keep his grip on the starter's job. Also, I think that your comment on his prospects are right on for next year as well. There will probably be some snaps for Beaver and/or Forcier, but Threet will have a whole season of experiece under his belt. That is particularly big on away games.

Regarding the running backs, I do hope that others, particularly Shaw, get some carries. I know, eeeee Barwis and all that regarding conditioning, but I think the demands on the RB on this offense are such that it would be difficult for one to carry the entire load. I would also like to develop some depth.

RE: Stevie Brown. I am probably the least knowledgable on this board about the technicalities of football. But here is my 2 cents. FS is a tough position to play and requires a lot of different skills (speed, tackling, etc.) that are measurables. He may show very well in these things in practice.

But the best safeties I ever saw, however, understood quickly after the snap what the play was designed to do, and thus get to where they needed to be. The instinct thing. A tough thing to teach (hence the complaint about a lack of improvement) It is my feeling that Stevie Brown's main problem he is slow for a FS, to recognize the play.

this year and possibly next year with extensive playing time in his junior and senior year. Sheridan has proven that he is not a Big Ten starter and should see no time the rest of the year baring injury to Threet. Yesterday was horrible conditions and Threet threw the ball well even in the rain. He made good decisions throwing, when to tuck it and run, and with the zone read.

Are there any highlights up of Beaver's game on ESPN Thursday? I just looked at his old video on youtube, and the dude clearly has some legs. The video quality is terrible though, and you can't really see how he throws the ball. To anyone who saw his game, does he have a good throwing motion? Good arm? Accurate?

Threet looked very good on Saturday and McGuffie seems to have the RB position locked up as well. The only thing I'd add to the well-stated observations made by Magnus about either of these positions is that Threet has the potential to be much more than a temporary solution at QB. I really want to see how the offense performs against Wisconsin, though. It is entirely possible that ND's defense is awful and that Threet's step forward on Saturday wasn't quite as big as it appeared. FWIW, my thinking has gone from hoping that Beaver or Forcier can step in as true freshman to hoping that Threet continues to develop and is entrenched as the starter next year, allowing one of the other two to redshirt.

As for Brown, well, maybe he needs to be replaced or shifted to SS. Then again, if he does have great physical skills as Magnus asserts maybe he just needs to learn the position and make better decisions? He'll likely be needed next year after Harrison and Stewart depart.

The positions I'm most intriged by today are on the offensive line. The starting lineup announced by NBC yesterday didn't include any seniors. Is that group going to continue to start together going forward? I thought they looked pretty good, at least compared with the first two games. Again, ND's defense may have contributed to their competent appearance. Really looking forward to the UFR this week...

I liked Threet a lot in this game as well. He was stepping into his throws more and delivering them on target and with zip too.

Stevie Brown is a liability in a crutial position. I think we should switch him into a sort of "spy" position where needed to shut an opponent's best player down. I have seen this before on other defenses and against the spread it seemed to make a lot of sense. He shouldn't be our every down safety though.

McGuffie is the MAN!

There's no doubt that in our two losses our offense and special teams have put the defense in bad positions, but when we needed our defense to keep us in the game early against Utah and ND they didn't do squat. Many are focusing on Brown, but I don't think the D-line has asserted itself when it mattered, either. I'm not nearly as impressed by its play when we're down by 21 as by what it does when we're down a score or less. It's like having a guy who only hits homers when the Tigers are up by 11 or down by 8, but never when the score is tied.

The ball was out before his arm hit the ground.

If Kevin Grady wasn't kicked off the team for putting people's lives seriously in jeopardy with his drunk driving incident, do you really think Butler should be kicked off the team?