CB Depth, The Secondary Going Forward

Brown used zone throughout his career. It’s not a new thing. 

I want to see Dax with the ball.

Well the CB recruiting is going so well that Harbaugh offered a JUCO yesterday. 

I think they prefer the three safety nickel to the three corner nickel, and Dax and the horde of incoming safeties give them the athleticism to do that for the next few years. 

I don't share the total corner pessimism of some (think sleepers like the '18 group can be useful a la Stribling/Jeremy Clark, particularly the more multiple they are) but that mitigates corner depth concerns a bit.

1) I don't know if we'll see more, we're using a lot of zone concepts this year and it's working well. Being multiple and being able to play man and zone concepts is part of what makes our defense so good this year, so my guess would be something similar to what we do now.

2) Doubtful. He's only a RS Fr who's playing heavy minutes and doing fine to good while he's out there, so maybe there's enough time for him to develop into an elite CB. But his YMRMFSPA was tall Brandon Watson and he's ranked around the same spot Watson was in the composite, the 700-800 range. He's limited athletically and he's definitely been the most flawed CB when out there this year.

Obviously part of that is age, but a lot of it is also probably recruiting pedigree/athleticism. He'll get better and probably be a good CB, plus he has good height, but I don't think he'll ever be great. The hope is probably that someone younger than him, Green or Perry, or someone from his class (most likely Gemon Green) who is more athletic surpasses him and moves him to nickelback. Gray as a nickel can be Watson or better, and with defensive scheme that's no longer telling Watson to chase down OSU WRs in space, that's fine. Otherwise he's our CB2 in which case the same issues apply, where you really have to hope our scheme hides his weaknesses, and also deal with the fact that we have an unknown at nickel.

3) I'm sure he'll play some nickel, he does currently, and maybe that's a way to address nickel concerns especially if Gray ends up being the CB2. But do we have more safety depth? Faustin and German Green have made little to no noise, Quinten Johnson is a great athlete and real high upside but has missed this year due to injury. Besides them it's going to be true freshmen. Maybe 1 of them blows up over the offseason and we get a bonafide 3rd safety to play nickel, but I don't know that it's any more likely than the guys at DB.

4) Not sure about recruiting but the Barnett stuff is a pipe dream IMO. He didn't come here out of HS despite every sign pointing towards MSU trending down and Michigan trending up. I don't think another year of 10-2 vs 6-6 is going to force a transfer from him. And even if he did, he wouldn't be eligible next year (most likely) and would be transitioning to DB after playing WR at another school. If he did help, it would be in 2021 at the earliest IMO.

I really like Gray's potential.  He's usually in the correct position and has great coverage on a guy.  There's still some technique work to be done with getting his hips turned and head around on time, but I think he could be another hit.

It’s frightening AF. We haven’t recruited a true top corner since Ambry and I cannot figure out why.

I don't understand why our corner recruiting is not better, several have went to the league recently. You get to play multiple coverages with the main emphasis on being on an island. It's kind of like our interior d line recruiting, I just dont get it  

1. I'm confident Zordich will coach up our CBs to the best of their ability.....but see #4. I would think DB would be confident enough in the players to use whatever scheme would be necessary.

2. Right now, Gray has tons of potential. He's playing an important position early in his career, and he will continue to get better. Sky's the limit there.

3. Not sure about that, but I do think he should be on the field a lot more going forward than he has been, especially with Hawkins and Metellus showing limitations that will be exposed by OSU. Dax has the athletic ability to run with OSU players. I'm thinking the aforementioned two do not.

4. CB recruiting is baffling. Someone mentioned that Zordich is a much better coach than recruiter and that seems true, but if so, others on staff should be compensating. It's an important position we seem to be whiffing on.

Gray is awful in man...he can play a zone and he's physical, but he's getting torched on a consistent basis. Ideally I'd love to see him add 15-20 lbs and move to safety. Since that won't happen, the depth is awful.

I've been incredibly disappointed in the CB recruiting and the ability to get guys who can make more of an instant impact like Hill and Long.

I think grad transfer may be the way next year. Go find the best MAC corner and get him to Ann Arbor for a year.

Double post. Sorry. 

I wanna see Brown have a solid plan against a talented WR group. OSU this year will be a good start. Still think he’s the main reason we lost to PSU this year. Leaving his guys on an island against Hamler is an awful decision. That big one to Hamler over Metellus in 2nd half still irritates me. That stuff can’t happen. 

I have faith that Vincent Gray can develop into a really good potential all big CB..

Wasn't he committed or almost committed to play for NW?

It seems like almost every year NW has some excellent corners..  they may not all be unreal in their first year, but they all turn out to be great players.

Every year there is a large group of hand-wringers...clearly this trend remains alive and "well". Every year the pass defense under Harbaugh and his staff has been stellar. The roster is stacked with lots of talent-whether y'all wish to acknowledge it or not...and these young kids make great progress from year to year. Here, the chances that the 2020 pass defense crew will be as good as the previous ones are excellent-and if Thomas returns they may well be the best of the Harbaugh era. How about we give them a chance and wait and see.