Cissoko and Press Coverage
I already love this kid because I am sick of seeing Morgan Trent with his (fake) 4.3 speed playing 7 yards off the line and immediately backpedaling after the snap, essentially giving opposing teams the hitch, (I mean seriously, how many times did Toledo get us on those 5-7 yard hitch and comeback patterns) which in turn forces Trent to rely on his ability to make tackles after the catch (see: slide tackle). If you're going to play corner at this level and especially at the next, you have to press.
I know he might not trust the safety help but Trent really only gets beat when he is in zone coverage, he is at his best man to man. We have the horses at corner to line up man to man on every down, and we just can't trust the linebackers and safetys when everyone is in zone (as proven by the play on the field) so maybe we should drop the zone for the corners, have them line up man to man on every down and save the zone looks for safetys and linebackers only.**
Hopefully DWar isn't too banged up because a nickel formation with Boo Boo, Trent, and DWar would be amazing, and might eliminate some of the problems we've been having with slot receivers. How many times has combination Stevie Brown/John Thompson/Zone coverage allowed slot receivers to run absolutely wild on our D (EX: 1. Arrelious Benn every time he was in the slot was wide open. 2. Crazy dred dude on Miami. 10 catches. 3. #1 on TOLEDO! seriously that dude had 20 catches! 20!). 4. Slot receiver for Utah had 7 catches.) The slot guy always seems to be the one who makes those big catches on first and 3rd down that either move the chains or put them in 2nd and 3rd and manageable.
Any thoughts on this?
*Except on one run play where said receiver exploded Boo Boo sending him flying 5 yards through the air.
**WARNING: I am absolutely full of shit.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:35 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 1:54 AM ^
You're comparing me, the undying optimist and unquestioned supporter of Michigan football, to Drew Sharp?
Check Please.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:58 AM ^
Boo boo is the man.
I'm just not looking forward to the day that coaches decide to start throwing fade routes to the receivers he's covering.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:11 AM ^
He seems like a tough competitor and I'm sure people have told him all his life he is too small. Throw the fade route is what I'm sure he'd say. I hope we can see more of him this year. When RR talks about soft he is one of the players that is far from it. He loves contact and that seems to be what RR wants in his guys no matter what their size is. Does anyone know his vert?
Go Boo Boo
October 14th, 2008 at 7:10 PM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 2:01 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 9:48 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 7:43 PM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 7:47 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 7:55 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 7:56 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 8:36 AM ^
wrong thread
October 14th, 2008 at 10:26 AM ^
Oh believe me, my expectations were never higher than 6-6 and the D played IMO very well against Toledo, but over the course of the last few years our corners have been playing too soft in their coverage. We are consistently beaten by the same hitch patterns over and over and over again. There is no reason Trent should be playing 7 yeards off the line of scrimmage.
If I were an O coordinator I would have done the same thing Toledo, Utah, Miami and Illinois did; line up your best receiver in the slot, or on Morgan Trent, because those 5-7 hitch/comeback patterns are almost always available, and if your receiver can break tackles or make people miss, like Arrelious Benn, you have a nice easy throw and catch for a big gain. This has been a consistent problem, not a knock on our D for the way they played against Toledo.
Any time a slot reciver catches 20 passes you know this guy is either shredding your zone or your coverage is too soft, and the only way to fix this is to man up and shadow him on every play. Slot receivers have averaged over 10 catches a game against us, not good. It is a huge problem for our D and fixing it will have a huge impact on future games.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:14 AM ^
October 14th, 2008 at 1:46 PM ^
Prophet---
You've echoed my thoughts perfectly. I have been so annoyed over the last few years on our lack of physicality in the secondary. I've been waiting for our cornerbacks to step up and get physical with the WR. It drives me insane that Trent plays guys 10 yards off the line. It makes no sense.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:55 PM ^
October 15th, 2008 at 12:55 PM ^
Totally. With the solid core of freshman we have right now, if we can get a handful of solid contributers each year along with the right guys to provide depth, we will be looking pretty solid not too long from now.