Hail Coach Mallory
This guy is doing a fantastic job. After three years of cringing while receivers ran freely through our secondary I have to keep blinking to believe what we are seeing now. On almost every passing play there is a Michigan defender right on top of the receiver with nasty intentions and most completions (except for the short outs) require either a perfect throw or a tough catch.... and the tackle is usually made immediately. This is more than just the obligatory slap at Tony Gibson; coach Mallory has done an incredible job of teaching and motivating these kids. JT has gone from liability to reliability; Avery gets better each week; T. Gordon is solid; Taylor must be doing great things in practice; and Countess may be the heir apparent to the Law-Woodson-Jackson-Hall line of great UM corners.
So kudos to coach Mallory who may be a good choice to become the DC at his alma mater when Mattison (praise be his name) retires....... which is hopefully long in the future.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:09 AM ^
but some of this has to be attributed to the constant blitzing, and pressuring of the QB. Opposing QB's are not getting to stand around all day while waiting on a 3 man rush. Therefore, the DB's don't have to cover as long. This helps reduce exposure to double moves and long crossing routes.
September 25th, 2011 at 4:20 AM ^
though, there were many, many drops and many bad throws. it could easily have been much worse. Against a better team, I cringe. overall a very good day and big improvement. long way to go.
September 25th, 2011 at 9:05 AM ^
After all the pregame buildup of SDSU's qb heading into the game I was shocked at how poorly he played. Sure the defense had something to do with it but I have never seen so many passes look like they were thrown at the turf. The first few times I was fired up and giving him props for throwing it away rather than force something or take a loss. As the game went on, I reached the conclusion he was having a truly crappy day out there.
To stay on topic with the OP I will say that Countess impressed me a lot and left me feeling much better after the initial, "oh no!" when Troy went limping out.
September 25th, 2011 at 9:53 AM ^
was more correct than the second.
He didn't play great, but the majority of those he threw those into the dirt bc the D had covered his option, or rushed his throw.
September 25th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
I thought he looked pretty good, better than Western's qb. Better than Reese. He did hurry his throws b/c of the pressure. That's in party becauser of how well our defense played, and part because they had him panicked due to the blitzes and pressure.
I'd bet he goes on to have very good passing stats this year. Not all teams they play will be as physical as Michigan. None of them have Mattison as the D coordinator. It'll be interesting to see how he does as a reference point for our D.
September 25th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
I predict the same thing will happen when we play NW/Persa. The pre-game hype and conversations early in the game will focus on what a quality QB he is, how he was a pre-season Heisman favorite, etc. Then, as he struggles against us, the broadcast team will experience cognitive dissonance and continue hyping Persa while he is obviously flailing against a superior team. At the end of the day they will chalk it up to a bad day for Persa/NW and the annual Basanez/Bacher/Persa NW QB hype train will continue on it's way.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^
Good not to be dreading a guy like Persa now that we have confidence in our D again.
September 25th, 2011 at 9:20 AM ^
Agree. This was going to be my observation. Beat me to it
September 25th, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
This is very true, and an excellent point. However, the strides in technique alone with our dbacks has been transformative. I mean, honestly, Gibson might be able to coach the secondary for a pop warner team, but beyond that the guy is over his head.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:31 AM ^
If the QB doesn't have a target, he quickly becomes one (unless his name is Denard). Knowing they would try to take advantage of Countess, it did my heart good to see him hold his own out there. Hail yes!
September 25th, 2011 at 4:15 AM ^
So far, so good. B1G play will be the true test, but I'm cautiously optimistic, too.
September 25th, 2011 at 4:38 AM ^
Progress is a slow process. Things are looking up.
September 25th, 2011 at 4:53 AM ^
someone needs to get countess a vampire tooth shaped mouthguard ASAP.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:17 AM ^
bwa ah ah. TWO picks bwa ah ah.
September 25th, 2011 at 7:46 AM ^
September 25th, 2011 at 8:15 AM ^
They could just be getting older and hence improving, but that's not fun.
I notice we didn't get the blame Gibson thread after they shut down the Irish today with worse talent.
People analyzing position coaches is a waste
September 25th, 2011 at 8:46 AM ^
I think Tommy Rees shut down Floyd.
September 25th, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^
Stop hating on the progress this coaching staff and team are making. It's okay to like RR, but his 2008 defense had a bunch of upper classmen and were awful. Why is it difficult to give credit where credit is due?
September 25th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
Praise their offensive output too. Wonder what Pitt's FEI is.
September 25th, 2011 at 8:23 AM ^
You are advocating our next DC to be the guy who got fired by Zook after he imploded their 09 defense.
September 25th, 2011 at 9:02 AM ^
September 25th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^
No, Cam Newton and Nick Fairley kicked ass. For one year. Chizik deserves credit for securing their commitments, but Auburn has not looked great this year nor his first year as HC. I don't think he wins another SEC championship, and is eventually chased out of town. He's going to lose Mahlzahn soon (the only reason they are OK as is), an for a D coach himself, his D's have looked shitty even during the NC year.
September 25th, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^
...was the guy who paid (secured) Cam Newton?
<br>/s (kinda)
September 25th, 2011 at 9:52 AM ^
It's a good thing Gary Moeller wasn't eliminated from consideration for the U-M job based on his run at Illinois...
From '77-'79, Gary Moeller was the head football coach at Illinois, where he compiled a dismal 6-24-3.
From '90-'94, Moeller was the head football coach at Michigan, where his record was 44-13-3, a run which included three Big Ten titles and four bowl wins.
September 25th, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^
I have no idea if Mallory is a top notch coach or not. Neither does 99% of this board I am guessing. Moeller is a perfect example. That is why I try to point out how silly it is to praise or bash position coaches.
Is the RB problem Fred Jackson's fault?
Was Fred Jackson a good coach when he had Ty Wheatley and Mike Hart but he has now lost it?
Fred used to teach ball security but now he can't. Look at Hopkins!
or
Fred Jackson is a fine coach and sometimes he gets guys who are really talented and work hard on details and he looks like a genius and sometimes guys don't quite get it and he looks like a baffoon.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
Aside from Lloyd; Mo remains my favorite M coach of all time (apologies Bo Schembechler).
September 25th, 2011 at 8:50 AM ^
September 25th, 2011 at 8:54 AM ^
Nice to see Countess look solid.
September 25th, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^
From my perch in the south end zone I didn't see or concentrate on every play Countess participated in, but when I did notice him (probably half a dozen times) he was stride-for-stride and in contact with his man. I was very encouraged. As a qualifier, I did read that SDSU lacked big-time outside playmakers, but I did enjoy seeing our freshman CB in tight coverage.
September 25th, 2011 at 1:02 PM ^
We really have a lot to be happy about with our secondary this year, so Coach Mallory absolutely deserves some credit. We didn't just get passed on by the best teams in the Big Ten last year, we got passed on by everyone.
Yes, we had injuries last year, but we've had setbacks this year. I think it is absolutely fair to give the man some of the credit for the turnaround. After all, the secondary didn't struggle only last year. Kind of hard for me to look at the change as coincidence.
September 25th, 2011 at 6:48 PM ^
I was at that Umass game last year and by 'everyone' you meant 'everyone'.
September 25th, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
Still a lot of open guys in the middle of the field. If SDSU's passing game was more polished, they'd have punished us there a good deal more than they did. I was happy with the result, but it wasn't all good.
September 25th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^
If Mallory was black.
September 25th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
wtf! am i missing something or are you just being racist?
September 25th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^
I would not have pondered this a month ago, but I'm wondering if the coaching situation had been better if Justin Turner could have turned out different. Seems reasonable to me based on what has unfolded this year with many players looking like completely different players. Sorry you were caught up in the whirlwind JT
September 25th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
The defense looks 'coached'! Last year, they all looked lost; some never had a chance at the field -- see BWC. BWC is becoming the force that we all had hoped for when he signed; yesterday, he was colapsing the Oline for SDSU. The DB's appear to be in the right place most of the times, and like the OP stated, they tackle, which was something that we did not see at all last year.