Troy Woolfolk in the 2nd Half

Submitted by Chi-Blue on

Anybody happen to know if there was an issue with Troy not playing as much in the 2nd half?? It looked to me as though Countess was playing most of the time with Floyd.

Blazefire

October 9th, 2011 at 3:51 PM ^

He's still hurting pretty good. If Floyd and Countess can get it done, he needs the rest. That ankle is not going to hold at "sore" all season. Play every game, and sore will become "dead".

dmcb32

October 9th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^

He is slow because of his ankle.  He is a liability on the field.  You could just see, he has no burst, he is easy to block, and is not making any plays.  Floyd and Countess are making plays.  Maybe its his ankle but, if we are grading his performance thus far, he doesnt warrant much PT.  That is all!

JClay

October 9th, 2011 at 4:06 PM ^

I really wish our bye week was this week for this very reason. I would love to rest up Woolfolk before playing State.

robmorren2

October 9th, 2011 at 4:08 PM ^

At this point im thinking that Woolfolk may not be as good as we all had hoped. I know he's had injuries, but it isn't like he showed much in the years before the injury. I love his dedication and leadership, but at this point I'm wondering if he just flat out isn't better than Countess.

jbibiza

October 9th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

Agreed, Troy was an OK corner for half of 2009 but certainly nothing special.  We all love him and he has great speed, dedication and a terrific sense of humor.... but is he better than Countess?  

MGoReader04

October 10th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^

Doesn't playing on a bad defense usually make you seem worse than you are?  To me, if someone stood out on a bad defense they are probably very good, and someone would be more likely to seem better than they are playing in a really talented defense.  I'm talking about, in general, no opinion on the specific question about T-Wolf, because I don't really remember.

mgobluebraelow

October 9th, 2011 at 4:30 PM ^

I think Countess is going to be a very good player, but wasn't Troy one of the three unquestioned starters named before the season began?  Granted, that doesn't mean much, but he was relatively healthy and performed well enough to convince the coaches that he would be a solid player.  I think, for  now, we have to attribute his sub-par performance to injury.

Blueroller

October 9th, 2011 at 4:27 PM ^

Troy looked pretty good in the opener before he got hurt. Very small sample, of course, but I'd wager the two most talented CB's are Troy and Countess. Which doesn't necessarily mean either should be playing, with one injured in the other a true freshman. Floyd has been steady enough.

Countess has major upside though. On the long TD he gave up, he was late getting aligned. Once he fixes things like that, look out!

switch26

October 9th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^

what long TD did countess give up?  You mean that long pass yesterday?

 

He had pretty solid coverage, he just never turned around.  The WR made a pretty good catch the way the ball was thrown

Blueroller

October 9th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^

Yeah, that's the one I mean. Sorry not to be more clear. He did have okay coverage, but I was watching him before the snap as he was pressing over the most outside WR. NW was in hurry up and Countess had the longest to run to get to his guy. He barely made it, and I don't think he was in an ideal position at the snap. Maybe no difference if he had been aligned in time, but still, it's the kind of thing he'll fix.

Magnus

October 9th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

I think a healthy Woolfolk is a pretty darn good player.

I think it was dumb to play him last week against Minnesota.  We could have used a healthy Woolfolk for MSU.  Now he's been playing for several weeks and reinjuring his ankle every week.

gobluednicks

October 9th, 2011 at 5:54 PM ^

i think the reason we all thought he was a world beater is because compared to the other secondary players 2-3 yrs ago he was.  now he's not.

dennisblundon

October 9th, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^

He is injured and I can assure you are defense isn't as good as it could be because of it. Woolfolk has been playing with a bad ankle and a cast on his hand. This maybe the reason he is not playing to his highest level?

KAYSHIN15

October 9th, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^

T-Wolf is a natural Safety. He was moved to CB because of his speed and our lack of depth at the position a couple years ago. He was suppose to buy us time and bridge the gap between D-Warren and the up and comers (Floyd,Twitty, Dorsey, Turner, etc). he hoped to one day move back to safety. He's never been a playmaker at the position just a leader of men, and I'll take it. Even though he's not as effective as we would like, his toughness and willingness to lay it all on the line every play has to inspire his teammates and thats what leaders do.

the_dude

October 9th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^

I love his dedication but he's struggling out there. I agree it would have been a good move to rest him and let him get as close to full strength as possible before the meat of the B1G schedule. Fortunately Countess has been very impressive and that should put less on T-Wolf's shoulders.

LB

October 9th, 2011 at 7:53 PM ^

noticed him shaking his injured hand several times, yet he goes back and lines up.

Leadership by example - it can't be bought and it's sad when it is taken for granted. 

Section 1

October 9th, 2011 at 11:50 PM ^

Avery played quite a bit; more in the second half.  He was in, in just about all of our nickel packages along with Countess.

Woolfolk played surprisingly little.  He is so clearly, obviously banged up.  It is sad to see.  Having been there, close to the field, seeing Woolfolk up close, he was not himself.  I think it is the worst most immobile condition I've seen him in all year.  If I saw correctly, they hae taken Woolfolk off the kick-coverage team; he actually played in kick coverage versus Minnesota.  (And we had a lot of kickoffs obviously.)

Incredible Hoke

October 9th, 2011 at 11:49 PM ^

I truly believe that with Woolfolk being made of glass (much to my dismay) JT Floyd is our most consistent, physical corner. Woolfolk is a great player, I just wish that he rested during the Minnesota game, and did not play in the NU game. Those two weeks would have assumedly worked wonders for his injuries. 

I really hope he can heal up and provide leadership and add the leadership and shutdown corner mentality to the secondary. 

bziegs99

October 10th, 2011 at 12:43 AM ^

I noticed it in I think the second quarter and I mentioned it to my buddy.  He is made of plastic.  I love his heart but I don't think he can make it through a season.  Plus I don't know where all the hype about him stems from in the first place.  I love his story and fighting back through injury etc. but it's not like he was ever a contributor on defense.  He looked okay for a handful of plays in the first game of the season and has been a complete nonfactor since.  I know he's been hurt and people claim that for a long time, even including Denard, he was the fastest guy on the team--but that's all he's got going for him.

jmblue

October 10th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^

It was not his best game.  Carvin Johnson also whiffed on a few open-field tackles.  It seemed like we were losing our footing a lot.  I wonder if that had to do with us being unaccustomed to playing on natural grass.