Troy Woolfolk vs. Donovan Warren Inequality

Woolfolk at least as the speed to be an elite corner whereas Donovan was barely as fast as an elite down lineman.  Other than that, Woolfolk can't get anything but an incomplete given he played part of the year at safety and was not really tested all that much in other games.

You honestly, truly believe Troy Woolfolk was more of a shutdown corner than Warren?  Putting aside how arbitrarily the word "shutdown" is thrown around for corners, it's going to take a lot...a lot of arguing on your part to show how a guy who switched between free safety, strong safety, and finally corner is better than Warren.  Warren was by no means spectacular, but the dude fucked.shit.up at times last year and that's more than we can say for anybody not named Graham and sometimes Martin.  Woolfolk showed promise, and he could be pretty good, but let's save the "shutdown" talk - or even the more absurd notion that he would have been drafted.  I don't think the NFL was starving for a first-year starter without a position on a terrible defense in the 2010 draft.

As for team cohesiveness, what kind of bunk is that?  We all know Zoltan led the team in TCQ(Team Cohesiveness Quotient) with a stellar 27.5.  Kevin Leach was second with 22.4 and, obviously, the Ghost of Scott McClintock united this team like no other with a solid 19.8.  Neither Woolfolk nor Warren scored very high - and that's ignoring the fact that I just made that statistic up and "being good for team cohesiveness" seems to be some sort of tactic used by those who want to be reassured that the loss of their 5-star cornerback is A-ok since he didn't get drafted and Woolfolk is so fucking jampacked with leadership it seaps out of every orifice in his body.

after Warren went undrafted. Warren was one of the best cornerbacks in the Big 10 last year. Woofolk was decent.

As for this year, I'm looking for big things out of Woofolk after spending an entire offseason at CB. A better question would be: 2010 Woofolk or 2009 Warren?

Maybe this was a function of Warren covering their #1 receiver and Woolfolk covering their #2. Also, isn't this what we have UFRs for?

Obi Ezeh didn't have a very good star rating. Just sayin'.

All this stuff gets me to hoping JT Floyd is the most improved defensive player on the team this year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but JT seemed much improved this spring and maybe he should be lauded for his improvement, instead of chastising JT Turner, for his inability to nail down the other corner spot.

If the Michigan secondary is going to be decent at all Woolfolk needs to have a big year and Cam Gordon needs that Spring buzz to be true. 

Kovacs will continue to be good against the run but he doesn't have the speed to cover WR's down field.   Maybe Justin Turner is a good fit for Kovacs on passing downs. 

JT Floyd or a freshmen is going to have a lot of balls thrown their way.   

Last year Warren wasn't told to be a shut down corner.  It wasn't his job in the scheme of things.  His job was often to cover the deep half.  He was put more on an island with less help over the top.  Woolfolk's job when he switched to corner wasn't as complex, he was more focused on shorter routes and that is why he looked more like a "shut down corner" at times last year.  If Warren was told to do the same thing Woolfolk was told to do, Warren probably would have looked how you wanted him to.  No disrespect to Woolfolk intended, I think he can be good, but Warren was much better than you are giving him credit for, and if he wouldn't have been hurt during his 40 times, I think he would have been drafted.  I think Woolfolk can be a good corner, and probably a better safety, and it's great he has that ability, but to say he was better than Warren last year is not an accurate representation of what happened

Anyway you look at it Warren was one of our best defensive players last year.  I think that people just had Leon Hall/Marlin Jackson/C Woodson dreams for him.  I think/hope that he will have a solid NFL career.  

I watched him in coverage pretty closely and rarely saw him get burned due to lack of speed.  Calling him slow is not accurate in my opinion.

Warren honestly has a long way to improve, but last year Warren was definately better than last year woffolk.  Now, whether or not this year Woffolk can repeat Warren's last-year performance and overall improvement (because Warren improved a LOT over last season, each game he played a little better) and where he will be at the end of it is an interesting question.  If you remember it, Warren was pretty much nobody at the beginning of last season and his first couple starts weren't that spectacular. 

Right now, Warren is probably a better player, but by Michigan State he should be all the player that Warren was towards the end of last season.

Its a bit sad because if Warren had stayed another year he'd probably have gone in the first round, and our defense would be pretty damn solid.  Warren + Woffolk looks like a pretty decent corner tandem. 

Number of days left before the season >> number of days I am capable of waiting.

Honestly, I don't think either one of them are that fluid at corner.  They don't really have the "loose" hips you look for in a corner.  Troy has GREAT speed which will allow the DC to take more chances with him on the island without worrying about someone running past him, but overall he is not a better corner than Donovan at this time in his career.  Donovan has very natural instincts at corner and knows how to position himself as the offensive play developes.  Donovan has MUCH BETTER ball skills and knows how to make a play on the ball.  Also, Donovan is a better open field tackler.  Donovan was probably the 2nd best player on the defense last year.  Anyone that mentions he got burned IS WRONG.  He may have given up a catch here and there, but he was playing against the best player from the other team in most cases.  If it seemed like he was being picked on is, b/c GERG trusted him enough to line him up to the oppositions strength ALL THE  OF TIME.  Troy should be noticebly imporoved over last year, being that he had ample starting time last year.  THE MOST IMPORTANT thing for any CB is EXPERIENCE!  I think the ceiling is limit for Troy.  In addition, I think the defense overall will be much improved, which in turn, individual players should have more onfield success.

...Woolfolk will be better than Warren this year, but T-Wolf is definitely a more interesting personality. 

Reacting to reporter's questions about the broken finger he suffered during spring practice:

"I’m going to introduce you all to something. Y’all know me, myself, Troy, but I have a split personality named T-Wolf. When I’m on the field, T-Wolf comes out. T-Wolf doesn’t know how to cry, that’s only a trait that Troy does. Right now, this is Troy. T-Wolf, he’s crazy and I can’t bring him out all the time, I only let him come out on the field. T-Wolf doesn’t have that ability to cry, so that would never happen."

"If it would have happened to Troy, he would have cried, I’m not going to lie. Troy would have cried. You can ask the people. I was mad because they were rushing up to me trying to touch it, and I don’t want nobody to touch my bone sticking out. I was about to punch them with my other hand, but I had to calm T-Wolf down."

Woolfolk said coaches thought the injury was a jammed finger when it first happened.  "Then they saw the blood on my glove. He was like 'Oh, it must be just a nail that got torn back or something.' So like I took it off slowly and I saw the bone sticking out. I was like, 'Oh, jeez.' I wanted to put it back on and act like nothing happened."

Here's what Michael Spath had to say about him in Rivals' list of Big Ten Breakout Defensive Performers.

Michigan fans may not like this choice, but the rest of the Big Ten probably still doesn't know who Woolfolk is. The senior from Texas started 12 games last year, including the first five at safety, the next six at cornerback and the final game again at safety. He's a full-time cornerback now and the heir to Donovan Warren as the shutdown coverman (if Warren was ever truly that). The coaches have great confidence in the 6-0, 186-pounder. He may not be a dynamic playmaker but he's strong one-on-one and won't get beat deep often with his 4.3 speed. 

does a better stand-up routine.  At least that's what I remember from a post-game press conference early last season.

[Okay, in fairness I don't remember hearing Warren doing a post-game press conference.  I just remember Troy was a stitch.]

Last year was Warren's worst at Michigan.  It appeared to me that he was being asked to play a different role in the secondary, often floating toward the middle of the field in zone instead of man and often playing "soft" coverage.  He admittedly struggled.  Combine that with the losing and the inconsistent pass rush from anyone not named Graham and you are going to have a hard time looking good.  On top of that, Warren was expected to be a star and didn't meet those standards.

Wolfolk was also inconsistent last year, but exceded modest expectations and generally played decent.  Thus he seems perhaps even better than he may have been.  I do think that having Wolfolk at safety last year really settled down the defense and I'm concerned that he's moving back to corner out of need this season.  His speed and instincts seem perfectly suited for safety.  I think he'll be okay as a corner, but far from a lock-down player. 

Warren could turn out to be fine.  I think he has the skills of a solid corner.  He is more similar to Marlin Jackson as someone mentioned, except that Jackson was always an excellent tackler.  Warren has never been a very physical player and thus I worry about whether he can cut it at safety.  I wish him luck and think he's better than the Draft showed, but I also wish he stayed. 

I really think Woolfolk was solid for us last year, and we can do alot worse at corner than him.  However, our secondary is still lacking, so he may be asked to do more than he can.  Hopefully Cullen Christian can come in and make an impact.

Posted on: July 13th, 2010 at 3:19 PM

Firstbase

Joined: 2009-09-30

Points: 2907

Offline

Countdown to UConn...

 

T-minus...

52 Days, 05 Hours, 19 Minutes, 53 Seconds.

...and counting...

"Look, our helmets got wings."

• 1 point