Yuri Wright/Don Bosco last night
I caught Don Bosco's 47-7 dismanteling of Bergen Catholic for their sectional title last night at Giants stadium. I wanted to see Yuri in person because other people i know say they're not that impressed and that he's very raw. They threw at him 6 times.
1st: 30 yard pass down the sideline. Yuri tripped on his own feet when he turned to make the play. Receiver had him beat by a step but couldn't make the catch.
2nd: 10 yard pass attempt up the middle incomplete. Receiver stretched out for it and Yuri drilled him cleanly.
3rd:25 yard pass to corner of endzone. Yuri gets great position and picks it. They call pass interferece. I couldn't find where even on the replay. It had to be right off the line because once the ball was in the air Yuri played it cleanly.
4th:15 yard reception down the sideline. Receiver dragged his foot before going out. Sweet catch.
5th: 15 yard recetion up the middle. Yuri was on him but he still made the catch.
6th: Yuri breaks up a 10 yard pass up the middle.
I see the rawness. He's good but I didn't feeI was seeing one of the top 6 CB's in the country. Bergen Catholic doesn't have great receivers and I saw his guy beat him by a 1 and 2 steps a few times on plays that weren't thrown to them. I don't think he can play on a D1 defense next year. Needs some work but i would love to see what Mattison and the coaches can do to polish him up.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:17 AM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
the "raw" recruits actually have the luxury of sitting out for a year.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^
Yeah I completely agree. As we all know Mattison and that defensive staff have worked wonders with RR's recruits, some that I thought could never look as good as they did this year. If we are able to get him I'm excited to see how fast Mattison is able to get his technique and footwork down. If he's able to improve those, with his size he could be a potential shutdown corner.
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^
I'm not actually sure it's Mattison who will be working with him or any of the other corners on their technique and footwork. This will be the job of Curt Mallory for the most part, as he is the DB's coach. I realize that Mattison has been an amazing D-Coordinator this year, but lets not sell the rest of the coaches like Montgomery, Mallory, and Smith short for their contributions to the defensive improvement. I do not sit and watch practice every day, but I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that Coach Mattison is not out working with the DB's on thier footwork every day like Mallory is, as this would be huge micro-management by Mattison. Mallory has done an amazing job in my opinion this year, and as long as he is our DB coach, it will be mostly his job to help Yuri or any of the other corners to reach their potential.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:30 AM ^
This agrees with other scouting and eye witness reports that say: great athlete but not as yet a great DB. I would still love to get him and have Mallory work his magic. The improvement of all of our DBs under Mallory has been outstanding.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^
Wright would be a luxury to have in this class with Richardson and Standiford already in the mix.
Countess and Floyd seem to have the starting spots locked down, so it would be a three-way competition for nickel, and even then, Avery has had his moments.
Raw talent, and depth, good antidote against Angry Michigan DB-hating God.
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
But I hope jt floyd is beat out. We had a true frosh on the field at db all year and opposing team's still went after floyd constantly. He is by far the weakest link in the secondary. Imho
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
He was always on the teams best receiver. It was not an indictment on how bad his coverage skills are. Floyd is a legit #2 CB and if all goes well Countess can emerge as our #1 CB
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:08 PM ^
Have the speed or leaping ability to be really good. He was not matched up 1on1 with the best reciever's all year. We have to protect him in coverage and team's know it. So they do all they can to get there best wr on floyd. I project he will be a package db going forward. Maybe a move to safety as he is pretty good in run support.
December 3rd, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^
With the teams best WR. Did you watch the games? Remember the ND gm? He was with Floyd. How about Ohio? He was on Posey all game. I agree with you about his physical shortcomings, but I still think he's a good CB.
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^
Standifer
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
Yeah Mallory has done a great job this year. Countess has looked very impressive. Didn't think he was going to come in and take over the starting position as a freshman. Besides the injuries Woolfolk has been really dissapointing. I was excited to get a veteran starter coming back but he just never looked good.
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^
I think part of the reason Countess did so well as a freshman is due to his great attitude. Kid is mature way beyond his years, very humble and seems to soak up the coaching. If Yuri is another good kid like Countess, then he will probably develop into a very good player.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^
Was Don Bosco playing in man all night or was there zone looks mixed in that some of those plays might not have been his man the whole way?
You mention on the Int that there mighta been PI at the LOS was he playing tight or bump and run most of the night? Was there safety help over the top at all then? When were the plays relative to the game? Up 40 the coverage would tend to be softer or people might take a play off.
It seems like their QB for St Bergen was pretty accurate (or ballsy) how were the rest of his stats when going away from Yuri. Was the OL keeping him clean and giving him time?
Thanks for the report just wanted to try and put what you said into some sort of context.
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
Yuri moved around from left to right corner a lot. Slot as well. It looked to me like straight up man coverage. There was safety help on some deep non Yuri plays. Yuri was more on his island. Definitely no safety help on the sideline throws.No safety in sight on those. Had to be by design though.Bosco are national champs. For safeties to be that far away it has to be on purpose. Bump and run definitely. I didn't see him play tight at all. The first 5 plays I believe were all in the 1st half before the game got out of hand.
B.C. QB didn't play very well. He threw a few picks up the middle on short to mid range passes. Also overthrew a wide open guy Yuri wasn't covering. He ran option a lot. I don't think his passing stats would look too impressive if I saw them. No OL help either. Bosco's front 7 led by Darius Hamilton were all over him. They were beasts.
While UM is out of the running for a couple of Yuri's fellow '12 teammates in Darius Hamilton an Elijah Shumate there are 2 guys I think they'll be looking hard at for the future in '13 DE Alquadin Muhammad and '14 CB/WR Jabrill Peppers.
December 3rd, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:01 AM ^
How were his hip's in transition? What defense did they run? Was he physical at the point of attack? Did he press the wr's off the line? What other "div1" db's have you seen play? I guess my point is that all the detail's you gave us mean noda and are what armchair qb's look at. Also please remember this is not rr's defense anymore. So hopefully we are done playing frosh corner's for awhile.
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
WIth Countess' progress, Yuri and Richardson can develop - into a great set of bookends. Need them both badly in my mind.
December 3rd, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
The level of competition is very suspect, but I agree he does look legit.
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^
If our coaches want the kid, then I want the kid. I think they've earned that respect.
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^
But I don't think it's completely safe to make that comment. Mattison is known to be a good recruiter, but this staff has yet to bring in a class on their own yet to show that they can evaluate talent correctly. By all signs, the are putting together a great class this year, there is no denying that. However, the freshman that played (Morgan and Countess, mainly) this year were RR recruits that were already in the fold before Hoke was hired. Not saying you aren't right, but I think that statement may be jumping the gun a little.
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
I think Mattison has proven at Florida that he can evaluate talent pretty well...
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:44 AM ^
Thanks for the insight! Think he could be very good down the road, he's got all the tools. Countess-Wright as our corners and T-Rich in at nickel with Wilson and Dymonte Thomas sounds like a great secondary down the road to me. Not to mention Gant and Clark tearing it up on special teams and being ready to step in at any time along with Standifer and Hollowell. As long as gods don't want more sacrifices in the form of our DBs, we should have a solid secondary down the road.
December 3rd, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
December 3rd, 2011 at 2:31 PM ^
Anytime you lose a game 42-14, you can't say that it was your team losing it more than another team winning it. That's like a Nebraska fan trying to say because they had several turnovers that they lost it more than we won it. No, we just outplayed them in all facets of the game. I obviously did not see the Bosco game last night, but to say that they didn't completely outplay their opponent in a 42-14 blowout seems pretty asinine.