Adrian Witty Position Question
I am hoping that people can shed some light on this for me.
Most of the threads that I see discuss Witty as a cornerback, but I thought that he was a safety in high school. Are people sliding him to corner mentally due to need, knowledge from coach feedback, or some other factor?
Seems like he might be a good deep safety given his speed and hitting ability.
Thoughts?
December 12th, 2009 at 8:55 PM ^
I'm almost positive he is a corner all the way. He is coming in as a corner.
December 12th, 2009 at 8:59 PM ^
ever remember hearing about him playing safety. Rivals had him listed as a corner and ASAIK that's all he played. It's generally a lot more difficult getting a solid lock-down corner. D Warren has shown some ability to do this for us, but unfortunately the rest of the secondary has been so weak that they've had to move to a ton of zone packages. If we could have 2 lock down corners that gives Gerg a ton of flexibility in sending extra blitz packages.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:03 PM ^
, Talbott and/or (possibly) Grimes or player to-be-named later could meet that need, though, right? I know we are all guessing at this point given their youth...
December 12th, 2009 at 11:32 PM ^
Definitely great to see us building depth for the future with all these kids.
I just hope people remember how young a lot of these players are going to be next season. Just look at Florida for an example, they've got one of the best defenses in the country this year with a loaded secondary, but two years ago when most of those players were freshmen they were getting lit up by just about any competent quarterback they faced. I hope some of those guys can step right in, but sometimes even the best need a year or two of seasoning.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^
Lulz about the title. But Witty is corner all the way.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:08 PM ^
An way it shakes out, it's nice to see the defensive backfield loading up (MRob, CaJo and Vino at safety positions, too). MRob seems very physically ready for college, as does Witty and Carvin Johnson. Vinopal seems to have a great head for the game and some speed, too.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:10 PM ^
"Ack...200 tiny micron slot guys"
I never thought I'd see the day when we discussed what to do with excess corners.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:18 PM ^
Despite getting a number of CBs, I don't think we have too many. After you consider that some of these guys aren't that highly rated*, and some players never pan out regardless of their rating, I think we'll still be lucky to find three awesome CBs among the group.
*(Yeah yeah, Mark Ingram and all...)
December 12th, 2009 at 10:59 PM ^
A few of the safeties are being projected as LB's. I'm excited about that as we should have some speed at that position and guys who can cover. Hooray for no more TE's having career days against our D!
December 13th, 2009 at 12:06 AM ^
Except that Mouton and Brown are former safeties, and Ezeh was predominantly a high school running back.
December 13th, 2009 at 9:42 AM ^
Touché. I did consider that. Hopefully this class will only have 1 DC and 1 or 2 different position coaches, which has to be better than what Brown and Mouton had.
December 13th, 2009 at 9:58 AM ^
What safeties are being projected as linebackers? Vinopal is a SS all the way. Robinson is coming in as a FS. The only other safety in this class is Carvin Johnson, and everything I've read indicates that he's a safety. I haven't heard anybody mention linebacker for him, even on message boards.
December 13th, 2009 at 6:47 PM ^
MRob has been projected by a lot of folks to move to LB. I think he'll end up at S Browns latest spot, technically a LB.
December 12th, 2009 at 10:02 PM ^
3. Ok deal.
December 13th, 2009 at 2:10 AM ^
Nobody puts Witty in the corner.
But seriously, I was under the impression he was a safety too. It will be interesting to see what DBs see the field. We have high hopes for a lot of these guys, but its tough for freshmen to get on (See Turner).
December 13th, 2009 at 2:53 AM ^
Here are links from both recruiting sites, who also fail to reach a concensus:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Adrian-Witt…
http://michigan.scout.com/a.z?s=162&p=8&c=1&nid=3422482
December 13th, 2009 at 7:20 AM ^
Rivals has him at 5'9" and Scout has him at 6'1"...any word on which is more realistic?
December 13th, 2009 at 3:38 AM ^
We recruited him as a cornerback.
December 13th, 2009 at 7:41 AM ^
Witty played corner in high school, and he'll play corner in college, too. It may sound like we'll have "too many" corners, but keep in mind that Warren may leave and Woolfolk may need to play SS. That means we'll need a lot of cornerbacks in the hopes that one or two will step up and play solidly.
Also, he's closer to 5'9" than 6'1". I'm not sure where that 6'1" idea came from, unless he had a huge growth spurt in the last few months.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:16 AM ^
After what I saw this past season, I am in complete support of recruiting a hell of a lot of DBs especially with the news that Warren is probably gone. Does anyone have a realistic probability of someone like Jefferson or Parker going Blue (I think Safety is an area of tremendous concern).
December 13th, 2009 at 12:35 PM ^
Parker is more likely than Jefferson, but neither is probable.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:02 AM ^
If Witty is fully recovered from the injury he suffered his senior year in high school and he demonstrates an ability to make plays, I don't think it matters. At this point given the state of the defense we've got to field the best 11. If any of the current or incoming players demonstrates the ability to be one of those 11 at any position then we put them out there and see what happens.
December 13th, 2009 at 12:08 PM ^
No doubt that is the way it will be. Not to hijack my own thread, but I hope that the LB position can get some (good) competition going, too.
December 13th, 2009 at 1:13 PM ^
Is he enrolling early? That would be a significant help for him, I think.
Also, what exactly do people expect from him? His injury prevented recruiting sites from doing much evaluating ... WOTS is that he's a burner, but speed alone does not a cornerback make.
December 13th, 2009 at 1:43 PM ^
I don't know if it counts as "early", but he's enrolling in January.
I expect that he will be a very good corner for us in a couple years. I don't really expect much from him this year just because he'll be new to the system, but by the time 2011 rolls around, he should be fully healthy and ready to contribute.
December 13th, 2009 at 3:45 PM ^
The other thing that I've been wondering about Witty is how the year away from football will affect him. I guess it should have given him a chance to fully recover from his injury and spend time in the weight room, but he hasn't been able to practice football for a long time.
December 13th, 2009 at 3:54 PM ^
Where was he lifting weights? By himself in Pahokee, or with Barwis eeeee in Ann Arbor? I wonder if he was even allowed to spend time with the team, considering he's technically a new recruit...
December 13th, 2009 at 4:24 PM ^
I have no idea even where he was taking classes, but I don't think that he could lift with Barwis yet. My guess is that whatever school where he has been taking classes would have a weight room where he could lift.
December 13th, 2009 at 9:20 PM ^
He stayed in Deerfield Beach, and he's moving to Ann Arbor for the winter semester. The coaches gave him a program to use, although obviously the program is more effective when you have the coaches and facilities to make it happen.
Technically, he could work out with Barwis if he had been living in Michigan. The strength and conditioning coordinator isn't the same thing as a coach. Jeremy Jackson has been working out with the team, and I believe Ricardo Miller has been, too.
December 13th, 2009 at 3:55 PM ^
What do you base your expectations for Witty on? Does he have senior year film?
December 13th, 2009 at 9:28 PM ^
There's film on Rivals (edit: Youtube) from his junior year.
December 13th, 2009 at 10:17 PM ^
Glad to see that I'm not the only one excited for Witty's arrival. I definitely think he wasn't just offered to get Denard.
December 13th, 2009 at 10:37 PM ^
I think we offered Denard just so we could get Witty.