How do you feel about Right Tackle/ Corner Back?
Whilst watching the game yesterday, I was keeping an eye on the two major question marks we had heading into the season: Corner and Right Tackle. My takes:
1) Watson and Hill both stayed with their receivers pretty well. The main take away is that, with a couple of exceptions, they only needed to cover for about 1.3 seconds before the quarterback began to run for their life. With this combination of d-line dominance and army of tweaked-out banshees technically referred to as "Linebackers," the cornerbacks just have to be "OK" to be good.
2) Ulizio was really good when they could get him engaged into a defender. Once his hand were on someone, he could usually move them in the run game and neutralize them in Pass Pro. Against a pure speed rush he had major issues, and I am surprised that Florida didn't do more to attack that spot. One thing I noticed was that they had a number of plays where Wheatley would crash into the DE while Ulizio would sandwich a DT or bury some poor LB, and that we wildly effective in making the running game go. Bottom Line: Ulizio isn't quite up to snuff yet, but he pleanty good enough if the play design allows him to do what he does well: engage and generally neutralize his target.
What say you? Did my amateur observations match yours? Do you feel any better about these spots?
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^
RT, on the other hand, I think is going to be a turnstile all year long. Might be high time to try Steuber or Filiaga out there. Ulizio wasn't good unless they had Wheatley over there or sent the RB to help
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 1:16 PM ^
You have a point..but he beat them out now.
They just arrived in the fall, we've seen guys get replaced a few games in by freshman when they finally get a chance to settle in. It's not unheard of. Bredeson wasn't an outright starter early last year.
Personally, I know he's got to grow into the position, but I wasn't impressed with him. I don't get to see practice though, so this is where I just say "I trust the coaches."
We've got Harbaugh, Frey, and Drevno...I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. Even if I personally think JBB and Runyan or better options (not the freshman).
I'm more worried about what it means for those behind Ulizio if they can't start over him to be honest. In particular, the older guys...not the freshman for reasons I just mentioned.
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
Indiana's quick passing could hurt us. But then again DeBord plus Lagow will eventually revert to the mean and make some bad plays.
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
Agreed! ;-)
September 3rd, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^
Lagow won't revert to the mean as long as he's got his current QB coach!!! (who is my favorite college QB ever!)
September 3rd, 2017 at 6:10 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
I think we are able to shield the inexperience at cornerback with our extremely effective front 7 because of all the pressure we can get on the QB. Hill got beat on a couple passes but other than the, the secondary seemed to hold it together. Ulizio looked out of his element, but I think the rest of the O-line can help cover his misteps.
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
Ulizio should be alright, and we showed on the goaline when we want to shove it down your throat on the right side we're just going to slide Mason Cole over there.
Just observing as the game went on, Hill scared me a little bit. I only noticed him look back for the ball once. I think Watson showed the best ability on the day. We'll see going forward, it wouldn't really be a problem until we run into Penn State so he's got time to get more comfortable. Lewerke or anyone else coming up don't look like they'll be taking advantage of anything.
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^
Yes... was going to write the same thing on Hill. He has to get his head around and spot the ball, but it's hard to do when you're a step or two behind, which, I would rather he try to make a play on the man at that point, but still, he did not look back for the ball enough for me. Was very impressed by Brandon Watson's pass break up, which is the best possible example of getting your head around and making a big play. He also tried for the hand fighting breakup on the great catch on the sideline by the Florida receiver-- impressed by his ball awareness.
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:14 AM ^
Look, you have to start somewhere and this is what happens: you improve. Hopefully. Ulizio got blown out a couple times early but our running game looked better than it has in years and I assume he had something to do with that. Our corners looked decent against a horrible pass offense that was also under major duress so toss the sample. We have a lot of middling opponents for them all to brush up on and get better before Penn State.
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:16 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:16 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:29 AM ^
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September 3rd, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
the coverage doesn't matter, but I thought Watson was above expectations. Vert and Long were about what was expected. Yes, Vert needs to turn his head, but sophmore Jourdan Lewis wasn't senior Jourdan Lewis either. The RT is going to be a problem against good teams, especially in pass pro. Here's hoping for a quick improvement with experience.
September 3rd, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:07 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:07 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:08 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:18 PM ^
No one has mentioned him, which is a big win at Guard for us.
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^
I'm certainly no expert on offensive line technique, but my guess is that RT will grade out pretty neutral. The offensive gameplan seemed designed to hedge that weakness with frequent use of a tight end and/or playcalling. He's not as quick laterally as Cole, so stunts and speed rushes will be something he needs to work on. He'll certainly come in for -2 on a couple whiffs, but he wasn't a liability out there like we've seen before.
Encouraging things:
- Other than the false start (which was more like an "early" start), I saw no obvious mental mistakes or assignment confusion. That's impressive for a first start despite his simplified assignments.
- He plays a little too upright to my eyes, but mitigates that with size and strength. I'm assuming that when great OL coach like Frey improves his technique, it will mean great things for his blocking.
- I saw two plays in which he pulled and looked really good. I might be extrapolating too much from this, but it seems like you can tell a lot about the ability of an OL in how they execute their assignment on a pull (agility, disipline, judgement, reaction time, etc).
Overall, I was pretty encouraged.
September 3rd, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
Ulizio got smoked a cuple of times, but high level of competition on the DL side, so he shoudl be all right. Not great, but all right.
DBs probably not as good as they loooked (which was pretty darn good), for reason of lower competition and bad QB situation. But, no one got smoked, they looked nice in run defense, and had a couple of really nice PBUs.
September 3rd, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^
CB -- It was about what I expected based on the previews and coaches comments. They have a ton of talent and they made some good plays and some not so good plays, but way more good than bad. We will play better passing teams than a team with no QB and #1 receiver suspended.
RT -- Ulizio was rough, really rough. The good news is that he won't play anyone that talented until probably Wisconsin. He has many games to improve.
September 3rd, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^
September 3rd, 2017 at 6:09 PM ^
No way we can make any actual prediction about these yet, especially since UF was without a starting WR. However, what I saw was promising. Watson had great feild awareness on that pd. Hill was all over and did great with run support. Was also good to see a little depth and rotation there as well. Schedule sets up for that experiecne to continue in prep for conference play. My only concern is, when the Line and LB arn't getting able to get pressure (which will happen at some point) can the DBs hold their own...
September 3rd, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
I'd feel better about RT if our TEs could block better since they were clearly intended to help out on the right side. I didn't see one TE that was all that great blocking in-line. And even when they were supposed to just give a chip before going out on a pattern, they didn't offer enough of a chip to be effective. Hopefully Greg Frey will work his magic and they improve as the season goes on.
September 3rd, 2017 at 6:32 PM ^
Next.