Avery, Demens and Vinopal
One thing that gives me hope about next year was the play of these three this afternoon.
While they didn't play like veterans, they did better than you would expect youngters to do in conference play, and they're only going to get better.
Hopefully with a new coordinator (that's right, I said it) and more experience in our starting lineup, we will be able to field a serviceable defense next year that can take some pressure off of our high-powered offense.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^
BIG props to him on that 1 on 1 tackle. pretty much a carbon copy of the iowa play, but he made it this time
November 6th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
I second the props, but also Vinopal had a big play stuffing Ford in the hole (yeah that hole). Little guy has some power.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
There seems to be some abnormality with his legs that allows him to keep his pad level low and make much needed tackles against a RB that probably eats too much.
November 6th, 2010 at 8:18 PM ^
is 28" of PURE GRIT!
November 7th, 2010 at 12:10 AM ^
This made me laugh harder than it should have.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:17 PM ^
How much better was Avery's tackling this week. He's going to be a solid player.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
He made some impressive open field tackles, which is encouraging.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^
I honestly don't think that I am being off base when I say that Courtney Avery's takle in open space against Scheelhaase, on 3rd down right in front of the sticks, was probably the most important play of the day. The only exception obviously is the jailhouse blitz on the last play.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:17 PM ^
Those three played thier best game of the year and tackling today was surprsingly consistant.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
There were a couple of plays where a IL receiver would be running with momentum about 3 yards from the 1st down marker, and my mind sees the play as "oh, there's another IL 1st down", when, out of nowhere, something shocking would happen: a young Michigan defender would tackle him short! Like, wtf, you know? It caused me to get all nostalgic and reminisce about a time when Michigan played defense too.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:49 PM ^
Completely agree. That has been one of the most frustrating parts of the D this year. We hit them 3 yards short and yet they still get 4 more yards after contact. Much better today
November 7th, 2010 at 12:53 AM ^
Cam Gordon also made some plays. I think Demens played really well. Looked to me like Mouton was the guy burned on the two holy-shit wide open wheel routes to the tailback.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
the kids are alright.
there's a bright future for this team.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
I'm sure the UFR will show plenty of mistakes, but they played big. Very encouraging!
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
They can't cover, but they can tackle sort of.
I'll say this about the defense: they made positive plays when put in position to do so. With a vaguely competent coordinator putting them in position to make plays and another year in the weight room, they might be... poor. Or competent. Or Auburn-ish. Which is really the goal right? Get to as good as Auburn is.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
My patience for sarcastic crapping on players who showed a ton of character today is limited. Your comments are ridiculous; the defense made some stops today and the offense at points didn't help them. Bottom line Demens, Avery, Big Play Ray are improving.
You can jump off the bandwagon at any point.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
This win wasn't just big for this season. It was big for the future of the program. It wasn't always pretty, but those kids hung in there tight today. If you can't enjoy a win like today's, I don't know why you'd follow college football.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 4:57 PM ^
Fair enough
November 6th, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^
Maybe the kids made the plays today because the coaching is finally clicking in their minds. Not saying that is the case. But just something to tickle the mind.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
Yes. And the fact that 80% of the defense are true freshmen/soph, you would EXPECT them to improve with the game experience.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
I'd have to say "look at the score {after regulation}". But....This win was AWESOME so I don't care.
New DC on UM coming soon. Name: Magnus.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
Yes they gave up a lot of points, but they also had to contend with 5 turnovers. They responded by getting some punts and some huge stops for field goals instead of touchdowns.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
Starting field position as well. At one point in the game they said that Illinois average starting field position was there own 47 yard line(!) basically mid-field. That plus the 5 turnovers and the D had a lot to overcome, and they did.
Yes, 65 points, but there were positives from the D today.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Not just the 5 turnovers but also the poor field position on kick returns. We need to find a kicker who can kick it deep and keep the D from having to start on the 40 yard line every time. Those two things put a lot of pressure on our D today.
November 7th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
Not sure that Vinopal is the long term answer - he's just too small. But he gave one hell of an effort today as did the whole defense.
I do think Avery showed a lot and Demens especially. Kenny made some awesome plays out there today. Could we have a solid MLB for the next couple of years?
November 6th, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^
Not sure that Vinopal is the long term answer - he's just too small
WTF are you talking about?
edit: I didn't know people still actually thought like this around these parts . . . .
November 6th, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^
goddamn man are u the only person who didnt see the play everyones talking about
November 6th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
You didnt see him fill the hole and stuff their beast of a RB? STFU dude.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^
and that was after he made a great deflection 2 plays previous.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
He's a bit small now, but he'll bulk up a bit with more time in the weight room. He'll be big enough to play deep safety.
It was nice to see Avery nail that open field tackle after biffing one against Iowa.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
All three played hard. That stop by Vinopal at the line of scrimmage against Leshoure was amazing. Leshoure has him by 40 pounds, and he doesn't get an inch after the hit.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
The two biggest plays on D were Avery's tackle and Vinopals tackle both on 3rd down. The future is looking bright.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:19 PM ^
I'm glad that some of these players played decent. But we still gave up 65 points (even with OT point inflation).
I'm going to chalk this up as a team win. Hard to single out players on D. Plays on D... maybe.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
The offense had 5 turnovers and Illinois' average starting position was probably around the 50
November 6th, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^
He had to have had 15 tackles today. He was an animal out there.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^
They played pretty good espesially Avery made good tackles in space, but the damage is done...G Rob gotta go.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:21 PM ^
Not sure how consistent he was, but he had a few sideline-to-sideline plays that were really impressive (getting off the block on the option and another one where he came all the way from the inside to hold the QB to a very short game).
Could be a real good one as an upperclassman.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
I agree. Demens had some big time tackles, he played good containment on the outside runs, and he was also the man with the big time deflection on 3rd down to force one of the few punts we've had all year. I'm not going to let myself get too excited about a defense that gives up 65, but Demens seemed to be in the middle of the big stops that we did make.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:21 PM ^
Demens was no less than a hero. Avery was a relative upgrade (still not great, a both those wide open throws were half on him, I think). Both have very bright futures.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:27 PM ^
I think that was Mouton that was supposed to follow the back there, but I am too amped to check the DVR until later. I think the WR and the slot ran deep posts, and Mouton had the RB responsibility. My memory could be failing me though.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
Yeah, I think it was half on Avery half on the LB. The pattern was designed to put pressure on one of the deep 3 (in that case Avery) and it's on the LB to help out there. Not anything terrible, but you have to assign blame somewhere.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
but that's a well designed play. If he bites and then heads to the flat, he ends up on the RB who took the fake rather than the RB who was faking the lead block. Not to mention you get a vertical overload to that side even though they show 3 wide on Cover 3. It wouldn't work nearly so well if we could threaten some Cover 2.
Also, Chris at smart football twatted, half joking, that Rich ran it himself just to show they'd seen it in practice the week before. It made me wonder if they had.
November 6th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
Avery was covering the WR on the post - it was the LB (Mouton one one, not sure about the other).
November 6th, 2010 at 4:35 PM ^
Yeah, but they were in cover 3, Avery had help in the middle- he should've passed him off to the middle guy. The underneath guy definitely should have helped though.