Safeties For This Season
Is it just me, or do we have a ton of safeties for this upcoming season? I cant wait for NCAA 2011 to come out, so i have updated my roster on NCAA 2010 to that of our roster for this season. I'm tryin to figure out who should be at each safety position and i have a lot of players. I have looked at older posts to help get an idea. Any help would be appreciated. This is what i have so far:
SS: Deep Safety?
Vladimir Emilien, Thomas Gordon, Teric Jones, Brandin Hawthorne, and obviously Troy Woolfolk (if he does play there this season)
FS: Box Safety?
Cameron Gordon, Jordan Kovacs, Michael Williams, Marvin Robinson
I think the terminology for 2010 will be different than 2009.
Deep safety: Vladimir Emilien, Cameron Gordon, Ray Vinopal
Box safeties (there will be two): Michael Williams, Jordan Kovacs, Marvin Robinson, Michael Williams, Carvin Johnson, Brandin Hawthorne, Thomas Gordon
Some of these guys will be able to play both, such as Hawthorne and Emilien.
switched based on their size and skills with Thomas playing deep and Cameron playing in the box but what do I know?
First of all, these box safeties are basically like slot corners. They need to have man coverage skills as well as be able to tackle. I think Thomas Gordon is probably more able to stick with your typical slot receiver than Cameron is.
Second, the free safety in a base Cover 3 defense doesn't need to be as athletic as if he played in a Cover 2 or played a lot of Man Free. I think we can get by with Cameron Gordon being our free safety if we're going to play a lot of Cover 3 (although I doubt Cameron will be ready in 2010).
If this were 2009's defense, I'd agree with you. But I see why they've kind of flip-flopped positions for the upcoming season.
You think because of their size they should be switched? They weigh the same amount. If anything, 208 on a 5'11" frame sounds like more of a run stopper than 208 on a 6'3" frame.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^
that Cam will stay at 208 with his frame (assuming he's even at that weight now).
Don't forget that there is going to be a no fly zone in Michigan this year.
Dorsey is starting off at corner.
If Turner changes to safety at some point, do you think it will be deep safety, or one of the hybrid positions?
I would guess it would be one of the hybrid safety positions.
I'm really hoping JT works out at corner. What do you think the probability of him switching over to Safety is?
Depends how solid Floyd and the newcomers are at corner. Safety is Turner's natural position, so there is probably more than 50% chance of him moving there.
I know it has been said over and over .. but the thought of a year down the road and having JTurner and DDorsey at the corner spots with their size and speed ... I love the thought of it
So out of the players listed under box safeties, 2 of them will be on the field most of the time? Is this part of the new 3-3-5 defense?
Yes, two of them will be on the field at the same time. There are various names for them, but basically we'll have two of those "box safeties" you saw on the field last year. It sounds like Kovacs and Williams are those two players in practices, but the depth chart could obviously change between now and September.
Maybe Magnus and some of the other knowledgeable insiders can chime on in this. Do you really think Woolfolk will be playing corner when September gets here?
I'm just having a hard time seeing it when Turner, Christian, Dorsey and Floyd will all be at corner and it'll be just Emilien and Gordon -- neither of whom has meaningful experience -- at deep safety. Obviously the corners don't have much experience either, but there's just a lot more talent to go around.
I'm of the opinion that Woolfolk will be moved back to deep safety once the freshman reinforcements arrive for fall practice; disagree or agree?
I know i'm not one of the "knowledgeable insiders" but i believe Woolfolk will stay at corner. I dont see Christian and Dorsey being able to come in and start right off the bat unless they absolutely have to. I believe Turner had more hype than both of them coming out of high school, and the coaches must have thought he wasn't 100% ready to play last year. I believe it'll be Wolfolk and J.T. Floyd at the corners. I've heard many reports of him improving alot and stepping up to his abilities. However, I think Justin Turner will be right there able to step in when needed or maybe even pass Floyd later in the season. I believe we have plenty of depth at safety for people to step up and play
I don't think Woolfolk will be playing corner in the fall. I think he will be playing deep safety. Or, more specifically, that's where I would deploy him.
Emilien is essentially a redshirt freshman who's going to miss most of spring practice, and Cameron Gordon is a redshirt freshman who played wide receiver through the fall. That deep safety position can make or break a team, and I can't imagine entrusting that position to someone with as little experience as Emilien or Gordon.
To top it off, all these reports about JT Floyd stepping it up at one corner make it seem more likely that Woolfolk could move to safety again. After all, the reason behind moving Woolfolk to cornerback was because, basically, there weren't any good players there. If Floyd is good enough to start, then we only need one of the following to step up: Turner, Christian, Dorsey, Avery, or Talbott.
One thing to consider, though: if we run the 3-3-5 the majority of the time, the importance of that free safety is diminished slightly. Rather than being the only safety or one of two safeties back deep, he would then become only 1 of 3 guys with deep coverage responsibilities, since the 3-3-5 is typically a base Cover 3 defense.
I also cannot wait until NCAA 2011 comes out. I'm in the 2011 season currently in my dunasty. I need the new rosters ASAP. I currently do not have Vincent Smith on my roster and Toussaint is no good. Teric Jones is my next in line RB to replace Michael Shaw. Nothing against Teric, but he's a safety now. I still play with Brandon Smith as my MLB (because he's a 95).
I do, however, have this sophomore DE named McFadden (dont know his first name because I havent really checked) who is sick as hell. He's impossible to block and was able to win the starting job over Lalota in only his sophomore year. McFadden is amazing.
Hopefully McFadden chooses us in real life.
Carvin Johnson.
Safety position appears to be in good shape going forward...
Also, I am totally rooting for Emilien to grab one of the starting spots, but they news about Cam Gordan lately is very encouraging to say the least...
I'm lookin forward to seein Ray Vinopal in the future, but i believe he may need a year or two. And yes i agree, the news about Cameron Gordon is pretty encouraging. He's got great size for a safety.
Doesn't it seem that he is a little to short to be playing back there.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^
He's playing box safety, so not really.
March 27th, 2010 at 10:05 PM ^
update the roster. Also I have an impossible time stopping the option. Any tips?
March 27th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^
Go to the EA Locker to get the rosters, depends on what system you have to access that. To stop the option control the DE and just spy the QB until he makes a decision.
good way of stopping the option in the game is picking a defense that flares the ends and scrape underneath with the Mike 'backer. --
I'm buying into all the hype about Dorsey. I think he'll make so many plays in practice that they will be forced to find a starting spot for him somewhere. I know young guys at deep safety can be bad, but this guy has range like nobody's buisness. He ran under 11 seconds in the 100 meter in highschool just like his cousin, Denard. O' Let Do IT! Put this dude back there and just let him out jump the competion for it. Go BLUE!
As long as someone doesn't start running the option I'm a beast, but I get killed if they do.
Here's how I see the secondary. In the first UCONN game, during our 3-3-5 formations. That's an extremely fast, ball hawking secondary right there. Only downside is, 4 freshman/true freshman.
Woolfolk - Emilien - Gordon - Dorsey - Turner
Vlad is a sophomore.
No, he's going to be a RS Freshman. Isn't he? Or did he not get is RS?
This has been discussed several times:
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/mich-m-footbl-mtt.html