Secondary Inspired by '03 success

[Ohio Pete]

I love the confidence, lets hope it translates to plays now.

I know they were just picking up the system, but how many interceptions were there in the Spring Game?

[Igetbored216]

I know they were just picking up the system, but how many interceptions were there in the Spring Game?

 

I don't know, but since when is the Spring Game a good gauge at how the season will actually turn out?

[junior4949]

Anyone else afraid this bubble of ridiculous hype's going to burst soon?

 

Yes. I think we have to remember these guys are pretty young especially on the D side of the ball except for the Dline. Once upon a time, I wouldn't have given a nickle for Booker. However, he turned out to be pretty darn good. We're going to see some mistakes, and maybe a lot of them. This year will about playing aggressive and playing hard through the final seconds of the game. We just have to look for improvement as the season wears on.

[Husker_x]

Anyone else afraid this bubble of ridiculous hype's going to burst soon?

[Always a husker]

Anyone else afraid this bubble of ridiculous hype's going to burst soon?

Burst on an opponent!!!

[admo]

Anyone else afraid this bubble of ridiculous hype's going to burst soon?

I think the hype is more of a confidence builder for the players. Sanders did say

 

"Having more athletic ability means absolutely nothing if you can't put it to use."

 

...

 

I firmly believe that how the season progresses and how these guys play during conference will give a better indication of the future. Progression.

 

No doubt, we'll prolly see some early games where there will be 2 good plays followed by missed coverage, followed by a few good plays, then someone gets burned for a big play & so on. It's good to be supportive, optimistic and enthusiastic, but at the same time understand that Rome wasnt built in a day. Takes time.

[bbhusker]

Anyone else afraid this bubble of ridiculous hype's going to burst soon?

I think the hype is more of a confidence builder for the players. Sanders did say

 

"Having more athletic ability means absolutely nothing if you can't put it to use."

 

...

 

I firmly believe that how the season progresses and how these guys play during conference will give a better indication of the future. Progression.

 

No doubt, we'll prolly see some early games where there will be 2 good plays followed by missed coverage, followed by a few good plays, then someone gets burned for a big play & so on. It's good to be supportive, optimistic and enthusiastic, but at the same time understand that Rome wasnt built in a day. Takes time.

 

I agree. These guys are going to be learning on the fly this year. Practice and game speed are two different things. I see the D playing great at times early in the year and becoming more consistant as the season goes on. By the end of the year the D should be pretty solid, hopefully top 50. Of course I would take top 10 but I'm just trying to stay realistic.

[Danimal]

While Fabian and the Bullocks were studs we also had meh talents in Ricketts and MacPherson. I'd say in terms of overall ability this group could be considedered competitive with 03.

As much as people pan Ricketts' performance that year, he was reliable as a nickel in most situations.

 

It remains to be seen if this squad has the talent of 2003. The bar is set pretty high when you have to live up to a first-round draft pick and two guys who get tons of NFL playing time. Here's to hoping that Asante & Co. can become the head hunting Mike Brown-esque players we all want them to be.

 

I wasn't panning the performance of Ricketts or MacPherson by any means, they did a solid job, we wouldn't have led the nation in pass-efficiency D if a Fabian's bookend and the nickelback weren't getting the job done. I was stating that they weren't big talents, which they weren't.

 

My point was that while we did have three considerable studs in that secondary we also had a couple guys that weren't studs. It remains to be seen if any of our guys are comparable to the first three but I'd say they probably have more ability than the other two. I don't think it is overly optimistic to think this crew would be fairly comparable in overall ability

 

I wouldn't diss Lornell or Pat, they did their best and executed that zone dang well. Ricketts in particular made some clutch plays.