Disappointed in Fisher's play

D

Dave M.

Four-Star Recruit
I know Fisher is only a Red Shirt Freshman, but on Friday against the Buffs he was out of position numerous times and I can't remember even one play that "he" made. I was hoping for bigger things from him. I think that he is the biggest single disappointment for me this season. He hasn't shown any real speed or a knack for getting to the right spot. The entire linebacker crew has got to step up their play big going into next year.

 
Will Compton also tends to be inconsistent at times too. But yeah, the whole LB corps needs to step it up big time next weekend.

I'll be expecting Dillard to lead and rise to the occasion among that corps.

 
i agree. he needs to put some serious weight on this off-season if he is going to be a legit D1 linebacker. he has trouble shedding the blocks of larger offensive linemen and fullbacks.

 
Redshirt Freshmen should not be counted on to make consistent plays. I've wished for more out of our LBs this year, but they're young. If they struggle again next year we'll have valid reasons for concern, but this was always going to be a rough year.

 
Chirs Williams (hopefully his rehab is going better), Eric Martin, and Lavonte David (should be N shortly) will all add to our overall LB depth in the off season as well as competition for spots. IMO they will all be upgrades athletically from Compton and Fisher.

 
Considering the style of offenses we've played this year, these have not seen game speed experience as much as they would need to gain valuable experience. With the Back talent of Gomes, Dennard, Asante, West, O'Hanlon, and Amukamara, it's easy to just put the D in nickel or dime and let Dillard play the anchor and roam. Colorado and Kansas St. were pretty much the 1st two "conventional" offenses we've seen since Virginia Tech. Now if one would take the time to do the research, I think you would discover that our defense has been in Nickel or Dime more than a std. 4-3 with Fisher and Compton on the field. Is there performance disappointing, maybe, but they are Freshman gettin minimal playing time. Now against Texas next week, the defensive scheming will be similar to that of the Oklahoma and Texas Tech games, because of the type of offense Texas runs. JMO, comment as you will.

 
I was disappointed in his play for sure. He was out of position most of the time, got flat out beat in coverage, wasn't really playing with much intensity, and he was getting pushed around a lot. Give him some time and he will get better though. I don't know if linebacker is really the right position for him unless he can get some size on him. He does look bigger than when he used to though. Still he showed poor technique, angles, and couldn't shed a block to save his life...in fact he would get pushed back like 5 yards.

No you can't really blame him completely...he hasn't gotten as much experience with the defensive packages we have had to use. But he is a starter out there and Eckler/Bo has said it doesn't matter if you are a freshman or a senior...you are expected to make plays and get the job done.

Edit- Also I hope this kid is successful here...he has great height and not terrible speed. He was just out of position and took really bad angles so he will get better once he gets it.

 
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zoogies said:
Fisher made a nice pass defense on their TE.
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Yes he did. He was out of position quite a bit and is not strong enough to take on running backs one on one. He is too tall and backs get underneath him too easily and push him back. Low man always wins and Fisher needs to learn how to get his butt down at the point of attack and drive through the tackle. Otherwise he is going to get dumptrucked many times.

 
I haven't been that impressed with he or Compton.

I do think that they don't see the field as often as they need bc/ we run so much dime with Hagg and Gomes. The conference we are in means we don't run as much base D.

I also think there are/ will be alot of solid talent at LB to make competition fierce for next year.

It's way too early to say they aren't gonna be any good but they haven't really stood out this year.

 
Interesting topic.

I think if you look at the coaches that Bo spends the most time getting in the face of during football games, it is Ekeler's face. Almost every time they cut to Bo on the sidelines he has a few choice words for Ekeler when the defense is on the field. I think the reason this team has struggled defensively is that with the exception of Dillard, the linebackers have not played as a cohesive unit this year. Great defenses start from the lines and work their way back. I think the LB's we have now are in the situation the whole defense was in last year. They were young, inexperienced, spent to much time thinking and too little time reacting. This should be fixed by next year with the added experience these guys will have.

 
Awesome point. Too much time thinking. Just like our quarterbacks, things are still just a little too fast for them, so when they think, BAM, theyre out of positioning. Unlike our quarterbacks, the lack of consistent playing time is causing a longer push out of this problem.

 
accountability said:
Awesome point. Too much time thinking. Just like our quarterbacks, things are still just a little too fast for them, so when they think, BAM, theyre out of positioning. Unlike our quarterbacks, the lack of consistent playing time is causing a longer push out of this problem.
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good point, similar to the rest of our D the last 2 years. too much thinking, not enough instinctive reacting. i'm sure they will come around. if they don't they'll meet the bench and someone else will step up (Eric Martin!).

 
i remember 2 or 3 plays where it was just like, "what are you doing!!" we should have stuck with the nickle, E. Hagg, Phil Dillard and Will Compton could have stopped the run just fine, he hurt us a lot this weekend

 
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