Projecting the Depth Chart

[Saint Boseph]

Charles Jackson is at the Safety position, and reports from PJ Smith and some coaches, is that he is stellar and is understanding his role on the field. He is the favorite to get a starting position. I thought Cooper was SS?

My rationale for that is when Charles Jackson was first coming in, everyone said he was Alfonzo Dennard 2.0 the way he played physical press coverage, with a similar frame. I know he's been moved around a bit and worked at safety, but my hunch is that JP and Bo will see the best value out of him at corner.

And when C. Cooper and Harvey Jackson first signed I think the idea was that CC, more of a ballhawk, would be the FS and Jackson, more of an aggressive hard hitter, would be SS. Obviously things change but thats my guess.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Charles Jackson is at the Safety position, and reports from PJ Smith and some coaches, is that he is stellar and is understanding his role on the field. He is the favorite to get a starting position. I thought Cooper was SS?

My rationale for that is when Charles Jackson was first coming in, everyone said he was Alfonzo Dennard 2.0 the way he played physical press coverage, with a similar frame. I know he's been moved around a bit and worked at safety, but my hunch is that JP and Bo will see the best value out of him at corner.

And when C. Cooper and Harvey Jackson first signed I think the idea was that CC, more of a ballhawk, would be the FS and Jackson, more of an aggressive hard hitter, would be SS. Obviously things change but thats my guess.

From what I have heard, are those two are still learning how to adjust the secondary, as Charles Jackson is getting it down to the "T". He knows when to tell the secondary to press, play zone, when to back up for the deep ball and he isn't biting hard on the PA. These are the intangibles we have been missing at this position, since O' Hanlon. The Safety position is probably the toughest position to play here. A lot more responsibilites than the average Safety.

I am not saying your wrong by any means

 

[Saint Boseph]

Charles Jackson is at the Safety position, and reports from PJ Smith and some coaches, is that he is stellar and is understanding his role on the field. He is the favorite to get a starting position. I thought Cooper was SS?

My rationale for that is when Charles Jackson was first coming in, everyone said he was Alfonzo Dennard 2.0 the way he played physical press coverage, with a similar frame. I know he's been moved around a bit and worked at safety, but my hunch is that JP and Bo will see the best value out of him at corner.

And when C. Cooper and Harvey Jackson first signed I think the idea was that CC, more of a ballhawk, would be the FS and Jackson, more of an aggressive hard hitter, would be SS. Obviously things change but thats my guess.

From what I have heard, are those two are still learning how to adjust the secondary, as Charles Jackson is getting it down to the "T". He knows when to tell the secondary to press, play zone, when to back up for the deep ball and he isn't biting hard on the PA. These are the intangibles we have been missing at this position, since O' Hanlon. The Safety position is probably the toughest position to play here. A lot more responsibilites than the average Safety.

I am not saying your wrong by any means

Pure speculation on my part so I could definitely be wrong. The great thing about Charles Jackson, and what I'm sure is much more certain, is that he's a player who could be a starter at any secondary position. He'd be good anywhere and I would be just as excited to see him at safety laying the wood to receivers who cross the middle.

If Charles J. does indeed get penciled in as a Safety, I'd peg him as the starting SS and I'd say Singleton at starting FS, with Cooper as second string FS and Harvey jackson backing up charles at SS and Mohammed Seisay starting opposite Jonathan Rose at the other Cornerback spot.

 

[whateveritis1224]

I think the Safety positions are interchangeable and you can't call either position FS or SS.

 

[Saint Boseph]

I think the Safety positions are interchangeable and you can't call either position FS or SS.

it may be the case in our defense, I'm not sure as I've seen some interchangeable roles from Bo's safeties. But for the purpose of this exercise, I'm going off the traditional assumption that the FS is more of the roaming, ballhawk who stays deeper, while the SS is usually the hard-hitting run stopper who creeps pretty low into the box. Think Matt O'Hanlon (FS) and Larry Asante (SS) type of roles. MOH was definitely more of the ballhawk and Asante the hard-hitting run-stopper. Charles Jackson, by all accounts, is a hard-hitter in the Asante mold who's skill set would serve him better at SS than FS in my opinion.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I read somewhere that we're only returning 7 offensive starters? Where the hell did they get that. I think it was an ESPN early 2013 projection or somethin. Our offense has all but one starter back (center Justin Jackson). Even if you count Burkhead, that's still 9 back. Am i missing something. I guess on the line maybe? But Arod and Qvale still played enough to the point that they can easily be considered as starters.

You're missing Choi and Cotton.

Yes. I'm going to go bang my head on a wall now.

 

[Mavric]

I think the Safety positions are interchangeable and you can't call either position FS or SS.

it may be the case in our defense, I'm not sure as I've seen some interchangeable roles from Bo's safeties. But for the purpose of this exercise, I'm going off the traditional assumption that the FS is more of the roaming, ballhawk who stays deeper, while the SS is usually the hard-hitting run stopper who creeps pretty low into the box. Think Matt O'Hanlon (FS) and Larry Asante (SS) type of roles. MOH was definitely more of the ballhawk and Asante the hard-hitting run-stopper. Charles Jackson, by all accounts, is a hard-hitter in the Asante mold who's skill set would serve him better at SS than FS in my opinion.

Last year we mostly played a "field" and "boundary" safety. Smith was usually to the short side of the field (closest to the sideline) while Stafford was usually to the wide side.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

I read somewhere that we're only returning 7 offensive starters? Where the hell did they get that. I think it was an ESPN early 2013 projection or somethin. Our offense has all but one starter back (center Justin Jackson). Even if you count Burkhead, that's still 9 back. Am i missing something. I guess on the line maybe? But Arod and Qvale still played enough to the point that they can easily be considered as starters.

You're missing Choi and Cotton.

Yes. I'm going to go bang my head on a wall now.

He does make mistakes!

Lol jk accountability

 

[Count 'Bility]

I read somewhere that we're only returning 7 offensive starters? Where the hell did they get that. I think it was an ESPN early 2013 projection or somethin. Our offense has all but one starter back (center Justin Jackson). Even if you count Burkhead, that's still 9 back. Am i missing something. I guess on the line maybe? But Arod and Qvale still played enough to the point that they can easily be considered as starters.

You're missing Choi and Cotton.

Yes. I'm going to go bang my head on a wall now.

He does make mistakes!

Lol jk accountability

It's a shocking development. Bigger problem? I only get 2 a year, and I've now used up #1 and it's only February.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

It's a shocking development. Bigger problem? I only get 2 a year, and I've now used up #1 and it's only February.

Oh no, one more to go!

You ninja'd that jpeg in lol

 

[LumberJackSker]

Charles Jackson is at the Safety position, and reports from PJ Smith and some coaches, is that he is stellar and is understanding his role on the field. He is the favorite to get a starting position. I thought Cooper was SS?

My rationale for that is when Charles Jackson was first coming in, everyone said he was Alfonzo Dennard 2.0 the way he played physical press coverage, with a similar frame. I know he's been moved around a bit and worked at safety, but my hunch is that JP and Bo will see the best value out of him at corner.

And when C. Cooper and Harvey Jackson first signed I think the idea was that CC, more of a ballhawk, would be the FS and Jackson, more of an aggressive hard hitter, would be SS. Obviously things change but thats my guess.

From what I have heard, are those two are still learning how to adjust the secondary, as Charles Jackson is getting it down to the "T". He knows when to tell the secondary to press, play zone, when to back up for the deep ball and he isn't biting hard on the PA. These are the intangibles we have been missing at this position, since O' Hanlon. The Safety position is probably the toughest position to play here. A lot more responsibilites than the average Safety.

I am not saying your wrong by any means

Pure speculation on my part so I could definitely be wrong. The great thing about Charles Jackson, and what I'm sure is much more certain, is that he's a player who could be a starter at any secondary position. He'd be good anywhere and I would be just as excited to see him at safety laying the wood to receivers who cross the middle.

If Charles J. does indeed get penciled in as a Safety, I'd peg him as the starting SS and I'd say Singleton at starting FS, with Cooper as second string FS and Harvey jackson backing up charles at SS and Mohammed Seisay starting opposite Jonathan Rose at the other Cornerback spot.

if CJ is the saftey to drop into the box to stop the run i hope he hits the weight room not sure how effective it would be dropping a 175 pound ex corner into the box compared to cooper, harvey jackson or singleton who are all 200+ but if CJ's the best guy then play him

 

[flatwaterfan]

I think Cooper was on the field playing dime. Later I saw Blatchford so Cooper might have goofed up. He can be inconsistent.

I like Charles at FS and Harvey at SS. I like speed at FS. Harvey is a bigger hitter and I think is better at SS, although I am not sure if there is a difference in Bo's scheme. I am still wondering if Mo can crack the lineup somewhere.

I wonder a bit about the way they do dime personnel. To me if you bring in extra receivers you should bring in CB type players, we tend to lean towards safety types when we go dime. To me a dime guy should be a guy like Mitchell who is quick and should be able to stick with a slot guy. Generally slot guys are smaller & quicker. If they keep the TE's on the field then I can see using a safety type or a very speedy OLB. But then I suppose you can run the slot guy towards the LOS and block a smaller guy easier on draws,jail breaks etc, so it would be better with a safety type that way.

Don't forget Gangwish at SLB

Gangwish moved to DE and has practiced with the 3 deep. They're putting weight on him now and he will be a factor next year. I know in practice our O-Line struggles to block him pretty severely. He's a hybrid type with an attitude.

I didn't know they moved him. Thanks for the info!

It really was a decision he made based on opinions from, believe it or not, offensive coaches. They struggle to block him in practice and he has some absolutely sick pass rushes. They suggested it to him and he made the move. I've seen him make every one of our linemen look silly in practice. Hope he gets the chance.

Nice!!! With Gangwish, Brown and Gregory we could really bring some heat. Through in a big push up the middle with Valentine..... we could be really good. I can't wait for the spring game.

 

[Saint Boseph]

Last year we mostly played a "field" and "boundary" safety. Smith was usually to the short side of the field (closest to the sideline) while Stafford was usually to the wide side.

I think I remember reading that verbiage and concept mentioned in an LJS article a while go. Thanks a bunch for reminding me. As such, I agree with whateveritis1224 that projecting for a traditional FS-SS split doesn't seem to be the best exercise.

if CJ is the saftey to drop into the box to stop the run i hope he hits the weight room not sure how effective it would be dropping a 175 pound ex corner into the box compared to cooper, harvey jackson or singleton who are all 200+ but if CJ's the best guy then play him

Definitely agree that it would help to get some mass added to him, he looks really skinny. But I think the dude at 175 packs the wallop of a guy 15-20 pounds more than him. He seems like a well-compressed ball of energy based on what coaches and players describe and the limited special teams action I've seen. The guy stonewalled a couple KR's/PR's this year and has showed so far, even with a limited sample size, that he is a sound tackler.

To your point, I do think that CJ at 175 would perform better as a safety that plays run-support in the box than Cooper, singleton, and harvey at 200+ (though to be fair, I haven't really seen much of Harvey or Singleton). I know that sounds pretty ridiculous saying a 175lb DB being better in run-support than a 200lb guy in any other circumstance, but that's really how high I think of CJ. I'm drinking the kool-aid big time on this guy and I've seen enough flashes of elite ability to conclude that he looks on course to develop into an elite DB. And If CJ gets to the 190-200 range without losing speed, forget about it. He'll be a blackshirt for a while.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Last year we mostly played a "field" and "boundary" safety. Smith was usually to the short side of the field (closest to the sideline) while Stafford was usually to the wide side.

I think I remember reading that verbiage and concept mentioned in an LJS article a while go. Thanks a bunch for reminding me. As such, I agree with whateveritis1224 that projecting for a traditional FS-SS split doesn't seem to be the best exercise.

if CJ is the saftey to drop into the box to stop the run i hope he hits the weight room not sure how effective it would be dropping a 175 pound ex corner into the box compared to cooper, harvey jackson or singleton who are all 200+ but if CJ's the best guy then play him

Definitely agree that it would help to get some mass added to him, he looks really skinny. But I think the dude at 175 packs the wallop of a guy 15-20 pounds more than him. He seems like a well-compressed ball of energy based on what coaches and players describe and the limited special teams action I've seen. The guy stonewalled a couple KR's/PR's this year and has showed so far, even with a limited sample size, that he is a sound tackler.

To your point, I do think that CJ at 175 would perform better as a safety that plays run-support in the box than Cooper, singleton, and harvey at 200+ (though to be fair, I haven't really seen much of Harvey or Singleton). I know that sounds pretty ridiculous saying a 175lb DB being better in run-support than a 200lb guy in any other circumstance, but that's really how high I think of CJ. I'm drinking the kool-aid big time on this guy and I've seen enough flashes of elite ability to conclude that he looks on course to develop into an elite DB. And If CJ gets to the 190-200 range without losing speed, forget about it. He'll be a blackshirt for a while.

Lavonte David is living proof, that size isn't always what makes you the best player. Its mostly technique, knowledge for the game and speed. People said David was too small to play LB in the B1G. He proved them more than wrong. The experts also said he would be way to small to play LB in the Pro's, he is a starting LB for Tampa, and is the 2nd leading tackler in all of NFL. Size isn't everything. As long has he has the technique, the smarts to play the position and understand it 110%, and has the speed to cover the edge when needed, he will be the perfect candidate. Rivals had him at 180lbs leaving High School. I could only imagine him gaining a few pounds since then.

 

[Mavric]

Last year we mostly played a "field" and "boundary" safety. Smith was usually to the short side of the field (closest to the sideline) while Stafford was usually to the wide side.

I think I remember reading that verbiage and concept mentioned in an LJS article a while go. Thanks a bunch for reminding me. As such, I agree with whateveritis1224 that projecting for a traditional FS-SS split doesn't seem to be the best exercise.

I know they call them "field" and "boundary" corners. I don't think I've every heard of the safeties referred to that way but that seemed to be what we were doing.