Starting Safeties

Hercules said:
Smith played some very quality time against Oklahoma when Asante went out hurt, and people should be careful not to put Asante and O'Hanlon up on a pedestal. They were lights out at the end of the year, but there were holes early on (Virginia Tech anybody?) I highly doubt that 2 days of practice have led the coaches to any decisions on who might be their top 2 safeties, and I'm guessing that regardless of who ends up starting, they'll begin the year at a higher level then O'Hanlon and Asante did last year.
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Exactly. People wanted O'Hanlon's head on a spike after the V-Tech game but had deep man-crushes on him by the end of the season.

 
That's making a hell of a request if they have Gomes play starting safety AND dimeback. I think we'd be better suited playing Gomes at safety with Smith/Thenarse and have Anthony Blue play dime.

 
GMoose said:
That's making a hell of a request if they have Gomes play starting safety AND dimeback. I think we'd be better suited playing Gomes at safety with Smith/Thenarse and have Anthony Blue play dime.
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I was wondering that too. Read in the paper Gomes said that ALL of the secondary positions are interchangable. I guess if Gomes is starting at Safety, then I would think Cassidy or Thearnse would play the dimebacker.

In the end I just want to see the best 11 players on the field for that particular situation.

 
GMoose said:
That's making a hell of a request if they have Gomes play starting safety AND dimeback. I think we'd be better suited playing Gomes at safety with Smith/Thenarse and have Anthony Blue play dime.
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Good point Moose.

Lets not forget about Blue, he did very well on special team last year. Id love to have his speed and athletecism on the field.

Hope is has picked up the schemes and trusts the leg.

I wonder how Bo and Carl will use him this year? If at all.

 
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with hagg in the peso...and gomes at saftey...that'll give pause to wandering over the middle. To me he isnt the risk taking get burned type moreso he is the guy that just has a nose for the ball. Gomes is my breakout, grab a big 12 playerr of the week type guy this year...hopin for big things from him.

 
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West suprised me, but he's always been a Sanders guy. I thought PJ would have one of the spots locked down, he looked solid vs OU filling in for Asante. Wonder if this makes Thorell the 6th DB or if Green or one of the youngsters will step into that role.

 
huskerscott said:
GMoose said:
That's making a hell of a request if they have Gomes play starting safety AND dimeback. I think we'd be better suited playing Gomes at safety with Smith/Thenarse and have Anthony Blue play dime.
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I was wondering that too. Read in the paper Gomes said that ALL of the secondary positions are interchangable. I guess if Gomes is starting at Safety, then I would think Cassidy or Thearnse would play the dimebacker.

In the end I just want to see the best 11 players on the field for that particular situation.
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That may be "true" but we're never going to see Dennard lining up at strong safety or see Ricky as an x corner. Also, that doesn't make it any more taxing on Gomes to switch positions god knows how many times in a game, let alone a drive.

And remember, the dimeback is just another cornerback. Granted he tends to stay underneath, but speed is more at a premium at corner, which is not Cassidy or Thenarse's forte.

 
West has never had any problems. Carl Pelini placed a huge challenge on him this winter and told him that he had all the tools, knew the system, we just need him to be more agressive and physical and take more chances trying to make plays. He has stepped up and done just that.

Corey Cooper is actually looking at some playing time as well.

I think coverage-wise we will be better than last year at safety; run support remains to be seen.

 
One thing I think a lot of us are overlooking is (and quite possibly what the Pelinis do best) is playing to our strengths. On defense, our strengths were probably 1)DLine 2)Corners 3)safeties 4)linebackers. And look who did the most work? Same order. Since safeties will probably be 4th on that list next year I'm sure that however Bo's running the D will accommodate that "weakness" taking the load off the safeties and putting more responsibilities on say, the more experienced linebackers.

That's the part of me that believes Bo when he says the defense can be better.

 
GMoose said:
One thing I think a lot of us are overlooking is (and quite possibly what the Pelinis do best) is playing to our strengths. On defense, our strengths were probably 1)DLine 2)Corners 3)safeties 4)linebackers. And look who did the most work? Same order. Since safeties will probably be 4th on that list next year I'm sure that however Bo's running the D will accommodate that "weakness" taking the load off the safeties and putting more responsibilities on say, the more experienced linebackers.

That's the part of me that believes Bo when he says the defense can be better.
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Asante and O'Hanlon were fantastic in the run game, they made up for a lot of mistakes made by Fisher and Compton when they were on the field.

That's what concerns me about West, he's always played passive and soft IMO, which would be a big hole in our defense. But I have heard that he stepped it up over the spring and summer. It's just too bad that it took him until this year to get after it.

 
EZ-E said:
West has never had any problems. Carl Pelini placed a huge challenge on him this winter and told him that he had all the tools, knew the system, we just need him to be more agressive and physical and take more chances trying to make plays. He has stepped up and done just that.

Corey Cooper is actually looking at some playing time as well.

I think coverage-wise we will be better than last year at safety; run support remains to be seen.
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I bet you 1000 dollars that does not happen at safety.

 
I'm confused...does that mean Andrew's future isn't at corner? And it's Hagg-Cassidy at peso isn't it? Does this mean we won't see a lot of Green this year?

 
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zoogies said:
I'm confused...does that mean Andrew's future isn't at corner? And it's Hagg-Cassidy at peso isn't it? Does this mean we won't see a lot of Green this year?
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Maybe Cassidy works exclusively at safety? Isn't that what he did until the Arizona game? I wouldn't mind seeing Matt O'Hanlon 2.0 out of Cassidy...

:throwdabones1:

 
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