Rating Our Secondary
by Beergut on Aug 3, 2010 7:10 PM CDT
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PrintPete Fiutak of FSSW did a preview on our defensive secondary, and while I didn't agree with everything he said, I think he made a few good points. Fiutak characterizes A&M's pass defense as "awful", which I think is a little harsh. Our secondary wasn't great last year, but they weren't awful, either. Awful was the 2005 secondary, which gave up over 300 yards passing per game. We spent that season basically playing prevent in the secondary all the time, which helped inflate those pathetic numbers. In 2009, our coverage wasn't that bad, what was terrible was our fundamental tackling. As the season wore on, we seemed to get worse and worse at wrapping people up to bring them down, and rallying to the football to gang-tackle the ballcarrier. I am hoping we improve in that one area this season.
Fiutak and I will have to disagree on Dustin Harris' freshman season, because I don't think suffering an injury that knocks you out of a few games means you had a 'rocky' season. When he was on the field, Harris was a playmaker, especially for a true freshman. Harris and Terrence Frederick give me a lot of confidence in the cornerback position. If true freshman Toney Hurd Jr. gets into the mix at CB, we're going to have a really nice secondary.
I also disagree with Fiutak's conclusion that we were weak in coverage because we gave up an average of 250+ yds per game passing despite having a strong pass rush. If the opposing offense is adept in their screen game, and we don't tackle, we're going to give up a lot of passing yards, and that happened several times last season. One of the best ways to slow a pass rush in the screen game, and teams were very effective with it against us last season, because it is still something we struggled to shut down. Anyone who doubts this needs to go watch the Texas Tech game video again, and see how many times they victimized us with wide receiver screens.
After hearing Coach Sherman's comments and looking at the talent we have returning, I think our secondary may be one of the most underrated units in the Big 12. There is a real chance our secondary will come out and surprise people this season. If we can just learn to wrap up and tackle better, I think we can have one of the top secondaries in the Big 12, if not the best. Fiutak puts us at the #7 secondary in the Big 12, but I think we have top 3 talent, and we can finish that high this season.
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First post, but I agree with your assessment, and hopefully I'm not being too much of a homer.
I like Frederick and Harris a lot as corners, I thought that, considering their youth last year, they showed a lot of positives and are the first corner tandem in at least 5 years that I have any sort of optimism about.
I’m not sure what our depth at corner looks like, but between Frederick, Harris, and Hunter, I do believe we have a secondary that will surprise a few people. I could see either of the two corners being day 2 (read: 2nd or 3rd round) picks in a couple of years.
Our real weakness is our defensive line. Ugh.
I think Harris has the skills to blossom into a first round pick
he’s versatile, and has all the physical attributes scouts want
he does need to put on a little weight, though
Dustin Harris
I don’t quite understand the “Harris is a playmaker” argument. Last season, he only had two passes defensed, two passes broken up, and one interception. He also made 40 tackles (two TFL), and had one sack. Nothing in his stat line stands out to me. I don’t know that I ever saw him play press coverage, although I admit I didn’t really focus on him pre-snap very often; when I did, though, it seemed like he always lined up 7 – 10 yards off his man. Granted, that may have been a schematic decision the coaches made that doesn’t necessarily reflect on his individual skills, but I think it’s worth noting.
I don’t think he’s a bad player, and like you said, he was only a true freshman last year. But I just haven’t seen anything from him yet that qualifies him as a playmaker. Frederick, yes. With Harris, though, I don’t think he’s there yet.
Scheme change?
Fair point — Harris made his lone INT in the bowl game, and I think both his pass break-ups also came in that game. So did the coaches make a schematic change and put Harris in more press coverage? Or did he just play an exceptional game out of the same coverage that he’d been playing all season? I honestly don’t know. It’s virtually impossible to tell how the WR’s & CB’s are lining up before the snap on TV. In any case, I hope the bowl game is a sign of things to come from Harris.
he mixed up coverages against Green
Green couldn’t shake him in press coverage, though
If Green is as good as the Southeastern press seems to think he is, we have a helluva CB on our hands.
- or whatever in the nation is pretty damn awful for a pass defense any way you slice it.
by Displaced Longhorn on Aug 4, 2010 1:17 PM CDT reply actions
hmm, i definitely wrote #106… looks like it got reformatted to 1.
by Displaced Longhorn on Aug 4, 2010 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions
there are certain things which can inflate pass numbers one way or the other
a pass rush that gets constant pressure is one (which is something I think texas’ secondary benefited from)
poor tackling (our problem) is another
none of the other 105 teams ahead of you had to deal with this either.
by Displaced Longhorn on Aug 5, 2010 1:18 PM CDT up reply actions
Bear with me here.
The definition of insanity is that one keeps doing the same things, but expects a different outcome. For the sake of this arguement, the same thing is basically the same personnel or some replaced with Freshmen? So just by tackling better they can go from #106 in the nation to number 3 in the conference or possibly even #1?
That’s a big leap.
I agree that there is basically only one direction they can head. If freshmen are going to help make that push in a conference with high octane offenses, that is asking a lot.
we're returning two upperclassment and one sophomore starter
I’m not seeing how that is replacing any personnel with freshmen
you seem to think that our secondary issues are due to a lack of talent (the “returning the same personnel” argument)
do you disagree with the premise that players can improve from their freshmen to sophomore year?
Did you think texas’ secondary issues in 2008 were due to lack of talent or youth?
I’m not sure how hoping a change in scheme and improved fundamentals bringing about better results is “doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome”.
when one “keeps doing the same things” in, say, I don’t know, practice, outcomes occasionally change.
by AgAstraPerAspera on Aug 4, 2010 9:41 PM CDT up reply actions
I do agree players can improve and that is likely. With the number of reps due to pass plays in the spread offenses, substitution is necessary or the 4th quarter will be a nightmare. That is where the young talent comes in as back-ups. You referred to your Frosh maybe getting some playing time not me.
One of the challenges is transferring the talent into real game results. Once players get comfortable they relax and react, instead of thinking and playing slower. You have a new Defensive Co-ordinator so this will be a factor to some degree.
I think your talent and speed are getting better. You have a very good future with your offensive line. Games are won and lost in the trenches. The Arkansas game may give us a glimpse to the answers to all of these situations.
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