Looking Ahead - Defensive Back

[Jerry the Jacket]

We have some redshirt freshmen that will figure into the mix in the secondary as well. John Marvin 6'1" 190 lbs. was slotted at safety and Cory Griffin 6'3" 185 lbs. was a safety/cornerback type of player. I had heard some good things about Marvin during the year on the scout team. The other person that might play in here is Ty Griffin who will most likely start out as a backup QB candidate but may move to the secondary to get some playing time. You also have Durham the Austin twins and Searcy coming in as freshmen. They probably will all redshirt but when you add these to the existing numbers we have in the secondary we have plenty of quantity. With the type of players we normally recruit, it takes at least two years of development before you begin to realize if you have a player or not. So most of the the redshirt freshmen and freshman are one to two years away from knowing what we have.

Hopefully from that we can find enough to play with some quality.

I would project the starters as Jamal Golden/Chris Milton at one corner, D. J. White at the other. At safety i think Isiah Johnson and Demond Smith will start with Lynn Griffin being the first in as a sub. Dominique Noble will be the next in. I think our priority is developing a couple of more corners. Hopefully Step Durham and one of the Griffins can provide some depth.

Go Jackets!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I don't get all the praise for Demond Smith last season. He seemed to be out of position an awful lot.

 

[gtg936g]

I don't get all the praise for Demond Smith last season. He seemed to be out of position an awful lot.

I think you have to look at how he progressed as the season went along. He made some mistakes but played well overall. Zone coverage made him look worse than he was.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I don't get all the praise for Demond Smith last season. He seemed to be out of position an awful lot.

I agree- I think Demond's best attribute is he hits hard. I also think Isaiah Johnson gets more praise than deserved at this point in his career. It's like people are assuming because he's experienced that he's really good. I've never thought of him as being a game-changing type of player, although I guess being experienced (especially in the secondary) helps out.

 

[Boomergump]

I wouldn't be surprised if IJ has a hard time getting back on the field. It is true that he has a ton of game experience, but there is more talent in the secondary now than when he got here.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

I think Isiah has talent and will be more motivated to show it since this is his last chance to impress the pro scouts. He has not been great but he is as good as anyone else we currently have at the safety position.

Go Jackets!

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

A couple of other walk on names I discovered on the roster for this coming year, Dennis Onwuala moved to CB from WR, Brandon Dumbuya CB, Tyler Teknipp S, Jeredith Giles S. and one that I forgot who might just be a pretty good player, Holland Frost. Holland played great in the Spring game last year and I thought we would be seeing him some on the field last year. I'm thinking he must have had some injury or other issue that kept him out. He will be a redshirt Sophmore this year and originally was a walk on quarterback. I would be interested to find out more about Holland and his status if anyone (Eric) has more information.

Go Jackets!

 

[AE 87]

A couple of other walk on names I discovered on the roster for this coming year, Dennis Onwuala moved to CB from WR, Brandon Dumbuya CB, Tyler Teknipp S, Jeredith Giles S. and one that I forgot who might just be a pretty good player, Holland Frost. Holland played great in the Spring game last year and I thought we would be seeing him some on the field last year. I'm thinking he must have had some injury or other issue that kept him out. He will be a redshirt Sophmore this year and originally was a walk on quarterback. I would be interested to find out more about Holland and his status if anyone (Eric) has more information.

Go Jackets!

He's a rapper who dropped some tracks under the name Dutch Ice.

 

[chrsw003]

Hollands not playing anymore

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

Hollands not playing anymore

What happened with him?

Go Jackets!

 

[ATL1]

I feel comfortable in saying IJ will start.

Cory Griffin 6'3" 185 lbs that is Richard Sherman type size, I hope he is skilled enough to have an impact.

 

[stylee]

Shame about Frost. Fast, physical kid.

 

[UgaBlows]

Shame about Frost. Fast, physical kid.

x2, i was excited to see more of him after last years spring game

 

[Tech First]

Shame about Frost. Fast, physical kid.

Did I miss something? Why is he gone?

 

[alaguy]

My take is that -
To be positive--we have 4 guys back who have started at safety and one at CB,so we have some exp.--IJ,Golden,Smith,Noble and White.
Then we also have some guys who might break through-Milton,LGriffin . Then we have Fr-Durham,Austins
Overall an avg group but could get it done if planets line up right.

There are 2 big problems though.---First again ,we probably will have a poor pass rush which makes these guys look worse than they probably are.---Next,we basically don't have but one real CB after DJ(who is still learning himself).Milton would seem to be the best bet but who knows.Smith,IJ,Golden,Noble are all really Safeties (and 2 coming off bad injuries).LGriffin may be a wild card there.
Durham is coming for Spring but although a 4star oddly his tape to me didn't look that good and a TRUE Fr at DB is tough.
My other concern is the coach-Speed.He certainly didn't coach-up Lou Young who was a disaster as a SR!

 

[UgaBlows]

one thing i always have liked about IJ's game is that he seems to have a good nack for being in the right spot for interceptions

 

[Boomergump]

My take is that -
To be positive--we have 4 guys back who have started at safety and one at CB,so we have some exp.--IJ,Golden,Smith,Noble and White.
Then we also have some guys who might break through-Milton,LGriffin . Then we have Fr-Durham,Austins
Overall an avg group but could get it done if planets line up right.

There are 2 big problems though.---First again ,we probably will have a poor pass rush which makes these guys look worse than they probably are.---Next,we basically don't have but one real CB after DJ(who is still learning himself).Milton would seem to be the best bet but who knows.Smith,IJ,Golden,Noble are all really Safeties (and 2 coming off bad injuries).LGriffin may be a wild card there.
Durham is coming for Spring but although a 4star oddly his tape to me didn't look that good and a TRUE Fr at DB is tough.
My other concern is the coach-Speed.He certainly didn't coach-up Lou Young who was a disaster as a SR!

You are right about the pass rush. It is the biggest concern in pass defense I have.

 

[stylee]

Did I miss something? Why is he gone?

No idea, he's no longer on the roster though.

Thought he'd at least be a solid special teams contributor.