Secondary talent

[Northeast Stinger]

We know for a fact that our starting safeties have gotten too bulked up and lost speed, has that carried over to the corners as well?

Could be but playing slow is one of the first signs of not being sure about your assignment. Take that for what it’s worth.

 

[sgreer]

Pr

Could be but playing slow is one of the first signs of not being sure about your assignment. Take that for what it’s worth.

Probably need to simplify the defense down week to week until they can get it right I guess.

 

[GT05]

2 safeties we have are to big and slow for those positions

 

[jeffgt14]

The problem is receivers aren't dropping enough passes. Has nothing to do with our ability to cover.

 

[GoldZ]

Our secondary issues aren't talent related. It's coaching. Players are making the same mistakes schematically over and over and it's not getting corrected. Now, I don't know if it's Burton or Thacker, but one hasn't gotten the job done. I love CGC, but now we will see if he can earn his money by evaluating the coaching deficiencies and making the hard choice by moving on from someone who can't get the job done.

The size, speed, and previous playing time of our secondary, is what labelled them as the strength of our team in pre-season. I think this answers the OPs question.

If, If, If.......we bring in a quality defensive staff, there is hope, considering: the young DL grows up, the even younger DL recruits contribute depth, and the LB corp of Thomas, Jackson, Tatum, and Willis reach their high ceiling potential. Thomas and Jackson are proven veterans, Tatum, a star in the making, has a bit of experience this year due to injuries to starters, and Willis may one of our best in a long time (remember Roof was pretty damned effective as a Fr). As for the OL, we need to stay healthy. The 2020 class OL will be Juniors (note, yesterday ND started a Jr and Fr on the OL) and many top programs start Soph OL.

I still have hope that CGC combined with quality Co-ordinators, will be a winning combo. However, the excuse train is pulling out of da station with more and more donors on board.

 

[GoldZ]

2 safeties we have are to big and slow for those positions

Tariq needs to back up his on field trash talking with on field play.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

We need to just play man and take our chances. These guys have not been able to master whatever is required to cover opponents in a zone scheme. I would also blitz every down. You have to find some way to get pressure on the QB. Send as many as you need to move the QB off his spot and when the opportunity evals itself put a hit on his butt just to keep him thinking of that potential. Of all the teams I have watched this year, I believe we have the least effective defense in college football. Other than the UNC game we just have not shown any consistency other than bad performance.

Go Jackets!

 

[bobongo]

We need to just play man and take our chances. These guys have not been able to master whatever is required to cover opponents in a zone scheme. I would also blitz every down. You have to find some way to get pressure on the QB. Send as many as you need to move the QB off his spot and when the opportunity evals itself put a hit on his butt just to keep him thinking of that potential. Of all the teams I have watched this year, I believe we have the least effective defense in college football. Other than the UNC game we just have not shown any consistency other than bad performance.

Go Jackets!

I agree. Play man to man and blitz often, at least for the rest of the season.

 

[jacketup]

Yes we have blown converages. Yes guys don't even seem to know who they should be covering. Yes, we are slow to recover.
However, anytime a team is giving up a lot of passing yards, and we are, you also have to look at the front 7. I have been amazed at the way we let QBs sit back with all day to throw. We had zero sacks against BC, and Jurkovic beat us almost by himself. Watch some other teams play and see if the opposing QB has as much time--I say they don't. No secondary can cover for the length of time that ours is asked to.
I do not understand why we don't use more blitz packages. Yes, we will get beaten sometimes, but we are getting beaten now. I want the opposing QB know we are coming after him and dealing pain.

 

[bobongo]

Yes we have blown converages. Yes guys don't even seem to know who they should be covering. Yes, we are slow to recover.
However, anytime a team is giving up a lot of passing yards, and we are, you also have to look at the front 7. I have been amazed at the way we let QBs sit back with all day to throw. We had zero sacks against BC, and Jurkovic beat us almost by himself. Watch some other teams play and see if the opposing QB has as much time--I say they don't. No secondary can cover for the length of time that ours is asked to.
I do not understand why we don't use more blitz packages. Yes, we will get beaten sometimes, but we are getting beaten now. I want the opposing QB know we are coming after him and dealing pain.

Notre Dame had a fourth down on one drive in the first quarter, when it was still a game. I was dismayed to see that we only rushed four guys. My belief is that you have to get pressure on the QB, at all costs. If you can do it with three, fine. If it takes more, bring them. Whatever it takes.

 

[g0lftime]

How about some "cat" coverage by the secondary. You take that cat and I'll take this cat.

 

[bobongo]

How about some "cat" coverage by the secondary. You take that cat and I'll take this cat.

That has a chance to work, if our two secondary coaches can keep their cats straight.

 

[stinger 1957]

First let me say I could be wrong about what I perceived coming into the season, but my impression was CGC and company saw our only chance was to play a lot of kids at an extremely high level of effort, flying around, hitting people, gang tackling, trying to rip the ball getting turnovers etc and that has to have players who buy into it and are willing to put out the effort. They also needed to play as mistake free as possible (mental). It also meant we had to substitute heavily in order to have that kind of sustained effort to make it effective. Seems like I saw much of the above in the Clemson and UNC games and then we mentally started breaking down, This is just me, I don't blame the coaches for that, it is on the players, they have to want to do all of what the winning formula takes, granted it is/was a lot, but it was the only way we were ever going to have a chance this year IMO.
Where from here? IMO recruit to what you are trying to do and build from the ground up, do not panic and go and hire someone else, let the man who can recruit do his thing. Do we need a new coach or two, I don't have any idea, I trust CGC for that decision, he's there and I trust Todd to provide what CGC needs to keep the build moving forward.
I bought into what someone else on here recently said and that was he/she would not really take a look at where we are until after the '23 season, that is definitely where I am, I'm backing CGC all the way and so wish others that are beating up on him would recognize what a monumental job we had in building this thing back to real power 5 FB and that it was never going to be pretty getting there.
There is one other thing, I remember CPJ saying his kids were coming in with that entitlement mentality that has become so prevalent in recent years and if I had to guess that could have added to the problem of implementing the CGC plan for a better season that I talk about above. Go Jackets!!

 

[bobongo]

First let me say I could be wrong about what I perceived coming into the season, but my impression was CGC and company saw our only chance was to play a lot of kids at an extremely high level of effort, flying around, hitting people, gang tackling, trying to rip the ball getting turnovers etc and that has to have players who buy into it and are willing to put out the effort. They also needed to play as mistake free as possible (mental). It also meant we had to substitute heavily in order to have that kind of sustained effort to make it effective. Seems like I saw much of the above in the Clemson and UNC games and then we mentally started breaking down, This is just me, I don't blame the coaches for that, it is on the players, they have to want to do all of what the winning formula takes, granted it is/was a lot, but it was the only way we were ever going to have a chance this year IMO.
Where from here? IMO recruit to what you are trying to do and build from the ground up, do not panic and go and hire someone else, let the man who can recruit do his thing. Do we need a new coach or two, I don't have any idea, I trust CGC for that decision, he's there and I trust Todd to provide what CGC needs to keep the build moving forward.
I bought into what someone else on here recently said and that was he/she would not really take a look at where we are until after the '23 season, that is definitely where I am, I'm backing CGC all the way and so wish others that are beating up on him would recognize what a monumental job we had in building this thing back to real power 5 FB and that it was never going to be pretty getting there.
There is one other thing, I remember CPJ saying his kids were coming in with that entitlement mentality that has become so prevalent in recent years and if I had to guess that could have added to the problem of implementing the CGC plan for a better season that I talk about above. Go Jackets!!

It's not just that we're losing, it's the way we're losing that drains hope anything will improve under this coach.
I think the team played hard until now but it looked like to me a lot of players quit in South Bend. That's a major red flag.

 

[stinger 1957]

It's not just that we're losing, it's the way we're losing that drains hope anything will improve under this coach.
I think the team played hard until now but it looked like to me a lot of players quit in South Bend. That's a major red flag.

I think CGC has to make a major move with the team, It would not surprise me if many left, went to medical and got their degree etc., I don't know this, I'm speculating. I've heard some of the players saying the coaches are giving them good game plans etc and then their comments just "tail off", leaving me with the impression that there is an element of players with attitude problems. I remember seeing some video recently where the coaches themselves were being used for tackling dummies, that was a bigtime message, told me that there was a real problem with an element of players and their attitudes etc. This will bring a team down every time. You have to get 'em out of there and quickly, if in fact that is the problem. I go back to what CPJ said about the entitlement mentality of the kids he was bringing in. Entitlement mentality does not translate into success imo.

 

[GoldZ]

I think CGC has to make a major move with the team, It would not surprise me if many left, went to medical and got their degree etc., I don't know this, I'm speculating. I've heard some of the players saying the coaches are giving them good game plans etc and then their comments just "tail off", leaving me with the impression that there is an element of players with attitude problems. I remember seeing some video recently where the coaches themselves were being used for tackling dummies, that was a bigtime message, told me that there was a real problem with an element of players and their attitudes etc. This will bring a team down every time. You have to get 'em out of there and quickly, if in fact that is the problem. I go back to what CPJ said about the entitlement mentality of the kids he was bringing in. Entitlement mentality does not translate into success imo.

Ross said the exact same thing as CPJ. From what I can see, telling them you love em and hugging em after blowing an assignment, is NOT the anecdote to said mentality.

 

[VRTechFan]

Ross said the exact same thing as CPJ. From what I can see, telling them you love em and hugging em after blowing an assignment, is NOT the anecdote to said mentality.

I doubt Saban told his players how much he loved them after losing to Texas A&M

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

What is our problem with our present secondary players, speed/athleticism or physicality? I had gathered it was speed/athleticism.

A Los Angeles Rams secondary player was once asked who was the best player in the Rams secondary. He pointed at Deacon Jones and Merlin Olson two members of the "Fearsome Foursome" that wrecked havoc as defensive linemen. That was a half century ago and remains true today. Pressure on a quarterback makes any defensive back look good. That said, it would appear that our secondary is just not that good even though they came "highly recommended".

 

[bobongo]

The mentality C****** has brought to GT football can be summed up with one word - SOFT!

We went from a coach who would be suspended every year these days to a coach who is charmin soft. And it was seen in year 1 when he told us how runs practice - run through hundreds of drills with no starters. No coaching going on and he is soft in not naming starters so as to not hurt anyone’s feelings. His entire system of ATL is built on softness. His mantra of “stay ready so you don’t have to get ready” is just pure softness. We’ve seen it play out. There is no personal responsibility by coaches or players. Someone gets burned and they stay on the field. When was the last time we saw a player get in a teammates face? We have a bunch of soft players who believe being “hard” is making a tackle being down 35 and strutting for the cameras. The 1 player I noticed who has gotten in some grills is Charlie Thomas. But he’s up against dozens of softies. You can tell by body language that Gibbs is just racking stats until he is pardoned. Our starting QB this season is a mirage. Soft as soft can be. We do have some good hard nosed players but when you have a coaching staff and most of your teammates who are soft what can you do.

A new coach could quickly win ballgames just by practicing the right way and changing some attitudes. Justin Thomas, Days, Laskey would have had to be on crutches not to play against ND or UGA. But our starting QB just hangs out game after game with the walk ons. We have NO leadership.

Is that what the marshmallows the ND fans were throwing on the field were about?

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Is that what the marshmallows the ND fans were throwing on the field were about?

Were they really throwing marshmallows? I can't imagine what that meant. UGA fans infamously threw sugar cubes in one game to celebrate winning the SEC and going to the Sugar Bowl. Likewise, Florida fans threw oranges one year but marshmallows?