Is anyone else suprised by how poorly our secondary has played? Something looks seriously off, and I can't put my finger on it.
I understand we're young, but something else has got to be wrong.
Is it because, suprisingly, we're not creating any pressure with our DL?
Is it because we're playing almost entirely man coverage?
Are we playing man coverage because our frosh havn't grasped our zone concepts?
Is Bonner not getting the coverage call right?
Some thoughts:
> I thought Antone Exum looked good in coverage as a freshman when he came in as the nickleback. He often ran stride for stride with receivers and was able to find and defend the ball in the air. As a sophomore, starting at rover, he had a very heavy shoulder and was just plain mean to ball carriers. Now, as a junior, WTF. His coverage has been obviously suspect and he's missed too many tackles.
> Donaldven Manning is obviously not ready.
> Michael Cole needs to be in attack mode.
> Fuller - don't let that man behind you bro...
> Jarret was all up on the line of scrimmage. Seemed a step too slow when I noticed him in coverage.
> Bonner - where you at? I havn't noticed him at all.
I now understand why we've recruited so many DBs / athletes the last two recruiting cycles. There's clearly a gap.
Comments
A thought
Not saying it's the answer but has anyone else had the thought of Jarret at corner and Exum back to safety?
I'd prefer
Bonner to Corner and Exum at Safety, Jarret has been one of the surest tacklers thus far and is making big plays in the run game while not getting totally burned in coverage.
Exum & Jarrett
I don't think Exum will be moved back to Safety this season (probably not next year either unless Kendall shows up and is a complete stud) but I'm going to hold onto this pipe dream:
If Antone could be the safety he was last year and we could switch him and Bonner, then we would have an absolutely lethal combo at the safety spots with Exum & Jarrett.
I really hope 'Tone can work everything out and we can have the 2 shutdown corners (Kyle & Tone) we all thought we were gonna have before the season started.
I'll continue to hope.
LONG LIVE THE TERRORDOME
Miss Kam Chancellor
It seems like we hit the perfect storm this year. Over the last 13 years there were two sure things at VT; a great running back and a great secondary. We don't have a great running back this year, and that's not something anyone in or around our program is used to.
As for the secondary, I completely agree that we aren't as good. I feel like I would watch Tech games and always see one future NFL safety. There was Kam Chancellor, Aaron Rouse, Vincent Fuller, and that's just naming a few. Now we don't have a great safety, and Exum clearly isn't a great man-to-man corner. He needs to go back to safety, I wouldn't be opposed to Manning getting a lot more time, he has to figure it out eventually. Bonner just is flat out bad.
I think we have two guys who could end up NFL safeties....
....and, inexplicably, both start at CB. Jarrett was recruited as a lockdown CB, put him back there and deal with the pain. Bonner is in the mold of previous VT Field Corners. Manning is young, but skilled...deal with his mistakes and get him reps. He might supplant Bonner by the end of the year. Cole is a Rover, get him reps backing up Exum.
I've always thought Fuller and Exum to CB was about beating GT, getting our two best tacklers containing the edge. But for the rest of the year, it's completely opposite of where you want those two guys playing. fuller is the QB of this defense, put him at FS.
Fuller is a Corner, plain and simple. I don't think anyone needs to go into the details. He IS a cornerback. We've had other CBs be the 'QB of the Defense' in the past.
Taking Fuller off the CB spot and moving him to safety completely decimates the corner position.