How To Solve The Secondary?

[OUGreg723]

My Solution:

Starting Corners: Reggie Smith, Marcus Walker. Safeties: Nic Harris, Darrien Williams..

Thats as good as I think it is going to get back there. As far as I'm concerned-no more Lendy or DJ at all. Maybe put Lendy in at nickel. Harris, I think is just too good not to be out there all the time. The guy makes plays. I dont know if this would ever be a good secondary, but maybe it could be solid.:O

[oumartin]

no pressure being brought by the front four makes any secondary look like ours

[mightysooner]

I think those guys can play. I don't think they have quality coaching from BJW to put themselves in the right situations. I'm not sold on Lendy Holmes. He looks no better than Wolf to me. Not sure why Marcus Walker can't stay in a game either. He was ballin'.......and then he was gone again. I don't get it....

[stoops the eternal pimp]

no pressure being brought by the front four makes any secondary look like ours

exactly......all coverage breaks down after 3-3.5 seconds....thats what our DLine coaches used to say in high school and at NSU a similar number(not sure how true that is).....you get no pressure, it makes your secondary too vulnerable...

[MamaMia]

no pressure being brought by the front four makes any secondary look like oursOkay, so who is goofing up the front 4?

[usmc-sooner]

Okay, so who is goofing up the front 4?

the front 4

[sooner969]

Without being able to watch the game film, the secondary has a BAD habit of watching the game instead of playing the game. The linebackers do it as well. The long TD pass given up by Holmes was because when he turned his hips to run with the receiver he did so in slow motion because he was looking into the backfield. By the time he got turned to run the receiver was by him by 5 yards. The linebackers continuously watched the backfield as they lost the receivers in their zone areas as well as in man to man. There has been absolutely no improvement in wrapping up. Shoulder tackling is the order of the day. Harris was watching the backfield yet again when his receiver blew by him for the win. By the time his hips turned the game was over. The paper quoted him as saying I didn't think he was gonna get the pass. I guess he just figured to take this play off.

[MamaMia]

the front 4Maybe we need a new technique then. There are different kinds of rushes or maybe bench those 4 and try out some others? :)

[usmc-sooner]

Maybe we need a new technique then. There are different kinds of rushes or maybe bench those 4 and try out some others? :)

your guess would be as good as mine, cause I sure don't have the answer.

[StoopTroup]

I think Lendy Holmes is a good football player.

It's got to be tough switching from Offense to Defense...especially to the corner.

I hope he and DJ rise above all of this and try to continue to improve and be a continuing integral part of the team.

Tough times for them right now.

[landbandit]

I'm thinking we need an extra player..... :pop:

[Pepper]

Birdine has been playing well. I would disagree if you think he is the problem.
DJ would have been no worse than the others that played yesterday.

As for an extra player, it sure helps if the 12th man is wearing stripes. Just ask Oregon.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

The DE's have been out of position to make plays most of the 3 games played so far.it looks like they are using the same pass rush every single play. ..ah you has 5 tackles thru 3 games and 0 sacks.....
Thibs has not shown anything that resembled his performance last season....Birdine is the only DE with a sack....


Bennett and Pendleton are both light DTs(260's or 270's) and were abused in that UAB game and in the Washington game when they played....Granger and Coleman have played OK at times but honestly need experience...

Our system needs big strong DTs to tie up blockers so that are small quick LBs can make tackles but they cant...Other DTs have payed from having Harris and DVoracek tying up double teams so that other players could make plays....but we arent getting any respect up front and its all one on one blocking.....

[arlington]

No way should Darrien Williams ever be more than a nickel back in a good secondary.Are you kidding me? Your free safety should be either a ball hawk or a big hitter, preferrably both and he is neither.. Hell we would be better off putting DJ at free safety because he is the best tackler of the group

[freshchris05]

the secondary has a BAD habit of watching the game instead of playing the game. .

i agree 100% with that statement... the secondary acts as if they need to spy the backfield... we have good enough athletes at every position that it shouldnt be that way at all... we should have a better pass rush than a run stopping front four, but we dont even have that... the qbs we faced all could run and this rush we have is nothing if u dont hit the sob once in a while... even if ur not getting the sack, dont get a roughing the qb or nothing but let him know ur gonna be right there all game, cuz without that whats he scared about?? play with attitude and intensity front 4 thats all im sayin, backers need wake up, as for the secondary... just play ur postion

[rhombic21]

My thoughts about the defense:

Corners: Smith and Walker, with Holmes coming in to spell both, and DJ being used as a dime back.

Nickleback/3rd LB - Nic Harris

Safeties - Darrien Williams and Keenan Clayton. Here's my logic on Clayton/Carter. Both have missed tackles and been out of position, but Clayton has the better athleticism and potential, and probably had better ball skills. If you're going to have inconsistent play, at least have inconsistent play with a big upside. Clayton will get better with experience. Carter isn't going to get any faster or suddenly become a ballhawk. I know that you could theoretically put Harris over Williams at FS, but I really feel like Harris is better up near the LOS than he is playing the deep middle. I don't think we have anybody else who can play the LB/Safety combo (Roy Back) as well as Harris does.

LBs - Pleasant/Harris (Pleasant in obvious run situations, Harris on second and third downs), Rufus, and Lofton. I know that the concern about moving Lofton is that he gives us a lot of depth at OLB, but Latimer is just not getting the job done. He completely lost his gap responsibility several times, continues to miss tackles, and had two passes thrown right at him that he didn't catch.

I think the DL is coming along alright. The only change that I'd make there is that I'd play Granger and Coleman more. And I might look at getting Dotson and Williams a few more snaps in place of Thibs and Ah You, neither of whom are playing as well as they did a year ago.

[sooner969]

The defensive line looked outstanding being pushed into the linebackers.

[rhombic21]

The DL made a few plays, but they also made some bad plays. But some of those runs were the result of LBs not filling the right gaps, or being out of position because of a blitz package. They certainly aren't as dominant as they were in 2003 when we had Cody, Jackson, Harris and Dvoracek, but they did make a few nice plays. Oregon also has a pretty solid OL, and uses some good blocking schemes to play off their mobile QB and the run game.

[freshchris05]

The DL made a few plays, but they also made some bad plays. But some of those runs were the result of LBs not filling the right gaps, or being out of position because of a blitz package. They certainly aren't as dominant as they were in 2003 when we had Cody, Jackson, Harris and Dvoracek, but they did make a few nice plays. Oregon also has a pretty solid OL, and uses some good blocking schemes to play off their mobile QB and the run game.

memories...


change pants

[Egeo]

the dl is not dominating, but they are doing ok as is the same as everyone else
everyone is inconsistend
when the secondary covers well the dl doesnt get a push
whe the dl does get a push somebody is running wide open 20 yards deep

the blame goes everywhere
finally, jason carter hasn't played near as bad as keenan clayton and id call carter our best safety (other than maybe nic harris who gave up the last td of the game yesterday)

[Jewstin]

Nic Harris had been playing really well till he got beat on that final touchdown. :\ Just a brainfart ... that cost us the game.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him benched.

[rhombic21]

Carter missed several tackles, made zero plays in coverage, and was out of position all day. Clayton apparently looked great in practice, and he seems to have a lot more potential and a lot more athleticism, so I'd rather play him if we're going to have inconsistent play either way. Carter is a fourth year Junior, and I just don't see him getting a lot better with more playing time. Clayton is a RS Freshman, and once he gets some game experience, he could be a really good player.

They ought to at least give Clayton more snaps against MTSU, and give him a chance to win the job back, and prove that he can execute in the game.

I don't know what we're going to do about Williams, because I don't think we have anybody who can replace him. Maybe Clayton can replace Williams? I don't know how similar the two safety positions are, and if Clayton would be able to sub for Williams. Or I guess you could put Harris in over Williams and play Pleasant and Baker more.

[Egeo]

i only remember carter missing one tackle...
and williams didnt make any plays in the secondary either

but clayton missed way more tackles than carter or williams from my memory (or at least when clayton missed them, they went for big yardage)

i could see baker playing the nickelback with nic harris as a safety and the better player between carter and williams as the other safety
this is probably a stupid idea, but i wonder if dj could play some solid safety if we could get marcus walker in their all the time

[rhombic21]

Yeah, I thought about DJ too. But I'm not sure that he's any better than Carter or Williams in the tackling department, and OU really depends on the safeties to be able to tackle in space. And OU's safety position is really, really complicated, so he probably wouldn't even be ready to play for several games. But maybe as a nickelback or something, since that position doesn't usually have to defend deep routes.

I remembered seeing Carter miss several tackles, but on a lot of them, somebody else came in and stopped the play before it gained too many yards.

[sooner969]

The DL made a few plays, but they also made some bad plays. But some of those runs were the result of LBs not filling the right gaps, or being out of position because of a blitz package. They certainly aren't as dominant as they were in 2003 when we had Cody, Jackson, Harris and Dvoracek, but they did make a few nice plays. Oregon also has a pretty solid OL, and uses some good blocking schemes to play off their mobile QB and the run game.

The LB's aren't making plays because the DL can't keep them free. The OL is scraping off to the LB's in a text book fashion because they have no trouble blocking and controlling the DL one on one. Granted, perhaps they should shed their blockers in a more timely fashion but the fact of the matter is the DL is weak and being dominated.