Safety play

[msstate7]

Why do we struggle so much at safety? Is it talent? Does Collins' defense put too much pressure on them?

[ShotgunDawg]

Why do we struggle so much at safety? Is it talent? Does Collins' defense put too much pressure on them?
I think Jamal Peters may answer this question

[msstate7]

I think Jamal Peters may answer this question

This is my hope. Really hope he comes in playing from day 1. Peters and gray are the two I'm most excited to see next season

[defiantdog]

Don't forget about Brandon Bryant..... The dude is a stud during practices

[hailmari]

I really thought Bryant would play this year. He was pre-built for college.

[Political Hack]

if our CBs are as good as I think they're going to be next year, we may only need 1.

[msstate7]

Don't forget about Brandon Bryant..... The dude is a stud during practices

If Bryant comes in like a world beater next season, I'll be extremely ticked we haven't used him this year. Safety is the position we could definitely use help

[bulldawg28]

The safeties aren't playing disciplined that's the biggest problem.

[BeastMan]

I think it's a mixture of things. I think Hughes and Market are below SEC talent standards but play above their heads. Cox is an SEC talent but isn't our most savy safety. The future looks like both of those issues are being rectified. I really like Coman's ceiling both physically and mentally. Bryant has been great in practice. Signing Peters and Wilson further bolsters the future.

[defiantdog]

Peters will play next year..... he's too good to redshirt. Bryant decided to redshirt on his own (playing time). He could have played, but would have been limited like Gray.

ETA: Jarvis Wilson will be raw at the safety position. He will need to redshirt next year so he can figure the position out more. Remember when we tried to put Cox at DB.

[ShotgunDawg]

I think it's a mixture of things. I think Hughes and Market are below SEC talent standards but play above their heads. Cox is an SEC talent but isn't our most savy safety. The future looks like both of those issues are being rectified. I really like Coman's ceiling both physically and mentally. Bryant has been great in practice. Signing Peters and Wilson further bolsters the future.

Don't forget about McClaurin as well. He seems to be every recruiting guy's "gut feel" guy

[jumbo]

The safeties aren't playing disciplined that's the biggest problem.



yep. on the deep ball to Cooper, Cox took 1 step towards the line once the ball was thrown and that cost him being in position for a pick. If he immediately turns and runs he has the interception or worst case knocks the ball down

[DudyDawg]

I'm disappointed Cox hasnt been more of a factor making plays on the back end for us

[thedawg]

Hughes a solid not spectacular player.. He may have been really really good but the Achiles injury in my opinion is the toughest in football to get over for a speed player.. Evans is just ok... Market I love him to death but hes an over achiever. Cox up until this point has been an under achiever... Like has been said we will be very very good on the back end in the future with McLaurin Peters and Bryant.. throw Coman into that mix.. The question is how quickly?

[BeastMan]

Don't forget about McClaurin as well. He seems to be every recruiting guy's "gut feel" guy

I think he could be a LB in college. He's going to blow up when he gets on campus.

[defiantdog]

yep. on the deep ball to Cooper, Cox took 1 step towards the line once the ball was thrown and that cost him being in position for a pick. If he immediately turns and runs he has the interception or worst case knocks the ball down

That was Hughes and Market on the deep ball thrown to Cooper

[jumbo]

That was Hughes and Market on the deep ball thrown to Cooper


well then it was Hughes who misplayed it. it looked to me as if he though Sims was going to throw a bullet to him and not air it out, so he took a step forward to try and stop that, and got beat. Market was in decent position, but just couldn't make the play

[defiantdog]

well then it was Hughes who misplayed it. it looked to me as if he though Sims was going to throw a bullet to him and not air it out, so he took a step forward to try and stop that, and got beat. Market was in decent position, but just couldn't make the play

Market should have never been on Cooper in the first place. Our arrogance got the best of us in the first half of that game. Everyone knew where the ball was going when we saw Market line up against Cooper. Same with Hughes on the touchdown pass to Cooper.

McLaurin and Peters should both play safety. I hope we don't make either of those guys "hybrid" linebackers. I bet either of them would have jammed Cooper at the line to where he couldn't get that easy touchdown grab.

[bluelightstar]

That was Hughes and Market on the deep ball thrown to Cooper

That was Cox and Market. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2268793-alabamas-amari-cooper-grabs-50-yard-pass-between-2-mississippi-state-defenders

At any rate, Hughes isn't GREAT -- but it seems to me that he's rarely at safety when we're getting beat down the field on big plays. He never stood a chance on that Amari Cooper TD pass. Awful decision.

[engie]

IMO, there is a bit of a disconnect between our corners and safeties -- and basically has been for the entire time this group of coaches has been at MSU. I think some of this is fostered by them being under two separate coaches, vs a single "DB" coach like some other schools have, but surely there is a reasonable remedy to fix that, as I think both are very good coaches. You could argue that it was in sync in 2010 and early 2011, but I think that was just Nickoe's elite athleticism masking problems at the time. We haven't had anyone close to that ever since his injury.

Not real sure how I'd go about fixing it -- because I had extremely high hopes that it would be fixed this year and it isn't. A big part of the amount of yards that we give up is our distrust in our free safeties being in position, basically forcing everyone else to play soft to attempt to avoid the huge play. This allows us to play no underneath coverage whatsoever, which guarantees the passing lanes on the short stuff...

[GTHOM]

Cox has played well for the most part, i think our safeties and really the whole secondarys problem this year has been ball skills. most of the time we are in good enough position to make a play on the ball we just dont do it. i think they have done a good job at times, the whole ''states secondary is bad'' talk bad the media is way overdone. they forget to mention we lead the SEC in sacks, passes defended and in the upper half in picks and pass D efficiency. i hope McCreary and Bo think they will be able to just sit back there and throw on us

[EnterpriseDawg]

Cooper is going to "get his" no matter who you put on him. He is just a beast. I thought the D played the best game of the year in that game last Saturday. I at least think they did enough to give our offense a chance. Just took them too long to figure out you can't run when they stack the box.

[CadaverDawg]

Nickoe's instincts masked our safety issues early on, but now that we don't have him, they are very apparent. It's fixable, but I hate having separate coaches from CB to S, like engie said.

I think our safety play, or lack thereof, has taken the "psycho" out of our defensive game plan all year.

[defiantdog]

That was Cox and Market. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2268793-alabamas-amari-cooper-grabs-50-yard-pass-between-2-mississippi-state-defenders

At any rate, Hughes isn't GREAT -- but it seems to me that he's rarely at safety when we're getting beat down the field on big plays. He never stood a chance on that Amari Cooper TD pass. Awful decision.

It looked like #3 from where I was sitting, my bad. Damn, where is Cox and his speed that we all thought he had?

[defiantdog]

Nickoe's instincts masked our safety issues early on, but now that we don't have him, they are very apparent. It's fixable, but I hate having separate coaches from CB to S, like engie said.

I think our safety play, or lack thereof, has taken the "psycho" out of our defensive game plan all year.

We don't threaten anyone with the big hit. Coman shows glimpses of being able to lay the wood, but he struggles in coverage. Look at Collins and Perry for Alabama..... they controlled the middle of the field against us, and they hit people with enthusiasm. We don't have that mean son of a bitch who demands respect.

I didn't mind when Nickoe used to get unnecessary roughness penalties..... he was a mean hard hitter that we have been missing.

[CadaverDawg]

We don't threaten anyone with the big hit. Coman shows glimpses of being able to lay the wood, but he struggles in coverage. Look at Collins and Perry for Alabama..... they controlled the middle of the field against us, and they hit people with enthusiasm. We don't have that mean son of a bitch who demands respect.

I didn't mind when Nickoe used to get unnecessary roughness penalties..... he was a mean hard hitter that we have been missing.

Agree

[PendingTransaction]

It looked like #3 from where I was sitting, my bad. Damn, where is Cox and his speed that we all thought he had?
Cox is too soft for a safety and not savvy enough to play corner.

[maroonmania]

yep. on the deep ball to Cooper, Cox took 1 step towards the line once the ball was thrown and that cost him being in position for a pick. If he immediately turns and runs he has the interception or worst case knocks the ball down

Yep, saw that, he made one misstep and it left him out of position to make the play. Hadn't been for that its a ball that hung up long enough that he could have made a pick.

[Political Hack]

It looked like #3 from where I was sitting, my bad. Damn, where is Cox and his speed that we all thought he had?

he bit off on an underneath route and had to try to recover. list two steps and that's one more than it takes with Cooper.

[quickstrike2]

It looked like #3 from where I was sitting, my bad. Damn, where is Cox and his speed that we all thought he had?

Might be think about the Cooper TD, #3 was covering him on it.

[bulldawg28]

IMO, there is a bit of a disconnect between our corners and safeties -- and basically has been for the entire time this group of coaches has been at MSU. I think some of this is fostered by them being under two separate coaches, vs a single "DB" coach like some other schools have, but surely there is a reasonable remedy to fix that, as I think both are very good coaches. You could argue that it was in sync in 2010 and early 2011, but I think that was just Nickoe's elite athleticism masking problems at the time. We haven't had anyone close to that ever since his injury.

Not real sure how I'd go about fixing it -- because I had extremely high hopes that it would be fixed this year and it isn't. A big part of the amount of yards that we give up is our distrust in our free safeties being in position, basically forcing everyone else to play soft to attempt to avoid the huge play. This allows us to play no underneath coverage whatsoever, which guarantees the passing lanes on the short stuff...

Separate coaches had nothing to do with it. In fact you need separate coaches due that the two positions have very little in common. These safeties are not disciplined nor playing the coverages they're supposed to. When they do play it properly they don't attach the ball. They'd rather the WR catch the ball then tackle them. No ball instincts or desire to make a play. It's just terrible to me.