Jump to content

Texas DB & LB Talk


LTtxfan

Recommended Posts

On 9/21/2021 at 8:18 AM, LTtxfan said:

Scipio Tex --  2021 Texas-Rice Postmortem: Defense

LB

Rice attacked our linebacker's desire to drift and vacate with the little pitch power wrinkle that screams outside toss but is actually designed as an inside power run. That's good coaching identification by Rice and it led to multiple big gains. This was their longest:

The two interior DTs get blocked. Luke is coming on a run stunt. Overshown blocks himself by drifting and never reads his blocking keys. BJ drifts to a bad spot, loses depth and sight of the ball, and doesn't really see what's happening. I don't know what Jamison is doing. Dude's backpedaling at a power run. This play really messed with our keys and I'm curious as to why. We'll see multiple forms of it again.

DB

Rice had three completions >10 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per completion. Not a lot to evaluate here in the passing game. Jerrin Thompson forced a fumble putting his shoulder pad right on the ball and Josh Thompson was there with a hustle fumble recovery. Up 37-0, Josh was selling out like it was a 0-0. I appreciate that. Anthony Cook is good 

 

Thx for this @satyanash

Shitty LB play has become the standard at Texas. "Finesse" LBs, that is Scipio's way of  saying they are good if every thing is clean in front of them. Reading OL keys and occasionally taking on a block is something that is apparently optional. It is so frustrating. 

Edited by Codaxx
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx for this @satyanash 

Scipio Tex  -- Texas Tech Postmortem 

LB

Overshown led the team with 9 tackles and made some great plays in space, largely in pursuit. I also want to show you some bad Demarvion, which will help you understand some of the success teams are having running inside and why Texas can be poor at the point of attack.

Skip to 0:29 in:

#0 stands, watches, and gets pancaked by a Tech TE spectating on a very straightforward inside run. What he's doing here defies a lot of the basic rules of linebacking. Overshown has to fire on this more quickly and use his quickness. That should be a 1-2 yard run. He should not be getting reached and pancaked by a freaking tight end lined up outside of him. (FWIW, you also see the consistency issues with Collins on this play - watch him get washed out)

Brockermeyer had a great opportunistic interception grab that he brought deep into Tech territory and was otherwise active. Like Overshown, he's watching a little too much on some inside runs. He had a very similar clip to Overshown on another Thompson run where he was also caught looking. Both of these guys are finesse linebackers and must play accordingly. Trust the keys and fire in there. Jaylan Ford notched 4 tackles in relief and that's the most I've seen of Devin Richardson to date.

DB

First, let's start with the awesome.

Terrific job by Josh Thompson. This is the best example of what's possible in PK's scheme. Thompson is in off coverage, suggests he's going to outright bail, lulls the QB into an automatic throw, and attacks the ball right through the receiver. Pick 6. He also added 5 tackles and his only hickey was missing an early tackle on Ezukanma, who is, in fairness, a very strong receiver.

I also want to praise the Andrej Karic of the CB group - Darion Dunn. Every time he's on the screen, I see him doing something physical and nasty.  He had 4 tackles and brought willing, violent contact on multiple plays. My notes have repeated "Good tackle, Dunn" and "Dunn is violent" liberally scrawled all over them. Nothing but praise for Anthony Cook. Straight up football player. 6 tackles and even when he makes an error, it's done full speed with immediate recovery.

Then there's the crayon portion of the test:

Watch both clips. In the first, Jamison does a great job of riding the receiver out and then lets up almost as if he doesn't understand the receiver eligibility rules. Then Schooler comes over the top with the "assist." He hits Jamison and frees the Tech receiver for a TD. This is...not good. On the other side of the field, Jamison gets victimized again on the same concept. Zero safety help and Jamison doesn't play the coverage as if he knows whether he has any or not. Colombi knew where he was throwing the ball on both of those plays before the snap hit his hand.

BJ Foster also had a rough outing, giving up the inside on Tyler Shough's TD run and then showing up late a couple of times on Tech throws. Was it on him entirely? I can't tell, but I know his depth and reaction to the ball in the air isn't good enough. Schooler did have a great physical tackle that was flagged on the goal line and I have no idea why. The "slam" happened in the natural course of the tackle.

Adimora had a late sack on a hard blitz and Jerrin Thompson added 4 tackles. I expected to see more of Admiroa and I still wonder if he has a role for us at safety at some future date. Jerrin got caught with a bad angle or two supporting the run, but sometimes backs spring out of the scrum pretty quickly.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to see Cook having a good season... Thx for this @satyanash

Ian Boyd:

Quick thought no. 3: Anthony Cook

Cook has not yet received enough love in this column for his play at nickel but the day has come. He had eight tackles, six solo, and two tackles for loss which included a sack-strip when he was blitzed off the edge and found Max Duggan unawares. He’s excellent working the flat in the quarters schemes with Jerrin Thompson over the top. Opponents have struggled to establish the screen game, he gets to arrives as a slightly late but still valuable defender in the run fit from the far hash, and he can blitz. In a close win wherein Texas defended the spread run pretty effectively from two-high coverage and he forced a turnover, there’s a lot of ways you can credit Cook for the victory.

Also:

Quick thought no. 2: Conservative gameplan on defense

Once again, Pete Kwiatkowski brought a conservative gameplan in, content to play a lot of quarters (two-high) and allow the Frogs to spread them out underneath against the run. The reasoning was clearly a belief TCU wouldn’t be able to sustain drives and finish in the red zone. It worked out pretty well. Zach Evans gave them fits with 15 carries for 113 yards but TCU had to rely on the quarterback run game when Max Duggan couldn’t find anywhere to throw. Duggan ended up with 16 carries himself for 33 yards and on the day TCU had 169 on 41 for 4.1 ypc and two touchdowns. Bijan Robinson outproduced their entire run game.

There’s a lot of upside for the defense within this conservative, “make em beat us consistently” approach as the season progresses. The Texas D-line should improve, especially as the weather cools down, and as DeMarvion Overshown continues to learn where the ball is going they’ll really pick it up. He had 10 tackles in this game, eight solo tackles, but unfortunately also ripped an interception from Luke Brockermeyer’s hands. Brockermeyer had nine tackles and was quietly pretty good despite being singled out by the announcer for being blocked by Zach Evans on quarterback lead runs. Also within this approach on defense… 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx for this @satyanash

Scipio Tex postmortem on tcu game

DB

They need to be evaluated within the scheme that PK wanted them to play and that plan put an emphasis on not letting Purple jerseys run past 'em, tackling, and anticipation. Tackling and anticipation are works in progress, but not letting the ball over their heads was a win. At least they executed the thing that that alignment was built to do.

A fantastic game-changing play from Anthony Cook and a good play call from PK. Cook delivered a smart blow, forced the fumble, and rather than stand and flex admiring his work, he went and made the recovery. Cook had another beastly play attacking a TCU WR screen where he blew past a blocker and inflicted a two yard loss. He finished with 8 tackles, 2 tfl, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery. There's another play on a Duggan keeper where he lit up Evans as the lead blocker and it seemed to take a little spring out of Zach's step. The penalty on him for the Duggan hit was also utter nonsense. Anthony Cook is my current Longhorn Defensive MVP.

Josh Thompson missed the game and that may have also played a role in the game plan. Darion Dunn got the starting nod and I think Crawford got some run as well, but couldn't always see where he was subbing. BJ Foster had a few mystifying snaps where he seemed to lose sight of the ball. Lacks closing speed in pass coverage. 5 tackles. Jerrin Thompson had a bad missed tackle in the open field, but was otherwise solid. 5 tackles. Visibly frustrated at times by gaps in Longhorn zone coverage.

LB

Tough outing at times for this unit. Brockermeyer gutted through multiple injuries to record 9 tackles, but playing him at 70% is testament to how the staff feels about the alternatives. Overshown had 10 tackles and made a terrific play scraping inside across a blocker on a 3rd down Zach Evans run near the goal line to save a touchdown, but Demarvion spends a little too much time in confusion. He was bailed out on a poor Duggan throw on an early 3rd down when he turned his back to the line of scrimmage and lost his assignment. TCU also made Texas pay for letting #0 get isolated against a slot on the Duggan TD throw. Jaylan Ford got some run and finished with 3 tackles.

Too many missed tackles from this unit overall. Pursuit angles need to improve.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for this @satyanash

Scipio Tex:  Postmortem blOU Defense 

LB/DB

I lost count of the number of missed tackles from linebackers and safeties at the second level that resulted in an extra 200+ yards of Sooner rushing (and three long touchdowns). Jerrin Thompson, Brockermeyer, Foster, Overshown, Schooler all were victimized. They were the unblocked run force on some huge Sooner runs and they bounced off of Kennedy Brooks (or a freshman QB) as if they’d encountered a prime Earl Campbell. No other defense OU has played this year has experienced that phenomenon. Is it because the tacklers from Tulane and West Virginia wrap up?

Playing two deep safeties works when they can tackle reliably filling the alley from deep, have real lateral range, and play with anticipation. 0/3.

BJ Foster is much worse as a senior than he was as a true freshman. He’s also physically weaker. I don’t know how that’s possible when a guy eats for free and is obligated to spend time around 30 million dollars of weights. I have no idea how a classic physical box safety once full of dawg has degenerated so badly and is now being played as a two deep spectator with limited range and ball skills feebly throwing shoulders at ballcarriers expecting them to go down. He got manhandled by OU receivers (including Drake Stoops) on several runs. Stoops is a 5-10 slot receiver who looks like he has a paper route.

Don’t ever call it a 50/50 ball when a Texas DB is involved. It’s 80/20 and I know who has the 80. Speaking of player’s getting weaker and struggling to hold ground, win 80/20s, or hold low pads…strength and conditioning looks very poor. This is a physically weak defense overall. As if they spent the entire offseason screwing around with light weights and doing rate of force... ahem... “functional” training.

Final

Six games into his tenure, Pete Kwiatkowki and his defensive staff have failed in what they’re trying to do with the Longhorn defense. He’s locked into doing it his way. Right now, it’s the other way. Scheme, philosophy, and personnel need a major rethink, but none of that matters much without low pads, better tackling, and the right players demonstrating an understanding of the defense. That may not yield a good defense, but it will yield a watchable one... 

 

Edited by LTtxfan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting comments by poster on 247     (MacDaddy3)

Quote

A few Tidbits as far as other things I saw that stood out to me as I graded the game film this week:

Brockermeyer is our best option. Luke has been getting some criticism about his play that I think is unwarranted. I am not going to tell you Luke is a great player and we should all praise him. I will tell you that he has been consistent and better than anyone else who has come in and spelled him at times.

Jerrin Thompson had a very bad game against OU. For the record I like Jerrin and think he has a bright future but he had some negatively wow moments against the Sooners. Go back and look at the 4th and 1 long TD run by C. Williams. Thompson was unblocked and in the hole and flat out whiffed, this also happened a second time in the game too. Now watch the last play of the game and tell me what you think as far as his effort and execution - not good.

BJ Foster's game reminds me of a man with two faces. Sometimes he looks so good coming up in run support or making a great pick, then there are times I am left scratching my head. He gets lost in coverage sometimes and go check out his effort on the last play of the game, I can't decide who was worse on that play Foster or Thompson.

Jett Bush is not playing bad. I will admit I was one of the ones criticizing his play a few weeks ago, but after breaking down film and watching what he has done play by play for the last 2 games I have changed my mind. He is obviously undersized but his motor is excellent and he makes effort plays that most of our other DL can't make. Again there are limitations here but he is a serviceable back up.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, LTtxfan said:

Jerrin Thompson had a very bad game against OU. For the record I like Jerrin and think he has a bright future but he had some negatively wow moments against the Sooners. Go back and look at the 4th and 1 long TD run by C. Williams. Thompson was unblocked and in the hole and flat out whiffed, this also happened a second time in the game too. Now watch the last play of the game and tell me what you think as far as his effort and execution - not good.

Some poster broke down some of Jerrin's plays and he literally tackled with his head down the entire game.

 

Quote

Jett Bush is not playing bad. I will admit I was one of the ones criticizing his play a few weeks ago, but after breaking down film and watching what he has done play by play for the last 2 games I have changed my mind. He is obviously undersized but his motor is excellent and he makes effort plays that most of our other DL can't make. Again there are limitations here but he is a serviceable back up.

The thing about Jett is he may not be playing bad but he's severely limited physically for what they're asking him to do.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
  • Like 1
  • Rage+1 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting comments by poster on 247     (MacDaddy3)
A few Tidbits as far as other things I saw that stood out to me as I graded the game film this week:
Brockermeyer is our best option. Luke has been getting some criticism about his play that I think is unwarranted. I am not going to tell you Luke is a great player and we should all praise him. I will tell you that he has been consistent and better than anyone else who has come in and spelled him at times.
Jerrin Thompson had a very bad game against OU. For the record I like Jerrin and think he has a bright future but he had some negatively wow moments against the Sooners. Go back and look at the 4th and 1 long TD run by C. Williams. Thompson was unblocked and in the hole and flat out whiffed, this also happened a second time in the game too. Now watch the last play of the game and tell me what you think as far as his effort and execution - not good.
BJ Foster's game reminds me of a man with two faces. Sometimes he looks so good coming up in run support or making a great pick, then there are times I am left scratching my head. He gets lost in coverage sometimes and go check out his effort on the last play of the game, I can't decide who was worse on that play Foster or Thompson.
Jett Bush is not playing bad. I will admit I was one of the ones criticizing his play a few weeks ago, but after breaking down film and watching what he has done play by play for the last 2 games I have changed my mind. He is obviously undersized but his motor is excellent and he makes effort plays that most of our other DL can't make. Again there are limitations here but he is a serviceable back up.
 

I’m not MacDaddy, but we may be related.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...