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Has Leach had his "Price-like" come to Jesus Moment?

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We are going to play a defense that emphasizes speed/athletic ability over the tape measure. We are going to have a Chris Hayes style nickel back.

Now Calvin Green is moved to CB. We all know he is the fastest kid on the team. Priester might argue otherwise. We all know that we have depth at receiver, real depth, not just bodies, but zero at CB, particularly CBs with high end speed. He becomes the fastest DB we have had in a long, long while. Let's face it, you can't compete in this league unless your DBs are as fast or faster than the WRs they cover. We have been trying for years, unsuccessfully.

Here is what you probably don't know. Calvin Green was a Sacramento Bee all Metro League first team CB, not WR, Max Prep All San Joaquin Section first team at DB, not WR. He who had 7 ints, 113 tackle, his junior and senior years. He was a very good high school WR/returner, no doubt, and you want speed at WR, but he was the best CB in all of Central California in high school. This kid played, barely, last year at WR, when our secondary needed so much help. That is a head scratcher. But that is all behind us now -- the most accomplished and fastest CB Leach has signed at WSU is finally playing in our secondary.

Hard not be pumped over this move. Let's hope that Calvin is to our secondary, what Keith Millard was to our DL.
 
I think the move could be better for him, but as I mentioned before most kids on the west coast do not want to play defense so maybe that is why he was given a go on offense first.

As far as pass defense goes we weren't alone in having a bad pass defense. In fact most of the Pac-12 is in the gutter of pass defense.


#8 Stanford

#93 - Utah
#94 - Oregon State
#96 - UCLA
#103 - Colorado
#106 - ASU
#111 - Oregon
#118 - USC
#121 - Arizona
#123 - Washington
#127 - WSU
#128 - Cal

Basically 11 of the Pac-12 were at the bottom 25% of the FBS in pass defense.

Us moving to a 4-2-5 / 3-3-5 hybrid bodes well to have a better defense to curtail the Pac-12 offenses. The move to get rid of Breske has just as much to do with scheme as it does with performance. Now that Leach has seen the types of offenses we are facing now it's time to bring in a solid counter.

Grinch and Missouri beat every spread passing team they faced in 2013/2014.

They beat A&M (twice), Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Toledo, Ole MIss so whatever was done defensively was pretty damn good.
Also they didn't allow any passing plays over 60 yards and were in the top 25% in not allowing passes of 30 yards or more so they do a good job of preventing big plays (which sort of had been hurting us)

We still have a lot of young guys in the secondary so it will be still a struggle for us this year (and that would have included green) but 2016/2017 it won't surprise me if we have one of the best secondaries in the conference..it won't take much considering how bad everyone else is.
 
The post by Tron shows the issue that we are facing. We don't need to be the best in the country on defense to be successful. We just need to stop the other guys enough to give our offense the chance. We need to avoid the big mistakes and the long plays (explosive plays in Leach's lexicon) and get some turnovers. It's ok for our opponents to gain 350 yards in a game as long as they end some drives empty handed.
 
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The post by Tron shows the issue that we are facing. We don't need to be the best in the country on defense to be successful. We just need to stop the other guys enough to give our offense the chance. We need to avoid the big mistakes and the long plays (explosive plays in Leach's lexicon) and get some turnovers. It's ok for our opponents to gain 350 yards in a game as long as they end some drives empty handed.

yeah it's my general sentiment we don't have to be amazing. Just not give up big plays. get a few turnovers, and slow people down enough. We do those things and we are in great shape.
 
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The post by Tron shows the issue that we are facing. We don't need to be the best in the country on defense to be successful. We just need to stop the other guys enough to give our offense the chance. We need to avoid the big mistakes and the long plays (explosive plays in Leach's lexicon) and get some turnovers. It's ok for our opponents to gain 350 yards in a game as long as they end some drives empty handed.
CAL's defense was worse than WSU's and they won two more games. It is about minimizing the mistakes on defense and special teams, plus get a few more turnovers and the season plays out so much different than last year.
 
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The D just has to be average and that will win the team a lot of games. If they're above average the Cougs will be in business.
 
We are going to play a defense that emphasizes speed/athletic ability over the tape measure. We are going to have a Chris Hayes style nickel back.

Now Calvin Green is moved to CB. We all know he is the fastest kid on the team. Priester might argue otherwise. We all know that we have depth at receiver, real depth, not just bodies, but zero at CB, particularly CBs with high end speed. He becomes the fastest DB we have had in a long, long while. Let's face it, you can't compete in this league unless your DBs are as fast or faster than the WRs they cover. We have been trying for years, unsuccessfully.

Here is what you probably don't know. Calvin Green was a Sacramento Bee all Metro League first team CB, not WR, Max Prep All San Joaquin Section first team at DB, not WR. He who had 7 ints, 113 tackle, his junior and senior years. He was a very good high school WR/returner, no doubt, and you want speed at WR, but he was the best CB in all of Central California in high school. This kid played, barely, last year at WR, when our secondary needed so much help. That is a head scratcher. But that is all behind us now -- the most accomplished and fastest CB Leach has signed at WSU is finally playing in our secondary.

Hard not be pumped over this move. Let's hope that Calvin is to our secondary, what Keith Millard was to our DL.
I hope you are right. But the difference is Price elected to have his defensive coaches have the pick of the litter. Green was getting beat out, so they are trying him at corner. If he doesn't do well, then he rides the bench.

Here is the million dollar question. Is Green track speed or cover corner speed. How does he cut. While it is so limited in terms of sample size, what I have seen of Green it appears he has that straight forward speed. I never saw the quick feet and cutting ability. The two kids with those quick feet and cutting ability, Marks and Cracraft.

Take Horton, he was a slug past 15 yards, but had really good ability to break on the ball. He had the footwork to cover the out pattern.

It is what made Torey so good. He had the quick feet and the acceleration. I hope Green makes the move, can do the things Torey could do, and stop the big play.
 
Do you want a guy who can recover after getting beat by a double move, or a guy who doesn't get beat in the first place? I think raw speed is a little overrated at the CB position.

I'll take a 6'2" average speed(4.5-4.6)guy with length and really good technique, and can tackle, over a 5'10" burner(4.3-4.4) who can't win off the snap or beat a guy for a ball in the air.

Leach being proactive to shore up the secondary with great athletes is exciting.

Shoring up implies we already have guys there and are completing depth. We do not have enough guys there as it is and they are building the position group from depth at another position group. This is definitely not a positive sign.

It may work out. Green could be a good fit for it. If he maintains the underlying speed and athleticism, and builds his technique, then it's a great move.
 
We are well set with a number of respectable WRs with more on the way considering the way that Martin, Priester and Sweet have performed in practice. CBs- not so much. Reassigning Green to defense and seeing what Grinch can do with him is a logical move. He has a far better chance to contribute there than on offense. Whether it works out remains to be seen but the shift seems a "no-brainer" to me.
 
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I hope you are right. But the difference is Price elected to have his defensive coaches have the pick of the litter. Green was getting beat out, so they are trying him at corner. If he doesn't do well, then he rides the bench.

Here is the million dollar question. Is Green track speed or cover corner speed. How does he cut. While it is so limited in terms of sample size, what I have seen of Green it appears he has that straight forward speed. I never saw the quick feet and cutting ability. The two kids with those quick feet and cutting ability, Marks and Cracraft.

Take Horton, he was a slug past 15 yards, but had really good ability to break on the ball. He had the footwork to cover the out pattern.

It is what made Torey so good. He had the quick feet and the acceleration. I hope Green makes the move, can do the things Torey could do, and stop the big play.

I don't think Green ever stepped on the track in anger. But the kid played as a true freshmen and caught 13 balls, he also caught 9 passes in last year's spring game, as pre-freshmen (his high school class hadn't graduated). Again, that was against our secondary, so you have to put an asterisk there. He caught 4 balls this spring too. When you play as a true freshmen, at a position that has depth, that is hardly not cutting it. That is generally for redshirt juniors OLs who have never seen the field.

The kid has credentials up the yazoo, both ways. He was the Sacramento Metro League, MVP, in addition to being a 1st team CB, league and region-wide. Was he moved to D because of him slipping on the offensive depth chart? Was it because he was asked to do it for the team? Who cares! What I do know is we are struggling and thin in the secondary, and we don't have the luxury of leaving our most acclaimed/fastest CB recruit coming out of high school as one of many receivers on the depth chart.

Will he be a high end DB, you knows? What I do know is that a kid who is slow never has a chance to be. Green is the first kid we have had in a while who doesn't have to be perfect, like Horton. He has the speed to make mistakes and recover. With secondary 1 int all last year, and 127 nationally, standing pat is hardly an option, particularly when our best returning CB, in a bad secondary. got kicked off the team.
 
Shelton Danzy is the greatest example of a guy with the right attitude and decent speed that didn't have the physical tools to compete in the Pac-12 as a corner back. He was supposed to have 4.51 speed, which isn't fast but it's not terrible. When it came down to it, straightline speed didn't matter because he couldn't transition and change direction effectively and washed out pretty fast. Who knows what will happen with Green, but until we see him on the field in live fire, there's no way to know for sure.
 
Shelton Danzy is the greatest example of a guy with the right attitude and decent speed that didn't have the physical tools to compete in the Pac-12 as a corner back. He was supposed to have 4.51 speed, which isn't fast but it's not terrible. When it came down to it, straightline speed didn't matter because he couldn't transition and change direction effectively and washed out pretty fast. Who knows what will happen with Green, but until we see him on the field in live fire, there's no way to know for sure.
Christ, Danzy had the "right" attitude? He quit after 90 days.
 
We are going to play a defense that emphasizes speed/athletic ability over the tape measure. We are going to have a Chris Hayes style nickel back.
I also wonder about T (Mata’afa), End (Mitchell/Coats), and MIK (Pelluer long-term as a starter). It may take 1 or 2 years to really see speed at all positions but should be interesting to watch whether some of the younger/first year players can overtake the 1-deeps entering fall camp.
 
I think the move could be better for him, but as I mentioned before most kids on the west coast do not want to play defense so maybe that is why he was given a go on offense first.

As far as pass defense goes we weren't alone in having a bad pass defense. In fact most of the Pac-12 is in the gutter of pass defense.


#8 Stanford

#93 - Utah
#94 - Oregon State
#96 - UCLA
#103 - Colorado
#106 - ASU
#111 - Oregon
#118 - USC
#121 - Arizona
#123 - Washington
#127 - WSU
#128 - Cal

Basically 11 of the Pac-12 were at the bottom 25% of the FBS in pass defense.

Us moving to a 4-2-5 / 3-3-5 hybrid bodes well to have a better defense to curtail the Pac-12 offenses. The move to get rid of Breske has just as much to do with scheme as it does with performance. Now that Leach has seen the types of offenses we are facing now it's time to bring in a solid counter.

Grinch and Missouri beat every spread passing team they faced in 2013/2014.

They beat A&M (twice), Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Toledo, Ole MIss so whatever was done defensively was pretty damn good.
Also they didn't allow any passing plays over 60 yards and were in the top 25% in not allowing passes of 30 yards or more so they do a good job of preventing big plays (which sort of had been hurting us)

We still have a lot of young guys in the secondary so it will be still a struggle for us this year (and that would have included green) but 2016/2017 it won't surprise me if we have one of the best secondaries in the conference..it won't take much considering how bad everyone else is.
Counterpoint to your defense stats - most of the Pac-12 was in the upper tier in passing offense:
#1 - WSU
#6 - Cal
#10 - Oregon
#15 - USC
#19 - Colorado
#21 - Arizona
#31 - Oregon State
#32 - Arizona State

Half of our teams in the top 25 passing offenses, two more in the upper 1/3. WSU averaged 477.7 yards passing last season, and we played all but two of the teams on your list (missed UCLA and CU). Playing against us no doubt skewed their numbers...and some of those teams also played Cal (346 ypg) and Oregon (312.5 ypg), so numbers get stretched even further.

So, today's chicken/egg argument - were the defenses poorly rated because the offenses were strong, or were the offenses strong because the defenses were weak against the pass?
 
Christ, Danzy had the "right" attitude? He quit after 90 days.
He also had a really badass personal recruiting website, IIRC. While I'm not certain he played much football after WSU, he's likely enjoying a successful marketing career somewhere!
 
Christ, Danzy had the "right" attitude? He quit after 90 days.

When I say attitude, I mean that he was the most enthusiastic Coug recruit that I've ever seen. He wanted to be a difference maker at WSU more than any guy in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, when reality set in, that made it exceptionally hard on him. He left pretty fast but I think it's harder on the ones that want it the most. He didn't leave throwing tantrums and I'll always have fond memories of the guy.
 
When I say attitude, I mean that he was the most enthusiastic Coug recruit that I've ever seen. He wanted to be a difference maker at WSU more than any guy in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, when reality set in, that made it exceptionally hard on him. He left pretty fast but I think it's harder on the ones that want it the most. He didn't leave throwing tantrums and I'll always have fond memories of the guy.
I have a totally different take. People who want it the most don't quite 3 months in. Just my take, but seeing a recruit (surprised me a bit to be honest) at the Doba dinner, and he was recognized for being there, he really loved the process. He loved being pursued. Truth is, what 17 or 18 year old wouldn't?

Then the work started. Vey few players know if they are outmatched three months into their freshman year. Maybe Pullman turned out to be a bad fit, I don't know. But three months doesn't give your most active "recruiter" a very good indication whether or not he made the wrong decision or that he was overmatched.

Maybe I am harsh because he was with Ark Hall, and Hall and his dad thought HS accomplishments meant something. Everyone gets a clean slate. No one gets anything handed to them at this level. Yet Hall felt elite 11 entitled him.
 
He also had a really badass personal recruiting website, IIRC. While I'm not certain he played much football after WSU, he's likely enjoying a successful marketing career somewhere!
I Googled him, and found his name on the Arizona Western College roster in 2008. Nothing after that.
 
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