sherm03;466710 wrote:And Gary Gray or Harrison Smith will be torched for one of those touchdowns.
Not saying that will or won't happen. But it's a crucial topic for the season. Outside of Dayne Crist, the defensive backs will make or break this season (Ian Williams at NG is probably third most important vital part).
Look at the Notre Dame personal who played considerably last season and return:
Gary Gray was a four-star cornerback, ranked #6 in 2007. Being form the south, he had offers from Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, among others. Darrin Walls was a four-star cornerback, ranked #7 in 2006. He garnered offers form Michigan, Penn State, and, oh, Florida. Robert Blanton was a four-star cornerback, ranked #15 in 2008. He received offers from Michigan, Cal, Oregon, etc. Harrison Smith was a four-star athlete, ranked #25 in 2007. He received offers from Alabama, Stanford, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Auburn, etc.
All highly recruited and thought to be tremendous players by everyone. Why though, did they suck dick last fall? Don't get me wrong, four-star players bust all of the time, it's very common. But for an entire unit of guys so good to be just completely terrible? It doesn't make sense.
Take Harrison Smith, he ran a 4.38 in HS. But let's be honest, every time we saw him on camera he was "out of position." But that's my point, was he really out of position, or was he very
in position for a terrible defensive scheme? Guys that fast aren't very out of position unless they're dumber than sleeper. I mean I was a defensive coordinator in high school last season, we called blitzes less predictable than Jon Tenuta. It's one thing to blitz and put your backs on an island, it's another thing to blitz constantly with such a futile scheme as to put your defensive backs on islands so big and so constantly. Jon Tenuta absolutely ruined 2009 in my opinion, more so than Charlie Weis.
That said, I'm pretty excited to see what scheme Diaco runs that will hopefully not fuck over his defensive backs so often. Am I predicting a complete 180-degree turnaround? No. But they aren't chanting "BIA" (Best In America) because they're delusional schizophrenics, they went through hell last season and want to show America who good they can be.
I expect the defensive backs to be much, much better than last season. That's not saying much, and with so little depth at safety, they won't be world-beaters. But still, I just can't buy into the belief All-American HS players grew cement boots suddenly prior to 2009.
