How would you grade Trey DePriests career at Bama?

Roll Tide 00 said:

The reason i ask is because i've heard a few people say he was one of the main reasons Alabama lost to Ohio State in the playoff a couple of years ago.That Urban Meyer targeted him alot in that game and took advantage of his lack of sideline to sideline speed.Does anyone think this is true?What are your thoughts on him as a player?

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What I saw in the OSU game was DePriest following the RB out of the backfield on those 3rd and long plays which opened up a huge gap for Cardale Jones to run as much as he did. I think that was a coaching adjustment that was never picked up on or made and not Trey's fault.

Trey was a solid player. I never thought of him as a star, but, as someone who usually got the job done. I can't blame Trey for the loss to Ohio State. It was a team let down.

There were 10 other guys on defense every time DePriest stepped on the field, so blaming DePriest is stupid. People saying that are simply looking for a scapegoat and most likely know very little about football.

Let's look back at the OP:

Roll Tide 00 said:

The reason i ask is because i've heard a few people say he was one of the main reasons Alabama lost to Ohio State in the playoff a couple of years ago.That Urban Meyer targeted him alot in that game and took advantage of his lack of sideline to sideline speed.Does anyone think this is true?What are your thoughts on him as a player?

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Don't see anyone blaming the loss solely on Trey. For some reason, people have taken the OP to mean that. Is it far fetched to believe Urban and Tom Herman saw some of Trey's weaknesses and decided to take advantage when possible?

Roll Tide 00 said:

Not sure if that is 100% true as one of the people i've heard give this opinion was Greg McElroy on his radio show.He described Trey as 'Slow and Lumbering"in reference to the Ohio State game.

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I'm not referring to this kind of analysis. Yes, DePriest was slow when compared with other LBs like CJ Moseley. What I am referring to is this nonsense of blaming the entire loss on one player, like DePriest.

RTR91 said:

Let's look back at the OP:



Don't see anyone blaming the loss solely on Trey. For some reason, people have taken the OP to mean that. Is it far fetched to believe Urban and Tom Herman saw some of Trey's weaknesses and decided to take advantage when possible?

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By singling out DePriest, they are blaming him. Was he beat on several plays? Yes. But so were several other players. So singling him out makes no sense except to blame him unless the conversation is about our overall lack of speed or other aspects. "One of the main reasons" on one hand admits there are other reasons but immediately diminishes those other reasons. DePriest was a solid player who did his job to the best of his ability. He was no more a cause for the loss than anyone or anything else, so it's unfair to single him out.

NationalTitles16 said:

By singling out DePriest, they are blaming him. Was he beat on several plays? Yes. But so were several other players.

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When someone says "Team X did ___ to exploit a weakness they saw on film because they felt they could have success with it," they aren't blaming the loss entirely on that one weakness. Just pointing out one area where Team X felt was a possible spot to have success.

So singling him out makes no sense except to blame him unless the conversation is about our overall lack of speed or other aspects. "One of the main reasons" on one hand admits there are other reasons but immediately diminishes those other reasons. DePriest was a solid player who did his job to the best of his ability. He was no more a cause for the loss than anyone or anything else, so it's unfair to single him out.

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The OP says he's heard analysts say this, not just some random fan down at the Texaco grabbing a coke and a few packs of Marlboros on his way to the ball field. Many time those analysts talk to coaches, so their comments come with actual game plan knowledge.

Did Alabama beat Michigan State because Lane and Nick saw a weakness in their safeties covering a guy in the slot and decided to put Calvin Ridley there to go deep a few times? Nope, but them taking advantage of it didn't hurt Bama's chances.

RTR91 said:

When someone says "Team X did ___ to exploit a weakness they saw on film because they felt they could have success with it," they aren't blaming the loss entirely on that one weakness. Just pointing out one area where Team X felt was a possible spot to have success.



The OP says he's heard analysts say this, not just some random fan down at the Texaco grabbing a coke and a few packs of Marlboros on his way to the ball field. Many time those analysts talk to coaches, so their comments come with actual game plan knowledge.

Did Alabama beat Michigan State because Lane and Nick saw a weakness in their safeties covering a guy in the slot and decided to put Calvin Ridley there to go deep a few times? Nope, but them taking advantage of it didn't hurt Bama's chances.

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Roll Tide 00 said:

The reason i ask is because i've heard a few people say he was one of the main reasons Alabama lost to Ohio State in the playoff a couple of years ago.That Urban Meyer targeted him alot in that game and took advantage of his lack of sideline to sideline speed.Does anyone think this is true?What are your thoughts on him as a player?

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This is what I and others were responding to in defending DePriest and in criticizing the notion that DePriest was if not "the" reason then "one of the main" reasons. To ask that and then ask what everyone thinks of him as a player is not simply discussing the reasons for the loss. It is not simply saying CUM exploited numerous weaknesses to win the game. Good lord, man, it calls him out by name.

I've said my peace on the matter. Anyone reading that objectively would see my point. Any fool can see DePriest was slower than some of the opposing players. Any fool could see he wasn't the only player outrun by the opposing players. Now if someone wanted to talk about team speed or DL or LB speed or a certain play where a certain player was out of position or the like, then fair game. But singling out a player for his speed and then saying he was "one of the main reasons" for the loss is different and that should be obvious. He wasn't the only player beat. There were plenty of players out of position on a number of plays.

So I reject the notion that DePriest was "one of the main reasons" because it was a team loss. From attitude to preparation to execution. So I stand by my contention that singling out one player is ridiculous and stupid and unfair.