How will the secondary be reshuffled?

rgw

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Also, Averett has been a revelation as the reserve corner who allows Minkah to play at star in nickel. I don't think Averett being on the field in all packages is a bad thing and it is seamless transition for him (his snaps just go up a bit because he's on the field in regular). Tony Brown has been repping at star and safety anyway. Minkah would really be the only guy who has to step out of his comfort zone and he may just be the most talented DB on our roster right now.
 

beatthemtigers

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Why not? Tony can handle that. Shoot, Carter can handle that as well. I like this move because Tony is very physical, so I'm willing to bet that Pruitt will find a way to use him in blitz package.
Well we blitz a lot more period, will Tony be able to hold his man if the pressure doesn't get to the qb right away? I guess that's what I'm worried about. Having 26 and 29 on receivers usually lock them down
 

gtgilbert

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I think it is an interesting thing to chew on during the bye week and it may get our five best DBs on the field but what does Minkah know about the safety positions? Our nickel position does have some similarities in responsibilities to safety but I think Fitzpatrick has gotten more time at the pure corner positions than at the pure safety positions.

I still bet on Hootie Jones starting at strong safety in Tiger Stadium in two weeks but I do think Fitz at free safety is a very interesting choice. He has a similar knack for playing the ball in space that Eddie possess.
You made me think of something:

Against LSU we will play our base defense with only 4 DBs more than we have the entire rest of the year combined so moving Fitz back there puts our best 4 on the field for the majority of the reps anyway, then when we do go nickel we put a physical guy like TB in there so he can still help with the run, or we slide fitz back to star and hootie in at a S spot which he's used to playing in dime.

Fitz is like a little bit bigger eddie - taller, heavier, just as fast and certainly has the same knack for finding the ball and getting it back up field.

really interested to see what happens in practice tmrw now!
 

rgw

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Minkah ended up with 3 picks and a TD in the second half against Arkansas, but I thought Arkansas was kinda picking on him a bit in the first half...especially when we were in regular and he was lined up outside. His first pick was in regular but it was an INT forced by pressure where he basically fair-caught it. His other two interceptions (and the pick 6) were in nickel while playing star where he kinda played loose matchup-zone from the looks of it.

We don't play regular much at all anymore, so the majority of Minkah's snaps have been at star...and that position isn't always "locking down a guy" because they're often involved in pass offs of underneath routes.
 

JustNeedMe81

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Well we blitz a lot more period, will Tony be able to hold his man if the pressure doesn't get to the qb right away? I guess that's what I'm worried about. Having 26 and 29 on receivers usually lock them down
You know Tony was in the game against TAMU in 4th quarter. He did pretty good job. Coaches seem to have faith in him that he can get the job done. It's all mental part that he needs to control and he will be just fine. We really don't have anything to worry about because Minkah is just like Eddie, only bigger and little more physical. Tony has played at Star position last year and done pretty good job when he can get on the field. This is his chance to show that he can be trusted and earn bigger role next year.
 

JustNeedMe81

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You made me think of something:

Against LSU we will play our base defense with only 4 DBs more than we have the entire rest of the year combined so moving Fitz back there puts our best 4 on the field for the majority of the reps anyway, then when we do go nickel we put a physical guy like TB in there so he can still help with the run, or we slide fitz back to star and hootie in at a S spot which he's used to playing in dime.


Fitz is like a little bit bigger eddie - taller, heavier, just as fast and certainly has the same knack for finding the ball and getting it back up field.

really interested to see what happens in practice tmrw now!
I m pretty sure we'll be in nickel formation a lot against LSU. Going to be real interesting two weeks.
 

rgw

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Arkansas and LSU are really the only teams on the schedule that we tend to use regular more than a handful of times. Auburn is probably 3rd on the list but they're pretty formation and personnel multiple.
 

gtgilbert

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Minkah ended up with 3 picks and a TD in the second half against Arkansas, but I thought Arkansas was kinda picking on him a bit in the first half...especially when we were in regular and he was lined up outside. His first pick was in regular but it was an INT forced by pressure where he basically fair-caught it. His other two interceptions (and the pick 6) were in nickel while playing star where he kinda played loose matchup-zone from the looks of it.

We don't play regular much at all anymore, so the majority of Minkah's snaps have been at star...and that position isn't always "locking down a guy" because they're often involved in pass offs of underneath routes.
We were in nickel for the first and third, and dime for the second. On the first he lined up at Star, playing man and the route took them over to the sideline. Averett was inside and his man ran a really short hitch. Ark was trying to overload that like it was zone coverage and trying to iso the outside CB with a guy in front and a guy behind, but since we were in man, Fitz was back there to make the play.
 

gtgilbert

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I m pretty sure we'll be in nickel formation a lot against LSU. Going to be real interesting two weeks.

That would be great, because that will mean we've held them on first and/or second downs to put them into a passing situation. Regardless, we'll probably be putting in the 3-4 against them more than we have been against anyone. For the year we've been running that grouping about 5% of the time (3-5 plays per game) - we've actually played in dime more than we have the 3-4 Since LSU still uses a FB and TE a lot when they are 'on schedule' with down and distance we'll need to match that with a more robust personnel package.
 

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