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2014 Weekly Position Discussion, week 4 - Corner Back

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
Kind of fell behind on these, we’re just about 6 weeks from fall camp starting! Trying to get back on track with position discussions here. Today let’s talk corner backs.

Starter – Nate Harris Now a junior with two years of rotating and starting under his belt I believe that Nate is ready to take the next step. Reflecting back on another player who I recall said by his junior year he personally “started to get it” (balancing his talent with playing smart) I have a feeling that Nate is at the level where he’s there as well. Harris is physical, he can jump, he’s fast, and very fluid in his movement. What his downfall has been is inconsistency, getting out of position, and poor tackling. This spring most of the errors were gone. I watched a practice where Nate broke up two well thrown JJ passes down the sideline to a sprinting Ellis Henderson, on a 3rd attempt Harris picked the ball off and sprinted back to JJ to personally hand him the ball (Kfense and some Oline players weren’t too happy about it but Williams and Gregorak were loving it). The confidence is there, he’s a shorter corner and the Big Sky is packed with tall WRs right now, he’ll have to continually contend with that.

Starter – Josh Dennard Dennard is the lone senior of the group, having played his freshman year as a wide receiver. He’s maybe the most physical and hardest hitting corner of the group. His roster weight is 194, heaviest of the corners. Watch for Dennard to start but then come inside and cover slot WRs when there’s 3 CBs on the field. Dennard’s tackling and getting out of position has been a big criticism in the past. Things are looking up for Josh, I liked a lot of what I saw in the spring. He still gets stuck too often spying the QB and not covering his man. Due to his size and strength I’ll bet Josh lines up with the bigger and more physical WRs come the start of the season.

Backup – JR Nelson Nelson’s our tall corner, at 6-2 he stands taller than the rest of the corners and will be the 3rd corner that the defense will use. JR got some reps due to injuries or ineffectiveness from other corners last season, he looked raw then, and in some cases he’s still looking a little raw. Nelson looks dramatically improved and will be looked upon to play a ton this season. He needs to keep improving, especially position on his receiver when the ball is in the air. At times he’s been caught on double moves or just too stiff in his stance and had WRs sprint past him. Overall though along the sidelines JR has shown good improvement shutting receivers down, in the spring he had a few pass break ups on medium/deep passes. His stock is rising and he’ll be on the field a ton this year.

Backup – Ryan McKinley It starts to get a little more unknown after JR. No other corner has seen playing time on the field. McKinkley I think had the better spring. Wearing a familiar number as a corner (#2) he finished camp strong to stand out among the other young corners. He’s stiffer in his hips compared to JR, Nate, and Josh, but shows good instincts.

Backup – Chris Parker Parker I think got dinged up and missed a good portion of spring ball. Will he be knocked back to 3rd string because of that? Tough to say, we’ll have to see come fall camp.

Backup – Shane Moody Listed as the 3rd string boundary corner Moody started camp strong, tackling a WR for a safety or a near safety in the first scrimmage on a quick pass. He’s a short guy at 5-8 but is incredibly scrappy.

I’m hearing chatter that Marquin Russell may return, we’ll see. Other than that there were no corners in the latest recruiting class, so this is the squad that they’ll run with. Top 3 are solid, IMO, but after that it gets very inexperienced.
 
poorgriz[b said:
"]Weakest position group [/b]of the 2014 version of the griz?

Disagree, we have two decent starters and some athletic back ups. At place kicker we are nowhere near that deep. :lol: :roll:
 
AZGrizFan said:
BWahlberg said:
I’m hearing chatter that Marquin Russell may return, we’ll see.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

:thumb:

He is certainly hinting around it, looks like he is in Missoula taking summer classes, hope to see him return.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarquinRussell/status/477157502098747393[/tweet]
 
SaskGriz said:
poorgriz[b said:
"]Weakest position group [/b]of the 2014 version of the griz?

Disagree, we have two decent starters and some athletic back ups. At place kicker we are nowhere near that deep. :lol: :roll:

All they have to do is improve on their 87th ranking in all of the FCS for passing defense. We'll see.
 
Honestly, when was the last time we could say any part of our O-Line was among our weakest units? Traditionally, the Griz have had dominating OLs for years. Not happy about this latest development.
 
Even though some Griz fans still can't bring themselves to admit, things change, and not always for the better. Yes, the O-Line is going to be a POSSIBLE weak point next season and probably 2015 too. It happens, graduation, suspension, a few recruits don't pan out and THERE YOU GO.

What's hilarious about anyone complaining about the perceived weakness of the o-line is, there were about 20 threads in 2013 calling last year's oline weak lol.
 
PlayerRep said:
The secondary will be good this year, assuming no key injuries.

I hope and pray you are 100% right on this one. IF Gregorak makes some slight adjustments in coverage schemes, they should be improved from last season. The question is how much will the unit improve?

For me, this is a make or break year for Ty at DC. I am very comfortable with his run defense. I just have very little faith in pass defense under him. This coming from a fan who was stoked to have him named DC.
 
A terrific safety at or close to the top 6 or 8 to play at UM, a very athletic safety who should come along with playing, a bit of depth, 2 pretty good and experienced corners, some younger depth, rumored calvalry on the way, mobile linebackers (3 of whom have played safety for UM), and the best d-line in the conference.
 
BWahlberg said:
poorgriz said:
Weakest position group of the 2014 version of the griz?

No, that's probably tight end followed by interior O line.

Oops, I meant on D but didn't say it. Guessing it's between corner and LB, although sounds like LB's are probably going to be very good at some point, just need more experience. Doesn't sound like many questions on D line and Safety.
 
PlayerRep said:
A terrific safety at or close to the top 6 or 8 to play at UM,




Let's just go hand out ribbons to everyone...........

SBR_Rosette_8th_brown4.jpg
 
grizcountry420 said:
PlayerRep said:
A terrific safety at or close to the top 6 or 8 to play at UM,




Let's just go hand out ribbons to everyone...........

SBR_Rosette_8th_brown4.jpg

So comparisons to Anderson, Schillinger, Young, Huntsberger, Hauck, etc. is handing out ribbons? You literally are a "dope", aren't you?
 
poorgriz said:
BWahlberg said:
poorgriz said:
Weakest position group of the 2014 version of the griz?

No, that's probably tight end followed by interior O line.

Oops, I meant on D but didn't say it. Guessing it's between corner and LB, although sounds like LB's are probably going to be very good at some point, just need more experience. Doesn't sound like many questions on D line and Safety.

Yeah on defense... Probably. However I think this group can be good. Linebacker has far less experience than cb.
 
UND ‘s single game passing record could fall this year, again against the Griz.

I will put the over/under on passing yards vs. EWU at 650. And that is conservative.
 
PlayerRep said:
grizcountry420 said:
PlayerRep said:
A terrific safety at or close to the top 6 or 8 to play at UM,




Let's just go hand out ribbons to everyone...........

SBR_Rosette_8th_brown4.jpg

So comparisons to Anderson, Schillinger, Young, Huntsberger, Hauck, etc. is handing out ribbons? You literally are a "dope", aren't you?

C'mon PR, 420 certainly isn't a dope. He may smoke a little dope but he's not a dope. You're not still sore over the " The Boys Are Back In Town" GIF are you? It's all in fun.....
 
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