SB Nation - Jonathan Hawkins

Spring Recap: Defensive Backs

irish1611 — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:40:03 -0000

Anthony Perkins during football practice at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado April 13, 2009. CAMERA/Mark Leffingwell

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Pre-Spring Thoughts:

Coming into the 2008 season, the cornerback position was highlighted as a weak spot on the Buffs defense while the defensive line was supposed to be the strength. I think most CU fans would say they were more impressed with the cornerback play in '08 than they were with the defensive line. Given that the Buffs lost two starters from the 2007 team in Terrence Wheatley (NFL) and Ben Burney (5'11" 190 Sr.) (injury), that 2008 assumption was not a bad one to make. But the cornerbacks overachieved last season. CB Chapelle Brown (5'7" 170 Sr.) was arguably the story of the year in the secondary, becoming a consistent playmaker and tackler. CB Jalil Brown (6'1" 205 Jr.), CB Anthony Wright (6'0" 190 So.) and CB Jimmy Smith (6'3" 200 Jr.) all saw action in 2008 and for the most part, performed well. At safety, the 2008 team was led by seniors Daniel Dykes and Ryan Walters, who are now both gone and graduated. Not so lucky for Walters and Dykes but for the future of the Buffs program, both players had health issues during the year allowing true freshman, Patrick Mahnke (6'1" 205 So.), and red-shirt freshman, Anthony Perkins (5'10" 200 So.), to get invaluable time both as reserves and a starters.

In one of the more surprising moves of the offseason, secondary coach Greg Brown received some good news. Ray Polk, a four star running back in 2008 asked to be converted to a safety. Although Polk needed offseason surgery and still has to learn the position, Buff fans should expect to see good things from him when he gets healthy and acclimated. The remaining but useful players at safety include S Tyler Sandersfield (6'1" 205 So.), who made some nice plays last year on special teams as well as S Vince Ewing (6'0" 200 RFr.) and Bret Smith (5'11" 190 Jr.).

Although the loss of three starting defensive backs from 2008 (CB Gardner McKay, S Dykes and S Walters) could cause a bit of concern on most teams, coming into spring, I had the expectation that this year's unit would be better at all positions. The cornerback spot will definitely be improved with the emergence of Jimmy Smith and the return of Ben Burney. Smith showed well at the end of the last season. Known as the most athletic and "pro ready" player on the roster, the game clicked for Smith in 2008 as a sophomore and he was expected to gain a stranglehold on one of the starting cornerback position this spring. With 2007 starter Ben Burney, 2008 starter Cha'pelle Brown and 2008 nickel back Jalil Brown all returning, their was plenty of reasons to be optimistic for 2009.

click after the jump to read the rest of the cornerback recap...

Post Spring Thoughts:

Now that spring practice has come and gone, I am still brimming with optimism. The biggest area of concern, if applicable, was at the safety position. Although Mahnke and Perkins played last year, being a full time starter is a different story. That being said, they looked solid during my viewing (four practices and two scrimmages). The good thing for these two sophomores are the players surrounding them. The Buffs have great depth & talent at cornerback and a strong linebacker corp. They can be assignment oriented (no man beats you deep) but also feel loose enough to be able to press the line of scrimmage, something we saw Ron Collins and the Buffs defensive staff use a lot this spring. Many times, the defense would be in a 3 - 3 - 5, bringing in a nickel cornerback or safety.

The spring practices further proved that cornerback should be a strong point this season. Jimmy Smith has first round talent and Ben Burney returned to the lineup, bringing another physical corner to the defense. The first day of practice, the Buffs ran one on ones to see who would run sprints (very much a jog) at the end of practice. The offense tried to run a double move on Jimmy Smith. No luck, picked off and a defensive celebration ensued. I expect that from Smith all season. Smith is also special because he can support the run. His size also allows him to handle bigger receivers and his quickness allows him to cover the speedsters. He is the complete package that should be a treat to watch this year. I am already circling the Kansas and Oklahoma State games to see Smith go up against Dezmon Briscoe and Dez Bryant.

Cha'pelle Brown got a stomach virus that didn't allow him to participate as much as he would have liked this spring but he will surely be in a battle with Jalil Brown, Burney and Anthony Wright for the other starting job as well as the nickel spot. The Buffs also moved 2008 grey shirt, Paul Vigo, to cornerback, adding another player into the fold along with Arthur Jaffee and Jonathan Hawkins.

Injuries:

OUT FOR SPRING - S Ray Polk (shoulder surgery)
WAS LIMITED - CB Cha'pelle Brown (stomach illness), CB Ben Burney (multiple injuries), CB Paul Vigo (leg injury), Anthony Wright (knee injury)

All should be ready to go in the fall with the addition of incoming commits: Deji Olatoye and Parker Orms.

Player(s) Who Emerged:

The four players who stood out this spring were Ben Burney, Jimmy Smith, Patrick Mahnke and Anthony Perkins. Basically, the guys who we needed to step up did to solidify the positions. Another person to watch out for is Tyler Sandersfield. He just seems to make plays, something the coaches have noticed. He is currently #2 on the depth chart at safety but also played in that nickel/rover spot where he adds another physical presence.

Final Assessment:

If the Buffs can generate any sort of pass rush, this group has the ability to cause a lot of turnovers and be a special unit in the Big 12. Forcing turnovers is always an emphasis in spring camp, especially so after the 2008 season when the Buffs finished 94th in the nation in turnover margin. Oklahoma finished first and you can see what bowl game they played in last year. It will all depend on the pass rush, though. If spring practice holds true throughout the season, Ron Collins won't be afraid to play three down linemen and be aggressive with the linebackers, safeties or cornerbacks. The good thing is all of the back seven or eight (plus depth) are returning players which will come in handy if the Buffs are trying to teach a very diverse defense with multiple blitz/cover/responsibility packages.

The secondary should also be aided by a few big wide receiver/quarterback combos coming off the schedule in 2009:

TEAMS WHO LOST PLAYMAKERS FROM LAST YEAR

CSU - will have another starting quarterback but return a pretty good receiver in Rashaun Greer who was ranked 19th in the nation with 1,114 yards receiving last season.
West Virginia - loses QB Pat White who was not a big passing threat but the run-pass option still made defenses nervous.
Kansas State - gone is QB Josh Freeman, the 19th pick in the NFL draft.
Missouri - the Mizzou trio who just killed the Buffs the past two seasons - QB Chase Daniel, WR Jeremy Maclin and TE Chase Coffman - all gone. Good riddance. The loss of Maclin alone accounts for 2,800+ total yards in '08 to be replaced in '09.
Nebraska - gone is QB Joe Ganz, WR Nate Swift and WR Todd Peterson. Swift and Peterson combined for 125 receptions, 1,727 yards and 14 touchdowns. TE Mike McNeill is the leading pass catcher returning...who?

TEAMS WHO RETURN MOST OF THEIR PLAYMAKERS

Texas - loses leading receiver Quan Cosby (1,123 yards) but returns WR Jordan Shipley and QB Colt McCoy. Plus its Texas, they reload.
Kansas - QB Todd Reesing (has never lost to the Buffs) and WR Dezmon Briscoe return. This combo should be dangerous again in '09.
Oklahoma State - along with Kansas and Texas, Oklahoma State returns a lot of explosiveness. TE Brandon Pettigrew is gone but the real playmakers in QB Zac Robinson, RB Kendall Hunter and WR Dez Bryant are all back.

TEAMS WHO RETURN PLAYERS BUT NOT READY TO CALL THEM PLAYMAKERS

Texas A&M - has their core of young skill players returning.
Iowa State - QB Austen Arnaud returns but who is he going to throw to?

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown

irish1611 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:37:15 -0000

Here is the defensive class breakdown for the 2009 season as we stand today. Here is the offensive breakdown I posted last week. See analysis of the defensive squads after the jump...

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown
2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown
Pos.	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Freshman	Incoming
DT	Taj Kaynor	Eric Lawson	C Cunningham	Will Pericak	Nate Bonsu
DT	Tyler Sale*		Eugene Goree
DE		M Herrod	Lagrone Shields		Nosa Eguae
			Conrad Obi
			Tony Poremba*
			Kevin Cooney*
LB	Marcus Burton	BJ Beatty	Tyler Ahles	Lynn Katoa	None
	Shaun Mohler	Micheal Sipili	Josh Hartigen	Jon Major
	Jeff Smart	D Goldberg*	Brandon Gouin*	Doug Rippy
	Bryan Stengel*			G Sergent*
CB	C Brown	Jimmy Smith	Anthony Wright		Deji Olatoye
	Ben Burney	Jalil Brown	J Hawkins
			Lamont Smith
S		Bret Smith*	Patrick Mahnke	S Hicks	Parker Orms
			A Perkins	Vince Ewing
			T Sandersfield*	Paul Vigo***
			Matt Meyer*
P	Matt DiLallo
K		Aric Goodman	Jameson Davis
SP	J Drescher	A Bisnow*
* walk on / potential medical redshirt / * grey shirt 2008 class
Total	10	10	17	8	5
%	20.0%	20.0%	34.0%	16.0%	10.0%
Scholarship	8	7	12	7	5
Walk On	2	3	5	1	0

As you can see again, the sophomore class is, once again, extremely large compared to the other classes. Combining the offensive chart's 18 sophomore players, 35 of the total 100 players are in year number 2. If you add in incoming freshman, 63 of the total players are underclassmen. No excuses, right?

Just don't look at the defensive line spots. The Buffs seem to be in a good position on the offensive line, especially with the two new additions in the 2009 class. If they could add one more offensive lineman for depth, I feel good about that unit for the next 2 - 3 years. It is just the opposite for the defensive line. They all might be players but the fact that we haven't seen any substantial results from these guys scares me to death. Their are clearly depth issues as well. The fact that the front four were dead tired in the Nebraska game and the coaching staff refused to substitute any of these guys for a substantial period would conclude that this year could be a struggle upfront. Right now, the Buffs don't seem to be in on a ton of DL and DE which is extremely troubling. If the Buffs could get 2 - 3 JUCO players to fill this void, it would go a long way to solidifying the defense.

For as much as the defensive front might be a worry, the linebacker and corner positions must make all CU fans smile. LB coach Brian Cabral has a ton of talent to work with at the linebacker spot. The X factor of this whole unit will be Katoa and Major. If Katoa can right the ship and Major can fully recover from the ACL injury, this unit could be the best in the Big 12. If the defensive line situation does not improve, look for guys like B.J. Beatty, Marcus Burton and Michael Sipili to be a pseudo-defensive end/rush end all year. In the defensive backfield, the Buffs are young at safety but Anthony Perkins and Patrick Mahnke showed that they have some talent and stepped in pretty well as freshman last year. The Buffs will also get 2008 grey shirt S Paul Vigo in this year as well as S Steven Hicks and S Vince Ewing to add depth. You might also seem some slotted at corner back make the move back to safety (Jalil Brown would be a likey candidate to get more playmakers on the field). CU is also in on a few other safeties in the 2009 recruiting class that would provide much needed depth on both defense and special teams.

Now to the corners. This could rival the linebacker spot for the best unit on the team. Cha'pelle Brown and Ben Burney (2007 starter who was injured last year) return as well as juniors Jalil Brown and Jimmy Smith. Smith really stepped up last year and played a ton down the stretch. He looks to be piecing together the consistency that goes with playing corner as he has all of the physical attributes that you crave in a corner. The Buffs will play some good receivers next year and I expect Smith to be on all of them. If we could only generate a pass rush!

I am not going to talk about punters and kickers because we all know we need new one(s).

In summation, we can see the depth starting the build in certain spots but their are still some major concerns at a few positions: defensive line, wide receiver (could be fixed if Josh Smith progresses, Andre Simmons qualifies and Diante Jackson becomes a Buff) and can the Buffs win with their current situation at quarterback?

SB Nation - Jonathan Hawkins

Spring Recap: Defensive Backs

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown

DT

DE

LB

CB

S

P

SP