SB Nation - Eric Lawson

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 10.29.09

Seth C — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:57:29 -0000

Next Week: I really hate looking ahead, but I thought I'd let you guys know that I intend on catching up a bit next week on football and basketball recruiting, basketball in general and a some more general looks at the football program. That all seems a bit ambitious, but the intent is for me to get to as much of this as possible, try to focus on the major sports and then go from there.

Stick Around: It's strange, but at the rate DTN is currently heading, DTN will eclipse the 1,000,000 visitor mark sometime next month and all of that credit goes to you guys. Once football season ends, the traffic on DTN slows down quite a bit and I know that basketball doesn't have the same following as football, but I'd love for you guys to stick around for the basketball season, tell me I'm foolish for liking Pat Knight and having unreasonably high expectations for this basketball team.

Bryce Saldi Benefit: DMN's Brandon George posted a short post about Bryce Saldi (playing for UNLV at the time), who suffered a brain injury while skateboarding this past summer and Bryce's cause has been chosen by the Pro Player Foundation as the feature benefit in their golf tournament. If the name Saldi sounds familiar to some of you, John Saldi started for Texas Tech for 4 years, 2002 through 2005.

Unnamed Source Talks, Declares Doege Starter: FWST's Dwain Price talked with an unnamed source who confirmed that QB Seth Doege is the starter. I'm giving Price the headline here, rather than ESPN or some other outlet, because he actually has a quote from the source:

One source said: "I don't think (Doege starting against Kansas) is a surprise.''

21st Commitment: LAJ's Don Williams (thanks to pcrawttu for the FanShot) details the 21st commitment to the Texas Tech Red Raiders from Olive Branch, Mississippi's Eric Lawson, a 6-6/320 guard/tackle. Here's the obligatory recruit site profiles: Rivals, Scout and ESPN. Unfortunately for all of us cheapskates, ESPN is now a subscription based site, so there's no longer any free information out there, other than the very reliable Mr. Williams. Here's Lawson:

Lawson said he’s not sure if he would visit other schools, but considers his commitment solid.

"I like the vibe I’m getting from the coaches and the staff at Texas Tech,’’ he said.

In the meantime, he’s doing what he can to be a better offensive lineman and a better college prospect. That’s the idea behind his slimming.

"I had been trying to lose the weight,’’ he said, "because my coach told me it’d be better if I lost a little bit so I can get a little faster.’’

I'll update the recruiting sidebar next week.

Kansas Jayhawk Links: LAJ's Adam Zuvanich writes that DB Chris Harris' second chance is paying off for the Jayhawks . . .KUSports.com notes that Kansas QB Todd Reesing has struggled in KU's past 2 losses . . . Kansan.com's Jayson Jenks writes that the young Kansas secondary will be tested this week . . .

Big 12 Links: Absolutely wonderful article from Corn Nation's Corn Blight, don't get a physical after a loss . . . Rock M Nation's Bill C.'s Beyond The Box Score Week 9 picks (Red Raiders beat spread?) . . .

Pat Knight Visits Purdue: IndyStar has a note that Pat Knight and the Texas Tech staff visited Purdue's head coach Matt Painter, more or less an opportunity to exchange ideas as head coaches:

"He is a good friend of mine, and it was good to see him," Painter said.

"I've always admired what his dad (Bob) has done and what Pat has been able to do as an assistant for his dad and then taking over at Texas Tech. They always send me tapes when I ask for stuff.

"It's what coaching is all about, sharing ideas. They just wanted to come up and see some other people do some things . . . maybe just pick up a drill."

Bob Knight's Birthday: LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes that the basketball team and staff celebrated Bob Knight's birthday. Go check out Linehan's post for pictures of the event. I'd also add that BK spoke to the team and referenced two things that I'd love to see happen this year regarding PG John Roberson and PF Darko Cohadarevic:

For his part, Knight issued the team some words of wisdom. He warned that the best players he ever coached got just as excited for throwaway games against low-major teams as they did to play Duke. He ribbed John Roberson, who he recruited to Tech, saying the Red Raiders would be successful if Roberson stopped dribbling. And he asked, in his own special way, that Serbian-born Darko Cohadarevic continue to work on adapting to the American style of basketball.

Kinda cool in that practice ended with the teams playing the staff in what looks like a game of dodge-ball.

Current Colorado Buffaloes' Defensive and Special Teams Roster

irish1611 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:38:30 -0000

Following our offensive roster chart, below is the 2009 Colorado Buffaloes' defensive and special team players. Compared to the offensive piece, this chart has a little more distribution between years of each position as well as depth oming down the 2010 pipeline unlike tight end and fullback on the offensive side of the ball.

Position		SENIORS	JUNIORS	SOPHOMORES	FRESHMEN	INCOMING Fr
DT		Taj Kaynor	Eric Lawson	C Cunningham	Will Pericak	Nate Bonsu
DT		Tyler Sale*	Eric Lawson	Eugene Goree	Will Pericak	Edward Nuckols
Sch	7	1	1	2	1	2
NSch	1	1
DE			M Herrod	Kevin Cooney*	Nick O'Neill*	Nick Kasa
			Joe Silipo*	David Goldberg*		J. Forrest West
				Conrad Obi		Sc Fernandez*
				Tony Poremba*
				Lagrone Shields
Sch	5		1	2		2
NSch	6		1	3	1	1
LB		Marcus Burton	Michael Sipili	Tyler Ahles	Jon Major	Liloa Nobriga
		Shaun Mohler	B.J. Beatty	*Brandon Gouin	Doug Rippy	Derrick Webb
		Jeff Smart		*Zackary Farley	*Guy Sergent	Geoff Sissom*
		*Bryan Stengel		Josh Hartigan
Sch	11	3	2	2	2	2
NSch	5	1		2	1	1
CB		Cha Brown	Jalil Brown	Jon Hawkins	Stephen Hicks	Deji Olatoye
		Ben Burney	Jimmy Smith	*Arthur Jaffee	Paul Vigo	Cody McAninch*
				Anthony Wright
Sch	9	2	2	2	2	1
NSch	2			1		1
S			*Bret Smith	Patrick Mahnke	Vince Ewing	Parker Orms
				*Erik Manarino	Ray Polk
				*Matt Meyer
				Anthony Perkins
				*T Sandersfeld
Sch	5			2	2	1
NSch	4		1	3		0
K			Aric Goodman	Jameson Davis		Z Grossnickle
P		Matt DiLallo
SN		J Drescher	Austin Bisnow
Sch	5	2	1	1		1
NSch	1	0	1
DEFENSIVE AND SPECIAL TEAMS TOTAL
Sch	42	8	7	11	7	9
NSch	19	2	3	9	2	3
Total	61	10	10	20	9	12
TEAM TOTAL
Sch	78	12	14	24	10	18
NSch	37	5	5	13	5	9
Total	115	17	19	37	15	27
*italics - transfer / - non-scholarship player**

The linebacking and cornerback spots are the class of the defense. The Buffs will have solid depth for many years at linebacker, assuming Jon Major recovers from his ACL injury and Doug Rippy continues to develop. I would expect the Buffs to take a couple more 'backers in the 2010 class to keep the continuity going. The linebacking depth is exactly what you want as a coach when you look at your group of players; a great mix of experience as well as young talent who are pushing the veterans. As for cornerback, the next two years look very solid as long as Jimmy Smith doesn't jump for the NFL early. I think he is still in need of all four years of college but if he has the year that I expect him to have, he may be tempted by the NFL scouts who would be drooling over a sub 4.5, 6'3" physical cornerback. After the next two years, the Buffs will need to get help at corner as you will be looking at all new starters after 2010 with not much known about the players behind the juniors and seniors.

The rest of the defensive positions, youth prevails. There are only three scholarship upperclassmen at defensive line and safety. The Buffs are young at safety with potential starters Patrick Mahnke and Anthony Perkins both sophomores but they gained valuable experience as freshmen. Defensive line continues to be the main question mark on the defense mostly because we don't know what we are going to get from the underclassmen, who will be forced to play this year. Guys like Eugene Goree, Conrad Obi, Lagrone Shields, Curtis Cunningham, Nick Kasa, Edward Nuckols, Nate Bonsu, Will Pericak, Lagrone Sheilds, etc. haven't showed us a lot because they are all first or second year players. They might be great but the doubt surrouding them is one reasons many Buff fans wonder if the team will turn the corner and get to that 8+ win mark.

On special teams, the Buffs had to take a kicker in the 2009 class in Zach Grossnickle after the dismal performance last year. Grossnickle (both a placekicker and punter) may technically be the only punter on the team after this season with starter Matt DiLallo graduating. Special teams is another part of the equation that most Buff fans forget about but shouldn't in evaluating the possible success next year. You name it, it went wrong in 2008 so improved play is a must.

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 - Eric Lawson

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 10.29.09

Current Colorado Buffaloes' Defensive and Special Teams Roster

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown

2009 - 2010 Buff Defense Class Breakdown

DT

DE

LB

CB

S

P

SP