SB Nation - Greg Layborn

Upgrade/Downgrade - Cornerbacks

Jake Bertalotto — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:00:13 -0000

We continue today by moving into the secondary, where Mark Banker and Keith Heyward have some big shoes to fill. At safety, which we will discuss tomorrow, Al Afalava and Greg Laybourn are gone. At cornerback, it's Keenan Lewis and Brandon Hughes, two players who had a combined 90 starts at Oregon State-- 43 for Hughes and 47 for Lewis.

Tim Clark, who started six games last season, shouldn't have many problems filling in the everyday starter role as a senior. He got plenty of time last season, and just needs to tune up his skills in fall camp in order to avoid some of the mental lapses in coverage that we saw last season.

The other cornerback position looks to be occupied by James Dockery, but Brandon Hardin and Patrick Henderson may also compete for a starting job. Dockery returns from injury for his junior season, and needs to continue improve if he wants to avoid being "picked on" by Pac-10 quarterbacks.

The Beavers last ran into a similar situation in 2005, when the secondary was decimated by graduation. The circumstances won't be as dire in 2009, but Banker will have to replace some starters who have been hoarding the playing time (for good reason) for the past three or four years.

Last Year:

Brandon Hughes

#36 / Cornerback / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 5-11

Weight: 178

Year: senior

Keenan Lewis

#6 / Cornerback / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-1

Weight: 196

Year: senior

This Year:

Tim Clark

#21 / Cornerback / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-0

Weight: 170

Year: senior

James Dockery

#4 / Safety / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-1

Weight: 175

Year: junior

Vote! And because this one should be rather easy and one-sided, I would like to hear your thoughts on the new roleplayers in the secondary.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Poll

Will Clark/Dockery be an upgrade or downgrade from Lewis/Hughes when it's all said and done?

Upgrade

9 votes

Downgrade

70 votes

About the same

20 votes

99 votes | Poll has closed

A look over the defensive numbers

Jake Bertalotto — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:57:26 -0000

The defense was the true MVP of last night and held Arizona to just a shade under 300 yards, a full 113 yards under their season average. As well as holding them to roughly half their average point total--Arizona scored as many points in the 1st half last week as they did last night in the whole game. Here's a look at the leading tacklers:

Player	Total	Solo	TFL	Sacks
Greg Laybourn	11	8	1.5/ 2
Keaton Kristick	8	7
Bryant Cornell	6	6
Al Afalava	6	5
Slade Norris	6	2	2.5/ 9	0.5
Keenan Lewis	5	5
Victor Butler	5	3	2/ 10	1.5/ 9
Dwight Roberson	5	1
Christopher, Booth	2	2
13 players with	1

Some notes:

It seems fitting that the two players who were assigned to Gronkowski the most--Kristick and Laybourn-- led the team in tackles. Now, there were times when Gronkowski seemed to have our defense beat but couldn't reel in the catch, but I thought that Keaton and Greg did a great job of bullying big Rob all night long. On his touchdown catch, Kristick barely made contact as Rob was coming off the line of scrimmage (he might have had a different assignment, not sure), but it allowed Rob to run to the corner, catching the pass over Keenan Lewis (if memory serves). I'll take three catches for 50 yards from one of the Pac-10's best receiving tight ends. Remember-- he had 12 catches for 143 yards last week at Autzen.
Cornell had 5 tackles very early into the game, and his effectiveness in stopping the run seemed to have a tangible cause-and-effect relationship with Arizona's playcalling.
Victor Strong Butler threw down Willie Tuitama for a sack near the end of the first half when the Wildcats were inside the Beaver 5 yard line. That goal line stand isn't being talked about much today, but it was huge for the Beavers to keep Antolin and Co. out of the end zone on that drive, and force them to settle only for a field goal.
On a similar note... The Wildcats had been averaging 22.1 points in the first half this season, and the Beavers held them to just a field goal.
Before their touchdown in the 2nd half, it had been 3 seasons since Arizona had scored an offensive touchdown against Oregon State.
Great job by the defense to stick with it on Arizona's last possession. It definitely seemed deflating when Willie Tuitama ran for 10 yards on 3rd and 8 with the clock around three minutes (that's when I changed my shirt), but the defense rallied to stop Antolin three times (nice play calling, UA).

I'm sure there's lots more than this to add. If you've got a comment about the defense, the thread is all yours.

GO BEAVERS!

OSU vs. Cal in Pictures

PLUBeaverBeliever — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:06:52 -0000

I would like to take this opportunity to formally introduce the newest member of the Building the Dam team, Blake. He's a photographer who can be found on Flickr at Blake James Photography. Sit back and enjoy some of his pictures from today's game. --jake

The view from Section 11, row 18...

BIG TIME win for our program! Reser was ROCKING...about as loud as the USC game I thought. Great job Beaver Nation! One.game.at.a.time!

The Beavers take the field for the huge match up with the Bears. The visiting team had won the matchup for the last five years.

Captains meet at midfield prior to kickoff. Oregon State won the toss and deferred to the second half.

The OSU Student Section during Oregon State's 34-21 win over California.

Lyle surveys the defense. He threw for 145 yards on 14 completions.

Shane "Money" Morales bringing one in. It was nice to see him back after he had to sit out the UCLA game due to the infamous goalpost incident.

Brandon Hughes

Sammy ready to rock....Gotta have your big time players play well in big games....Sammie came to play today. Great performance.

Layborn tracking down Best

Victor Butler putting heat on Kevin Riley. Oregon State sacked Riley five times during the game.

Chris Johnson almost taking it to the house.

Scoreboard with the Alma Mater....BIG WIN for the program.....time for the Wildcats!