Don Brown is missing one final piece of the puzzle before his masterpiece will be complete: Namely, speed at the linebacker spot opposite Bush. Like the proverbial "Achilles' Heel", that is the only position where we are presently vulnerable to attack --- and this was also the case last year.
Last season, opposing offensive coordinators honed in on attacking Ben Gedeon, with a bevy of wheel routes designed to isolate him in space vs. running backs. Gedeon was a great inside 'backer, but covering tailbacks out of the backfield was definitely not his strong suit. He simply lacked the speed, and opposing teams who had success against us, took advantage of this weakness. I see the same thing happening this year with Mike McCray. MSU did a great job yesterday of finding McCray and isolating him in vulnerable situations, most notably when having to spy on/defend Lewerke. A couple of times, they took Bush out of the play and isolated McCray on the QB, on what amounted to designed runs. I believe we'll start seeing him isolated in coverage against speedier backs on a regular basis in the upcoming weeks, as well.
We probably have a youngster on the roster who could fill this gap right now. However, I understand that it would be extremely difficult, and definitely not popular in the locker room, to replace a veteran leader such as McCray, with a freshman or sophomore. But I think we will finally see the end of this problem next season. And then it'll be full system go for truly "lights out" defensive football, like we've never seen in the last 20 years!
NJW
Last season, opposing offensive coordinators honed in on attacking Ben Gedeon, with a bevy of wheel routes designed to isolate him in space vs. running backs. Gedeon was a great inside 'backer, but covering tailbacks out of the backfield was definitely not his strong suit. He simply lacked the speed, and opposing teams who had success against us, took advantage of this weakness. I see the same thing happening this year with Mike McCray. MSU did a great job yesterday of finding McCray and isolating him in vulnerable situations, most notably when having to spy on/defend Lewerke. A couple of times, they took Bush out of the play and isolated McCray on the QB, on what amounted to designed runs. I believe we'll start seeing him isolated in coverage against speedier backs on a regular basis in the upcoming weeks, as well.
We probably have a youngster on the roster who could fill this gap right now. However, I understand that it would be extremely difficult, and definitely not popular in the locker room, to replace a veteran leader such as McCray, with a freshman or sophomore. But I think we will finally see the end of this problem next season. And then it'll be full system go for truly "lights out" defensive football, like we've never seen in the last 20 years!
NJW
