[NU Sports] Where do we go from here?

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

I wish that I could be so relatively upbeat about the future. We've been  
waiting for five years for Walker to field a solid, consistent defense.  To  
think that with another year of experience, the secondary will be suddenly  
effective is wishful thinking at best.  I still argue that our recruiting  of DBs 
has been poor and watching receivers roam freely in our secondary (and  Robinson 
missed a lot of them Saturday) is something that will continue to haunt  us 
this year and next.   It was absolutely inexcusable to have that  tight end 
catch the decisive 4th and 15 pass. Since a pass in that situation was  certain, 
a safety should have been on him like a glove.  A breakup  there and the game 
was ours. 
 
In a message dated 9/26/2005 10:18:05 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
rstetson at capps-assoc.com writes:

Its  amazing the number of WRs who want to play at NU, and the number of CBs  
who
don't.

Maybe it's the "gangsta" philosophy of a lot of d-backs  that result in a 
mutual
turn-off for NU. I don't know. We seem to be able  to find Safeties who can
cover, but not CBs.

The only bright spot in  this is that next year Cole is a senior and Battle, 
who
is improving, is a  Junior. Oredugba should also be better oriented to pass
coverage in the Big  10 so I really expect next year to be a better year for 
the
NU pass  defense. We're going to lose two big players, Cofield, and McGarigle,
but I  still think the good players are there - they just need time on the  
field.

This is also where I will express an opinion about NU's  recruits: 
Most of the present starters were rated as 3 star players coming  into NU. 
That
suggests that they are decent players, but will need a couple  of years to
develop. 

We've finally got the O-Line to where we have  14-15 guys who are going to
develop into Big10 type guys, and I think the  Linebackers and D-Linemen are 
in
the same cycle. We're just about to get  the "better" group of D-Backs into 
the
starting rotation and unfortunately,  next year is when we'll have a full 4 
guys
with lots of game experience in  Cole, Battle, Smith and Heinz. We'll also 
have
the rush end situation  handled with Wootton and Mims - there's several LBs 
who
can also be counted  on to step up [Eddie Simpson, for example and don't  
forget
Jeske].

The big danger is the thought that we should now  change coaches.

Nobody is more upset with the Defense than the NU  coaches. Colby was very 
frank
after a couple of practices when I chatted  with him about the D - they're 
going
to have to play way over their heads  [my interpretation, not his]. Coach 
Brown
was also concerned, especially  after losing Heinz, that several of his guys 
were
going to have to really  step up. 

You can say Cole made some mistakes during the PSU game - he  was burned 
pretty
badly, but I'm not sure it wasn't more trying to cover  two or three guys and
guessing wrong, than "bad coaching." The coaches lay  out the defensive plan 
and
drill it in practice, but if a kid misreads a  key, its on the kid, not the
coach. It's the same over on O.

Baz is  as prepared as a QB can be under Walker and Dunbar, but if he  sees
something on the field and changes the play to something that doesn't  work, 
who
do you blame? Once the game starts, a coach has to put trust in  the kids 
they've
coached all week and hope they read the keys properly, but  even in the pros,
guys miss things. I don't know the answer.

This  year, I'm helping with the Seaford Cardinals again - I'm the guy who  is
teaching O-Line, and the Defense. Our D, which is very successful for a  
group of
10-12 year olds has some very definite keys, keys that rarely  change. We 
still
give up 10 yard rushes because the kids missed something  and get out of
position. Defensing a Big 10 Offense requires multiple keys  - the kids have 
more
experience, but then there's so much more to pick up  in the 10 seconds before
the ball is snapped. 

My middle son David,  the guy who should be an O-Line coach somewhere, watched
the beginning of  the NIU game. His comment was that NU's defense was over
perusing,  essentially they were trying too hard. The calmed down and pulled 
off
the  win, but after watching Penn State, there were times I had to agree  that
some of our kids are really trying hard, maybe too hard. 

Is  that the result of bad coaching? I know my kids know that I expect 100%  
every
play, and they love me for  it.


rsl


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy  S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
Computer Applications & Support  Associates
and Publisher of Purple Reign, 
The Scout.com Northwestern  University Site
(http://www.purplewildcats.com)
AIM Handle:  CoachRoy74

=============== Go Cats ====================

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-- There's another upgrade.

============ Beat 'em  All ================== 

> -----Original Message-----
> From:  nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com 
> [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On  Behalf Of DPENDERG at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:00  AM
> To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
> Subject: [NU Sports] Where  do we go from here?
> 
> 
> The very disappointing loss on  Saturday only exposed again 
> the chronic  
> weakness in  the secondary which has plagued the Cats for the 
> last five  years.  When 
> our top defensive back (Cole) gets burned twice by  -- in my 
> view -- a very  
> mediocre Penn State  quarterback, then we cannot hide from the 
> fact that the   
> talent level back there is at best suspect and poor at worst.   
>  
> I know some think our defensive preparation and  schemes (courtesy of  
> Colby/Brown) are responsible, but I still  return always to 
> the recruiting.   We just 
> don't  have the horses.  While Walker does a good job  
> recruiting  QBs, WRs and 
> RBs, why hasn't there been more focus on CBs  and  safeties, 
> especially since 
> that has been our most glaring  weakness? 
>  
> It might be observed that the top DBs are  often weak 
> academically and  simply 
> cannot qualify for  Northwestern.  If we accept that 
> proposition,  however, we  
> permanently handicap ourselves and will continue see wide 
>  open  receivers 
> wandering around our secondary with predictable  results.  
> Perhaps  this is 
> heresy, but the  University may have to look at those academic 
> standards  if we  want 
> to play consistently well.  Let's face it.  The CBs  at  Notre 
> Dame, Michigan, 
> Virginia or other fairly  "selective" schools probably  would 
> not be admitted 
>  without their football credentials, but they are.   D-IA 
>  football is a 
> business, period, and if we're going to compete, then  I  
> really believe we cannot hide 
> behind sanctimonious  pretensions of academic  purity.  Unless 
> we get some  
> highly skilled DBs (and admittedly there are  fewer of them  
> than RBs or WRs, 
> which makes recruiting tougher), we will  continue  to see the 
> horrific displays we 
> have seen the  last two weeks.  
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