[NU Sports] Hittin' on Colby

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> While NU has missed a few tackles this year and the
> DL has had problems
> creating pressure up front, I would argue the
> problem IS with the scheme

I would agree. Though we could tackle better, too.:)

> (which goes right to Colby himself).  Northwestern
> doesn't have a complete
> lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball as
> you seem to be
> suggesting: just look at the former Wildcat
> defenders now on NFL squads

True - we've had our share of good individual players
on D, most notably Napo and Castillo. However, our
best defense was in 1995 and the talent level there
was pretty low with no one really making much NFL
noise.

That just goes to show how much the scheme and
coaching can make in college. NU will never have the
talent of other league teams in terms of NFL talent.
That's just something fans and coaches have to accept.
It's the same way on offense.

So what do you do? You play better as a team than
anyone else in the league. You try innovative schemes.
You use your IQ advantage over the rest of the
conference. And you never give up.

That's where I'm coming down on Colby from. We have
some good individual talent out there with Wootten and
McManis. We've had that before -- not often, but it
has happened. What Colby has failed to do is try some
new approaches to maximize our talent, to get these
defenders to play as a team to scrap what obviously is
not working and look for something new.

Northwestern has always been out-talented in league
play. But we've overcome that with offensive coaching
and we overcame that on defense in 1995 with creative
blitz schemes, tough/together line play and smart
linebackers who were coaches on the field.

There are coaches out there who can do that no matter
what the talent level in Evanston is. Colby has not
shown that he is one of them and Fitz needs to find
someone else who can rise to the challenge.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need a vacation? Get great deals
to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/