[NU Sports] Persa and defense

[Tom Maycock]

> But that brings me to a point on defense. How many NU defenders would have 

> started for Penn State? 

That's a good point. There are some good athletes on D, especially among the younger players, but overall we seem to have taken a step back from the 08/09 bunch, with McManis, Wooton, etc. 

I'm not seeing a ton of speed in the secondary, and aside from Tyler Scott, no one is really dominating up front. Linebackers seem decent, but only Ellis has shown really eye-popping ability at this point. 

Then again, as we've discussed, a lot of the issues on D have been due to mental mistakes and communication breakdowns. Those are correctable issues, and I think the defensive results could have been much better if the exact same players were simply doing a better job more often. 


Of course, having a few pure stud athletes on D can help hide a lot of mistakes. It doesn't matter if you completely blow coverage if your stud DE is putting the opposing QB on his back before he has a chance to look down field. 

Still, it's a team game, and Northwestern has proven time and again that good players playing well can overcome "better" players who don't play as well. The Cats just aren't doing the "playing well" thing right now. 

Tom