12 Comments

  1. matt

    Interesting thoughts on how to apply the Vertical to scouting. I’ve often wondered about that myself. I think there’s probably a lot of analysis that could go into something like that. How good of a case study is Richard Sherman for a press man corner? His shuttle was 4.33 at the combine which isn’t overly quick but he may have other traits that set him apart.
    The thing about Darby is that he wasn’t really on anyone’s radar until Riley and WR coach Simmons saw him in person at a satellite camp early last summer. They offered him on the spot so something about him really impressed them.

    • ianaboyd

      Someone on twitter called him a “Lee Morris type” which I think nailed it. He’s a flex TE that’s more on the WR side of the spectrum.

  2. Chris R.

    Enjoyed your analysis. A few thoughts on OU. First you missed Trevon West (WR) and Justin Harrington (DB that OU plans on initially playing at CB). Raym is projected to be Humphrey’s replacement. The word on Mims 40 time is he ran it on dead legs after playing in a basketball game the day before. He is an EE and has reportedly been timed much faster. I think the shepard comparison is a good one.

    I like your Space Force idea but do quibble that you don’t include TEs/h-Backs. I know OU and a few other teams use those extensively in the pass game. In fact OU’s TE is often an inside receiver (Andrews, Calcaterra, Stogner). As a result I would have definitely included Jalin Conyers (will definitely start out as big inside receiver) in your analysis and possibly Mike Henderson.

    • ianaboyd

      There’s a lot of ways to man up the inside positions and while a flex TE is supremely valuable, you can win championships without one. OSU has done wonders with a walk-on FB and a speedy slot.

      The point is to focus on positions where you have to win 1-on-1 battles in space.

  3. matt

    What is Grinch like coverage wise? Does he run very predictable coverages or does he mix up what he calls pretty well?

    • ianaboyd

      Nah he mixes it up pretty well. He’ll do press-quarters a few different ways with different brackets on the slot, mix in cover 2, and dials up a decent amount of cover 3. They can run a few different coverages from a few base looks to keep you guessing.

  4. Eli

    Do you think grinch is the answer at dc for ou? Were you impressed with last year?

    What about ash?

    • ianaboyd

      Grinch did pretty well in year one. His system hasn’t been thoroughly stress-tested by good passing attacks though, except LSU who completely took them apart, and this crop of CBs makes me wonder if he has the talent or CB coach to really break through with his current approach.

      He’s an upgrade over Mike Stoops, no doubt, and he had a good year one. Pressure-based defenses have had a history of getting taken apart in this league though so there’s that.

      Remains to be seen on Ash. On the bright side he seems to emphasize fundamentals and base D and he has a nice track record of coaching up secondaries. His CB coach hire was potentially really smart, although we’ll see how it plays out. The concern with Ash is that he doesn’t appreciate how rough life can be when you’re sitting back in a static, 4-down shell against spread Os that are prying open your weak spots and hammering them extra hard. Simplicity is fine but you need to have an eye for adjusting to shore up weak spots from week to week against different matchups. So we’ll see how he does there.

      These college defensive coaches often get famous and credit for when they find ways to attack teams and win in the trenches, which just isn’t the path in the B12.

      • matt

        have you looked into what Washington did that was so effective against Grinch? Every year UW blows out WSU so I wasn’t sure if that was an issue with Grinch or not.

        • ianaboyd

          No, I can only guess that they successfully blocked their pressures and broke some runs. Or if that was when they had John Ross maybe that was the clincher.

  5. Marc

    Awesome stuff, but would like to hear your thoughts on Trevon West. He is a speed receiver that OU recruited and most recruiting sites have him pretty low.

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