#0 Thornton is shades of…..

Imma be bias to Omar, coached him and knew his entire family since i was in hs.

His issue in space is a he is a bit stiff hipped...he knows it...and has to go all out in space to get to spots and majority of the time is trying to kill shot stuff when getting there. (Thats why you said over pursue)

* Also Omar didnt play defensive back until he got to Bc really. He was a lb all through high school.

* I think he will get better as he gets more comfortable an plays more in control...also as guys get back and he can play more of a defined role yes

*He has a high football iq (like most prop joe kids) he'll get there. i expect some mor esacks from him when we play teams with not so mobile qbs as well.
From the Hetherman interview yesterday, he likes Thornton. As he stated, Thornton has some things to clean up. He definitely has a defined role in Hetherman's defense moving forward as we get healthy in the secondary. At least that is what I gathered from the Hetherman interview.
 
He is probably going to hit their QB unmercifully this weekend on some blitzes. Wreaking havoc and forcing turnovers.

Inevitability causing people to apologize to him like the Wilson thread.

Cannot wait.
 
Now that Lucas is back from injury, Fitzgerald can go back to safety. But Dunnigan is too good to take off the field imo. Maybe Dunnigan should start at the Nickel DB spot Thornton had been playing.
 
Now that Lucas is back from injury, Fitzgerald can go back to safety. But Dunnigan is too good to take off the field imo. Maybe Dunnigan should start at the Nickel DB spot Thornton had been playing.
Dunnigan didnt start against Clemson and played a limited role, which I think is good for a freshman coming along, his role can increase as season goes along but he had too much on his plate due to injury before.. He was able to thrive in his role against clemson and grow in confidence.
 
Dunnigan didnt start against Clemson and played a limited role, which I think is good for a freshman coming along, his role can increase as season goes along but he had too much on his plate due to injury before.. He was able to thrive in his role against clemson and grow in confidence.
Dunnigan snaps were limited due to injury at Clemson
 
So what I saw in the game was that Thornton was asked to play a more traditional safety role for much of the game, and Poyser was playing the Nickel, and Day was the deep safety, often in a single-high look.
I’m not defending the tackling, but Thornton is not playing his best position at safety unless he is in the box basically all the time.

One thing we have to remember is that sometimes coaches are forced to play guys in less than ideal spots, and it impacts the success the player has. Sometimes it is not the fault of the player, or even coach. Injuries have created some wonky lineups.

To use a basketball analogy, if the Heat are forced to play Giannis at PG because of injuries, and he struggles, does that mean Giannis is no good, or that Giannis is not a good PG, but remains a very good PF? Every player has limitations.
But doesn’t it make more sense to play Poyser back and keep Thornton down near the box? And it seems like a good majority of plays Thornton is in the box anyways because he has been blitzing right off the edge at least over a 1-3 of the time. I’m not as down on Thornton as others but I’m not going to lie I think Poyser, Fitzgerald, and Dunnegan is our best S-S-N combination right now.
 
I am in wait and see mode with him man... the coaches see what we see but I do feel he is playing out of position. Like is Bryce the best CB on the roster? No. Is he a good enough CB to be better than the rest of the guys? Yes. Is he an elite safety? Also yes.

I think wait 2 weeks assuming Lucas is back. If lucas comes back and we can shift Bryce to nickel and let Thorton be the SS in the box as a blitzer and run support, I think he excels. he is leading the team in tackles. Then on passing downs he does off the field and JJ comes in. He is also an enforcer (albeit reckless at times nd hurting our own guys) but he is a tone setter in the secondary like Jakobe and unsure if we have someone like that in the secondary right now. Poysner is a sure tackler but he just murders your inside leg and gets you to the ground and does his job, Omar is out head hunting.
So you don’t think Dunnegan is ready for an every down role right now. I can understand that.
 
But doesn’t it make more sense to play Poyser back and keep Thornton down near the box? And it seems like a good majority of plays Thornton is in the box anyways because he has been blitzing right off the edge at least over a 1-3 of the time. I’m not as down on Thornton as others but I’m not going to lie I think Poyser, Fitzgerald, and Dunnegan is our best S-S-N combination right now.
I agree 100%. I’m unsure why they basically switched the 2 for the Clemson game.
I’m still hoping that as 1-2 CB’s return this all works itself out.
 
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