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Canes Spring Practice Report: April 4

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KingB02 said:
Poyser played strong safety a lot too. He wasn’t always the deep man. Played in the box quite a bit. And it’s what he played at Jax State. He wasn’t always coming up and laying the lumber!
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No knock on jax state but that's the girls ymca. On last year's defense from one series to the next we could rotate alignments because they were so interchangeable. But for poyser, (who's mechanics have a tendency to break down) him being the starting strong would be horrible for his career and development and for our defense.
 
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Brooklyndee said:
You trippin. Jakobe thomas was our glue. That's not taking anything away from the other three. But bryce proved he can fill the position worst case and we recruit at a high level on Edge and oline. Safety we gonna have to see. Thornton looks like he's gonna take nickel more than likely. No clue who's gonna play strong cause potser definitely can't and neither can bryce. Don't think Thornton has the range for it.
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I believe JJ will play a bunch cause of Thomas departure, I also view Omar as the Nickel cause he really stands out when he is closer to the line. A bunch of his great highlights are right where Scott was playing
 
I think they're planning on playing Fitzgerald at strong. Maybe Day, Mack and Thomas can support until Dunnigan is ready. ... Of course, my opinion has always been that Brown should move back there because he has both the range and power to be exceptional there. But he wants to be a corner.
 
Hstokes1447 said:
Toure, Moten, Thornton, Hussey, Lightfoot, JJ, Blount, and Lowe are all those type of players. Outside of Bain, at this time last year, no one was calling the guys on this list killers lol.

0 - had just transferred to Houston after being benched at Auburn the season before
3 - coming off a up and down season playing out of position, most here wanted him benched for Lightfoot
8 - was running with the 2nd team, competing to be a starter at Tennessee, was considered a liability in coverage and a reckless hitter that would be a walking targeting penalty.

We have to start giving this staff credit for how they develop, I know there was a time when Miami was a place where players flashed as freshman to never be as successful again. Those days are over guys, this defense will be better this season than last seasons.
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Hetherman is one of those guys that knows exactly what's needed for his scheme...physically and mentally.. and will recruit accordingly regardless of rankings or what happened at their last spot.
For the position that Jakobe played, toughness and the desire to tackle was paramount over coverage ability.

Our current staff EVALUATES...meticulously.
 
grover said:
I think they're planning on playing Fitzgerald at strong. Maybe Day, Mack and Thomas can support until Dunnigan is ready. ... Of course, my opinion has always been that Brown should move back there because he has both the range and power to be exceptional there. But he wants to be a corner.
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Poyser is the strong.
Fitz will play Nickel and free.
 
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Coach Macho said:
Offense looked pretty **** crisp to me. I think there's a lot more playmakers this year. Between the transfers, the freshmen and the younger guys growing up, there's a lot of different guys with different body types and skill sets.

Portis stuck out to me. Longer than I expected (pause). Saw him make a couple nice plays on the inside.

Wiley needs to get it together mentally, cause if he does, he's a 1st round pick.

I saw Pickett look really explosive on a few pass rush reps.

Milan has to play bigger on the fade/contested throws. It was one play, so maybe I'm being unfair, but he let O'Connor snatch a ball away from him on a 50/50 throw. At the very least, he has to use his long arms to play defense in that situation.

Ed Orgeron was being social as usual. He's one of the most unintentionally funny people I've ever met.

Spafford looks like a walk-on (in his pads). Definitely needs to add good weight. And he looked completely overwhelmed by the speed and physicality of college DB's. Can't just run go-balls at this level, brother. Gotta be able to get off press coverage. Gave me flashbacks of Ray-Ray Joseph.

MNW & Carol City did absolutely nothing to get Jordan Campbell ready for playing LB at this level. They should be fired for negligence. That is all.

Cooper is a player. Savvy, twitchy, route runner. The type that gets extra reps on his own time.

Honestly...I think it's going to be a harder to replace Mesidor and Bain than people think it is. There will be a noticeable drop-off in my opinion. (I'd gladly be wrong though) Yes, the guys coming up are FREAKS. They may LOOK BETTER visually, but they are not the technicians that Mesidor and Bain are. You can see it just by watching them go through drills. JT is coaching his a$s off to get them there though. Every rep is being critiqued.


Poyser is the Strong (field) Safety...
Thornton is playing Jakobe's old spot, the Free (boundary) Safety.
Fitz is at Nickel... and he'll slide back to Free on passing downs.

Jakobe was mainly a box Safety, and although he was good, he wasn't doing anything special that Thornton can't do. It's a spot that requires a physical guy who doesn't mind sticking his nose into the box. (that's Thornton)

In our system the a Strong Safety is the guy who has to be better at covering.
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I remember when Portis enrolled early during playoff run and he was in pic with Wingo and Dunnigan and he didnt looked misplaced or that much smaller than both who were said to be 6'2-ish type athletes.. Thought he was a 5'10 nickle type closer to his dad but seems bigger..

Hoping the lightbulb comes on for Wiley, the reps are there just got to put the work in to have coaches trust to put on field. One of players looking forward to developing..

Always appreciate pov.. Good stuff overall.. Offense looking good this early is tracking like '24 for sure..

I think most on here expect a drop off from Mesi/Bain to next season, most have said that on here.. I am bullish that defense as whole can improve overall because we can be better with pass coverage in 2nd season in scheme but its hard to overlook losing the key guys in defense (Bain, Mesi, Scott and Jakobe)
 
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