Chase Smith Vs USF

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Grade this performance


100% solid B ~ B for doing exactly what he was supposed to do; could definitely give a B+ for hands up on the slant and spatial awareness.

Someone with better acumen could tell me he should have done more with opportunities but idk man, pretty **** solid there; trusting his assignment having to play with his head looking back from the ball/play
 
I watched the usf game again yesterday and focused on the left side of the line on offense and the linebackers on defense. I came away with a few observations. Our linebackers were mostly invisible in the usf game. Our DL was so dominant that our LB only had to clean up in the run game on a few plays. We mostly shut down their run game with our front 4. Our LB played zone coverage the majority of the game and looked decent. When Chase Smith was on the field he looked different. He flashed on just about every play. If I only had the usf game as a reference, I would say that Chase Smith is our best linebacker.

On offense, Okunlola stood out. There's no doubt in my mind that he's our starting LT next season. He split snaps with McCoy at LG and frankly looked better. Then he played LT with the 2nd team and looked natural at the position. His athleticism and power are unique. There's a reason he was a 5 star. Glad to see him finally putting it together.
 
About Time GIF



JK lol


The infamous 'flyin around.'
 
surprised by what everyone here sees. I do not see a fluid player. He clearly knows where he's supposed to be and is big so those two things together disrupt the offense, but he lacks the coordination to complete the plays. If that's what our best LB looks like, that's not good
 
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surprised by what everyone here sees. I do not see a fluid player. He clearly knows where he's supposed to be and is big so that those two things together disrupts the offense, but lacks the coordination to complete the plays. If that's what our best LB looks like, that's not good
Yeah he looks pretty good in a straight line but lacks explosiveness laterally. Still, he has a role.
 
surprised by what everyone here sees. I do not see a fluid player. He clearly knows where he's supposed to be and is big so that those two things together disrupts the offense, but lacks the coordination to complete the plays. If that's what our best LB looks like, that's not good
Agreed. Looks stiff (pause).
 
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I'd give him a B-. Most plays were good and it seems like he's almost always where he's supposed to be.

First play was 🤮. He had help outside and yet still gave up inside instead of getting a TFL.

4th play was embarrassing. Just let the RB bounce right off him in the hole.

Seems like he's in the right place and definitely doesn't look lost out there but a few times just doesn't make the play when he has a chance to on his own.
 
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surprised by what everyone here sees. I do not see a fluid player. He clearly knows where he's supposed to be and is big so those two things together disrupt the offense, but he lacks the coordination to complete the plays. If that's what our best LB looks like, that's not good
He was fine, his weaknesses were apparent, he was slow to make reads but was decisive when he made them. I’ll say this, it was the first time I noticed his contribution multiple times in a live game in his career. I’m not a grader, but on rewatch he looked overmatched more often than I caught live.

He’s fine, I’d rather have this version of him than any other.
 
Here is my question. Did any of our other LB’s do better than Chase? If so, what were their grades for those of you who gave Chase a “B”.
 
First play blowing up the WR pass was awesome, even more impressive than the tipped pass because he was able to change direction. Don't know what it looked like up close, but on that vid looks like he got held on the longer run by the RB. Great game for Chase; keep getting better!
 
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surprised by what everyone here sees. I do not see a fluid player. He clearly knows where he's supposed to be and is big so those two things together disrupt the offense, but he lacks the coordination to complete the plays. If that's what our best LB looks like, that's not good

He's not very good in space and he often over runs his tackles in space and is taking the wrong should when taking on blockers.

He's stronger in the box then outside. He's a Mike backer and he's a 5-10 snaps at most. Not much I like in that film. Likely really good on STs.
 
i'm happy for him ... he's not perfect but he's flying around and seems to be around the ball
 
It wasn't very good, honestly.

1. he got too deep in his zone coverage on the FR play.
2. He missed three tackles. One of the missed tackles. happened because he was late in recognizing the run and was late to the hole, so the RB had steam and ran through him. The missed tackle on the HB pass should have been a TFL for him of about 7-8 yards.
3. He did have a pass defend but he drifted too far to the sideline on his zone coverage.

IDK what you guys are looking at but he shouldn't be on the field.
 
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