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Huge Shoutout to Bryce Fitzgerald!

FrancisSawyer

FrancisSawyer

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This true freshman started at Nickel yesterday against NC State, getting the start in place of 6th year Senior and Thorpe Award Semifinalist Keionte Scott. Not only did Bryce Fitzgerald earn the right to start in place of Scott but the young man played an excellent game.

Playing against one of the most explosive offenses in the ACC was a huge challenge and it's certain that the Wolfpack were looking to exploit Scott’s absence by picking on Fitzgerald. That didn't quite work out as there was literally no drop-off in the defense’s level of play as we held NC State to 143 yards of total offense and only 7 points. A truly excellent performance and proof that the future is very bright!
 
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Jassid82 said:
Those posts about him not being physical enough coming out of HS and maybe he should play WR didn’t age well. Lol
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He’s still not there yet with the physicality. It was in one of our losses where he wanted no part of tackling a running back at the goal line. It’s his ball skills that are elite, and hopefully the physicality will come with more experience.
 
He was great during that first series (and I assume the rest of the game, ‘cause I don’t remember seeing him much of the rest of the game, a good thing for a DB) but as far as physicality goes, I don’t think we saw him blitzing and around the line of scrimmage the same way we saw Scott. And I’m fine with that! Put the right people in the right positions to make the right plays. And judging by the results? We did that today. Love seeing that kid out there.
 
Cane in Los Angeles said:
He was great during that first series (and I assume the rest of the game, ‘cause I don’t remember seeing him much of the rest of the game, a good thing for a DB) but as far as physicality goes, I don’t think we saw him blitzing and around the line of scrimmage the same way we saw Scott. And I’m fine with that! Put the right people in the right positions to make the right plays. And judging by the results? We did that today. Love seeing that kid out there.
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If you watch the reply he blitz a handful of times and looked good almost got home once on Bailey
 
[QUOTE="hollyhood27, ⁸: 7989294, member: 118"
He’s still not there yet with the physicality. It was in one of our losses where he wanted no part of tackling a running back at the goal line. It’s his ball skills that are elite, and hopefully the physicality will come with more experience.
[/QUOTE]
Still, we must give credit where it is due. Fitzgerald is a true freshman who was in the very difficult position of having to fill in for Scott against one of the better offenses in the country and he really stepped up.
 
FrancisSawyer said:
[QUOTE="hollyhood27, ⁸: 7989294, member: 118"
He’s still not there yet with the physicality. It was in one of our losses where he wanted no part of tackling a running back at the goal line. It’s his ball skills that are elite, and hopefully the physicality will come with more experience.
Click to expand...
Still, we must give credit where it is due. Fitzgerald is a true freshman who was in the very difficult position of having to fill in for Scott against one of the better offenses in the country and he really stepped up.
[/QUOTE]

I’m not taking anything away from his skill set but you can still have concerns. I’m not sure what is the issue with saying that?
 
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hollyhood27 said:
Still, we must give credit where it is due. Fitzgerald is a true freshman who was in the very difficult position of having to fill in for Scott against one of the better offenses in the country and he really stepped up.
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I’m not taking anything away from his skill set but you can still have concerns. I’m not sure what is the issue with saying that?
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What made you think I had an issue with you saying that? No not at all. It's only natural to have concerns. I'm just saying that regardless of that, it was still impressive for this true freshman to fill in for Scott without any noticeable drop-off from the defense. Now it's absolutely possible that a good OC may find a weakness in his game and exploit it but that's a different conversation.
 
Jassid82 said:
Those posts about him not being physical enough coming out of HS and maybe he should play WR didn’t age well. Lol
Click to expand...
I’d really love for that to be true because his awareness and instincts in coverage are seemingly elite, but he’s nowhere near where he needs to be in the run game or physically, and that’s totally expected.

What we miss in the run game and filling hopefully will be made up with some PBUs and a pick. He’s got a really great feel for recognizing route combos. He jumped a route yesterday that was as much processing as it was athleticism.
 
I agree that he’s not where he needs to be..but there were reports he couldn’t even tackle the dummy in practice he was so afraid of contact. Lol.
 
whoever plays that position is gonna eat ... tfl's, coverage, etc ... it's a helluva opportunity, the kid from minnesota had a helluva year playing the same spot
 
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