Jimmy Gaines

CanesAreAble

All-ACC
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
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Our starting MLB has 53 tackles in 10 games.

I've been disappointed in Gaines's play this year. He looks small, slow, and not very physical. He also doesn't seem to have a nose for the ball.

Basically, he looks like a 2-star recruit from Buffalo.

I don't know if Gionni Paul will be ready to play next year, but we really need an upgrade at the position.
 
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Agree and disagree. Physically, he looks like a UM linebacker IMO. I also think he likes contact.

However, his open-field tackling has been dreadful and he hasn't shown great instincts. MIKE doesn't took like the spot for him.
 
Yeah I don't think he looks small.

Spence has played a lot of MLB lately so Gaines playing time has gone down.

He's a true So. and a young one at that, I'm willing to give him time to develop his skills.
 
To me, he looks like an OLB size-wise. We have Spence playing middle out of complete necessity, but that clearly isn't his best position, either. Gaines just seems to get swallowed up by blockers.

But as D$ said, the bigger issues are his instincts and the poor tackling.
 
Before the season started I predicted our breakout players to be Gaines and Mike James.


Yeah......about that......
 
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In a perfect world, Gaines would strictly be a special teams guy. Our depth issues on defense have been awful.
 
This is a tangent but my biggest problem with our defense is how soft they hit. Gaines is guilty of this...as is pretty much everybody, besides Perryman and Chickillo. These guys are just passive. They aren't out there to end guys.
 
Finding a stud mlb should be at the very top of D'onofrio's list of priorities. Gaines could and probably will improve but there has got to be a high school kid in Miami better/more talented than he is right now. His size isn't an issue for me. Webster and Vilma were tiny here. But Webster and Vilma were both starters at the mike in their second year and the difference is night and day between them and Gaines.
 
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Paul wasn't ready this year but had to play, he's a kid I can see making an impact next year. I also like Eddie Williams and the measurables he brings to the table, add to that he got to redshirt and learn gves him a chance to possibly grow into a player down the road.

I was nervous about Gaines because the level of competition he played against in Buffalo is nowhere near comparable to Florida, or anywhere in the south for that matter.
 
He's a very young guy who never played MLB in a game before this year. I still think he'll end up being a nice player for us, probably on the strong side.
 
This is a tangent but my biggest problem with our defense is how soft they hit. Gaines is guilty of this...as is pretty much everybody, besides Perryman and Chickillo. These guys are just passive. They aren't out there to end guys.

I couldn't agree more. We just look soft on defense, nobody really plays with any real intensity outside of the two freshman.
 
Factor in that the DT play has been awful (the ongoing lack of depth issue) and we can see why we've been so weak down the middle. mike play needs to improve considerably for us to take a step forward on D.
 
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This is a tangent but my biggest problem with our defense is how soft they hit. Gaines is guilty of this...as is pretty much everybody, besides Perryman and Chickillo. These guys are just passive. They aren't out there to end guys.

Yup and you know what? That's not something that just happens once you get to college. That's something guys do or don't do starting in pee-wee ball (usually of course).

Coaches watching film have to see those things.
 
This is a tangent but my biggest problem with our defense is how soft they hit. Gaines is guilty of this...as is pretty much everybody, besides Perryman and Chickillo. These guys are just passive. They aren't out there to end guys.

Yup and you know what? That's not something that just happens once you get to college. That's something guys do or don't do starting in pee-wee ball (usually of course).

Coaches watching film have to see those things.

Yep. It's not something you develop. It just really irks me, and having a middle linebacker who looks like he is playing pattycake sometimes sucks. Even though I wasn't a huge Sharpton fan, he was definitely a violent tackler. We just don't have guys that are out there to knock guys out.
 
Gaines is a tough kid who can hit. Football is game of leverage and instincts and right now he's not playing with a tremendous amount of either. His play over the last 4-5 games has been light years ahead of the first few though.
 
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He's a very young guy who never played MLB in a game before this year. I still think he'll end up being a nice player for us, probably on the strong side.

Isnt he like 17 or something? The kid is young... And if I can remember he was an OLB and Cain was the MLB... I think both are talented and fundamentally sound but they just need to get stronger... They're young... I can see those two and Perryman as our starters next year unless one of the freshmen come in and tear it up, which I dont really expect any of them to do... But I dont know... I like the kid Witt... He diagnose plays like Spence did coming in... The issue concerning him is strength... He's a fundamental player and for some reason, I think he has an advantage over his peers coming in...
 
One play stands out among many. the VT game where the QB runs right up the gut for the winning TD. Gaines shoots the wrong gap, tries to go around the blocker, instead of engaging him which may have slowed the QB down or made him alter his course.

If you go back and re-watch that play,by the time the QB get's to the end zone, Gaines is the further away than any other player on that field to the QB. He's 6-7 yards in the VT backfield instead of maintaining his responsibilty where the QB just gashed us.

i cringe when I see our backers tring to run around blocks. The UVA game was another example of poor fundamentals. Just what has Barrow brought to the table since he's been here, coaching wise?
 
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