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Keontra Smith a striker now?

I believe they use the striker on downs that they feel have a higher probability of runs being called. I’m pretty sure we subbed out Nickel and Dime packages with more CB’s on the field.
 
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Great move imo. Saw Bolden at the baseball game and he looks healthy. Jordan was in a boot. With so many guys out I hope Carter gets a look at WLB.
 
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CanesReligion said:
That makes plenty of sense actually. Look at his HS highlight tape. A lot of it is of him running downhill and making open field tackles.

Frierson didn't really impress me last season neither. Wouldn't be surprised if Smith is the starter by the end of Spring ball.
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Frierson was also a redshirt freshman. He admittedly struggled but has plenty of time to develop. With that said love Smith moving to striker to get more athleticism on the field.
 
TheCigar said:
You're missing my point. When we move guys to striker we immediately bulk them up over their natural weight hurting their natural coverage skills yet still aren't big enough to handle at point of attack. Just let DBs be DBs and let LBs be LBs. It's that simple. It's not rocket science. It's what the good teams actually do.
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What are your examples of bulking them up too much? Finley only put on 15 lbs since highschool. Frierson only 10 or so since his listed HS weight and still sub-200.
 
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When the dust settles and billions spent, this how I see things panning out:

DE Roche / Harvey / Chantz / Q. Will
DT Silvera / Blissett / Hunte / Roberts
DT Ford / Miller / Holley
DE Rousseau / Phillips / C. Williams

LB McCloud / Brooks / Jennings / Flagg
LB Huff / Joyner / Steed / Cave

ST Frierson / Smith / Washington

CB Ivey / Williams / Dunson
CB Blades / Couch / Clarke

SS Bolden / Carter / Balom
FS Hall / Avantae / Harrell

Need to keep an eye on the health of the LBs. Jennings is still limping around. Steed is coming off multiple injuries. Brooks, Cave, Flagg are coming off recent surgeries. Joyner and Huff have little experience.

This is why I hope they can get Carter some work at LB. He knows the defense and we've got Avantae, Harrell, Balom entering the mix in a couple months. Let's not depend on Ragone again when LB depth becomes an issue.
 
TheCigar said:
Yeah, you're right. The defenses at Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Clemson, Georgia are all doing it wrong. They just don't win much using the base defenses they use. What are they thinking not using a ridiculous made up striker position where they bulk up players and have them play out of position. What was I thinking.
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I'm not bothering to look at the rest, but BAMA has a similar position. They just call it the Money position.
 
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A1cane said:
Amari stays at safety for the simple fact that bolden is a 100% healthy and didn't sell them on him being the starter full time and going into this year amari has the most experience on the whole defense
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Bolden is the best safety we have hands down . He didn’t sell them ? That kid was all over the field making plays .
 
twes.305 said:
3, is too many?
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It's why i followed it up with "but not enough".

Coaches didn't prioritize the position and just put guys there that didn't work out elsewhere, like Finley. I was fine with that bc it's not a full-time position so why would you recruit 3 specific players for it? That would make no sense to me bc you can use guys that might not pan out at other positions, like a S without the proper range or a LB that doesn't really fill out physically. My comment of too many was mainly in jest because we're stealing depth from other places we don't have to fill the role.

We took safeties in Gil and Smith and moved to a Striker role. That leaves only 3 safeties with any experience on the roster, 1 of which is coming back from injury (Bolden) and 1 that is not good in space (Carter). Ultimately i felt Carter was best for the Striker role anyway bc he does his best work in the box.....but then again, i never saw Gil/Smith in a single high look to see how they would be in space either.

That leaves Balom, Harrell and Avantae to provide depth, 3 incoming freshman. Now i really like Harrell and Avantae but that's a big ask for incoming guys to get up to speed in this defense that puts safeties in tough matchups with all the blitzing. Washington doesn't have the speed to play S imo, so he's going to be another Striker if you ask me.

I think with guys like Huff, Brooks and TAC on the outside, we will have enough speed to keep 3 LBs on the field if we would chose to do that. So again, it makes me wonder how much use we would get out of the position and if we may be under-utilizing some of the younger guys at that position when they could be get experience elsewhere first.
 
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Good move for the 2-deep.

Keontra is a Safety with LB skill set & legit 4.5 ish speed, the combo of him & Gil at Striker is good for the Defense overall & allows one of the younger Safeties an opportunity to get good 2nd teams snaps behind Gurvan & Bolden.

I don't think they'll move Amari Carter to a LB spot because we don't have any depth at Safety that's not TF's & yall know how much Banda values Seniority on the backend. With Bolden still recovering & getting back fully healthy Hall & Carter will be getting the most 1st team reps until Bolden is cleared, once he's full go Carter will basically play the Knowles role as 3rd rotational Safety.

It sucks Tae Williams & Jalen Harrell couldn't get in as EE's, they would be getting valuable 2nd team reps this Spring. Gotta hope those boys come in by Summer & hit the ground running.
 
Should we try Smith at LB? Man we have like 7 million safeties fighting for two spots. Avante is going to have to play Nickel early on
 
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Liberty City El said:
Good move for the 2-deep.

Keontra is a Safety with LB skill set & legit 4.5 ish speed, the combo of him & Gil at Striker is good for the Defense overall & allows one of the younger Safeties an opportunity to get good 2nd teams snaps behind Gurvan & Bolden.

I don't think they'll move Amari Carter to a LB spot because we don't have any depth at Safety that's not TF's & yall know how much Banda values Seniority on the backend. With Bolden still recovering & getting back fully healthy Hall & Carter will be getting the most 1st team reps until Bolden is cleared, once he's full go Carter will basically play the Knowles role as 3rd rotational Safety.

It sucks Tae Williams & Jalen Harrell couldn't get in as EE's, they would be getting valuable 2nd team reps this Spring. Gotta hope those boys come in by Summer & hit the ground running.
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But why not move Carter to striker and Frierson to safety?
 
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