On Keionte Scott…

Yes đź’Ż %, I think Cam Pruitt is a Key Player because he Covers better & is as fast or Faster than most Safeties.
You Could Be a more Physical Team
With Pruitt as your Nickel.

Scott is the answer at Nickel ,has ideal Size , Speed ,Aggressiveness & has extremely valuable 3 years mostly starting in the SEC.

Experience at Nickel & Safety Matters.
football Intelligence( understanding Angles) & Communication .
It killed us in 2024
In cover-3, the WLB will be your nickel whenever they're on the field (and there's a #2 receiver). It's called a "Big Nickel" and you see it often. WLB carries the #2 to intermediate zone and then passes off to deep third if he goes vertical.

If Pruitt wins the WLB job on passing downs they decide to play base, he will be out over the #2 into Hook-Curl or as nickel quite a bit.

The roles at LB are the most interesting questions on the team for me.
 
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In cover-3, the WLB will be your nickel whenever they're on the field (and there's a #2 receiver). It's called a "Big Nickel" and you see it often. WLB carries the #2 to intermediate zone and then passes off to deep third if he goes vertical.

If Pruitt wins the WLB job on passing downs they decide to play base, he will be out over the #2 into Hook-Curl or as nickel quite a bit.

The roles at LB are the most interesting questions on the team for me.

Sometimes the defense has no choice but to play LBs in coverage if the offense goes hurry up and doesn't substitute. IIRC, we got burnt a few times when this happened.
 
Sometimes the defense has no choice but to play LBs in coverage if the offense goes hurry up and doesn't substitute. IIRC, we got burnt a few times when this happened.
On every pass play your LB's are in pass coverage if they aren't rushing the QB.

It's just what are they asked to do. Often times, your LB shades to the run strength of the formation (think body size, LB to TE). If you have multiple LB's on field, like you say, one will have to take a receiver to passing strength if you don't have enough DB's.

They either carry it through intermediate zone, pattern matching a switch release or a horizontal route from #1, or drop into Hook-Zone.

Miami definitely didn't communicate well. They struggled with any motion or switches/pattern matching. If #2 went deep and #1 switched, it was like advanced calculus for our outside CB's to figure out. Wider than widest and deeper than deepest was not recognized. Quarters was essentially Greek for our defenders.

LB's decided that their spot/landmark was a place to get to regardless of anything happening around them (including forgetting to pass/match/find ball).

When Mario says it was a mess, I wholeheartedly agree with him based on the film.
 
I wouldn't understate the impact on special teams. If this kid never played a defensive snap but contributes as an above-average punt returner and improves coverage units, he will have impacted the team quite a bit.

It doesn't get enough attention how pitiful our special teams have been the past several years. Those are real and tangible yards.
100% agree. Anybody paying attention can see we've went hard after improving this part of the team.. In my defense, that's just not as funny. Lol 🤡
 
On every pass play your LB's are in pass coverage if they aren't rushing the QB.

It's just what are they asked to do. Often times, your LB shades to the run strength of the formation (think body size, LB to TE). If you have multiple LB's on field, like you say, one will have to take a receiver to passing strength if you don't have enough DB's.

They either carry it through intermediate zone, pattern matching a switch release or a horizontal route from #1, or drop into Hook-Zone.

Miami definitely didn't communicate well. They struggled with any motion or switches/pattern matching. If #2 went deep and #1 switched, it was like advanced calculus for our outside CB's to figure out. Wider than widest and deeper than deepest was not recognized. Quarters was essentially Greek for our defenders.

LB's decided that their spot/landmark was a place to get to regardless of anything happening around them (including forgetting to pass/match/find ball).

When Mario says it was a mess, I wholeheartedly agree with him based on the film.
@Lance Roffers Would you say the "mess" was more attributed to personnel, bad scheme or teaching?

Im sure its a combination but initially I leaned more on the players but what that defense looked like towards the end of the year.... Getting physically beat is one thing, having the entire defense lost and confused has to fall on what and how your coaching these guys.
 
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Would you say the "mess" was more attributed to personnel, bad scheme or teaching?

Im sure its a combination but initially I leaned more on the players but what that defense looked like towards the end of the year.... Getting beat is one thing, having the entire defense lost and confused has to fall on what and how your coaching these guys.

Not Lance, but I'd rank it 1. Teaching, 2. Personnel, 3. Scheme. Could just as easily flip 1 and 2. But I put the blame more on coaches who were incapable of using the tools they had. I get that we were thin in talent made worse by when Brown and later Richard were injured, and that guys like Hill were physically limited, But coaches poured gasoline on the dumpster fire and struck the match, IMO.
 
@Lance Roffers Would you say the "mess" was more attributed to personnel, bad scheme or teaching?

Im sure its a combination but initially I leaned more on the players but what that defense looked like towards the end of the year.... Getting physically beat is one thing, having the entire defense lost and confused has to fall on what and how your coaching these guys.
It's a guess, since I wasn't in the meetings, but the inability to communicate seems to stem from a loss of a few players to injury and the guys who replaced them not having the same level of communication and understanding (which means it's not being taught in a way they get it, or called in a way they can execute).

Players always have to play. It's a game of players on the field, but I think the disconnect was deep seated. I'm surprised Guidry didn't succeed. His defenses were strong in prior stops. I don't think he's a bum.

But here, for whatever reason, it was not working and he was powerless to stop it. Which tells me he wasn't the coach I thought he was because he was a one-trick pony and he couldn't create a scheme to succeed unless everything was perfect around him.

No matter who you are, you should be able to create a scheme that allows your players to cover all but maybe the bubble gap in a run formation and to be able to handle a simple motion without panicking. I'm still stunned that Iowa State simply adding a gap to the run strength caused Miami to short circuit their brain.

Simple teaching stuff that a guy on the coach was seeing they were playing it wrong.
 
Some people don’t know what they’re looking at, also I’m emphasizing that THEY in particular would give up CRUCIAL/big plays, it was hardly ever death by a 1000 cuts.

The point is this secondary Revamp is massive and although Guidry was horrendous, I think our DBs were our kryptonite more so than Guidry was. They were that bad.

Jaden Harris single handily is responsible for 75% of my football PTSD
****tyy coaching + ****** talent = Miami's secondary in 2024
 
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#GoodNickelsMatter

We’d look a lot different without him, worth every penny. Interested to see who is next up for next season…and by that I mean who is really up in significant moments in games that matter, not Isaiah Taylor.
Hopefully Ewald can step up and take over.
 
#GoodNickelsMatter

We’d look a lot different without him, worth every penny. Interested to see who is next up for next season…and by that I mean who is really up in significant moments in games that matter, not Isaiah Taylor.

Yup this is what I posted in another thread…Wonder who the back up nickle is right now. I know Brantley was tried, and Ewald got a look in practice. Day did early on but I think he's full time safety right now?
 
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Love the Leon County Sheriff's Deputy in the background staring at him, trying to remember what the Leon County ordinance is for improper prayer on a seeded surface...His Grandpa is probably in this picture:

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