Secondary is going to be Nasty

[JHallCanes]

Agreed. Only thing is OJ, despite one bad game, was returning after a Freshman AA season and was pretty much the assumed #1 CB going into last year. O'Conner is solidly behind two returning starters. So absent injury or suspension, he's #3 on the depth chart.

Neverthless, I expect he'll play a ton and will be good.

Yeah I’m with you there. Our DB depth is legit insane I really wouldn’t be surprised if any one of 3-4 players takes over with OJ (though seems like Antoine is out which is a huge bummer)

 

[JHallCanes]

Not only that, he was only put in that position because we were down two bigger corners in Brown and Lucas. Didn't OJ get hurt in the scond half as well?

Yeah we started to really get thin back there with Lucas and that targeting plus OJ

The depth this year should really help these guys be fresh for the end of the year

We just asked way too much of the defense and still almost pulled it off

 

[Hstokes1447]

Joe’s Top 10 - OJ #5
Ryan’s Top 10 - OJ #5

 

[KrazyCane]

O'cconer surprised me the most this past season. May not be the best, and talks mad **** on the field, and and, dropped some **** easy INT's, but yea, dude was better than I expected. Props to him, hope he improves further.

I like the attitude he brings on the field. And how coach Mario is all for it

 

[E1k]

If thorton is better than we thought in coverage the db room might be flawless.

 

[Hstokes1447]

If thorton is better than we thought in coverage the db room might be flawless.

In the Safety/Nickel room, only Fitz and JJ are better in coverage than him. Thornton is a dog, and by the end of the season, he’s going to be considered one of the best players on this defense..

 

[E1k]

In the Safety/Nickel room, only Fitz and JJ are better in coverage than him. Thornton is a dog, and by the end of the season, he’s going to be considered one of the best players on this defense..

He’s gonna be the one getting tested..not even because he’s bad but because he’s the weak link in a loaded db room so teams will have no choice. If he holds up then it’s curtains for teams

 

[The U is back to work]

If thorton is better than we thought in coverage the db room might be flawless.

He’s going to be a monster here and these WRs are going to think twice going across the middle with him and Poyser

 

[Hstokes1447]

 

[Golsen82]

Wheres OJ? Hows he viewed as a top 3 CB this draft and not top 10 in ACC

 

[The U is back to work]

Crazy considering we have 3 major players coming back and none are listed lol

 

[Hstokes1447]

Good seeing Brown on the list. Just shows how deep this corner room is.

 

[Canes2026Champs]

I touched on this when I called into Coach Hayes’ CanesTalk show last night.. but in my opinion, this defense will create more havoc numbers (pressures, sacks, strip sacks, tipped passes at the LOS, PBU’s, interceptions), and it’ll be because our offense is putting up points in bunches. Teams are gonna blink and be down 14-21 points before they knew what hit them.

That’s when the run game goes out the window and teams start dropping back to pass over and over, then our defensive line goes into attack mode and just pins their ears back, therefore you’re gonna get an even higher sack number and a higher turnover ratio. On paper it may look like our pass defense isn’t as good just for the fact that teams are gonna be forced to pass 45-50 times just to hope to keep up when our offense is red hot. The only way teams will be able to beat us is if they can run the ball good enough to control the clock and keep our offense on the sideline. That’s gonna be hard to do because our interior defensive line is probably the best and deepest in the whole country. If you can’t run it up the middle, linebackers will quickly catch on to the RB bouncing outside over and over, then your running game is stuffed. I don’t think there’s a single team in the country that can run the ball at will against us. So if teams are forced to throw, that narrows it down to a very small handful of teams that could win in a shootout. Much harder to beat us that way because if the QB makes one bad read, it’s a pick 6. Then you’re cooked anyway because then, we can go to our bread and butter with Fletcher/Brown pounding it up the middle and running the clock out.

Point is, this team is gonna be really hard to beat, almost impossible to beat when all 22 starters are on their A game.

 

[Empirical Cane]

I'm really excited about this group. There’s depth and talent at every position in the secondary. What stands out is how young these players were last season. X and OJ were true sophomores, while Fitz and Antoine were true freshmen. Poyser was also making the jump from the FCS level after transferring from Jacksonville State. All of them gained valuable game experience, and now they’ll pair that with another year of development in the program. If that growth continues, this has the potential to be one of the elite secondary units in the country.

Janet Jackson or Two Live Crew nasty?

 

[Sabetta]

they didn't have to face 5 first rounders. KC, Cooper, Tate + Smith and Becker!
Not to mention the other WR for aTm and OM's group who were really good.
PFF is garbage because it's just a grade without context.

 

[Hstokes1447]

Janet Jackson or Two Live Crew nasty?

Pause

 

[dunkman23]

Wheres OJ? Hows he viewed as a top 3 CB this draft and not top 10 in ACC

Good question. Maybe you should go line up in front of him, or ask Carnell Tate, Elijah Surratt, and Jeremiah Smith. They can probably give you a better answer than these websites.

 

[Hstokes1447]

 

[Hstokes1447]

 

[sstcane]

Dunnigan is the real deal!!!! Going to have to find ways to get him on the field.

I think we'll see Lucas/Brown on the boundary and OJ/O'Conner on the field. Then find ways to have Fitz, Poyser, JJ and Omar on the field.

I would be interested to see Omar as a Dime LB, Fitz or JJ at Nickel and then the other 2 up top.