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Three position switches I'd like to see

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M3N said:
Restrepo to Striker or FS. Kid has no business playing offense or returning kicks/ punts. Hands like feet
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Restrepo was a beast on the other side of the ball in high school. Problem is where he would excel we are stacked.
 
Curious to see how spring goes have a lot of young guys chomping at the bit. Going to get a couple of instances where they go with seniority and the you find feel robbed and possibly transfer or older guy gets passed up and transfers. Feel like a we could have a good amount after spring
 
DMoney said:
It was a process with Shields. First, he was a heralded recruit like Pope. Then he lost confidence with bad drops and a failure to fight for the football. As a junior, his playing time as a WR cratered and he got his confidence back as a gunner. Finally, we moved him to CB as a senior and he developed into our best NFL corner in decades.

I would follow the same blueprint here. Put Pope at gunner and see how he competes. He’s faster than our other corners anyway.
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Shields lost confidence with bad drops and a failure to fight for the football?

Let's talk about what really happened.

Sam played in 13 games as a true freshman and started in 7. Had 37 receptions, the most by a freshman WR in a decade (since Reggie Wayne). Sporting News Honorable Mention Freshman All-American.

As a true sophomore, Sam had some injuries to deal with, he played in 10 games and started in 5. While he only caught 27 passes that year, he was the team's leading receiver in at least half of the games he played in.

As a true junior, Sam made a critical false start penalty against F$U (our 5th game) and was virtually benched by Shannon the rest of the year, getting only ONE more start at WR (ever), in the bowl game vs. Cal.

So we are looking at 2.5 years of the Sam-Shield-at-WR experience. One year was pretty **** good, and Sam lost his job over a penalty, not bad drops.
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
As a true junior, Sam made a critical false start penalty against F$U (our 5th game) and was virtually benched by Shannon the rest of the year, getting only ONE more start at WR (ever), in the bowl game vs. Cal.

So we are looking at 2.5 years of the Sam-Shield-at-WR experience. One year was pretty **** good, and Sam lost his job over a penalty, not bad drops.
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So they moved Shields to CB because he had one false start penalty?
 
DMoney said:
So they moved Shields to CB because he had one false start penalty?
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Shannon pulled him from the game and refused to start him for the rest of the regular season. That's what solidified the whole "Randy's doghouse" thing.

By the way, it wasn't a false-start (my bad), it was illegal substitution. We had first and goal at the 4 with 9 minutes to go, we were about to take the lead for the first time in the game, and Sam screwed up. Shannon pulled Sam off the field and he didn't play for the rest of the game. We settled for a field goal and lost by 2 points.

Shields did not start playing CB until the next year, in an effort to get back on the field, because Randy would not play him at WR. If Sam ever did lose confidence as a WR, it was after F$U 2008, not before.

Think about it this way. Shields started the F$U game. He had a couple of receptions in the F$U game. He was on the field for the most critical play of what should have been a comeback win. Shields had done nothing else particularly horrible in the F$U game to merit a perma-benching.

And yet...it happened. After the penalty. It was bizarre. Look, I was heartbroken after the loss, I knew we coulda-woulda-shoulda won that game, but not so much that I would advocate the banishment of a starting WR (though I'm sure there are some Wiggins-Pope haters who would probably now choose to praise Shannon for what he did).

I agree with you (basically) that Shields was not as good for the 15 games he played later (sophomore year up through the junior year game against F$U) as he was for the 13 games he played as a true freshman. He had 37 receptions in 13 games as a freshman and then just 38 total receptions for the next 2 years. I get it. Injuries and SOME poor play undercut him.

But his desire to play again as a CB is an indication of his heart. He didn't just get the yips, where he could never catch a football again. If he doesn't commit that penalty against F$U and we won that game, he would have continued to start at WR.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Shannon pulled him from the game and refused to start him for the rest of the regular season. That's what solidified the whole "Randy's doghouse" thing.

By the way, it wasn't a false-start (my bad), it was illegal substitution. We had first and goal at the 4 with 9 minutes to go, we were about to take the lead for the first time in the game, and Sam screwed up. Shannon pulled Sam off the field and he didn't play for the rest of the game. We settled for a field goal and lost by 2 points.

Shields did not start playing CB until the next year, in an effort to get back on the field, because Randy would not play him at WR. If Sam ever did lose confidence as a WR, it was after F$U 2008, not before.

Think about it this way. Shields started the F$U game. He had a couple of receptions in the F$U game. He was on the field for the most critical play of what should have been a comeback win. Shields had done nothing else particularly horrible in the F$U game to merit a perma-benching.

And yet...it happened. After the penalty. It was bizarre. Look, I was heartbroken after the loss, I knew we coulda-woulda-shoulda won that game, but not so much that I would advocate the banishment of a starting WR (though I'm sure there are some Wiggins-Pope haters who would probably now choose to praise Shannon for what he did).

I agree with you (basically) that Shields was not as good for the 15 games he played later (sophomore year up through the junior year game against F$U) as he was for the 13 games he played as a true freshman. He had 37 receptions in 13 games as a freshman and then just 38 total receptions for the next 2 years. I get it. Injuries and SOME poor play undercut him.

But his desire to play again as a CB is an indication of his heart. He didn't just get the yips, where he could never catch a football again. If he doesn't commit that penalty against F$U and we won that game, he would have continued to start at WR.
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If he was in a permanent doghouse, he wouldn't have played at all at any position. They moved him from WR because he was not a very good WR anymore. He lost confidence. Crime Dog wanted him at CB and the rest is history.
 
From the Herald:

One of the more interesting comments Randy made Tuesday was in regard to junior receiver Sam Shields, who picked up the costly illegal substitution penalty against Florida State which eventually led to UM settling for a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown and taking the lead. Shields practiced Tuesday but there's a rumor circulating the message boards he could soon be off the team. Shannon left us Tuesday with this cryptic message: "We have to keep coaching him. We're not going to say, `Well, you're on the shelf.' Sam knows he's a third-year guy. Everyone is expecting Sam to make plays, and he hasn't. He's been having opportunities to do it. We'll keep coaching him hard, but we have to give these young guys a chance now. They make plays for us. You're on a roll with something, you ride it till it stops."



So let's analyze this. Sure, maybe Shields "wasn't making plays". Let's not forget, in that UM-F$U game, we kept switching QBs between Marve and Harris. And, OK, maybe some of the young WRs were making some moves.

But here are the actual 2008 stats.

Shields, who basically didn't play from the 4th quarter of the FSU game until the bowl game, had 11 receptions on the year, tied for 9th with Leonard Hankerson and Javarris James.

1615580256657.png


So...there are 2 TEs (Zellner & Epps) and 1 RB (Cooper) with more receptions than Shields.

Which means that the WRs who "out-performed" Shields were:

Aldarius Johnson - 31 catches
Thearon "Pimp" Collier - 26 catches
Laron Byrd - 21 catches
Travis Benjamin - 18 catches
Kayne Farquharson - 18 catches

Not exactly a Murderer's Row of WRs that forced Shields to the sidelines. If Shields kept averaging the same 2 catches per game that he had for 6 games, and played in all 13 games, he would have been tied for second on the team in receptions. By production, Shields was literally in the 2-deep for our 3-WR sets, yet Shannon benched him for half a year for a penalty.

I do realize that none of us were actually at the practices to see how Sam reacted after the F$U game, but this still seems to be a very harsh and somewhat unwarranted outcome. We did go 7-6 that year. We did have QB issues that year. It can't possibly all be Sam's fault, and he showed enough heart and character to become a starter on defense the next year.

Who the fvck knows. We had a LOT of problems back then.
 
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JMG said:
I’ll believe it when I see it regarding Pope being done at
DMoney said:
It's not just getting kids on the bus. It's getting them on the right seats of the bus. Here are some moves I'd like to see in spring:

Jalen Harrell to Striker- It's a waste of time to try him at corner. He's not fast enough. Move him to striker and allow him to gain weight. His frame can carry 210+. Best case, you have a tough big guy with man-coverage skills.

Keontra Smith to LB- We need our fastest and most physical players on the field. Striker is about to get crowded with young guys. By comparison, linebacker has no juice. Jennings is G5, Steed and Brooks have injury issues, Huff lacks awareness, Cave is raw and Troutman is small. Smith played plenty of LB in high school and can get to 220 without issue.

Mark Pope to CB- I'm not saying Pope will be a good corner. But I know he's cooked at WR. Rambo is about to take his spot and the young guys need to play. All he's doing is wasting time and stealing reps. At CB, he's at least a 6'0+ athlete with quickness and 10.53 speed. Maybe the desperation brings out the physicality in him like it did for Sam Shields.
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Mark Pope on defense lol ?? He is no Sam shields.
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DMoney said:
If he was in a permanent doghouse, he wouldn't have played at all at any position. They moved him from WR because he was not a very good WR anymore. He lost confidence. Crime Dog wanted him at CB and the rest is history.
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Seriously? You're debating the definition of permanent doghouse (a term I never used)? Randy wouldn't play Sam at WR until the bowl game (he thought Sam was going to transfer).

How does a guy "not become a very good WR anymore" in 15 games when he is producing at a comparable clip? He had 37 catches in 13 games in 2006, an average of 2.85 catches per game. Due to injuries, he had 27 catches in 6 games (he played a few more on special teams), an average of 4.5 catches per game. By the way, in FIVE of those six games, he was the team's leading receiver.

In 2008, he had 6 receptions in 4 games (he did not play against UiF), and then only started ONE game after the F$U debacle. He only had 5 receptions for the rest of his career.

So, if you can, please pinpoint the exact moment in those FOUR games in 2008 that Sam Shields became "not a very good WR anymore", at a level where he never starts (even though the other WRs are not putting up superior numbers) and only really gets a chance to play on special teams (he did not start playing defense until the next year).
 
TheOriginalCane said:
From the Herald:

One of the more interesting comments Randy made Tuesday was in regard to junior receiver Sam Shields, who picked up the costly illegal substitution penalty against Florida State which eventually led to UM settling for a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown and taking the lead. Shields practiced Tuesday but there's a rumor circulating the message boards he could soon be off the team. Shannon left us Tuesday with this cryptic message: "We have to keep coaching him. We're not going to say, `Well, you're on the shelf.' Sam knows he's a third-year guy. Everyone is expecting Sam to make plays, and he hasn't. He's been having opportunities to do it. We'll keep coaching him hard, but we have to give these young guys a chance now. They make plays for us. You're on a roll with something, you ride it till it stops."



So let's analyze this. Sure, maybe Shields "wasn't making plays". Let's not forget, in that UM-F$U game, we kept switching QBs between Marve and Harris. And, OK, maybe some of the young WRs were making some moves.

But here are the actual 2008 stats.

Shields, who basically didn't play from the 4th quarter of the FSU game until the bowl game, had 11 receptions on the year, tied for 9th with Leonard Hankerson and Javarris James.

View attachment 144511

So...there are 2 TEs (Zellner & Epps) and 1 RB (Cooper) with more receptions than Shields.

Which means that the WRs who "out-performed" Shields were:

Aldarius Johnson - 31 catches
Thearon "Pimp" Collier - 26 catches
Laron Byrd - 21 catches
Travis Benjamin - 18 catches
Kayne Farquharson - 18 catches

Not exactly a Murderer's Row of WRs that forced Shields to the sidelines. If Shields kept averaging the same 2 catches per game that he had for 6 games, and played in all 13 games, he would have been tied for second on the team in receptions. By production, Shields was literally in the 2-deep for our 3-WR sets, yet Shannon benched him for half a year for a penalty.

I do realize that none of us were actually at the practices to see how Sam reacted after the F$U game, but this still seems to be a very harsh and somewhat unwarranted outcome. We did go 7-6 that year. We did have QB issues that year. It can't possibly all be Sam's fault, and he showed enough heart and character to become a starter on defense the next year.

Who the fvck knows. We had a LOT of problems back then.
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Man stop it, Benjamin balled out in the FSU game, that's what forced Sam to the pine.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
So, if you can, please pinpoint the exact moment in those FOUR games in 2008 that Sam Shields became "not a very good WR anymore", at a level where he never starts (even though the other WRs are not putting up superior numbers) and only really gets a chance to play on special teams (he did not start playing defense until the next year).
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If Shields was getting it done at WR, they wouldn't have moved him to CB. This shouldn't take so many paragraphs to explain.
 
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BoxingRobes said:
Need you to cite the original take on this (me)

Me in 2019(!!)



Prophetic.
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It was an equally poor take in 2019, big fella. Pope’s overwhelmingly feeble level of physicality would make for an even scarier scene on D than at WR. He would look like a more effeminate version of Brad Goreski trying to tackle someone.
 
RVACane said:
Three Position Switches I’d Like to See:
It’s not just stirring up shît. It’s stirring up the right shît.

@Go Canes!! from Slurper to Mope. While shameless in his role as a Slurper, his relentlessness in defending even the most blatantly indefensible combined with a chipiness not seen since bAndrew unbanned a group of posters and then quipped “except for Cane Oil because he just sucks”, will breathe new life into the Mope movement which has been decimated with the loss of some of its most hateful members. His 15-0 troll, in a flipped role, would be annoying as **** to the upper echelons of Slurper society, forcing accountability on staff so that genuine improvement continues.

@Dwinstitles from Mope to Slurper. Loved by some and reviled by others for simply telling the truth as he sees it, a move to Slurper would signify the success in recruiting is paying off on the field. This would also help grow the Dwins Video Network so that it could do for Manny & Miami what Finebaum has done for Saban & Alabama. The significance would mean we back or legit on our way.

@brock from Well Done to Medium Well Steaks & No Ketchup. I get that ordering steak medium well is still a criminal assault against the chef and butcher but we need to go with baby steps here and consider the unsophisticated palate of the poster we’re talking about. Shoe leather addiction is a rough culinary battle to overcome, often spawned by a mental barrier associating shades of red with The Thought of Dead Cow syndrome. Any amount of color in this man’s meat, plus the loss of Ketchup as an accomplice to the assault, would signify a receptiveness to change his diet from that of a 10 year old’s to one of a functioning 20 something adult. It would remind us that when it comes to the future for the Canes, all good things are still possible.
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Also would like to add if I was the bag man I would go to jail for UM to win. Fuq it take one for the team
 
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Dwinstitles said:
Also would like to add if I was the bag man I would go to jail for UM to win. Fuq it take one for the team
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You’d take the term “bag man” to its literal form, walking around 7 on 7’s with a potato sack full of cash. Kids’ handlers would be coming up to you with a hand out and you’d be like - “Uh uh not yet. Come see me at the end of the tourney if he balls cause I need to see elite and I need to see elite across the board.”



Can I get a “facts”???
 
The Franchise said:
It was an equally poor take in 2019, big fella. Pope’s overwhelmingly feeble level of physicality would make for an even scarier scene on D than at WR. He would look like a more effeminate version of Brad Goreski trying to tackle someone.
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What I know: Mark Pope stinks at WR. Unplayable most of the time.

What I don't know: How Mark Pope would look playing corner.

I'll take the unknown quantity here on what is otherwise a wasted roster spot.

The more successful WR to CB position switches that will most often be mentioned got more physical as corner than they were as wide receivers. So much so, most of them are known as pretty physical corners in the NFL. Pope will never be a bump n run corner or ever be described as physical, but maybe he can be a decent 4th corner on a team that lacks depth on the position. He stinks at WR and anyone can contribute what he's given us (even the rare good play could be replaced with anyone). He's replacement level. But we could use depth at cornerback. You never know. I'll take the dice roll and if he sucks there, he sucks there.
 
Liberty City El said:
Yes, he also had Covid & myocarditis.

Blades only played in 8 games last year before having to sit out for the rest of the season, up until the UVA & NC St games he was playing solid. He had 29tcks & 7PBU’s before he had to sit out.

In what game was Ivey so much better? He was getting ate up vs UAB for God’s sake & played less than 40 snaps vs LVille, he actually had multiple games where he barely played & it somehow turned into “he looked good” lol.

Ivey had 31tcks 4PBU’s & 1INT on the season in 11 games, Blades had 29tcks 7PBU’s & 2INT’s in 8 games.

Ivey gave up 152 yards & a TD on just 3 catches vs UNC, he gave up 23 receptions for 389yds & Blades only gave up 294yds (obviously factor in he played 3 less games). If you’re arguing they were both bad I 100% agree, if you’re arguing Ivey was better, I don’t see how, statistically he was worse & judging by eye test he was worse.

I’m not saying Blades didn’t play bad he absolutely did, NC St was the worst game of his career bar none, but here’s the difference, I can point out like 6 or 7 NC St style performances from Ivey, you can’t with Blades. The idea that Ivey was “better” last year is just CIS myth because he’s a kid that a lot of people want/hope he succeeds so they’re less apt to be honest about his bad play, the truth is he’s just plain awful & you don’t have to have a PHD in football to see it.

And I put zero credence into any decisions the coaching staff made, they’ll play an awful player for any **** reason, there hasn’t been a meritocracy in the Diaz era, Blades being benched for Couch doesn’t mean that Ivey was locking sh*t down, it just means Diaz & his rag tag crew of Baker, Banda & Rumph were playing musical chairs late in the season like they did every year.
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Ivey improved when he was losing reps. Never saw him get beat in the UL game after the 1st quarter.
 
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