Rugby Saint II

Our secondary was horrible this past season. And I do blame it squarely on our safeties. Will they be able to hold their own in a 3-4?

|Mitch|

I blame it on Ken Flajole...

Seer1

I don't get the Jenkins hate. He was so-so in '11, but I thought he really stepped it up this year. While the rest of the backfield was playing what the ****'s the scheme this time, it seemed to me he was the one runnin' across the field to put the ball carrier down.

RockyMountainSaint

Well they can't play in a 4-3, so let's hope.

hagan714

i see Jenkins surviving the switch. Harper will have a harder time.
while the secondary as a whole will be expected to hit and tackle better an area our CB worry me the most. it is the safety play that will need to improve its pass defense the most. We all know Harper is not the best pass coverage guy. harper may be out the door or starting the end of his ten year here.

Danno

I think they can thrive. Its not the 3-4 front end alignment thats important, its the type of coverage our new DC will want to combine with his version of the 3-4.

We'll likely go back to man coverage with the traditional strong and free safety set-up, like we had under GW.

Thats great news for the entire secondary because I truly believe every DB we have is best suited for a man coverage scheme.

Jenkins will play centerfield, Harper will play up just behind the LB's (if we can afford to keep him) and our CB's will simply shadow their man.

I think many will be shocked at the improvement, but being that we were the worst defense in world history, there's nowhere to go but up.

SmashMouth

Probably... the jury is still out on the others, save White.

Seer1

You could've just said, "while the secondary as a whole will be expected to hit and tackle", You'd have been spot on there. I'm still not certain how much credit for poor play can be given to the players and how much can be given to the poor schemes and play calling by the coaches. I'm not a big fan of it totally being the fault of the players. Too many times there was too much green between them and their opponents for them to have any chance to be effective. I agree Harper is more of a blitzing safety and may not be sticking around and also that we'll be still be seeing Jenkins in the black and gold next year.

lumm0x

Yes and no for me. We have known commodities in the secondary right now. What will make them a heck of a lot more effective is a pass rush. We start forcing throws and making QB's throw on the move or with guys in their face and our secondary will start to look much better. I wouldn't mind seeing Jenkins go to SS. I think he has the frame for it and his forte as a playmaker on the ball seems to be in forcing fumbles as opposed to playing the ball in the air. Harper I see fitting in using specialist packages similar to the way Carolina used Thomas Davis. Kind of like a big nickel package where he plays more of a 5th DB role in a LBer position. The FS position would need to be addressed with someone with serious range and a nose for the ball. A Jarius Byrd type.

But frankly if we had to run with Jenkins and Harper as the starting safety duo I think the biggest asset we can give them is finding a real good DE opposite Cam Jordan and/or finding an OLB with some serious rush skills.

AllSaints

Players have to Play.... N Im hoping Harper N Jenkins can Play R there futures will be cut short n the black and gold....