All Things AU Linebacker thread

[ellitor 33,101]

I think Whitehead played every defensive snap. Is he that irreplaceable on D or do we just not trust his backup? He had the game-changing play when Therezie rocked the QB. He must be our most trusted DB.

Per Coach Johnson's words, while he does not make the most noise JW is the most consistent player on defense and one of the team leaders.

He is virtually the captain of the secondary. He will not come out much barring injury.

[AUEngineer2016 407]

I think Whitehead played every defensive snap. Is he that irreplaceable on D or do we just not trust his backup? He had the game-changing play when Therezie rocked the QB. He must be our most trusted DB.

Per Coach Johnson's words, while he does not make the most noise JW is the most consistent player on defense and one of the team leaders.

He is virtually the captain of the secondary. He will not come out much barring injury.

I believe they're right that he is definitely the captain on D. You can see it in the pre-snap alignment. JW is all over the place directing traffic, getting people in the right spots. That leads me to what is most confusing and frustrating on D from JW, and that is that on many plays, he appeared that he didn't know where he was supposed to be. On the 2nd passing TD Arkansas had, he was in man coverage on the TE. Right before the pass was thrown, JW pulled up, almost as if he thought that he had help over the top. He didn't. TE made my an easy catch and our defense looks anemic.

Also noticed JW waiting for the runner to come to him rather than attacking like RT and JG do. On the only rushing TD of the game for Arkansas, JW was in the hole at the 2 or 3 yard line, ready to make the hit. But instead of going after the RB, he sat back and waited for the RB to come to him. RB made a move, had momentum, bounced off of JW, and walked in. I'd like to see him attack a little more, but I also know that this could be a function of him not wanting to give up the big play, and waiting to make sure that the RB actually does have the ball before attacking.

[homersapien 11,386]

Good grief. Is this the year we put Whitehead in the barrel?

[McLoofus 35,182]

On the only rushing TD of the game for Arkansas, JW was in the hole at the 2 or 3 yard line, ready to make the hit. But instead of going after the RB, he sat back and waited for the RB to come to him. RB made a move, had momentum, bounced off of JW, and walked in. I'd like to see him attack a little more, but I also know that this could be a function of him not wanting to give up the big play, and waiting to make sure that the RB actually does have the ball before attacking.

Oof. That play was... unsatisfactory.

[AUEngineer2016 407]

Good grief. Is this the year we put Whitehead in the barrel? :no:/>

Don't misunderstand my criticism of JW. I think that he is not only deserving of his starting spot, but is essential to the success of our Defense. He has more responsibility than any other player on that defense, and it was his first game handling it. Honestly, he probably just had so many things running through his mind trying to make sure that everyone else was in the right position that he put himself on the back burner. He will improve on that as the season goes, and as everyone gets more used to him making the calls. Even in the 2nd half, our calls appeared to be more clear guys were in the right spot, and that defense was clicking on all cylinders. It may just have taken some time to mesh and get some of the jitters out.

[AuburnNTexas 7,150]

To much energy analyzing first half where whole D seemed to be in a funk and not enough looking at second half. Lets wait to K-State game before we make any judgements. First games of the season are not always representative of what team is or will be.

[AUEngineer2016 407]

To much energy analyzing first half where whole D seemed to be in a funk and not enough looking at second half. Lets wait to K-State game before we make any judgements. First games of the season are not always representative of what team is or will be.

They're not representative, but that doesn't mean that we can't point out some of the improvements that were made in as short of a time as halftime. Did the defense look bad in the first half? Yes. Really bad. But after halftime, they came out hungry, they attacked, they got Allen out of his groove and leaned on our offense to force Arkansas into passing. They played like champions, and that is what it is going to take for us to make the CFB playoff this year. Now we know that they can play like that. They've raised the standard for themselves, and now I for one will hold them to that. Are they going to mess up occasionally? Yes, everyone does. But they have the capability of shutting an entire offense down, and anything less than that shouldn't be acceptable for them, nor do I think that they think it is acceptable. We will continue to improve, and by the K State game, we should have all of the kinks worked out.

[juscAUse 1]

Everyone has a plan until they are hit in the mouth. In a prize fight that is usually the first round . In the SEC that is the first ballgame. Everyone downs Scarbinsky for saying AU fans are negative. I will remember the second half and look forward. And maybe Scarbs just reads the AU boards.

[tbone4jc 2,241]

I suppose the coaches will decide if KF starts or not biased on what they see everyday in practice and on film. Everything else is irrelivent

Love these posts

Whenever I come across them I hear the Guinness guys in the back of my mind saying "Brilliant!"

Or maybe one of the Captain Obvious commercials

That was the plan, Sam I am.

[Mikey 16,615]

Whitehead was our leading tackler with seven unassisted. He made several stops on plays messed up by either the DL or LB, stops that prevented long gainers. There's no way Whitehead should or will come out of the starting lineup, barring injury.

[Auburn4Winners 0]

I think CEJ and CGM explained it pretty well. Ellis said "we didn't have a very physical camp" that's a huge deal and something I'm glad didn't completely kill our first game; and Gus said they ran a few things we weren't ready for. The real deal is that they had 61 yards and 0 points in the second half. I'll reserve full on judgement until after K-State but I like what I saw on both sides of the ball and agree with the coaches comments from camp, "we're miles ahead of where we were this time last year"

[1TexasTiger 55]

Here is what I saw when it came to Whitehead on 2 consecutive plays. Granted he is our most consistent DB. He knows the defense but on these two plays he did not execute the play well and it allowed Ark to score a TD.

http://www.dailymoti...q_fun&start=610

First play you see is a play action to the Hback.

Ark is zone blocking this play to the right of the defense to sell the handoff. In Cover 3 or Cover 1 shell the Field Safety(Whitehead) responsibility is to cover pass first.

Whitehead bit on the fake and over played the run to the side where AU already had numerical strength.

He recognizes the fake as well as the H-back slipping past the blitzing corner but is already out of position to make a play on the ball.

He has to take a horrible angle to get to the tackle.

He makes the tackle after the first down.

The very next play is the TD to give Ark 14:

Again we are playing a Cover 1 or 3 shell. (You can see this by the amount of space the corners give the receivers at the snap)

Whitehead walks down but has man responsibility on the tight end.

Whitehead again is held in place by the play action and is late responding to the tight end running pass him. He has no over the top help because each man is matched up.

He breaks on the receiver late and the QB throws the ball perfectly over his head for the TD.

Again I have fully analyzed the game but a lot of what i saw was him biting on the play action.

[ellitor 33,101]

I think Whitehead played every defensive snap. Is he that irreplaceable on D or do we just not trust his backup? He had the game-changing play when Therezie rocked the QB. He must be our most trusted DB.

Per Coach Johnson's words, while he does not make the most noise JW is the most consistent player on defense and one of the team leaders.

He is virtually the captain of the secondary. He will not come out much barring injury.

I believe they're right that he is definitely the captain on D. You can see it in the pre-snap alignment. JW is all over the place directing traffic, getting people in the right spots. That leads me to what is most confusing and frustrating on D from JW, and that is that on many plays, he appeared that he didn't know where he was supposed to be. On the 2nd passing TD Arkansas had, he was in man coverage on the TE. Right before the pass was thrown, JW pulled up, almost as if he thought that he had help over the top. He didn't. TE made my an easy catch and our defense looks anemic.

Watch the play again. JW made a mistake on it. It had nothing to do with thinking he had help over the top. What happened was it was a play action pass and JW hesitated on the run fake (which he should not have done) because at that point Arky was shoving their stuff down our throats and making us like it.

[Rednilla 5,391]

Okay, first off, a lot of Whitehead biting on the play action was likely predicated upon the fact that Arkansas is a power run team that had not proven any ability to throw the ball, not to mention the way they were gashing us for yardage in the first half.

However, after watching the replay (was in JHS, so didn't see it on TV live), Kris is definitely going to have to step up, or he's going to be benched. He has all the tools necessary, but he might simply lack the drive to meet his potential. I expect to see a lot more of Williams and Swain this week anyway because we're playing San Jose, but if Frost doesn't get his act together, he's going to lose his spot.

Let us hope that it was all first game jitters, and he'll be playing up to par by the time we hit Manhattan.

[Tiger 8,827]

Everyone has a plan until they are hit in the mouth. In a prize fight that is usually the first round . In the SEC that is the first ballgame. Everyone downs Scarbinsky for saying AU fans are negative. I will remember the second half and look forward. And maybe Scarbs just reads the AU boards.

Pretty sure Scar does read this board. He wrote the article on the Duke Williams catch/negativity towards NM's arm pretty much the day after this board blew up over that.

[chimesAU 89]

I think Whitehead played every defensive snap. Is he that irreplaceable on D or do we just not trust his backup? He had the game-changing play when Therezie rocked the QB. He must be our most trusted DB.

Per Coach Johnson's words, while he does not make the most noise JW is the most consistent player on defense and one of the team leaders.

He is virtually the captain of the secondary. He will not come out much barring injury.

I believe they're right that he is definitely the captain on D. You can see it in the pre-snap alignment. JW is all over the place directing traffic, getting people in the right spots. That leads me to what is most confusing and frustrating on D from JW, and that is that on many plays, he appeared that he didn't know where he was supposed to be. On the 2nd passing TD Arkansas had, he was in man coverage on the TE. Right before the pass was thrown, JW pulled up, almost as if he thought that he had help over the top. He didn't. TE made my an easy catch and our defense looks anemic.

Watch the play again. JW made a mistake on it. It had nothing to do with thinking he had help over the top. What happened was it was a play action pass and JW hesitated on the run fake (which he should not have done) because at that point Arky was shoving their stuff down our throats and making us like it.

I hear what you're saying about biting on the fake but watch JW's body language. As soon as the TE makes the catch JW shrugs his shoulders and you can tell he's asking the other DBs why nobody was there.

[chimesAU 89]

Okay, first off, a lot of Whitehead biting on the play action was likely predicated upon the fact that Arkansas is a power run team that had not proven any ability to throw the ball, not to mention the way they were gashing us for yardage in the first half.

However, after watching the replay (was in JHS, so didn't see it on TV live), Kris is definitely going to have to step up, or he's going to be benched. He has all the tools necessary, but he might simply lack the drive to meet his potential. I expect to see a lot more of Williams and Swain this week anyway because we're playing San Jose, but if Frost doesn't get his act together, he's going to lose his spot.

Let us hope that it was all first game jitters, and he'll be playing up to par by the time we hit Manhattan.

He looks absolutely lost and timid out there. I really hate to compare the two but watching him reminds me of Holland. I'm not just saying that because he isn't getting the job done, they really do look similar to me.

[Mikey 16,615]

I think CEJ and CGM explained it pretty well. Ellis said "we didn't have a very physical camp" that's a huge deal and something I'm glad didn't completely kill our first game; and Gus said they ran a few things we weren't ready for. The real deal is that they had 61 yards and 0 points in the second half. I'll reserve full on judgement until after K-State but I like what I saw on both sides of the ball and agree with the coaches comments from camp, "we're miles ahead of where we were this time last year"

Can you link to where he said this, please? I've already asked two others and so far the answers are nothing but hearsay. Nobody can say exactly when and where Ellis said we had didn't have a physical camp. To my thinking had a "soft" camp been the problem, a halftime talkin' to wouldn't have helped.

[1TexasTiger 55]

I don't quite think anyone is trying to be negative or ugly but we have faults on the defense that are being exploited. It is preventing us having the AU defense that we have grown to love and have lacked for sometime now. I think most on here would agree that we are very close.

[alexava 6,973]

McKinzy and Frost are the two best linebackers we have. They will fix the issues and Frost will loved by all once again. On running plays, I would like to see those two plus Garrett and Therezie on the field.

Which DB do you take out of the game? Or are you removing one of the d-linemen?

neither, go with 12.

[ellitor 33,101]

I hear what you're saying about biting on the fake but watch JW's body language. As soon as the TE makes the catch JW shrugs his shoulders and you can tell he's asking the other DBs why nobody was there.

Nice catch chimes. I did not see that.

[ellitor 33,101]

I think CEJ and CGM explained it pretty well. Ellis said "we didn't have a very physical camp" that's a huge deal and something I'm glad didn't completely kill our first game; and Gus said they ran a few things we weren't ready for. The real deal is that they had 61 yards and 0 points in the second half. I'll reserve full on judgement until after K-State but I like what I saw on both sides of the ball and agree with the coaches comments from camp, "we're miles ahead of where we were this time last year"

Can you link to where he said this, please? I've already asked two others and so far the answers are nothing but hearsay. Nobody can say exactly when and where Ellis said we had didn't have a physical camp. To my thinking had a "soft" camp been the problem, a halftime talkin' to wouldn't have helped.

Just a guess here but I think people are reading too much into what CEJ said in his Monday presser or or mishearing what he said. He never mentioned Fall xamp in that presser. He did say the D was not physical in the first half but never mentioned a non physical camp.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

You can't sign too many top linebackers. Just ask little Mikey.

[1TexasTiger 55]

I hear what you're saying about biting on the fake but watch JW's body language. As soon as the TE makes the catch JW shrugs his shoulders and you can tell he's asking the other DBs why nobody was there.

Nice catch chimes. I did not see that.

I went back and watched it again.The call had to include cover 3 but JW did not have the the deep middle responsibility. It was Moncrief. One way you beat a 3 deep coverage is with 4 vertical routes.

There were basically 3 TE's and a WR. All of the routes spread and went deep. JW didn't see the other side of the field which is probably why he thought a he may have had help over the top.

When you walk safeties done you lose the perspective of being able to see the whole field. This seems to be what happened here.

Either way he had pass responsibility with no underneath threat. He did not decipher quick enough that the RB was not a threat and he got caught.

This is the game within the game. I know we hate Bert but he does understand the game.

[AU Is Gold 410]

McKinzy and Frost are the two best linebackers we have. They will fix the issues and Frost will loved by all once again. On running plays, I would like to see those two plus Garrett and Therezie on the field.

Which DB do you take out of the game? Or are you removing one of the d-linemen?

neither, go with 12.

I'm not really sure....I guess it all just depends on the situation, but it would definitely be a DB. Therezie and Garrett are playmakers though, and both of those guys can create turnovers and wreak havoc on the field. One thing I do know is Frost is more conservative in action. In the Arkansas game Frost was usually playing a more prevent style. He needs to be more efficient at cutting off the angles.On the other hand, Mckinzy was going right after people. Cassanova just seems like more of a heat seeking missile. Frost can tackle though and he can hit harder than some of you might think. Give credit to the amazing coaches we have, those defense adjustments that were made were absolute quality.