Welcome to the Hardcore Husky Forums. Folks who are well-known in Cyberland and not that dumb.
Options
The secondary - an analysis
whatshouldicareabout
Member Posts: 12,457
At the end of the 2013 season, our secondary was taking a big hit. We were losing starters Sean Parker, Greg Ducre, Will Shamburger, and losing a valuable reserve in Tre Watson (and Taz Stevenson who was mainly on special teams). However, the team had plenty of talent returning, including the best player in the secondary, Marcus Peters, as well as Cleveland Wallace, Patrick Enewally, Jermaine Kelly at CB and Kevin King, Trevor Walker and Brandon Beaver at S. Brian Clay transferred from Hawaii and had to sit out 2013.
Petersen quickly identified the lack of depth at the position and made it a recruiting priority for 2014. He targeted kids there were committed to other schools and successfully flipped a number of kids, including Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Naijiel Hale, Darren Gardenhire, Brandon Lewis, and sorta JoJo McIntosh (was UCLA commit, decommitted in December and committed to UW a week later). The only kid who wasn't committed to another school before Petersen landed him was Lavon Washington.
Anyway, since then, until now, we've seen Cleveland Wallace, Patrick Enewally, Lavon Washington and Marcus Peters leave the program. Jermaine Kelly and Trevor Walker have suffered season ending injuries and Brandon Lewis is still recovering from an injury and was destined to redshirt. There are only two players in the secondary who were on the team last year, King and Beaver (2 out of 12), meaning we've lost 7 of the 15 players in our secondary this year. Due to that foresight and recruiting savvy, 2014 isn't worse than it already is. With flipping kids like Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Hale and Gardenhire, imagine how different our current season might be. Imagine what would've happened against Hawaii and Eastern, or even Cal and Colorado. But really, this post isn't about Petersen doing an outstanding job with identifying talent in the secondary last year, but more about how this team might develop in the future.
Essentially, the secondary is the only "Petersen unit" on the team this year. Every other unit, from the OL to the DL to the LB to the WR, are primarily Sark players. Most of those players grew up in Sark's system, learned Sark's offense/defense and learned the "details" under Sark. The secondary, except for one starting S and a reserve, are all new to college football and have only received a few months of coaching from Petersen. The secondary has needed to step up this year, especially in the YEAR OF THE QB in the Pac-12 (aka every year), and for the most part, it's been a struggle. Yes, Hawaii and Eastern were frustrating, but the kids are improving significantly. And yes, the timing of this post coincides with Jone's best game of the season, but you can look back to games against Cal and Colorado as progress, and even ASU and Stanford (if you feel like including Stanford). The secondary has exceeded expectations for this season and shows promise for the future. This is essentially the only unit that Petersen has recruited and coached at UW that we have a decent sample of, and this is our first glimpse into what the future might hold for Petersen at UW.
Yes, 2014 is an unmitigated disaster. Yes, the losses this year have been painful. Every loss is been painful. The season is over and even if we finish 9-5 with a bowel win, it'll be because we played 9 cupcakes and 5 football teams. But the team is improving, not only from Hawaii/EWU but even from Stanford and Oregon... and the best unit to examine how Petersen recruits and coaches to his system is the secondary. They've been a bright spot this season and could be a beacon to what the future holds here.
Petersen quickly identified the lack of depth at the position and made it a recruiting priority for 2014. He targeted kids there were committed to other schools and successfully flipped a number of kids, including Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Naijiel Hale, Darren Gardenhire, Brandon Lewis, and sorta JoJo McIntosh (was UCLA commit, decommitted in December and committed to UW a week later). The only kid who wasn't committed to another school before Petersen landed him was Lavon Washington.
Anyway, since then, until now, we've seen Cleveland Wallace, Patrick Enewally, Lavon Washington and Marcus Peters leave the program. Jermaine Kelly and Trevor Walker have suffered season ending injuries and Brandon Lewis is still recovering from an injury and was destined to redshirt. There are only two players in the secondary who were on the team last year, King and Beaver (2 out of 12), meaning we've lost 7 of the 15 players in our secondary this year. Due to that foresight and recruiting savvy, 2014 isn't worse than it already is. With flipping kids like Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Hale and Gardenhire, imagine how different our current season might be. Imagine what would've happened against Hawaii and Eastern, or even Cal and Colorado. But really, this post isn't about Petersen doing an outstanding job with identifying talent in the secondary last year, but more about how this team might develop in the future.
Essentially, the secondary is the only "Petersen unit" on the team this year. Every other unit, from the OL to the DL to the LB to the WR, are primarily Sark players. Most of those players grew up in Sark's system, learned Sark's offense/defense and learned the "details" under Sark. The secondary, except for one starting S and a reserve, are all new to college football and have only received a few months of coaching from Petersen. The secondary has needed to step up this year, especially in the YEAR OF THE QB in the Pac-12 (aka every year), and for the most part, it's been a struggle. Yes, Hawaii and Eastern were frustrating, but the kids are improving significantly. And yes, the timing of this post coincides with Jone's best game of the season, but you can look back to games against Cal and Colorado as progress, and even ASU and Stanford (if you feel like including Stanford). The secondary has exceeded expectations for this season and shows promise for the future. This is essentially the only unit that Petersen has recruited and coached at UW that we have a decent sample of, and this is our first glimpse into what the future might hold for Petersen at UW.
Yes, 2014 is an unmitigated disaster. Yes, the losses this year have been painful. Every loss is been painful. The season is over and even if we finish 9-5 with a bowel win, it'll be because we played 9 cupcakes and 5 football teams. But the team is improving, not only from Hawaii/EWU but even from Stanford and Oregon... and the best unit to examine how Petersen recruits and coaches to his system is the secondary. They've been a bright spot this season and could be a beacon to what the future holds here.
Comments
Sigh
Oh well, maybe he will screw up the linebackers or put the 'd' lines like you had before wilcox.
Each game will have it's positives and negatives, but the secondary, for being 4 new starters with minimal experience, shows some hidden positives for the future in this disappointing season.
Sorry
Baker is always good, but he had a series where he was absolutely balling. It was the series they called the bullshit defensive holding on Beaver when the WR ran Beaver over. He's going to be an all time great. I don't think he's even close to where he is going to be in a year or two. I wonder if he will get a few snaps on offense next year.
Hopefully experience will get rid of a lot of this and I think it will. But right now he is more of a liability than a strength. It is not his fault as you shouldn't have a 180lbs true freshman safety starting in the pac12.
Jones flashed some good plays as well. Kelley was similar before he was injured. The whole secondary has shown typical "rookie mistakes" but have come on better as they get experience. If they continue to progress and improve, I don't think it's unrealistic to say that they could be an elite unit in a couple years.
Hopefully Baker won't be needed on the offense (because the full time offensive skill players can develop), but I'm sure it will be continued to be asked of the coaching staff ad nauseam in the off-season.
I do think baker will likely be good but for ever good play he makes he is getting picked on twice it seems. He has gotten better though.