Safety position

[GoldenDome]

This group has got to be the biggest area of concern.

They are consistently out of position and cannot tackle. Down the stretch, it was shades of Weis all over again. Is this due to coaching, scheme, or just talent, or a culmination of the three?

Or is this a system problem? I.E. Lack of pass rush, pressure on the QB.

 

[dmort]

Lack of depth.

 

[Emcee77]

Safety position

Lack of depth.

Yeah, I mean, will we even have two healthy safeties for the bowl game? Here is the status of our scholarship safeties, AFAIK:

Baratti: lost to season-ending injury (shoulder)
Collinsworth: re-injured shoulder Saturday?
Redfield: broke a rib Saturday
Tranquill: lost to season-ending injury (ACL)
Hardy: will be lost to suspension at end of semester, will not play bowl game (will transfer for 5th year)
Shumate: HEALTHY


We have ONE healthy safety right now. Unbelievable.

 

[Grahambo]

To BK's credit, he's recognized that fact and has been recruiting another safety. They weren't doing that earlier in the cycle.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Yeah, I mean, will we even have two healthy safeties for the bowl game? Here is the status of our scholarship safeties, AFAIK:

Baratti: lost to season-ending injury (shoulder)
Collinsworth: re-injured shoulder Saturday?
Redfield: broke a rib Saturday
Tranquill: lost to season-ending injury (ACL)
Hardy: will be lost to suspension at end of semester, will not play bowl game (will transfer for 5th year)
Shumate: HEALTHY


We have ONE healthy safety right now. Unbelievable.

So Shumate and Farley at Safety. Leaving Watkins as Nickle. Or starting Butler on the outside and hopefully Riggs will be healthy to play Nickle.


Sent via tapatalk

 

[irishff1014]

So Shumate and Farley at Safety. Leaving Watkins as Nickle. Or starting Butler on the outside and hopefully Riggs will be healthy to play Nickle.


Sent via tapatalk

That's scary.

 

[OlympiaIrishFan]

emcee, I don't think Hardy is on suspension next semester. I went searching and didn't see it. I don't believe he can play and already be assessed a suspension later. I am not sure, but from my 11 years as a NCAA coach I don't think they can do it, if he is cleared to play he is cleared to play.

 

[GoldenDome]

Depth is an issue, but are any of our current safeties effective? I mean, the tackling has been atrocious.

I feel this is the weakest position group going forward. Since Slaughter and Hillbilly left, the position is has been so so.

 

[Irish Insanity]

emcee, I don't think Hardy is on suspension next semester. I went searching and didn't see it. I don't believe he can play and already be assessed a suspension later. I am not sure, but from my 11 years as a NCAA coach I don't think they can do it, if he is cleared to play he is cleared to play.

Pretty sure the 5 were given a choice to take their suspension now or fulfill their current semester and take it next. Since he will graduate following this semester he chose to finish. His sespension is school issued for honor code, not NCAA.

 

[kmoose]

Hardy: will be lost to suspension at end of semester, will not play bowl game (will transfer for 5th year)

Why is he not playing his 5th year at ND?

 

[Catholics_Rule]

I see the issue as depth and coaching. I've seen some of the worst tackling attempts and poor angles in a while.
It's going to be rough for these guys for the bowl game, lets see who they move around.

 

[Emcee77]

So Shumate and Farley at Safety. Leaving Watkins as Nickle. Or starting Butler on the outside and hopefully Riggs will be healthy to play Nickle.


Sent via tapatalk

Yeah, that's how it will have to play out. Not so bad, if Riggs can get that foot ready. Watkins will have 4 or 5 weeks of practice to get ready, so hopefully he can contribute, a la Redfield in last year's bowl game.

 

[Emcee77]

Pretty sure the 5 were given a choice to take their suspension now or fulfill their current semester and take it next. Since he will graduate following this semester he chose to finish. His sespension is school issued for honor code, not NCAA.

Right, regarding Hardy, the above was basically my understanding. The Frozen Five were all given two semester suspensions, but they were allowed to either start serving it immediately -- and forfeit all the work they had already done this semester -- or finish the semester and start serving the suspension in January 2015. Ishaq, KVR and Daniels all chose to sit this semester and Spring 2015 so they could have the option of playing a full year in Fall 2015 (of course Daniels may go pro though). Since Hardy was due to graduate at the end of this semester, he decided to finish the semester, get his degree and transfer out for his fifth year so he could avoid serving any further suspension. But he won't be eligible for the bowl game ... or at least Kelly said that was his understanding at a recent Thursday media session (I think it was pre-UL).

 

[Emcee77]

Right, regarding Hardy, the above was basically my understanding. The Frozen Five were all given two semester suspensions, but they were allowed to either start serving it immediately -- and forfeit all the work they had already done this semester -- or finish the semester and start serving the suspension in January 2015. Ishaq, KVR and Daniels all chose to sit this semester and Spring 2015 so they could have the option of playing a full year in Fall 2015 (of course Daniels may go pro though). Since Hardy was due to graduate at the end of this semester, he decided to finish the semester, get his degree and transfer out for his fifth year so he could avoid serving any further suspension. But he won't be eligible for the bowl game ... or at least Kelly said that was his understanding at a recent Thursday media session (I think it was pre-UL).

Thought I should follow up on this ... Kelly said during his bowl announcement presser that Hardy may be back for the bowl game. They are in "uncharted territory" with him and they need further clarification on the matter, but Kelly believes Hardy will play. So obviously that is huge, huge news, with how thin we are at safety.

 

[GoldenDome]

Thought I should follow up on this ... Kelly said during his bowl announcement presser that Hardy may be back for the bowl game. They are in "uncharted territory" with him and they need further clarification on the matter, but Kelly believes Hardy will play. So obviously that is huge, huge news, with how thin we are at safety.

I could have sworn Kelly said he played 60 plays against USC. Said that he was put in a pretty bad situation considering it was a significant amount of plays for a guy that has not played all year.

Was he referring to an injury?

 

[Emcee77]

I could have sworn Kelly said he played 60 plays against USC. Said that he was put in a pretty bad situation considering it was a significant amount of plays for a guy that has not played all year.

Was he referring to an injury?

Oh he played against USC ... there is some question about whether Hardy will be eligible for the bowl game or whether he will be suspended due to his involvement in the "Frozen Five" academic scandal. See the above posts in this thread.

 

[blackirish]

To BK's credit, he's recognized that fact and has been recruiting another safety. They weren't doing that earlier in the cycle.

so are you saying that they weren't recruiting for a real good safety for almost the last 4 yrs ? ( because this has been a problem since BK arrived ) or is that we thought we had recruited good DB's to play the Safety position and it has yet to really work out well.

 

[blackirish]

Pretty sure the 5 were given a choice to take their suspension now or fulfill their current semester and take it next. Since he will graduate following this semester he chose to finish. His sespension is school issued for honor code, not NCAA.

so the question I would have, does Mr. Hardy want to stick around for a 5th yr. ?

 

[#1rish]

Some mentioned moving Brent to safety in his thread. Would be interesting to see.

 

[Emcee77]

so the question I would have, does Mr. Hardy want to stick around for a 5th yr. ?

He will transfer and play the 5th year elsewhere. He has to; if he stays at ND, he would have to serve a two-semester suspension, beginning next spring, for his involvement in the Frozen Five academic scandal, which would obviously gobble up that 5th season.

By the way, where would you transfer if you were Hardy? Miami (OH), maybe? He is from Ohio.

 

[BigIrish]

Even if Hardy has to serve a suspension (in theory, as he's graduating) next semester, what does that have to do with the bowl game? It's not as though the bowl game falls after the start of the new semester. Letting him play another game in December would appear to be entirely at the discretion of the university, and not letting him play after he's been cleared to play this fall would seem like a dick move on their part.

 

[Emcee77]

Even if Hardy has to serve a suspension (in theory, as he's graduating) next semester, what does that have to do with the bowl game? It's not as though the bowl game falls after the start of the new semester. Letting him play another game in December would appear to be entirely at the discretion of the university, and not letting him play after he's been cleared to play this fall would seem like a dick move on their part.

Kelly stated at a recent presser that he is unsure whether Hardy will be eligible or not. See my above post #14.

I think the question is when the semester technically ends and Hardy's suspension begins. Obviously, the bowl game is between semesters, i.e., after the end of the fall semester but before the beginning of the spring semester. Not sure if you follow ND basketball, but last year, in a similar situation, Jerian Grant played up until Christmas, and then had to begin serving his suspension. I believe he missed at least one early January game that took place prior to the start of the spring semester. So we will see how they handle this December 30 game.

 

[blackirish]

He will transfer and play the 5th year elsewhere. He has to; if he stays at ND, he would have to serve a two-semester suspension, beginning next spring, for his involvement in the Frozen Five academic scandal, which would obviously gobble up that 5th season.

By the way, where would you transfer if you were Hardy? Miami (OH), maybe? He is from Ohio.

Ohio st. ?

 

[kmoose]

He will transfer and play the 5th year elsewhere. He has to; if he stays at ND, he would have to serve a two-semester suspension, beginning next spring, for his involvement in the Frozen Five academic scandal, which would obviously gobble up that 5th season.

By the way, where would you transfer if you were Hardy? Miami (OH), maybe? He is from Ohio.

Ohio State, if you can. He is from the Columbus area. Over there in the ghetto, by TP.

 

[pkt77242]

So Shumate and Farley at Safety. Leaving Watkins as Nickle. Or starting Butler on the outside and hopefully Riggs will be healthy to play Nickle.


Sent via tapatalk

If Riggs is healthy I would like to see Butler at FS, Shumate at SS with Riggs and Luke at CB, Farley in the Nickle and Watkins playing some outside if Riggs has to come off the field for a play or two. I don't think that Butler has the hips to play CB in BVG's defense (I think he would have been fine in Diaco's though) so I would really like to try him at safety.

 

[koonja]

Some mentioned moving Brent to safety in his thread. Would be interesting to see.

That was me, then later IrishLax. If we could somehow get ESB and Alize Jones, it'd be an awesome move IMO.

 

[Nick Setta]

That was me, then later IrishLax. If we could somehow get ESB and Alize Jones, it'd be an awesome move IMO.

I agree. Brent at safety would be great our WR depth is crazy and we need safety help. I really like Prentice too plus give Watkins reps at CB cause he'll be a STUD.