'23 MO CB Christian Gray (Notre Dame Signee)

[MacIrish75]

I coached dbs for a few years (no, I’m not Driskell…).

If you’re going to play man coverage with your corners, they HAVE to be able to be good with their hands and locating the football. Athletes are athletes, but to play man out there you have to have good hand fighters and guys who can read the receiver and know when to get their head around.

Remember when MSU and Pitt were good and it felt like those dudes were holding every play? It’s because they basically were. But they were always able to get their heads around and use their hands in a way that gave them an advantage but wasn’t always a penalty.

We’ve got some bullies out wide.

Honestly I’m not positive that Ben Mo would be any better than 15 and 29 out there right now. Moore especially is the prince we were promised out there. Guy is a physical freak.

 

[NDMatt91]

He is good he like other player just struggles from time to time. He doesn’t quit. He will be fine and a baller for ND

I have no doubt that Gray will be an NFL player.

 

[fightingirish26]

Ben Morrison grabs as much as anyone I've seen. It's clearly a Mickens thing. I'll take 15 yards over a full blown bust any day. Plus, PI doesn't get called anyway if they just look back in time.

 

[greyhammer90]

Ben Morrison grabs as much as anyone I've seen. It's clearly a Mickens thing. I'll take 15 yards over a full blown bust any day. Plus, PI doesn't get called anyway if they just look back in time.

Correct. You're a fool if you don't teach grabbing in the college game. College refs will let you commit murder if you get your head around to look at the ball.

 

[Old Man Mike]

The proof of all this is our total defense's beating the living crap out of every opponent's offensive plans.

I'd love to hear Al Golden frankly talk about each one of his DBs. Maybe that would shut the gripers up.

Gentlemen! Love your blessed opportunity to watch this defense function. WOW. What a treat.

 

[CanadalovesND]

The proof of all this is our total defense's beating the living crap out of every opponent's offensive plans.

I'd love to hear Al Golden frankly talk about each one of his DBs. Maybe that would shut the gripers up.

Gentlemen! Love your blessed opportunity to watch this defense function. WOW. What a treat.

No one's gripping. I only pointed something out in Gray's play that has been an issue.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I coached dbs for a few years (no, I’m not Driskell…).

If you’re going to play man coverage with your corners, they HAVE to be able to be good with their hands and locating the football. Athletes are athletes, but to play man out there you have to have good hand fighters and guys who can read the receiver and know when to get their head around.

Remember when MSU and Pitt were good and it felt like those dudes were holding every play? It’s because they basically were. But they were always able to get their heads around and use their hands in a way that gave them an advantage but wasn’t always a penalty.

We’ve got some bullies out wide.

Honestly I’m not positive that Ben Mo would be any better than 15 and 29 out there right now. Moore especially is the prince we were promised out there. Guy is a physical freak.

... the best CB in the country would be better than 15 and 29 out there right now.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Since "gripping" and "grabbing" are synonyms, and "No one's gripping", by logic, Gray must not be "grabbing."

Did I read that right?

 

[Dale]

We ask our CBs to play more man coverage than probably any other team in CFB. If the pass rush doesn't get there, you will inevitably get beat a few times on 50/50 plays. That's why they're called "50/50" plays. The idea is that we will create more negative plays and get more stops than we give up big plays.

We would be absolutely fucked if our corners + Heard were not as good as they are in man coverage and we should count our blessings.

ND is second to Purdue in CFB in Man Coverage snaps I believe




Yeah Ryan Walters was that dumb

 

[Irish#1]

How do you not cheer for this kid?

 

[Me2SouthBend]

How do you not cheer for this kid?

Well his name is Christian so, duh.

 

[Riddickulous]

Big players make big plays in big games

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Big players make big plays in big games

And Sneed made Allar rush the throw, what a play!

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

2 picks tonight!

 

[pumpdog20]

I will fight every single one of you who picks on this young man again

 

[Plankton]

Gray is a man of faith who happens to be a really good football player. Kid has a nose for the football. Very happy for him - he has really stepped up this year.

 

[stlnd01]

He gets picked on. He gets bullshit holding calls. He's not perfect. But he stands in there and makes plays. Ballplayer.

 

[notredomer23]

You could point to him having 3 of the biggest defensive plays in at least 3 of ND’s wins- TAMU PBU, USC Pick 6, game ending INT today.

 

[Dizzyphil]

 

[sixstar]

QBs targeting Gray, but Gray always answers

 

[ulukinatme]

Should have never been covering Jeremiah Smith, especially at the end there...Gray has been a liability for weeks. He's made some big plays, but he's been picked on more than any other DB by a long shot. Leonard should have been on Smith.

 

[fightingirish26]

Bumping this thread is BS, fuck off

 

[irish2104]

Exactly what I sadi

 

[irishff1014]

He has potential. But he really needs to work on his craft. He struggled against really good passing teams. I still think he could be pretty good but he is currently not better than Morrison or Moore.

 

[Dale]

There is not a single CB in college that makes that play

He’s playing extreme inside leverage (like he did on PSU INT). They had Man with someone (Watts?) playing zone in the middle and Shuler blitzing. So they are expecting run or short inside pass, like the A&M game for example. Shuler doesn’t even get to LOS with his blitz before ball is out. Smith runs straight vertical.

That is entirely Kelly > Golden and Howard and Smith execute. FOH blaming Gray

 

[NDpendent]

Don't bump an individual player after a loss. There are many reasons we didn't pull this off

 

[CanadalovesND]

There is not a single CB in college that makes that play

He’s playing extreme inside leverage (like he did on PSU INT). They had Man with someone (Watts?) playing zone in the middle and Shuler blitzing. So they are expecting run or short inside pass, like the A&M game for example. Shuler doesn’t even get to LOS with his blitz before ball is out. Smith runs straight vertical.

That is entirely Kelly > Golden and Howard and Smith execute. FOH blaming Gray

I would only argue back that he should have recognized sooner that Smith was running a Go. By the time he recognized it, Howard threw the ball, and Smith already had a few steps on him.

Kid is a good player. He's been left on an island all year, and hasn't always been pretty, but also has had some pure spectacular moments. But there have only been a handful of corners the last 20 years that you can put on an island and completely shut everything down 100% of the time.

 

[Plankton]

There is not a single CB in college that makes that play

He’s playing extreme inside leverage (like he did on PSU INT). They had Man with someone (Watts?) playing zone in the middle and Shuler blitzing. So they are expecting run or short inside pass, like the A&M game for example. Shuler doesn’t even get to LOS with his blitz before ball is out. Smith runs straight vertical.

That is entirely Kelly > Golden and Howard and Smith execute. FOH blaming Gray

I would have preferred him being in press on the play rather than off, but that's not on Gray. He battled all night and all year. He's a good one, and I think he will keep getting better.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I would only argue back that he should have recognized sooner that Smith was running a Go. By the time he recognized it, Howard threw the ball, and Smith already had a few steps on him.

Kid is a good player. He's been left on an island all year, and hasn't always been pretty, but also has had some pure spectacular moments. But there have only been a handful of corners the last 20 years that you can put on an island and completely shut everything down 100% of the time.

I normally am aligned with you, not on this one. He was positioned and coached to be inside. Golden was wrong. Shit happens, but don't blame Gray.

 

[ulukinatme]

Don't bump an individual player after a loss. There are many reasons we didn't pull this off

I'm not saying Gray cost us the game. We came out with a poor defensive plan for about 3 quarters. It's no secret that teams have been picking on Gray since at least the USC game though. While he's made some bit INTs in that time, he's given up a lot of passes too. He should have never been on Smith at any point tonight, that's all I'm saying.