Rocco has played well but he got absolutely abused on the play Leonard got hurt.
He got his ass kicked but he may have dropped like that b/c he may have been injured midplay. I really don't know, though. Hard to tell.
Never want to see anyone get injured, but it feels like everything that’s happened to this team this year has been for a reason. Jagusah being thrown into the mix was a blessing. If any of you guys have access to the game on skycam, go watch the first half with Rocco and compare it to second half with Jagusah.
Rocco's performance wasn’t bad by any means. He had one really awful rep noted above but that may have been due to an mid play injury. Beyond that, it was a steady series of stalemates. In the run game, he consistently reached his blocks but didn’t generate much movement whether it was a double or a downblock. He got there, covered his man but didn't move anyone against their will.
In pass pro, he held up fine overall. He gave up a pressure on the play where he was injured and maybe one or two others, but he wasn’t a liability. His pass sets were noticeably deeper than Jagusah’s, and that
may have contributed to Leonard’s discomfort in the pocket. Just my guess, but Leonard, like everyone else watching the game, expected edge pressure every snap, and Rocco’s deeper sets created the illusion of a collapsing pocket. Leonard just looked uncomfortable, even when escaping the pocket, which is typically his comfort zone.
Jags barely moved backward at all. He’d come out of his stance, punch the defender, and pretty much shut him down on contact or he'd shift right or left to give help/pick up a potential blitzing LB. It gave Leonard more room to step up and it may have made a difference in hte pass game, though I could be wrong.
In the run game, he was getting way more movement than Rocco or anyone else. IMO, it was the key difference in the run game on the first series in the 2nd half and teh 2nd half overall. He was moving bodies on doubles and downblocks and they had him pulling quite a bit - he hammered a few edge players. On Love’s TD run he pulled and that was the only time I saw him miss bc the defender launched himself up the field to avoid contact. Probably should have turned upfield but Love took care of it on his own.
My initial take was that we’re better with Jags at LT and Rocco at Guard. Looking back, I did notice Jags struggled a bit with lateral movement. It wasn't a huge deal but I noticed it a couple of times and makes me curious if he would struggle with pass pro at LT b/c there's just a ton of lateral movement. Lateral movement be damned, this kid is a monster. PSU DTs figured that out - that one idiot driving his hand into Jag's facemask, desperately trying to move him, didn't get too far. Jags just reset his feet and calmly stood his ground, as if a child was trying to push him.
I would be shocked if he wasn't starting against OSU even if everyone was healthy.
www.southbendtribune.com
