Quote:
Originally Posted by TomR1
Things to consider:
1-If any tOSU backers are weak versus the pass bases on a Big10 perspective, they will be very weak from a Pac10 perspective.
2-If any defensive backs are small, USC has two big, tall receivers who will try to take advantage of them. So far neither Turner nor Ausberry have set the field on fire with their pass-catching ability but they do seem good with yards-after-catch.
3-Joe McKnight will test tOSU on the edge with good speed and excellent elusiveness. A backer setup to stop a power back may have throble with this guy.
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1. Both Marcus Freeman and Laurinaitis do very well in pass coverage. As jwinslow mentioned, Curtis Terry's strong suit is the run but the linebackers that will rotate in are on the smaller side and quick as cats(6'2" 210 lbs Jermale Hines, 5'11" 215 lbs Tyler Moeller, and 5'10" 210 lbs Brian Rolle).
2. Our star corner, Malcolm Jenkins, is 6'1" 200 lbs and very physical. He did a very nice job on 6'4" WR Limas Sweed from Texas a couple years ago.
Here's a nice highlight vid of some of his tackles.
Donald Washington is 6'0" though he's more of a cover corner. Two other corners expected to see plenty of action are Chimdi Chekwa and Andre Amos. Chekwa is over 5'11" and not afraid to make a tackle but he is very light and not the strongest. Amos was injured for the first half of last year and mostly saw special teams action when he returned but he looked very good in the spring game. He's 6'1"-6'2" 200 lbs and a big hitter. So, I'd think Amos and Jenkins will get the bulk of the work against your bigger receivers while Chekwa and Washington will match up with RoJo and Damian Williams.
3. As fast as Joe McKnight is, he along with the rest of your backs will struggle to get much outside of the tackles. Nearly all of LSU's and Illinois' rushing yardage against us came up the middle. Our DE's are taught to contain to prevent those long runs. I think your best bet is to attack the middle.
Our defense eats up toss plays and screens for breakfast. The two major faults last year were our inability to prevent teams from getting 5-6 yards a pop up the middle and defending the playaction pass.