Previous Shots at a Three Deep: Secondary
Good morning. We’ll work our way through the defense and then move to the offense after that. I’d tell you again to notice how old the linebackers are and how veteran the secondary and linebackers actually are.
| Sam (Plays Field) | Mike | Will (Plays Boundary) | Spur |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riko Jeffers | Krishon Merriweather | Colin Schooler | Jacob Morgenstern |
| 6-2/235 | SR | 6-0/240 | SR | 6-1/230 | SR | 6-4/220 | SR |
| Patrick Curley | Tyrique Matthews | Brandon Bouyer-Randle | Kosi Eldridge |
| 6-2/235 | JR | 5-11/220 | JR | 6-2/235 | SR | 6-1/225 | SR |
| Joshua Rodriguez | Jesiah Pierre | Bryce Robinson | Cameron Watts |
| 6-0/235 | SO | 6-2/245 | SO | 6-0/230 | SO | 5-10/195 | JR |
Some thoughts:
- I do want to acknowledge from the get=go that Derrick Lewis, II (6-3/205) is probably in the mix somewhere, he was mentioned as a guy that has improved significantly, but I wasn’t sure where to put him. My guess is that he’s a Will or Spur, depending on how he’s added weight.
- I don’t know if you all have given much thought to where the linebackers play and the difference between the Sam and the Will, which I’ve added up top and I believe this is correct, but I’m wrong a lot. The Sam linebacker plays the field is the wide side while the boundary is where the Will ends up playing and is the short side of the field. Generally speaking, the Sam probably needs to have more range than the Will because there is more ground to cover.
- If you are keeping score at home, I’m projecting that the starting 4 in the secondary and the starting 4 in the linebacker group will all be seniors. That could change depending on if Reggie Pearson beats someone out at safety, but that’s 8 seniors just right there that I’m projecting to start. I like that.
- This is the same starting 4 from last year, so no surprises on my end of things. I think that Kosi Eldridge could see a lot of time at the Spur and I also remember Derek Jones saying that Watts was spending a lot of time at the Spur with Cosgrove. My thought is that at the Spur, they want this position to be versatile with a capital “V”.
- The second team are all guys that are probably itching to play, but they may have to wait just one more year, particularly talking about Curley and Matthews. Cosgrove was very complimentary of those two players, as guys who have improved significantly.
- Bouyer-Randle will probably play multiple spots if he can handle the different positions.
- Rodriguez is a walk-on who Cosgrove has praised, Pierre was injured in the spring, but my guess is that he’s behind a bit since he didn’t pay at all during the spring. Robinson is another guy that was mentioned as having improved, but it’s a deep group so I’ve got him 3rd string for now, but his time should be coming.