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CU Secondary 2009

BuffNut99

Club Member
Club Member
Hey,

Just wanted to start a positive thread about (in my opinion) the brightest spot from the 2008 season, the secondary, and take a glance and what it might look like in 2009 and get everyone's take on the unit.

Out: Ryan Walters, DJ Dykes, Gardner McKay, Joel Adams

Opinion - We lose alot of leadership and toughness with Walters graduating, but he was never the most talented guy on the field. Dykes and McKay never turned out to be Big 12 starter-types. Aside from experience and leadership, we're not losing alot here.

In (so far): Parker Orms, Paul Vigo (?)

Opinion - Orms could be the Patrick Mahnke of 2009, the type of guy that you can never have too many of. Vigo (recruiting class of 2008, grayshirt) may or may not be a Buff, and may or may not wind up in the secondary.

Returning: Cha'pelle Brown, Ben Burney, Jimmy Smith, Anthony Perkins, Jalil Brown, Anthony Wright, Jonathan Hawkins, Patrick Mahnke, Travis Sandersfeld, Lamont Smith, Vince Ewing, Matt Meyer, Bret Smith, Trace Adams, Steven Hicks

Opinion - In the cornerback area, Cha'pelle Brown and Jimmy Smith quietly became one of the best CB duos in the conference last year, and in my opinion, the ceiling on Jimmy Smith is just huge. Both have all-conference potential. Throw in a (hopefully) healthy and repaired Ben Burney, and you have some depth there. I kept wondering all year where in the heck were Anthony Wright and Jonathan Hawkins - kids who appear to have great potential but combined for only 31 snaps last year (if anyone knows more, please comment).

As for safeties, the front runners for the positions vacated by Walters and Dykes will be the youngsters who started for them due to injuries at the end of the year, Anthony Perkins and Patrick Mahnke. Perkins impressed me by just being very solid - he seemed to be in the right place the vast majority of the time, didn't miss many (if any) tackles, and kept a cool head as a freshman in a spread-happy conference. Mahnke was perhaps more impressive, but for different reasons. In addition to stepping in unexpectedly and performing very well, he did so while very hurt (not that you could tell) and showed to me the potential to make game changing plays. He very nearly won the Nebraska game with a sack, and showed an intimidating ability to hit. I expect Parker Orms to get some playing time both at safety and on special teams, and to demonstrate leadership as well.

As for the rest, Steven Hicks was the highest rated prospect in this group from the 2008 class - it will be interesting to see what he looks like on the field. Travis Sandersfeld was very good on special teams last year, and Jalil Brown scored the most special teams "points" for the second year in a row in addition to having a nice interception and return against Texas. He is a physical specimen, and should do well in nickel and dime situations, but doesn't seem to have enough of the complete package to be a starter on defense. Lamont Smith, Vince Ewing, Matt Meyer, Bret Smith, Trace Adams -- honestly, who knows? Paul Vigo was part of the 2008 class and grayshirted - whether he steps on to the field in 2009, and at what position, are open to speculation.

Please share your thoughts and comments.

(On another note, does anyone else see the potential for name confusion here? I mean we have two Anthony's, two Brown's, three Smith's, another Hawkins, and we get another Adams...)
 
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I forgot about hicks. I'm looking forward to seeing Hicks and Mahnke as a tandem. Add in jimmy Smith and chappelle brown and we could look very scary in the secondary next year.
 
For the first time we have some actual depth in the secondary. Who are the starting corners next year? Does Burney get his spot back? Jimmy and Chappelle both stood out a lot this year, especially Chap. Does his height hinder him to a nickle back? I am very excited for our defense as a whole next year, even though we we have almost no experience outside of the secondary.
 
Burney was good for us, but his injuries worry me in the long-term. I don't see how you take away the position from Chap and Smith... they played great. I guess we see how it shakes out in camp.
 
Another thought: I wonder how many of the guys we are recruiting as safeties are moving to corner?
 
Couple of thoughts:
-Smith and Chap. Brown at the corners. Brown may be undersized, but don't tell him that. 2" of height more, and he is all-big twelve caliber.

-Perkins impressed me early in the season when he stepped in, but I thought he looked lost against Nebraska.

-Mahnke was great the last couple of weeks. Not the fastest guy, but does not really need to be. Big hits, and he will be OK. Plus, It looks like Perkins is as fast a safety as we have had in a while.

-Sandersfeld is a good ST player, but he played a little corner against EWU, and looked horrible. Could have been nerves, but he got smoked on some stop and go moves by the receiver, and that was after he caught the ball.

-Last, got to trust in what Coach Brown and Coach Ambrose are doing. This was supposed to be our weak spot this last year, and they were really good, even in Big 12 play.
 
Oh also, I would be very surprised if Orms does not redshirt. He needs a little size, where as Mahnke was already pretty big.

Is it just me, or did Mahnke look huge for a safety out there. Loved seeing that.
 
In (so far): Parker Orms, Paul Vigo (?)

Opinion - Orms could be the Patrick Mahnke of 2009, the type of guy that you can never have too many of. Vigo (class of 2008, grayshirt) may or may not be a Buff, and may or may not wind up in the secondary.

Curious on what your comments regarding Vigo are supposed to mean.
 
Burney was good for us, but his injuries worry me in the long-term. I don't see how you take away the position from Chap and Smith... they played great. I guess we see how it shakes out in camp.

I think people under estimate how much he meant to the team last year. We all know Wheatley was great and teams tended to throw away from him. Burney stepped up huge, especially in the OU game, and played hurt much (most) of the year. He comes back healthy and I think he sees the field.
 
Oh also, I would be very surprised if Orms does not redshirt. He needs a little size, where as Mahnke was already pretty big.

Is it just me, or did Mahnke look huge for a safety out there. Loved seeing that.

Agreed. I would like to see Orms redshirted as well.

I think people under estimate how much he meant to the team last year. We all know Wheatley was great and teams tended to throw away from him. Burney stepped up huge, especially in the OU game, and played hurt much (most) of the year. He comes back healthy and I think he sees the field.

Also agree. I think Burney is going to see significant playing time next year.
 
Curious on what your comments regarding Vigo are supposed to mean.

Well, regarding Vigo, the optimistic Buff fan would say that he'll be on campus next month in great shape and ready to compete in the Spring. A more cautious Buff fan, like myself (who is aware that a player not yet on campus can't be automatically counted on next year), would say that if he arrives in Boulder, if he is academically eligible, if he is in good shape, etc., then he could compete for a position in the regular rotation. He could also end up being a linebacker, but given our depth there, I see him as a safety. If he is a Buff.

So no one knows anything about Jonathan Hawkins or Anthony Wright? (i.e. where were they in 2008)
 
Well, regarding Vigo, the optimistic Buff fan would say that he'll be on campus next month in great shape and ready to compete in the Spring. A more cautious Buff fan, like myself (who is aware that a player not yet on campus can't be automatically counted on next year), would say that if he arrives in Boulder, if he is academically eligible, if he is in good shape, etc., then he could compete for a position in the regular rotation. He could also end up being a linebacker, but given our depth there, I see him as a safety. If he is a Buff.

There haven't been any updates that would give any indication he won't be in Boulder next month. However, I think you can pretty count on the fact that he will not be seeing the field next year. He is a project.
 
Couple of thoughts:
-Perkins impressed me early in the season when he stepped in, but I thought he looked lost against Nebraska.

The first thing I noticed about Perkins when he came in for Walters was the huge difference in speed. The second thing was that he was not nearly as sure a tackler as Walters. There were a couple of games where I specifically noticed Perkins over pursued the play and then tried to make a weak arm tackle which just got run through. There was also one or two plays where he made a solid hit but didn't wrap up and the runner bounced off the hit and kept going. We cannot have this from a safety, even if it's only 2-3 plays a game.

I think he's got a lot of potential but he needs to absorb the basics of tackling down to the instinctive level if he wants to try and fill the shoes of Michael Lewis, JJ Billingsly and Walters.

The best part of our secondary to me is that I think we finally got a really great coach who knows what he's doing and can communicate effectively to our players. My prediction is in two years we have the best secondary in the B12.
 
I would like to see someone step in for Perkins... His speed doesn't impress, and he looked lost against NU and merely decent against OSU. I do forgive him looking terrible against WVU cause that was pat white and pat white made a career out of making people look terrible in the open field.

I am hoping to see Orms as a FS with all that speed... or somebody else to step up. At least we have depth!

Don't get me wrong, Perkins looked adequate, but I want dominant! I want scary! I want come my way and DIE! out of buffs safeties. I want JJ Billingsley stopping some poor schmuck COLD!
 
I would like to see someone step in for Perkins... His speed doesn't impress, and he looked lost against NU and merely decent against OSU. I do forgive him looking terrible against WVU cause that was pat white and pat white made a career out of making people look terrible in the open field.

I am hoping to see Orms as a FS with all that speed... or somebody else to step up. At least we have depth!

Don't get me wrong, Perkins looked adequate, but I want dominant! I want scary! I want come my way and DIE! out of buffs safeties. I want JJ Billingsley stopping some poor schmuck COLD!

He was a redshirt freshman. Give him some time.
 
Can you at least give them until September??? :cool:
hmmm. NO! I want dominant Free safety play in the SPRING game. I also want dominant WR play from all of our sweet new recruits as well :cool:. Oh, and I want to see our running backs just destroying defensive backs! :lol:
 
There haven't been any updates that would give any indication he won't be in Boulder next month. However, I think you can pretty count on the fact that he will not be seeing the field next year. He is a project.

Rivals had an interview with him where he confirmed he would be in Boulder in January. This was last week. (Vigo).
 
hmmm. NO! I want dominant Free safety play in the SPRING game. I also want dominant WR play from all of our sweet new recruits as well :cool:. Oh, and I want to see our running backs just destroying defensive backs! :lol:

Hey, it is Christmas time. Might as well work it.:thumbsup:
 
I think Brown has been fantastic here. Major Props to the Local boy for coming home and fixing a secondary that was very thin. We probably have more depth going into next year than we've had in a long time. With Burney, Jimmy Smith, Chapelle and Jalil, we have quality guys who can play corner and nickel. We are young at safety and I agree that Perkins showed some flashes but also seemed to have some problems wrapping up and taking the right angle. If this is a chronic issue, I'm confident that Brownie has 2 other guys lined up to compete for the job.

One thought is to move Burney to safety this year? I think you can pretty much count on (given good health) we will Burney, the two Browns, and Jimmy on the field all the time. I think you probably throw in Mahnke because he's got another dimension in terms of getting to the QB and knocking the crap out of WR's.

I don't see any true freshmen coming close to playing this year. The depth is starting to accumulate in the DB area. Wright, Hawkins, Lamont Smith, Ewing and Hicks are all grooming their game. In past years, it's been pretty thin and a couple big injuries and we would have been hurting bad (ala O-line this year).
 
A few people have mentioned moving Ben Burney to safety. I would say that it would work out on paper, but I would be very concerned about his durability in switching to a more physical position. He has had so many injuries, to his knee, and not to mention to both of his shoulders ("chronic shoulder problems" is what you keep reading) - I guess I can't see him taking the pounding for a full season at safety.
 
This is what is most frustrating about the current state of the program, IMO.

In some areas (RB, DB, LB) the team is deep and talented. In others (OL, DL, QB, WR) they are painfully thin. That has got to be remedied quickly. Granted, a lot of the OLs problems were due to injuries and they look much better (on paper) next year. But QB, DL and WR are a mess right now.
 
A few people have mentioned moving Ben Burney to safety. I would say that it would work out on paper, but I would be very concerned about his durability in switching to a more physical position. He has had so many injuries, to his knee, and not to mention to both of his shoulders ("chronic shoulder problems" is what you keep reading) - I guess I can't see him taking the pounding for a full season at safety.

:yeahthat:

Wasn't Jalil a safety at one time or another? He seems like the guy who would be moved more than Burney.
 
This is what is most frustrating about the current state of the program, IMO.

In some areas (RB, DB, LB) the team is deep and talented. In others (OL, DL, QB, WR) they are painfully thin. That has got to be remedied quickly. Granted, a lot of the OLs problems were due to injuries and they look much better (on paper) next year. But QB, DL and WR are a mess right now.

I would add in the kicking game to the "mess" category right now. It really is frustrating to see some major depth issues in key areas like the lines (I will believe the OL has truly improved when I see it on the field).
 
I would add in the kicking game to the "mess" category right now. It really is frustrating to see some major depth issues in key areas like the lines (I will believe the OL has truly improved when I see it on the field).

Yep. The only reason I said the OL will be in better shape next year is the injuries this year. Add Miller, MTM and Iltis back to the mix and you're instantly better, especially with Miller. Getting Givens in the mix should help, too (although losing Sanders is going to hurt).
 
I actually like hearing that. Since we can't really count on Burney making it through a whole season, we need all the experienced bodies we can get at CB.

For all of Burney's injuries, I don't remember him missing any significant time. I think the surgeries were to get him healthy to come out and make a strong bid for the NFL. His dad used to be on staff for the Broncos and all.... I'm not sure he can win a position at CB to be honest.
 
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