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Patrick Mahnke has moved to Inside Linebacker

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
He is backing up Jon Major at Will (weakside inside linebacker).

Also, Rippy has moved form outside linebacker (Sam) to our Mike inside linebacker spot.

http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204908968

Rippy, a sophomore, is playing behind senior Michael Sipili, who shared time last season with graduated Marcus Burton. Mahnke, a junior, is backing up sophomore Jon Major, who was behind departed Jeff Smart and Shaun Mohler in 2009.

Rippy is a chiseled 6-foot-1, 240-pounder who, with seasoning, probably could play any of the linebacker positions. "At the end of the day, it's all the same - learning, taking it all in and doing what they're telling you," said Rippy, who manned an inside spot in high school (Trotwood, Ohio, Madison).

The 6-1 Mahnke concedes, "I kind of consider myself a slow DB, so I guess I'd consider myself a fast linebacker. The only problem physically would be weight-wise. I'm 205 and by far the lightest linebacker."

********************

Bunch of quotes from Cabral in the article, too, since he's coaching them now. This really looks like the right move for the team this year and for our numbers / class balance at OLB, ILB and Safety.
 
Let's hope. This may fit Mahnke better once he adds bulk but now I'm concerned about safety depth.
 
Having Mahnke coming in on nickel situations means Major comes out? Not sure I like that scenario.

Any word on where Vince Ewing is playing? OLB?
 
I like these moves, but like aik, safety depth is very concerning now. Who do we even have there beyond Polk and Perkins? Hicks? Walk ons(not saying they can't play, but relying on them is ehh)?
 
I like these moves, but like aik, safety depth is very concerning now. Who do we even have there beyond Polk and Perkins? Hicks? Walk ons(not saying they can't play, but relying on them is ehh)?

Walk-ons: Sandersfield, Meyer, Smith, McAnich

Redshirt Frosh: Parker Orms
Incoming Frosh: Terrel Smith (projected to be Safety, could play elsewhere).

Not sure about any of the CB's being able to move over to safety, but that's about it.
 
Sandersfeld and Orms are the backups. Terrel Smith will be here in the fall.

Lots of unproven depth in the secondary this year. Which compared to having unproven starters heading into 2009, is actually quite an improvement. :lol:
 
Its amazing how the staff continues to have depth problems at certain positions.. That's all we heard during Talkins first year that was the biggest problem on the team... Now he's four years in and he has no clue what positions players should be playing, moving guys in and out, depth problems all over.. We got walk-ons as backups at the safety position.. No depth whatsoever at RB., lack of quality corners.. When will it ever end?




And Manake is going to be a ILB at 205? absurd.
 
Its amazing how the staff continues to have depth problems at certain positions.. That's all we heard during Talkins first year that was the biggest problem on the team... Now he's four years in and he has no clue what positions players should be playing, moving guys in and out, depth problems all over.. We got walk-ons as backups at the safety position.. No depth whatsoever at RB., lack of quality corners.. When will it ever end?




And Manake is going to be a ILB at 205? absurd.

I'm confident Mahnke can put on 10-15 in the offseason and be a good fit in likely passing situations, but the concern again is that the move creates a bigger issue with depth at safety... and solving that by moving a corner over creates a bigger issue with depth at corner. With the receiving corps we have now I have to believe Anthony Wright goes back to corner/nickel full time, but can we count on him to be healthy? There hasn't been much attrition in the secondary in Hawk's tenure relative to what the entire offense has seen, but the fact that top recruits don't see this as a program that will be on the rise during their college careers is killing the numbers at this position more than most.
 
I like the move. Despite his size, Mahnke is better suited to play LB. He plays the run well, can rush the passer, and I'd rather have him covering RBs and TEs than chasing WRs. I don't think you fix depth problems by plugging players into positions where they don't fit (uhhh, remember Kai, our FB.) Also, the bottom line is CU needs more speed on the field. Mahnke is a relatively speedy LB, but a relatively slow S.
 
I love the way Mahnke plays, and I love the way he hits. It was a bummer watching him struggle last year at the safety position after showing so much promise as a true freshman (I'm still not convinced he was 100% against Toledo). I think he's a natural playmaker who needs to be best positioned in a place he can make plays. Too slow for safety? Linebacker sounds fine to me. But yeah, let's see a few more pounds on that frame.
 
We've struggled at times with TEs burning our LBs, so if we can add some speed here to help with covering TEs running seam patterns, and not get killed in the run game, then I like it.
 
We need speed upgrades and nearly every position on the field, this has been a major failing in this staff's recruiting IMO. This patch and plug system bothers me. Sure Mahnke might be a fast LB at 205 lbs, but what happens when he adds 20 pounds?

If you want to move a guy from the position he played in HS to something new at the college level (Moten, Evans, Polk) fine, but moving a guy as a Junior usually doesn't work out. Solder is a notable exception though he was a sophomore. How does it take this long to know what position a guy should play?

Safety depth is a concern, what about Vigo? Any chance he plays safety, or is he strictly CB at this point?
 
I think this is a great move move for Mahnke and for the D. While the WILL spot is technically an inside LB, he's not playing middle linebacker like Russell or Bad Thad.
 
I think this is a great move move for Mahnke and for the D. While the WILL spot is technically an inside LB, he's not playing middle linebacker like Russell or Bad Thad.

And you'll recall that Bad Thad got sat down a lot in passing situations against teams running the spread, this is a decent move, Toledo showed us he isnt cut out to be a safty.
 
We had a team speed problem last season. I'm glad to see it being addressed.

The 2010 recruiting class, for all its questions, is a very fast and athletic group of guys.

Patrick Mahnke was a slow safety. He is a fast linebacker.

Vince Ewing was a slow safety. He is a fast linebacker.

Conrad Obi was a lumbering defensive end. He is a fast defensive tackle.

Josh Hartigan was a slow linebacker. He is a fast defensive end.

This is progress and the way these coaches need to be thinking. Better late than never. And if it doesn't work out for them in 2010, at least our 2011 roster will be configured the right way for the new staff.
 
I understand the logic of moving all these guys to where they will be relatively fast, but the tradeoff is they are also relatively small for their new positions. Jon Major would be a fast DT too, but doesn't mean he can play there (over exaggerating admittedly).

Speed is important, but so is having the skills and physical abilities to play a particulatr position. I hope it works out, but sometimes being a slow safety doesn't mean you'd be a fast LB...it means you're a slow safety.

I have trouble witht the idea that Mahnke somehow adding 20 lbs over the summer will be easy to do and won't affect his "speed". Hell Givens has been here over 2 years and can't add those 20 pounds to a much bigger frame.
 
I understand the logic of moving all these guys to where they will be relatively fast, but the tradeoff is they are also relatively small for their new positions. Jon Major would be a fast DT too, but doesn't mean he can play there (over exaggerating admittedly).

Speed is important, but so is having the skills and physical abilities to play a particulatr position. I hope it works out, but sometimes being a slow safety doesn't mean you'd be a fast LB...it means you're a slow safety.

I have trouble witht the idea that Mahnke somehow adding 20 lbs over the summer will be easy to do and won't affect his "speed". Hell Givens has been here over 2 years and can't add those 20 pounds to a much bigger frame.

You're absolutely right. We don't know if these guys will work out at their new positions. But we knew they were going to be busts if we kept them at their old positions. And, generally, I'd rather be undersized and fast on defense than have prototypical size but be slow.
 
the team, in general, has played slow and tentatively in the 4 years of what i will refer to as the "hawkins error" (get it? nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...).

i can't tell anymore who is fast and who isn't because they all look slow as hell at gamespeed compared to our opponents. i do think we lack team speed overall, but it is more than just the athleticism issue. and, as others have noted, we do have some upgrades in the raw speed category underway.
 
You're absolutely right. We don't know if these guys will work out at their new positions. But we knew they were going to be busts if we kept them at their old positions. And, generally, I'd rather be undersized and fast on defense than have prototypical size but be slow.

In the short term I completely agree - get guys where they can have SOME impact. In the long term, we can't rely on the position shuffle to solve our problems, we need to recruit guys who are already fast enough to play the position they were recruited to play. I'd rather bring in someone fast but raw assuming we had coaches that could develop the raw talent.

As a fan it's easier to live with a guy getting beat because he's overly agressive or out of position than being in position and getting smoked. You can correct certain things, but speed you cannot.

One thing all those guys you mentioned have in common is that not one of them, baring injury, is likely to be in the 2 deep at their new position. Not much we can do about it now I guess.
 
I'd also say that Mahnke is a much better athlete than people realize. I heard he recorded a 38" vertical this spring. Dude is explosive. He just can't run with a wide receiver.
 
We had a team speed problem last season. I'm glad to see it being addressed.

The 2010 recruiting class, for all its questions, is a very fast and athletic group of guys.

Patrick Mahnke was a slow safety. He is a fast linebacker.

Vince Ewing was a slow safety. He is a fast linebacker.

Conrad Obi was a lumbering defensive end. He is a fast defensive tackle.

Josh Hartigan was a slow linebacker. He is a fast defensive end.

This is progress and the way these coaches need to be thinking. Better late than never. And if it doesn't work out for them in 2010, at least our 2011 roster will be configured the right way for the new staff.

This sounds like what I do when I play NCAA '10 and need to fill holes on my roster after recruiting. Move this guy here, that guy there he is fast and it will all work out. Maybe Hawk has been playing NCAA '10 and he figured out he to make it pop and make the little plays.

We'll See...
 
This sounds like what I do when I play NCAA '10 and need to fill holes on my roster after recruiting. Move this guy here, that guy there he is fast and it will all work out. Maybe Hawk has been playing NCAA '10 and he figured out he to make it pop and make the little plays.

We'll See...

I know you're jesting, but check out the article below about how athletes are using video games to get better and how the games are changing sports. Exhibit A is the Broncos' own Brandon Stokely.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_gamechanger/
 
Iwuh went from a slower Safety to a pretty darn good OLB and he was about the same size weight wise as Mahnke. Iwuh has turned that move into an NFL career
 
To me, I see it similar to changing majors. How many people change a few times before they settle on something that fits for them.

I don't mind the moving players around, as long as we are teaching them well and they progress in their development (and that is still a concern at certain positions, but probably not at LB, especially ILB with Cabral).

The safety depth is a concern, but 3 of the most talented players are all underclassmen.
 
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