The strength of the Oregon State football team’s defense should be the secondary, safeties in particular. However, the cornerbacks have come along and must be on top of their games, or the defense will be in trouble.
There’s been little written about the corners because they’ve been as solid as expected in training camp. The offense has gotten the better of the defensive backs frequently, but that’s because the defensive linemen aren’t allowed hit the quarterback and the offense is pretty good. And many times the secondary has made plays.
James Dockery is a returning starter and Brandon Hardin has starting experience. Jordan Poyer is a strong No. 3 guy who will relieve both of them.
“We are doing pretty good,” Dockery said of his group’s status. “We have great competition in practice.”
Poyer’s transition from safety to corner was deemed a success by corner coach Keith Heyward. He followed in Dockery’s footsteps with that move.
“The transition for him went really good,” Heyward said. “I’m just giving him a lot of reps with the ones to get him up to speed. Dock and Brandon are rotating to keep them fresh.”
Redshirt freshman Rashaad Reynolds is the No. 4 corner and leader of the large group of younger players. Ryan Handford was brought in from JC, but the Beavers are not in a rush to use him.
“He has a redshirt year, but we don’t know (about redshirting him or not),” Heyward said. “He’s doing well. It just takes a little bit to get comfortable in our defense, how to press and know where the helps is, especially coming from JC when you don’t play man-to-man. There’s a lot to learn, but he pays attention to detail.”
So the Beavers are in good hands with group. If the corners do their job, everything became much easier.
“Anytime you play the secondary you want to keep things in front of you,” Dockery said. “There isn’t any more extra pressure than last year.”
Links
Here’s a link to my main story in Thursday’s GT on what P Johnny Hekker did during the summer to improve. Here’s a link to the notebook that leads off with more the Jovan Stevenson surgery.
11 comments
ean says:
May 18, 2012
Interesting read on Hekker. He sure does boot a nice looking ball with a ton of hang time. Did you ask him at all about if he has another low trajectory kick in the bag in case he is kicking in Vegas Bowl conditions again. Or is the plan just to go for it should there be a wicked head wind?
aaron_ says:
May 18, 2012
good question ean…..
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
Riley coaches him about afterward. He had experience coaching in the CFL in the windy prairie.
PackALunch says:
May 18, 2012
“Anytime you play the secondary you want to keep things in front of you,” Dockery said.
I hope Doc has can practice what he preaches. Etched in my brain is the memory of 3rd and 8, nearing the end of the first quarter of the Civil War. Doc goes to jam Jeff Maehl at the line, and completely whiffs. Completely. Didn't even get a finger on him. Maehl is off to the races and even a mediocre passer like Masoli is able to complete that one. TD. The difference in the game.
Why was Doc pressing on 3rd and 8? How did he whiff completely? We'll never know.
Keep things in front of you Doc. Keep 'em in front.
JackBeav says:
May 18, 2012
So negative.
ean says:
May 18, 2012
you could also blame the D-line for not getting to the QB fast enough to prevent the throw.
PackALunch says:
May 18, 2012
I don't think so. The ball was snapped to Masoli, who was lined up in the shotgun, and he took two steps to his right and lobbed the ball up the sideline. Even if one of our D-linemen was completely unblocked, Masoli still would have gotten it off in time. That one was solely on Doc.
I'm not trying to pick on him here. I'm sure he would agree that he blew the coverage on that one, and it ended with a gift-wrapped TD for the bad guys.
I'm hopeful that he learned from that experience, and we'll see the results on the field this year.
ObjCritic says:
May 18, 2012
"The strength of the Oregon State football team’s defense should be the secondary, safeties in particular." – I'm surprised at that comment. I thought OSU's defense was strong with the starting D-line and CB's, and weak in the middle with inexperienced LB and Safeties susceptible to the deep ball. It sounds like the safeties have been getting deep repeatedly, particularly Tuimaunei. Didn't Katz recently throw three 60-yard or three 80-yard TD passes in a row in a recent practice? Hasn't Banker been quoted as yelling "Somebody cover somebody!"?
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
The coaches are worried about the DEs. Frahm and Olander are a little small. at DT.
MLB is an issue. The safeties have been making plays all camp. They are also seasoned. Suaesi is playing well. The underclassmen safeties are doing well.
The secondary being burned were the CBs. They make plays and get burned. It's part of the position.
pcoonradt says:
May 18, 2012
i dis-agree with cliff on the defense will be in trouble if the corner's get had a couple times in the game. my reason why is the corner's play for show! in games because they draw more play's. the d-line and linebacker's save their play's for the pride that comes when you least expect it. my point is that we will be o.k on game day. let's not forget this is only practice we and are player's are waiting to let the game's begin. all of us are ready players and fans. GO BEAVERS LETS SHOW THE WORLD WHO WE ARE ON 9/4 2010 4.45 PM ESPN
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
True, we'll see how everyone reachs in the game.
Corner is crucial to OSU's defense. They go one-on-one with the top receivers, and if they take them out of the game 1. There's no deep threat. 2. safeties don't have to help, so they can help the running game.