Cosgrove Expects Defense to "Play Fast"

Donate To GopherHole

I was hoping that there wouldn't be any commentary about dogs going to the meat locker or playing with their hair on fire circa 2007. I liked what I read. Keep It Simple Stupid, just execute.
 

I don't really care about all of the preseason defensive talks. How many years in a row under Mason did we hear "The defense is improved" or "they are playing fast?"

Under Brewster, I have actually seen defensive improvement from year-to-year. I have started to see athletes on defense. That is what is really important. They may not be better this year (with all of the starters gone from a year ago) but over the long haul I like the defensive emphasis.
 

It really makes sense considering the conference we play in. I never really understood why defense was never an emphasis with Mason considering the mantra 'defense wins championships.' If the guy tried in recruiting defensive playmakers, well, recruiting at all, we could've been pretty epic for a few years. I'm hoping Brew has his ducks in a row coaching wise coming into this year and we see enough potential in the scores and W/L column to really believe in 2011, then 2012, etc, etc.
 

I thought the key injury of the Mason years was to Brandon Owens. One of those "what ifs". We won four BT games that year, three after that horrendous injury.
 


Gopherhurrin said:
I thought the key injury of the Mason years was to Brandon Owens. One of those "what ifs". We won four BT games that year, three after that horrendous injury.
Click to expand...

Brandon Owens is the single most overrated player of the Glen Mason era. People act like he was going to be the guy to take us over the top as a defense. That defense was terrible in 2005,both pre and post injury. Maybe he makes the defense slightly better. But he was not the difference between 7-5 and a Big Ten title. Maybe with him the team wins 1 more game. But maybe they lose the same amount of games. There was never a time in the past 10 years where the gophers were 1 defensive player away from having a great defense.
 

Rosemountian said:
Brandon Owens is the single most overrated player of the Glen Mason era. People act like he was going to be the guy to take us over the top as a defense. That defense was terrible in 2005,both pre and post injury. Maybe he makes the defense slightly better. But he was not the difference between 7-5 and a Big Ten title. Maybe with him the team wins 1 more game. But maybe they lose the same amount of games. There was never a time in the past 10 years where the gophers were 1 defensive player away from having a great defense.
Click to expand...

I know what you are saying, he wasn't a talent equivalent to say a lawrence maroney, but his loss was devestating. Glen Mason's defenses were so thin, and he was very good. Once he was gone the hope slowly dissolved.
 

josh087 said:
I don't really care about all of the preseason defensive talks. How many years in a row under Mason did we hear "The defense is improved" or "they are playing fast?"

Under Brewster, I have actually seen defensive improvement from year-to-year. I have started to see athletes on defense. That is what is really important. They may not be better this year (with all of the starters gone from a year ago) but over the long haul I like the defensive emphasis.
Click to expand...

Its hard (Mason) for a 4.6 LB to play fast when the 265 pound DT is getting blown off the ball in front of him and the LB has an OL in his face.

Now, we actually have DT's that can absorb blocks and get a push, making it a lot easier to play LB behind them.
 

Mason was very good at recruiting two positions: OL an RB...other than that, he either didn't have the eye for talent or the desire to put in the work to entice the defensive athletes to come here. It's frustrating because he showed the skill of finding 'under the radar' talent on the OL...if he could have figured it out on defense, he would have had some very good teams. I'm one of the rare Brewster backers that also really liked Mason. All in all, though, it's nice to finally have a coach that can get real defensive players to come here. One aspect of Brewster's recruiting that I really am excited about is that he is taking athlete's regardless of position, identifying their skill set/frame, and switching them to specific spots on the defense. You always here about guys in the NFL who are studs on the defensive side of the ball that excelled at different positions in high school
 



GopherHomer said:
Mason was very good at recruiting two positions: OL an RB...other than that, he either didn't have the eye for talent or the desire to put in the work to entice the defensive athletes to come here. It's frustrating because he showed the skill of finding 'under the radar' talent on the OL...if he could have figured it out on defense, he would have had some very good teams. I'm one of the rare Brewster backers that also really liked Mason. All in all, though, it's nice to finally have a coach that can get real defensive players to come here. One aspect of Brewster's recruiting that I really am excited about is that he is taking athlete's regardless of position, identifying their skill set/frame, and switching them to specific spots on the defense. You always here about guys in the NFL who are studs on the defensive side of the ball that excelled at different positions in high school
Click to expand...

If he could have figured it out on defense he'd probably be coaching Ohio State.
 

Schnoodler said:
I know what you are saying, he wasn't a talent equivalent to say a lawrence maroney, but his loss was devestating. Glen Mason's defenses were so thin, and he was very good. Once he was gone the hope slowly dissolved.
Click to expand...

This is true. It's not that Owens was All-America or anything, it's that we could ill afford to lose the talented defensive players we had with the depth we had. Hopefully our teams in the future won't be in that position.
 

It always amazes me

A post of a story about the upcoming season, and the Defensive Coordinator's expectations, and what do you know it desinagated into the finer points of a player. And a former coach. :confused:
 

I wouldnt take much stock into the "Play Fast" saying because it's coachspeak. Every Coach wants their team to "work hard and play fast"... I do think that if the DL plays well that helps an entire defense tremendously. Just look at the pro teams and how their D lines play year to year.
 



Minnesota Hail to Thee said:
I wouldnt take much stock into the "Play Fast" saying because it's coachspeak. Every Coach wants their team to "work hard and play fast"... I do think that if the DL plays well that helps an entire defense tremendously. Just look at the pro teams and how their D lines play year to year.
Click to expand...

I don't think the play fast message was interesting, it was the whole story of what that meant how and why he was going to achieve that. nothing new, but at least a plan we could watch for during the first few weeks to make things more interesting.
 

I'm not worried about the size and athletic ability on the defensive side of the ball. It's pretty clear the potential is there, but our inexperience may affect our ability to "play fast." We lost 9 starters but 8 of their replacements either started a few games last year or saw significant playing time. Plus Rallis and Lewis should have enough experience to avoid getting lost in the fray. The problem as I see it is in depth. Once we're past the first unit we will be relying on a lot of inexperienced players.
 

I agree Schnoodler. I found it interesting that he said he was just going to go let them play at first and then slowly start to add more to the plate. In other words, just read and react.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I agree Schnoodler. I found it interesting that he said he was just going to go let them play at first and then slowly start to add more to the plate. In other words, just read and react.
Click to expand...

I think we've heard that before too.

I don't pay any attention to what the coaches say at this point in the year. It's all cliche driven with very little substance and that's fine, they aren't paid to give interviews. I love and hate training camp because I am itching to watch football, but you can't really glean much about what your team will be like from what's going on right now.
 

Owens was just starting to scratch the surface on how good he could be before he got hurt. He definetly would have been first team All-Big Ten his Senior year. The guy was a lot better than Theret or Royston. If he didn't get hurt, he would have been a beast in the backfield his senior year.
 

Its great that they all look fast in practice but that mean nothing when its game time. Most of the Defense hasn't seen a snap of live action.
 


Gold Vision said:
Proof you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Click to expand...

Boy have you got THAT right but, to be fair he's very upfront about it:

"You know what I don't care about the past, I did not bring up the past. I brought up a point backed it with some facts and got called names."


He has no idea the amount of playing time given last year to 8 to 10 of those players but that's because it "was in the past", and if he uses his version of facts, people call him names. :banghead:
 

Correct, Gold Vision. Gary Tinsley has no experience playing live snaps in a big game, like a rivalry game on the road. Keanon Cooper has no experience. Jewhan Edwards hasn't taken many live snaps, and neither has Brandon Kirksey.

This troll is pathetic.
 

GophBen said:
Correct, Gold Vision. Gary Tinsley has no experience playing live snaps in a big game, like a rivalry game on the road. Keanon Cooper has no experience. Jewhan Edwards hasn't taken many live snaps, and neither has Brandon Kirksey.

This troll is pathetic.
Click to expand...

LOL. Or Michael Carter, who started several games. Or Mike Rallis, who was playing safety for us when he was injured. Or D.L. Wilhite, who played so little that he managed to score a TD last year. Anyone want to pile on with Royston and Theret (a two-year starter)?
 

I think we've got a couple of two deeps that didn't see any action. maybe he was talking about them.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom