After a career high 18 tackles, Mariano Sori-Marin is the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

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I'm not sure what would satisfy some on this board. 25 tackles?
 
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Perseverance. A great trait.

I'll have to go back and watch him in replay. My thoughts earlier in the season were that he's playing out-of-position at outside LB. I didn't focus on him much vs. Nebby but recall that he was playing outside quite a bit? Maybe the games off allowed the D to work on defending the edge plays.
 



His lack of speed was very evident. But then someone has to be available for the cut backs. And he was - kudos to him.
 

Pete smith said:
His lack of speed was very evident. But then someone has to be available for the cut backs. And he was - kudos to him.
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People keep harping on his supposed lack of speed.

Are we all 100% certain that, when we see a guy chasing a play, it indicates he lacks foot speed?

What are we measuring his foot speed against, exactly? Is it the foot speed of the opposing team's running back? If so, I'm guessing most linebackers can be called slow, according to that metric.
 

RememberMurray said:
People keep harping on his supposed lack of speed.

Are we all 100% certain that, when we see a guy chasing a play, it indicates he lacks foot speed?

What are we measuring his foot speed against, exactly? Is it the foot speed of the opposing team's running back? If so, I'm guessing most linebackers can be called slow, according to that metric.
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I'm a bit skeptical of non in person observations about this sorta thing.

I don't think of myself as a super scout / evaluator of talent but not being at the games ... I'm even more at a loss.
 

He was taking bad angles early in the year. Isn’t as much anymore.

the safeties were run-fitting awful early in the year, which made the linebackers look bad when it wasn’t necessarily their fault
 



Part of the reason he has seemed to struggle is that he is always around the ball, so if there is a long play, he would have been close to making a play. It's almost like having a nose for the football makes his mistakes more glaring.

There have also been issues with our DE and DBs not really containing very well. There are not too many MLBs who can go sideline to sideline when there isn't any containment. A RB is going to outrun a MLB if the RB isn't slowed down at all.

I'm not trying to make excuses for him when he struggles but I'm just saying that some of his struggles are more "team struggles" than MSM struggles.

All of that said, he was fantastic on Saturday. The tackles were great and he also prevented a likely TD with his coverage on the TE at the end.
 

Yesterday was by far the best our DEs have had setting the edge in the run game. Had a huge impact on the perceived play of the LBs.
 

Good For MSM, I have been one of his biggest critics. Too slow, out of position and often lost for previous games this year he found his game against Nebraska. Kudos!
 

Seemed to play faster from what I watched. Maybe concentrating on doing his assignments and worrying less about everybody else. Keep it going.
 



umpire16 said:
Seemed to play faster from what I watched. Maybe concentrating on doing his assignments and worrying less about everybody else. Keep it going.
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In general, everyone looked faster. Not as dramatic a difference as when Rossi took over in 2018, and he is still the DC; but it just looked like we got to the ball carrier quicker and with more people. People were in position a lot more and reacting instead of that little hesitation where they're trying to decide what to do and then chasing. Still some breakdowns, especially in pass coverage, but the defense looked like it belonged on the field and that wasn't the case earlier. Confidence and emotion.
 

One of the LB's briefly mentioned that they did a lot more film study. I really think that that may be why they looked faster. They were better prepared and in the right position more often. If that's true lets hope that it's a lesson learned.
 

nsmike said:
One of the LB's briefly mentioned that they did a lot more film study. I really think that that may be why they looked faster. They were better prepared and in the right position more often. If that's true lets hope that it's a lesson learned.
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Watch a lot of Nebraska film from this year and you too will feel more confidant ;)
 

restovich said:
I'm not sure what would satisfy some on this board. 25 tackles?
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Consistency. This was one game. He’s now magically the next Jack Lambert, Lawrence Taylor, Mike Singlerary, Jack Ham, Patrick Willis, or Derrick Thomas. Good on him for the great game.
 

in watching I agree that some of his issue is that he reads the play and over pursues the play. That what happened on the first long run on Nebraska’s first touchdown drive. I think us rushing fewer guys and keeping everything in front of the defense helped everyone. Blitzes can really magnify mistakes. Great game plan was executed on Saturday.
 

The guy showed some promise last year when he saw time and even this year he was in position a lot of times to make big plays. Hopefully things start to click for him and this can become a reoccuring thing.
 

He's learning to be instinctive while the play develops. I bet he has spent a lot in the film room looking at opponents' tendencies. AWjr seemed to be the king of film study. Maybe this rubbed off on a few of his former teammates.
 

Well deserved. He made a few splashy plays along with Mafe.....that just shut down Nebraska drives.
 

tmvander said:
The guy showed some promise last year when he saw time and even this year he was in position a lot of times to make big plays. Hopefully things start to click for him and this can become a reoccuring thing.
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I have felt like people are way too hard on MSM in general. He wasn't some top flight superstar recruit, he was a back of the class guy in 2018 who is developing into a solid player. If anything he reminds me a lot of Thomas Barber, not the fastest guy out there but can make plays.

Glad he had a huge day against Nebraska, hopefully it gives him some confidence to push his game to another level.
 

RememberMurray said:
People keep harping on his supposed lack of speed.

Are we all 100% certain that, when we see a guy chasing a play, it indicates he lacks foot speed?

What are we measuring his foot speed against, exactly? Is it the foot speed of the opposing team's running back? If so, I'm guessing most linebackers can be called slow, according to that metric.
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Yeah, I don't think it was that...more over-committing to be out of position, and taking bad angles. Whatever he focused on in the last few weeks worked.
 



restovich said:
I'm not sure what would satisfy some on this board. 25 tackles?
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I would be satisfied with less tackles and more consistently taking good angles and not getting blocked.

Congrats to him!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I have felt like people are way too hard on MSM in general. He wasn't some top flight superstar recruit, he was a back of the class guy in 2018 who is developing into a solid player. If anything he reminds me a lot of Thomas Barber, not the fastest guy out there but can make plays.

Glad he had a huge day against Nebraska, hopefully it gives him some confidence to push his game to another level.
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We'd have all taken Barber as 5th year senior this year (and he would've gotten a free 6th year to boot, if he wanted it), in a nanosecond. Fleck would've too.
 

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