Chris Board moved to LB

[Kujava23]

Chris Board is a very physical player and has tremendous athletic ability! He is a playmaker for sure....BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

how come it took Bison Defense to figure out that he is NOT a safety due to his limited ability in coverage skills---not saying he can't get better but better in box

What POSITION does he play now at LB----Mike, Will, or Sam? I'd guess SAM due to his size and strength but maybe MIKE.

Anyways the learning curve at LB in the Cover 2 is steep, I doubt he sees field this year at LB

not to mention the guys currently on depth chart; current b/u----WLB---rFR Levi Jordheim, but maybe he also used at DE in passing downs

SLB---rFR Dan Marlette who has done a great job on specials----MLB rSO Matt Plank who is behind our best LB, and possibley our best Defensive player in DeLuca

I guess I hope Chris Board buys into the position change that will allow him to be more successful but just wonder why took so long

THOUGHTS???

[HerdBot]

Board is a really strong and athletic player. He's kind of a cross between a linebacker and safety. His ability to play in space probably makes him a better linebacker than a safety. As far as speed goes, he's pretty average at safety but he's really fast at linebacker. Similar move like we did with Bo Liekus. My only concern is linebacker is a mentally tough position so it's not like it can be picked up over night and we may not see him much until next year.

Looking at numbers, it makes sense to put at linebacker. We have too many bodies at safety and not enough at linebacker.

[Professor Chaos]

I'd say the reason why it took so long was lack of depth and quality play at safety all around earlier in the season and not just from Board. Before the Indiana St game Dempsey wasn't really standing out and Grimsley looked very "freshman-ish" early in the year. Indiana St seemed to be Dempsey's coming out party and if he can recover from the concussion he sustained he's solid at FS. Grimsley I thought played an excellent game yesterday. He was playing fast and flying up to the LOS in support of the run defense while being solid but unspectacular in pass defense, which is exactly what you need out of a SS. I think Grimsley's emergence more than anything is what is driving this change.

[HerdBot]

I'd say the reason why it took so long was lack of depth and quality play at safety all around earlier in the season and not just from Board. Before the Indiana St game Dempsey wasn't really standing out and Grimsley looked very "freshman-ish" early in the year. Indiana St seemed to be Dempsey's coming out party and if he can recover from the concussion he sustained he's solid at FS. Grimsley I thought played an excellent game yesterday. He was playing fast and flying up to the LOS in support of the run defense while being solid but unspectacular in pass defense, which is exactly what you need out of a SS. I think Grimsley's emergence more than anything is what is driving this change.

To my untrained eye, Wimbush played a really good game. Kid had 7 tackles. With Wimbush, Dempsey, Grimsley, and Smith, we have a good 2 deep and we have some good redshirt freshman for next year.

[CAS4127]

To my untrained eye, Wimbush played a really good game. Kid had 7 tackles. With Wimbush, Dempsey, Grimsley, and Smith, we have a good 2 deep and we have some good redshirt freshman for next year.

Wimbush needs to improve his angles to ball carrier/receiver.


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[unbison]

Wimbush needs to improve his angles to ball carrier/receiver.


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Which comes with more game reps I bet

[Professor Chaos]

To my untrained eye, Wimbush played a really good game. Kid had 7 tackles. With Wimbush, Dempsey, Grimsley, and Smith, we have a good 2 deep and we have some good redshirt freshman for next year.

Wimbush needs to improve his angles to ball carrier/receiver.


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Yeah, I thought he really struggled defending those bubble screens. A couple times when they had stacked receivers on the bubble screen the OLB crashed inside and Wimbush was late getting out there. One of those was the 2nd TD to Jones that made it 21-19 where he was late and missed the tackle.

[CAS4127]

Which comes with more game reps I bet

There is a lot of instinct and innate talent involved in pursuit/tackle angles. And a 1000 game reps wouldn't matter with some. Kinda like throwing to a WR in stride. You have it or you don't, or you can become serviceable. I don't know what Wimbush's situation is, but I know what I saw.


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[G_Funky]

There is a lot of instinct and innate talent involved in pursuit/tackle angles. And a 1000 game reps wouldn't matter with some. Kinda like throwing to a WR in stride. You have it or you don't, or you can become serviceable. I don't know what Wimbush's situation is, but I know what I saw.


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True - to an extent. I find it really hard to believe that Wimbush's lack of quality game reps had no effect on his angles of pursuit. You're right that some kids do just have that ability and they have a knack for getting to the football - case in point would be a guy like Heagle. However, to say that more reps at the speed of the college game isn't going to lead to improvement and he's stuck where he is because of the 3 quarters he played in his first meaningful minutes just doesn't make a lot of sense.


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[BisonNeil]

There is a lot of instinct and innate talent involved in pursuit/tackle angles. And a 1000 game reps wouldn't matter with some. Kinda like throwing to a WR in stride. You have it or you don't, or you can become serviceable. I don't know what Wimbush's situation is, but I know what I saw.


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For what it's worth, Wimbush was a very late signing in 2014, June or July I think. Not sure what that means but there could have been some questions about him. John might know. Regardless, he has climbed the charts as a RFr which I think supports my long time claim that the recruiting classes of 2011 and 2012, with their high attrition rates, are lacking in talent in several areas.