nope no info. not to be a hater, but pellinis lack of playing underclassmen just might be our undoing next saturday. i remember realizing during the kentucky game that we hadn't given jai eugene any serious playing time all year and then all of a sudden he has to play back up for chevis jackson. chad jones could possibly replace him, but really i have no clue. problem is who is going to play chad jones' role if he does have to fill in for taylor? or really who is going to fill in for anyone? we haven't given the backups real honest reps all year long. man... the more time i get separated from friday the more i think we're done. sorry for the negative crap haha.
If you're talking about the secondary, no, I don't think we've seen a lot of our younger players get significant playing time. But to say that Pelini hasn't been given our underclassmen enough playing, then that's just not true because we've had underclassmen get LOTS of playing time along the D-line and at the various LB positions. True fresman Drake Nevis has been playing a lot and playing well...Al Woods has gotten some good time in. Perry Riley has gotten a lot of valuable time and you can include Cutrera in the group as well. But the secondary, no. Only Chad Jones has played a whole lot. Given the way Pelini has played underclassmen at other positions, I SERIOUSLY find it hard for me to believe he just refuses to do the same thing to underclassmen in the secondary--and make it sound like he's just being stubborn. I HONESTLY believe that underclassmen haven't played a whole lot in the defensive secondary is because THEY HAVEN'T SHOWN THAT THEY CAN HANDLE IT! There was a REASON why Jai hasn't played a whole lot--and it has NOTHING to do with him getting into a rhythm with the physical aspects of playing, but EVERYTHING to do with him simply NOT KNOWING WHERE THE HECK HE WAS EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE!!!! Jai lined up wrong on just about every play on that first drive he was filling in for Jackson and when he DID lineup correctly, it was because Steltz directed him. ...and you CAN'T tell me that he hasn't been given reps in practice all year long! he's our 3rd true CB for crying out loud! You KNOW he has been given reps and is in all the meetings, etc. he's just not learning/remembering where he needs to be or what he needs to do. EDIT: Also, Pelini was a former defensive back at Ohio State during his playing days, so if there's one position that you would think Pelini can judge/evaluate talent and recognize which players are ready to play, then it would BE the defensive backs.
Well, if Eugene can't get his stuff together while at LSU, maybe he should follow Miles to Meeshigun.
atlanta bengal. i know that clearly we've played some underclassmen. but to say that we were better off having mccray as a nickel all the time instead of eugene in there is absurd. especially when we played teams like middle tennessee or latech or tulane. eugene and chris hawkins haven't received enough playing time period. my question still stands, what in the hell are we going to do if half our secondary is out? we'll be completely screwed. maybe the younger cbs aren't ready, but that's why YOU MAKE THEM READY. and as for LBs and DTs getting playing time. well that's only because of injuries and look what that's done to our front seven, not even close to as dominant as they should be. now those things have been happening all season, the secondary issue is only now becoming a concern. so again, having mccray in there instead of eugene or hawkings all year is IMO a very bad move. practice does not simulate a real game and we all know that.
you must have some inside info. i'm not aware of anything eugene has done to classify him as "not having his act together."
The reason the underclassmen have not played in the secondary is because they are not good enough. If they were they would play, as they do at other positions on defense. Just because they were highly recruited doesnt mean chit.
