Aside from 2 huge plays, our D is legit for what we played with..It was already posted how many young guys played and for the most part, almost all of second string D played a lot of the second half. GOOD PT no matter how you look at it. Good points to go off of was the D line, I admit, I was nervous about this one, not any more. NEVIS is a beast! LB's where OK, Shep missed a few, but I expect these things in the early stages of the season. They never really settled down Sat night.. The young LB's were decent too. CB's Looked good for the youth. Safety's...... Not sure what to say..... 1st string D = A 2nd String = C- ( or D to some) Mix the two and you get inconsistent play like we saw....
Remember the spring game when they kept saying we wouldn't be able to stop the run? 24 rushing yards for Carolina is a positive. Gotta fix that passing number, but when you're up 30-10 you are gonna get attacked in the air. When you give up 180 yards on two drives, you're gonna have some ugly stats.
I couldn't say that the young DBs actually played bad as much as I think their coach didn't put them into position to make any plays. I bet we see a lot of difference the next time we're up by 20 pts in the first half. I still think we're gonna see a heck of an SEC defense this year...(pass the kool aid please.)
The good thing is the youngsters got some playing time. Film study and practice is fine, but the school of hard knocks is the best teacher. Let's hope Chavis can continue to give them spot play. It will pay dividends down the road.
Claiborne was picked on a bit out there (as to be expected when you line up across the best) and had a rough time, especially when he got beat pretty bad on that 97-yarder. But I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because Peterson is always so quick to vouch for him. Remember that Peterson would've given up a 90 yard play last year to Georgia if Cox hadn't missed a wide open AJ Green. It happens to young DBs, gotta have a short memory. Mo-C will be okay, and Mathieu showed us a lot. Worried about the safeties long term but our CBs won't look like that all year.
