I am so with you on that! I think it is a disservice to Danny McCray to put him in there and expect him to cover a slot receiver. He routinely gets beaten, and quite honestly it isn't his fault. He doesn't have the skills to cover that kind of threat.
Conversely, if we stick Eugene out there we'll get pounded on the ground and he'll get mismatched with tall TEs. It's a double edged sword, and I'm one of the few who like seeing McCray out there because he's pretty versatile and has been effective before. He gets a bad rap for his occasional failures in man coverage but honestly that's the coaches fault to leave him one-on-one with guys like Percy Harvin and Kentucky's Steve Johnson to begin with. Before the Kentucky game last year when everyone started bemoaning McCray's ability, he had an 11 tackles/2 FF game and made several key PBUs. He gets beat occasionally but so would Hawkins, Eugene or anybody else you have at nickel. I for one feel McCray still makes a lot of plays when he's in. What he gives us in run support and zone makes up for the slightly below average man coverage IMO.
Well I guess me and Brian disagree. He probably is better in run support, but that should be measured in a yard or 2 more per carry on average. However I have just watched him get beat badly for the last 2 years. Even when he is in position to make the play he just can't. It always seems just out of his reach--just like when he tipped it up in the air against FLA early in the game and they scored. Sometimes he seems to be lost and playing a zone and his man is wide open. I can see getting beat if you are matched one on one with a FLA WR, but even when he is in position he doesn't make the play. I certainly don't think he should be part of our prevent defense when we can give up a few yards running. Put a corner in that can cover man to man. I don't want to trash the young man because he has conducted himself well as far as I know, but I just feel he isn't physically able to do what we are asking of him in pass coverage for what ever the reason. We will see if Chavis does anything differently with him next year. If he somehow makes all-SEC or turns it around I will be more than happy to eat my words.:thumb:
I don't see McCray being such a big factor on defense against run support warranting his spot on the field when he is often beat soundly in pass coverage. Putting a corner on the slot receiver shouldn't hurt you in run defense because you're going to have a smaller slot receiver trying to block your corner. That's fine by me instead of seeing a more imposing safety get beat over the top routinely to faster and quicker receivers.
Skyler Green is one of my all-time favorite Tigers. My younger daughter, born in '05, is named Skylar. Coincidence? No, not really.
is there any validity to Skyler saying he would cheer for Bama when they play us now that Saban is there, or was that b.s.?
My favorite Skyler play was that little slant he ran against Arkansas his first year that he took to the house. It kills me that the staff never really used him like that very much. He could have been a real gamechanger.
