This is my thinking. IIRC, Chavis likes top use the SS more like a LBer and less like a safety. In obvious passing situations I think he will insert a couple CB's and pull the SS. Of course, this just means the opposing TE's will have some big plays on short yardage.
I think it's just the opposite. The only way this move makes any sense is if Hatcher has struggled in the scrimmages. I still expect Taylor to start against teams like Florida bc he's the best cover man, but maybe they like McCray over Hatcher as a run stopper against a team like Washington. It is a fact that Taylor and Hatcher have been the top two strong safeties throughout fall camp. If this is true, then Hatcher must have had a bad scrimmage this past week, and that's why they made the change. Hopefully it's not true though, and Miles was just doing subterfuge.
He got all of those tackles bc South Carolina picked on him that whole game with Kenny McKinley. But your last point isn't really true either. He looked bad at times in both the Bama and Tulane games when he was our starting free safety. He just isn't an LSU caliber athlete, even when he's playing safety.
I think you guys have it wrong. A WR has to be able to read coverages, whether it is man or zone. That's what Miles means by "playing faster", bc a WR has to be able to do that on the run.
Looking at my check sheet here, I see on another thread I predicted LSU would go 11-1. I'm changin' that. Make that 10-2. I was thinking LSU over UW 45-7, but I'm changing that to 42-17. My attitude is now "confident" instead of "supremely confident".
McCray is the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong with the defense, partly because he was shredded against Kentucky time after time, but mainly because he was asked to cover Percy Harvin 1-on-1 and when he broke up the ball it happened to go straight into Parcy's hands....He broke up the pass, not his fault it landed in the guy's arms. 9 times out of 10 that ball hits the ground, considering he was covering one of the most explosive player in CFB at the time, he made the best play possible. He got a hand on the ball which is all you can really ask of a safety at that point. Tough luck with how it ended up, but jeez some LSU fans like to harp on certain plays. McCray has made some big plays for us while he's been in and I've seen none of these "physical limitations" that are so apparent to all you would-be coaches out there watching on TV. He is 6'2, 205 and and has been covering slot WRs man-to-man for 2 seasons in the SEC. No reason to believe he can't play SS. And it hasn't been all bad for McCray in his time as a nickelback. While you may remember a few plays where he was caught out of position, there are plenty of good plays he made that you probably never noticed or forgot (like the 07 South Carolina game, when he posted 11 tackles and an INT, good enough for SEC DPOW). I really don't get the need for our fans to constantly harp on individual plays or a small sample size of plays when judging a player. The same thing happened with LaFell after 3-4 drops his sophomore year. All of a sudden everybody swore that the dude was allergic to the ball and never caught a pass in his life. And even after coming off a 93 catch, 900 yard season, people still at times question BLF's hands. To me, there is no reason to believe Danny McCray can't have a solid senior campaign. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if he's giving up time to Ron Brooks by midseason, but that's more of a credit to Brooks than anything else. I have no doubts or fears about putting McCray back there at any point, because I don't have a selective memory like too many of our fans.
I think he might be fine at SS, because rarely will he be in a one on one situation with a slot receiver. He will help over the top on routes and will provide good support against the run. But like Tirk and Bret said starting is just a formality these days, he probably wont get half the reps the other guys get.
Well there is some unconfirmed information out that Miles did not mention when he said if the game was today McCray would be the starter. Brandon Taylor was in the hospital at the time fighting off an infection.
Im particularly not a huge fan of McCray starting, that said he is also being unfairly judged. In past years he was all too often misused. That is on the coaches and schemes, not on McCray. Sadly, the players usually take the brunt. If used as a more conventional SS I think he will do a good job. He is good against the run, its his cover skills that lack. I havent been to camp so I dont know, but hopefully he has proven himself worthy of starting over Brooks, Taylor, or Hatcher. I thought by most accounts Brooks would start. I really like what I saw from Hatcher last year. Im sure by mid season if healthy Loston might be pushing to start like Peterson did last year.
