I beg to differ. PP7 basically won the W. Virginia and N. Carolina games for us in 2010 with big returns.
I was thinking more defensively. PP7 could only make plays on balls that came his way while TM7 follows the ball and takes it. But I wish we would have used PP7 as a returner earlier...could have won a couple games for us.
That was supposed to be PP7's role last year, with Brooks playing more corner in nickel packages, until Honey Badger came on campus and showed how proficient he was at it. TM7's only deficiency is he's small. He's not a bad cover guy. Actually he's very good. But QBs know they can place the ball high and use his height as a disadvantage. Put that same skill set in a guy 3-4 inches taller and 20 lbs. heavier and the discussion would be a lot different.
Oh, give me PP7 because there are no glaring weaknesses that can't be coached. You can't coach height.
Saftey will be the only place for him. Most of the WR's in the NFL are just too big and strong for Mattheiu to play man with a bump at the line. I saw one Bama WR in game 1 or 2 this season jus shove Matthieu off the line and the HB could do nothing about it......... he is just too little to play that type coverage on a WR 210+ lbs. Not his fault, because he is awesome, but he has a distinct size disadvantage against the bigger WR.
Peterson didn't have that option to roam around and make plays like Mathieu. Not taking away from Mathieu though, because his ability to strip the ball, stay upright, and locate the ball is amazing. I would go with Peterson.
