Crimson Red Sports

Most people are saying we will have a drop off in the secondary with the loss of Mark, Dre, and Dequan. But I think we will be in good shape there and not have much drop off at all. Dee Millner will lock down one CB spot, and I see him having a big year. I'm thinking Travell Dixon comes in right away and nails down the other CB spot. The big question is Star. Will that be Deion Belue? John Fulton? Remember, Fulton was a 5 star and was extremely talented. The few times I have seen him play he has impressed. He is extremely fast. At safety, Lester will nail down one spot. He dropped off a bit last year, but he is still All American worthy. Will HaHa get the other spot? Nick Perry? How much PT will Lowery get? We have so much talent in our secondary it's scary. The biggest question I have is about who will step up and be a leader. Someone has to fill Barron's shoes. He was the QB of the secondary and made all the right calls.He had great instincts and was a beast in run support. If we find a leader like him, then our secondary will be killer. What do you think about it?

Lowery is listed as a junior but I don't expect him to be back.  He has already graduated and was a walk on.

I think it will be up to Lester to be the leader back there.  Also don't forget about Sunseri.  He played in Lowery's spot in NOLA.  I expect him to be in the starting line up somewhere.

Bama has the talent.  Execution is the question.  In the BCSCG, the players executed like I've never seen before, a virtually flawless performance.  In 2010, that was one thing that killed Bama is the three losses, young players being out of position and not executing properly.  So from a talent perspective, the secondary will be fine.  There are some great players who did well in a back up role last year.  Let's just hope they can step up their game and execute.

^^^THIS^^^

I expect Sunseri to get major PT, but I doubt he cracks the starting lineup. I am interested to see what John Fulton does this year. He came in with so much hype, but he hasn't cracked the lineup yet. He has a major attitude, so maybe that is hampering his progress.

We will have as much or more talent in the secondary as any team in the country. The corncern will be how well they play together and how quickly the new starters learn their assignments. In 2010 we had very good talent. Stats show we had one of the best secondary's in the country. However, a couple of busted assignments cost us the LSU and barn games. CNS runs a very complicated defense. You are not just trying to be lock down corners. You must fight off blockers on the WR screens and contain the edges. Safties have to know when to help out on deep routes and when to give run support. Zone coverage requires everyone know where they need to be. LB's have to know when to drop into coverage. It also helps to have a good pass rush.

We have the talent but we have to learn the mental game that sometimes only comes with the experience of playing with your teammates. I have confidence that the staff will get them "coached up" and we will have another very good defense.

I'm not sure about Vinnie as a starter, either, but I see him more as a Javy Arenas-type anyway: coverage not the best in the world, but could be a real beast on blitz packages.

Vinnie is not the most talented guy from an athleticism standpoint, but his football IQ, attitude, and hitting/tackling may give him enough to crack the lineup.  We will see.

Yeah, I think he got on the field early because he actually understands the defense.  And he is a ball hawk.

This right here. Like Yogi Berra said, football (He said baseball, but I'm stealing his quote) is 90% mental; the other half is physical. I love that quote.

I wonder if with all this talent we got that young guy that has no attitude and will be mentally tough. I think being mentally tough in the SEC is the main item of football. It sure will be a lot of fun watching all this in beginning of season. RTR!

When does spring camp start?  It has to be only a few weeks away now.  About 4 to 6 maybe?

A-Day is scheduled for April 14. I could not find a spring practice schedule to tell when practice will start. I would guess Mid-March. I think we get about 15 practices including A-Day.