Malik hooker
- Thread starter Las Panteras
- Start date
Malik Hooker, Jordan Whitehead and Montae Nicholson all Western PA kids and 3 of the top 10 safeties in the country. Pretty legit.
Nicholson isn't one of the top 50 safeties in the country. I've watched nearly every MSU game he has played in. He struggles.
Admittedly I don't watch any Michigan State. Just going off mock draft predictions.
You watch much MSU football? Did you even watch the only MSU game most of the posters on this board saw, the PSU game? I'm guessing not. But if you actually want to see what kind of player Nicholson is, tune in to a replay of that game and key on #9 in MSU's secondary. If you have any idea what you're watching, which is highly unlikely, you'll see what I'm talking about. It was a good summary of his whole career at MSU. 4th year in the program and still just as confused as ever with coverage responsibilities, bites on every play action, takes terrible angles, misses tons of tackles. Million dollar athletic abilibity, 10 cent head. There have been articles written about how his lack of confidence has affected his play. That was all expected to turn around this year, but if anything he took a step back and was worse at the end of the year than eh was at the beginning.
And until you watch that replay, which I'm sure you won't, below is a little tidbit. Read up and watch #9:
Secondary issues
Michigan State fans have probably been asking the question for a while now: Why don’t other teams just throw deep against the Spartans? It allowed Notre Dame to come back earlier in the year, but no team has had the same commitment to it since.
Until the second half Saturday, that is. The Nittany Lions scored 5 touchdowns after the break, and 4 of them came via throws over the top: 34-, 45-, 59- and 40-yard passing scores.
A Michigan State secondary that has been beaten up, inconsistent and oftentimes youthful (by necessity) has been susceptible to being beaten deep, and it happened time after time Saturday. It was the play-action that did MSU in.
The onslaught began with a 34-yard toss from QB Trace McSorley to WR Chris Godwin, which gave Penn State a 17-12 lead early in the second quarter.
The plays begins with CB Darian Hicks biting hard on the play-action fake and eventually committing to the pass rush as a result. That leaves S Montae Nicholson alone to try to cover Godwin.
Nicholson’s momentum is going toward Godwin as he sprints to make sure he doesn’t give up a catch right past the first-down marker. In doing so, when Godwin pulls off a double move and Nicholson can’t slow down and change directions nearly quickly enough to stay tight to Godwin.
Even though McSorley underthrows the pass, it’s still a pretty simple touchdown grab.
The play-action came back to bite Michigan State again on a 59-yard throw to Godwin that made the score 31-12. Thanks to ESPN’s Brock Huard for the sketching.
Nicholson bites this time, leaving an inexperienced safety in freshman David Dowell alone on the speedy Godwin, who gets a step on the post route. At that point, it’s over.
The experienced players in the secondary have underachieved, and the young guys who have had to step in have understandably gone through growing pains. Additionally, it doesn’t help to have a defensive line that has regularly had trouble putting pressure on the quarterback.
Nicholson is just another highly rated kid from a long list of highly rated Gateway players who have proven to be flops at the next level.You watch much MSU football? Did you even watch the only MSU game most of the posters on this board saw, the PSU game? I'm guessing not. But if you actually want to see what kind of player Nicholson is, tune in to a replay of that game and key on #9 in MSU's secondary. If you have any idea what you're watching, which is highly unlikely, you'll see what I'm talking about. It was a good summary of his whole career at MSU. 4th year in the program and still just as confused as ever with coverage responsibilities, bites on every play action, takes terrible angles, misses tons of tackles. Million dollar athletic abilibity, 10 cent head. There have been articles written about how his lack of confidence has affected his play. That was all expected to turn around this year, but if anything he took a step back and was worse at the end of the year than eh was at the beginning.
And until you watch that replay, which I'm sure you won't, below is a little tidbit. Read up and watch #9:
Secondary issues
Michigan State fans have probably been asking the question for a while now: Why don’t other teams just throw deep against the Spartans? It allowed Notre Dame to come back earlier in the year, but no team has had the same commitment to it since.
Until the second half Saturday, that is. The Nittany Lions scored 5 touchdowns after the break, and 4 of them came via throws over the top: 34-, 45-, 59- and 40-yard passing scores.
A Michigan State secondary that has been beaten up, inconsistent and oftentimes youthful (by necessity) has been susceptible to being beaten deep, and it happened time after time Saturday. It was the play-action that did MSU in.
The onslaught began with a 34-yard toss from QB Trace McSorley to WR Chris Godwin, which gave Penn State a 17-12 lead early in the second quarter.
The plays begins with CB Darian Hicks biting hard on the play-action fake and eventually committing to the pass rush as a result. That leaves S Montae Nicholson alone to try to cover Godwin.
Nicholson’s momentum is going toward Godwin as he sprints to make sure he doesn’t give up a catch right past the first-down marker. In doing so, when Godwin pulls off a double move and Nicholson can’t slow down and change directions nearly quickly enough to stay tight to Godwin.
Even though McSorley underthrows the pass, it’s still a pretty simple touchdown grab.
The play-action came back to bite Michigan State again on a 59-yard throw to Godwin that made the score 31-12. Thanks to ESPN’s Brock Huard for the sketching.
Nicholson bites this time, leaving an inexperienced safety in freshman David Dowell alone on the speedy Godwin, who gets a step on the post route. At that point, it’s over.
The experienced players in the secondary have underachieved, and the young guys who have had to step in have understandably gone through growing pains. Additionally, it doesn’t help to have a defensive line that has regularly had trouble putting pressure on the quarterback.
Whose fault is that ? Its because of the Star ratings so many obsess about.Terry Smith promoted his kids. He knew how to train his kids in what schools want to see in camps.One big school bites and here comes the rest. Here come 3,4,and 5 stars for some who probably were overhyped. All these coaches just read how many stars and offer.. Its why every kid has to be evaluated by this staff whether their from Pa. or Florida. I will say Dorian Bell was one of the top 5 linebackers I've seen in high school. Lightning closing speed. I wanted him at Pitt but of course Ohio State won. Personal life issues derailed him. I digress. The point is a 2 or 3star offer over a 4 star says our staff thinks the former is better. They cant just look at ratings.
Not really blaming anyone for it although I think Terry Smith is a good used car salesman. He fits in well with the Milk-dud up there in the Cow Corral where there are just as many cows as there are cultists. Sometimes I think the cows are smarter and more humane than the cultists.
These kids are rated according to their athletic ability and future potential. Monte Nicholson was a good athlete, but like many of these kids from Gateway, never developed at the next level. Perhaps coaching at the next level does have something to do with their failure to emerge as real players.
I think Cam Saddler was probably the most successful player from Gateway, and even he
did not light it up here. I think of kids like Hale and Bell and wander what the hell goes wrong. It is all very interesting to me, but frankly, I am not sure who to put the blame on.
I don't think a player's lack of development can be blamed on coaching at MSU. Dantonio built that program by developing mid level recruits into NFL players.
A penn State kid I actually really, really enjoyed watching. Played both ways as a freshman when the big ten was at it's best.
Thank u for the compliment Meteor! Now go back to BWI where arrogance and ignorance rule! Good day to you!
Quite a statement from a PSU fan. I bet you still think PITT is the only school who can't stand the sight of PSU on a football field?
