Inside Scoop

Before I get into the substance of the post I want to say I think Edsall will do a good job at Maryland. There are certain ethics that people have where you know they will be okay even if they are currently going through hard times. For example, I had three cousins who were sisters who faced difficult situations when they were growing up, but you knew which one of the three sisters would make it out well because she was strong and focused and you could guess the other two would have some problems in their adulthood. Edsall brings professionalism, a sense of self-responsibility, and good work ethic to the program. In the long term he will be fine. However, in the short term he makes some unwise decisions.

The defensive position changes that Bradford and Edsall did were in my opinion a unmitigated disaster. I think every single one of them was the wrong decision.

1. Kenny Tate: Tate moved from Free Safety to STAR. Tate was as dominant at FS as Vellano was dominant at DT last year. Tate was First Team All Safety and changed offenses gameplans. His instincts were very good and he finished plays. Tate was injured last year and I think Edsall is blaming his mediocre performance on the injury, but I really think even without the injury, Tate would have been mediocre at STAR. Tate said an interview last year that he prefers to play outside of traffic and doesn't like having to get off blocks from Offensive Lineman. That interview was in the pre-season when things had not bombed and Tate said that in the new STAR position he was still going to be able to play outside of traffic. Then the season happened and Tate ended up inside traffic on most plays and was mediocre overall. While Tate was lost in traffic, both safeties were racking up tackles much quicker. To me, Edsall and Bradford need to listen to the players more (Bradford is gone so that is not an issue). I'll mention this theme again and again, but if they had listened they would have had enough doubt they probably don't make the change. Meanwhile Matt Robinson was no Kenny Tate (though Robinson played Strong Safety, not Free Safety, so he didn't technically replace Tate, Eric Franklin technically replaced Kenny Tate, however in reality Matt Robinson did replace Tate as he played the same role Tate played). Robinson has all Tate's instinct to get involved in a lot of plays, he has the same play maker instincts, but he doesn't have the athletic ability that Tate has to finish those plays. Tate finished a lot higher percentage of plays he was involved in than Robinson. Robinson tackle numbers were good cause the defense could not get off the field (the exact opposite of 2010) last year and due to his instincts he was involved in a lot of plays, but he missed a lot of tackles and was a foot away from breaking up passes that went for completions last year. Just a step slower and not quite as strong and you go from being an All ACC safety to a middle of the pack ACC starter.

2. David Mackall: Mackall was moved from Middle Linebacker to DE. Mackall's career as a Terp supposedly ended with him throwing a hissy fit. Mackall was no angel, was rumored to be a weak student, and the hissy fit was just another indication of his immaturity. That said, the resentment that lead to his supposed hissy fit probably didn't suddenly appear. Mackall was pretty clear he wanted to play LB, not DE. That was why the old staff had him at MLB, not DE (I imagine they too thought he was a decent fit at DE). Mackall went along with the move, but that was probably the start of his resentment. I think Mackall resentment gradually grew to the boiling point and that was where the hissy fit came from.

3. Mario Rowson: Rowson was moved from CB to STAR. Rowson was a guy I was really excited about coming out of HS. VAHOOPER linked to his highlights back when Rowson had no offers and it was clear from his highlight tape that he had talent. As a fan, those are always exciting, to see a highlight tape before the college coaches discover the player (which rarely happens), so it feels cool. Anyway, most of Rowson's highlights were in coverage, not in run support in his HS highlight tape. His highlight tape indicated he could play S or CB. I thought we'd recruit him at S which seemed like the most obvious fit, though Don Brown had a big preference for taller corner in his schemes, so the 6'3 Rowson stayed at corner. The move to STAR was not to maximize Rowson's talent, it was made because Todd Bradford had grand ideas how to stop spread offenses by using more speed and his defense had a STAR position and other then Kenny Tate and Matt Robinson we really didn't have the personnel to fit that position. So they took the first DB they saw with the measureables (being 6'3) to play a hybrid S/LB position with the hope he would learn to play the position. The rest as you can guess was disaster. I don't know why Rowson left the team, but if I had been in Rowson's place, I would have felt resentment at Edsall and Bradford and felt they steered me wrong.

4) Jeremiah Wilson: Wilson was moved from CB to HB and this is another one that was very tough for me to take. Every preseason we hear which of the newcomers are doing well. Last year the preseason reports hyped Keith Bowers for example. Two years Jeremiah Wilson was one of the main newcomers getting sugar from Lempa, Ralph, and Bradford . TTK was saying both Matt Robinson and Wilson were future multiple years starters. The new staff quickly moved Wilson to HB, where unhappy with the depth chart situation he transferred. I don't think Wilson opposed the move per say, but as the HB move didn't work out I am sure he felt the staff guided him wrong. He might not have had the resentment that a guy like Mackall had who really didn't want to change positions, in fact, Wilson may have been excited about the chance play RB, but he moved from a position where he had more talent to one where he had less talent.

5. Avery Graham: Graham was moved from CB to STAR, probably for the same reasons Rowson was. Bradford was going to stop the spread offense with speed on defense and he had the STAR positon and nobody to fill it (Matt Robinson would have been a solid fit, but instead they moved Tate. Why they move Tate a proven player at FS, rather than Robinson, not a proven player made no sense as they both fit the profile of the LB/S hybrid position. Anyway, Graham was a worse fit than Rowson. A 5'9 LB is a stretch, though it does happen. A 5'9 LB without aggressive instincts to hit is not a stretch, that goes beyond the breaking point and rips the rubber band. Graham was a decent back up in 2010. A little stiff for starting at CB in the ACC, he made a good nickleback and was a serviceable backup (starting one game as a RS Freshman in 2010--the bowl game) due to injury to Dexter McDougle and one of Hughes and Chism (I cannot recall which one couldn't play in the Bowl game, McDougle I definitely remember breaking like his arm in a scooter accident or something like that).

6. Justin Anderson: Anderson was moved from DE where he started 13 games in 2010 to DT in an effort to get faster. Justin Anderson at 275 was a bit of a tweener. He didn't have the speed to be an effective pass rusher at DE, but lacked size at DT. However that 2010 defense was a top 30 defense nationally and Anderson did well at DE. Why? Anderson was very strong for a DE and helped a lot more than fans realized in the run game because he almost always held his ground in the run game. Since he always maintained the edge, it forced running backs to run between the tackles where our LB's were (Wujciak was a tackle machine). His strength is great for a system defense that forces things inside. Further, Anderson lacked the speed to get instant pressure, but Brown blitzed so much that to be honest we got decent pressure without him. In Bradford's scheme, which did not blitz, he really need speedy DE's to get pressure quickly themselves and Anderson was not a good fit. Anderson probably benefited more than most by the change to the 3-4. It fits his skill set a lot better.

Its worth noting that there were a couple other moves. Hartsfield switched from Will to Mike, and Drakeford from Sam to Will. I believe the best opening game LB arrangement we could have had was Hartsfield at Will, Drakeford at Sam, and Mackall at MLB (with Tate at Free Safety)