I admit he made me crazy sometimes, but I felt he was blamed for a lot of defensive woes not his fault. It would have been nice to see what he could have done with one DC (he had three), one scheme (he had four), and one tackling technique (he had at least three).
He also never played much Defense until he got to NU. He was a high school RB that Riley and Bray converted to OLB
Not getting drafted is not the end of the world. In fact it may be better than getting taken in the 7th. Most of the UDFA signees are going to get a nice signing bonus that sets them up pretty well after college and probably makes the work all worth it. Heck just getting college paid for and not coming out with any debt gives them a HUGE leg up on life.
The NFL teams have seen his tape. I think this is more of a flyer on a kid who tested well more than anything. The Browns also drafted Mack Wilson from Alabama so Young may be playing for a practice squad opportunity more than anything else. And that's not too bad really.
NFL teams need lots of linebackers for special teams if nothing else. I suspect somebody questions the coaching he had at NU for at least his first 3 years and they think that maybe they can fix it. If not they aren't out much.
I wouldn't say damn good in coverage, maybe he was ok. There's one play I remember where the DB's are in man coverage and he was in the middle. I think it was Cam Taylor that let his man inside of him on a slant. He would have had help in the middle, but Young for no apparent reason starts crashing hard towards the line of scrimmage. He probably could have had a pick if he just stayed in that spot, but instead the receiver gets a huge gain on a simple slant route.
I said that in jest. I get the bad feeling we may really wish Dedrick had another year of eligibility considering how thin we are at OLB.
Nobody said the signing bonus sets you up for life. The QB from Washington got I think 150k. Depends on the position and how badly they want you. ANYTHING helps and when you couple that with a free education that's a pretty nice start on life. It sure as hell beats coming out of college with 100K+ of debt.
That's not true at all. I think Barry is overrated by some on this board, but he is vastly better in run support than Dedrick was. Also Dedrick was probably only a little better against the pass. I don't think emotion has much to do with it.
I meant that it's not true at all that Young is not liked because he's quiet, and Barry is loved because he shows emotion. People like Barry more because he actually showed improvement, plays more aggressive, and is an all around better player. He also wasn't handed the job as a freshman and then showed little for the entire rest of his career while continuing to be a starter.
Barrett Ruud and Stew Brad were underwhelming? Say what?
Run fits aren't that hard to understand. Yes, most fans don't know what it is, nor do they really need to. It was obvious to see that Mo was able to make good football plays and Young wasn't for the most part. Filling the right gap or making the right read doesn't always mean you're doing the right thing. You should know your responsibilities yes, but you should also know when you can cheat that responsibility to make a play on the ball. Mo knows how to do that and still play his responsibility while it looked like Young was blindly running to a spot half the time. Maybe that was how the play was drawn up but you also need to understand leverage and the best way to get around blocks instead of just blindly running to a spot.
