Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
OutsiderFan - 12-04-2011
I couldn't help but notice Devon Carrington not playing in the last two games or more. Given Stanford is going to face a team that will go no huddle and require playing a nickel or dime defense, they are going to need all hands on deck in the secondary.
So you've got:
CBs: Bademosi, Brown, Browning, Amanam
Ss: Howell, Thomas, Richards, Bernard, #47, Gatewood, and Carrington, but he hasn't played for weeks and I can't figure out why.
Stanford did a great job against WSU and Arizona, so it's not like they never played an offense like Oklahoma State. More importantly, they held those teams to basically two TDs combined (WSU scored a meaningless TD against the third string with less than a minute left).
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
Spiny_Norman - 12-04-2011
My $0.02. Carrington was out of the rotation due to performance. He was not getting the job done. He must have dropped pretty far into the coaching staff's doghouse because Muagututia was playing ahead of him.
Also think your list is missing Stanford's newest lockdown corner - Corey Gatewood who did a nice job on Keenan Allen in Big Game.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
socalstanfan1 - 12-05-2011
I agree, Carrington probably out due to his performance, and maybe improved performance by others.Â
Random thought: I vaguely recall an article (in the SF Chron?) mentioning Carrington tyring out the WR position over the spring, which I thought was odd. I wonder if the team might try him out at that postion in the furture. I think he is still a superior athlete, and he might as well try to get on the field somewhere.Â
Here's the article. I found the article odd at the time, but maybe the coaches were considering it, put him back at safety, but now...
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-01-05/sports/27011004_1_andrew-luck-levine-toilolo-owen-marecic/2
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
StannyBoy - 12-05-2011
Whatever happened to Ed Reynolds? I don't think I saw him get into a game this year?
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
socalstanfan1 - 12-05-2011
(12-05-2011, 02:02 AM)young_money link Wrote:Whatever happened to Ed Reynolds? I don't think I saw him get into a game this year?
I had the exact same thought after I posted my last comment. I assume he must have had some type of injury, but nobody ever spoke about it.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
washingtonismoney - 12-05-2011
Speaking of mysterious DB disappearances, what happened to Browning? His sophomore season clearly was not as good as his freshman season, but he wasn't so awful as to be totally benched.
(re: disappearances: Shaw said in a recent TV interview that two DBs who had gotten injured and hadn't gotten much PT were exciting talents or something to that effect. I'm sure we know who one of those DBs are; perhaps Reynolds or Browning is the second?)
In terms of Carrington...I don't want this to become a Cory Gatewood type of situation. He's performed pretty well as a corner, especially considering context, and it makes you wonder how good Gatewood would have been. In Carrington's case, he's athletic and gifted in pass coverage. So I would hope the coaches try and build on that.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
OutsiderFan - 12-05-2011
I know I posted on the Bootboard before joining this board, raising concern that Carrington didn't have the change of direction ability needed to be very effective in space. It seems that over time this has been proven out. But Carrington did play pretty well, especially as a ball hawk, against Arizona and WSU.
Muagututia first played for Carrington against Oregon State when Howell was out I believe. I do seem to recall Carrington running into MT3 against USC on a Marqise Lee TD catch. Ever since that play I don't remember seeing Carrington too much. He had 4 tackles against Oregon, did not play against Cal, and Notre Dame was the only game he played in where he didn't record a tackle or assist.Â
Muagututia seems to be a more fluid athlete, but Carrington seems to have really good ball skills. Carrington's best game of the year was probably against Arizona, where he had seven tackles.
It does appear Carrington was supplanted as a result of a very up and down season. Given how well he played against Arizona and WSU, we might expect him to play a key role against Oklahoma State, probably as a deep Safety, since Howell, Thomas, and Richards are much better tacklers in space, and OSU throws the ball deep a lot.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
metsjetsfan - 12-05-2011
Reynolds was out for the year with an injury (perhaps to his knee again?). I saw him on crutches during the summer so I'm pretty sure he hasn't practiced or played since spring.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
socalstanfan1 - 12-05-2011
I think Shaw has picked up some of the Harbaugh tendency to not talk about injuries.Â
r.e. the TWO talented DBs, I recall the coaches talking up Ronnie Harris, a 3-star CB who came in this year. Apparently he was very impressive in training camp, but red shirted. I know we can use all the talented DBs we can get against the likes of USC and Oregon in the future.
Re: Devon Carrington and the Secondary -
OutsiderFan - 12-06-2011
What does the two-deep look like in 2012?
Departures: Howell, MT3, Bademosi, Evans
CBs: Brown, Browning, Amanam,
Lyons,
Harris
Other DBs: Bernard, Carrington, Muagututia,
Reynolds, Richards,
Pippens,
Carter,
Madhu
Italics = Frosh, RS Frosh or Soph that has not lettered
I've heard a bit about Harris and Lyons of course, but Pippens might be a guy to watch for in bowl practices.