[ColoradoTree]

Is your CB with 8 picks as good as it seems on paper?

He's awfully solid in all phases.  About the only thing he lacks is elite top end speed, but is fast enough in most instances.  The safeties can be had with play-action deep post patterns if the WR beats the DB off the LOS.  Tough to do when Iowa plays a softer zone.  Teams stopped going at King after seeing enough game tape and instead targeted LBs in the slot and the opposite corner, Mabin, who isn't bad, but can get lost in coverage from time to time.

Like others have said, thanks for stopping by and offering some analysis.  (We're usually a pretty cordial crew around here, and we always appreciate good discussions with opposing fans.  Not a whole lot of trolling, thank goodness!)

And targeting LBs in the slot sounds like how we'd probably play anyway.  We've got a few guys that can turn on the jets and make plays downfield down the sidelines, but for the most part, we take advantage of LB coverage to use our very good TEs, as well as larger-than-average WR, Devon Cajuste, to get decent chunks of yardage in the middle of the field. 

That said, I can't see David Shaw abandoning an entire side of the field in the passing game, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him put Cajuste on that side of the field or split out one of our TEs to get some size mismatches against King, while putting Michael Rector on the second CB and try and see if he can get some separation on that side.  We wouldn't be running go routes on King in that situation with a bigger receiver, but probably some curls, comebacks, and dig routes, and maybe some post routes to come back across the middle of the field.  Interested to see how it all plays out!

[ColoradoTree]

Is your CB with 8 picks as good as it seems on paper?

He's awfully solid in all phases.  About the only thing he lacks is elite top end speed, but is fast enough in most instances.  The safeties can be had with play-action deep post patterns if the WR beats the DB off the LOS.  Tough to do when Iowa plays a softer zone.  Teams stopped going at King after seeing enough game tape and instead targeted LBs in the slot and the opposite corner, Mabin, who isn't bad, but can get lost in coverage from time to time.

Like others have said, thanks for stopping by and offering some analysis.  (We're usually a pretty cordial crew around here, and we always appreciate good discussions with opposing fans.  Not a whole lot of trolling, thank goodness!)

And targeting LBs in the slot sounds like how we'd probably play anyway.  We've got a few guys that can turn on the jets and make plays downfield down the sidelines, but for the most part, we take advantage of LB coverage to use our very good TEs, as well as larger-than-average WR, Devon Cajuste, to get decent chunks of yardage in the middle of the field. 

That said, I can't see David Shaw abandoning an entire side of the field in the passing game, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him put Cajuste on that side of the field or split out one of our TEs to get some size mismatches against King, while putting Michael Rector on the second CB and try and see if he can get some separation on that side.  We wouldn't be running go routes on King in that situation with a bigger receiver, but probably some curls, comebacks, and dig routes, and maybe some post routes to come back across the middle of the field.  Interested to see how it all plays out!