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* I'll end with maybe the most interesting revelation of all: how the coaches are thinking (or at least some indication of that/what they'd like us to perceive) about finding playing time for the extremely established safeties. Fields at nickel back and McGill at safety will be counter intuitive to many fans given that Fields played safety at Oklahoma and McGill has predominantly been a nickel back at Stanford. We have had some inklings of this, most notably a Fields interview in which he talked about playing more "man-to-man" and "moving around" being the biggest scheme difference between his Oklahoma experience (read: he was free safety at Oklahoma and Akina is playing him at nickel and/or strong safety). I don't know exactly what to make of this but am very interested by it. One explanation could be that Fields is faster than McGill and we are trying to put Fields in more of a coverage role (quickness/change of direction seems even more important for nickel back and I don't know who is more athletic in that sense). Another could be that the nickel doesn't play every play and McGill is the heart and soul of the defense as well as one of its top playmakers....not somebody who is coming off the field. And there are probably several other explanations. In any case, it's interesting to basically change both of their positions. Finally, it's always possible this is much ado about nothing, either because the safety/nickel positions end up pretty interchangeable or because it all just will vary game-by-game depending on opponent and game plan. Heck, for all I know against Colgate maybe Fields will be a spy on the running QB. All of which to say: depth charts are fun to dissect but aren't dispositive and what we see when the games count is what matters. 104.5 hours to go!

"Fields will be a spy on the running QB"... YES. 
And, I think Shaw / Anderson want Fields more in the mix, more tackles, in a 2-5-4 system with Edge Rushers.  Or 3-5-3 on 3rd & Long.
We can play nickel-back on MOST downs.   I could see Fields playing like Justin Reid; a lot of range.

AND, when we get to $UC next week against superstar dual threat QB Caleb Williams, we will need a spy on EVERY down. 
C.Williams at Troy could be a second coming of Marcus Mariota in a Brush-head outfit. 
Colgate is a tune-up for Troyens.

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* I'll end with maybe the most interesting revelation of all: how the coaches are thinking (or at least some indication of that/what they'd like us to perceive) about finding playing time for the extremely established safeties. Fields at nickel back and McGill at safety will be counter intuitive to many fans given that Fields played safety at Oklahoma and McGill has predominantly been a nickel back at Stanford. We have had some inklings of this, most notably a Fields interview in which he talked about playing more "man-to-man" and "moving around" being the biggest scheme difference between his Oklahoma experience (read: he was free safety at Oklahoma and Akina is playing him at nickel and/or strong safety). I don't know exactly what to make of this but am very interested by it. One explanation could be that Fields is faster than McGill and we are trying to put Fields in more of a coverage role (quickness/change of direction seems even more important for nickel back and I don't know who is more athletic in that sense). Another could be that the nickel doesn't play every play and McGill is the heart and soul of the defense as well as one of its top playmakers....not somebody who is coming off the field. And there are probably several other explanations. In any case, it's interesting to basically change both of their positions. Finally, it's always possible this is much ado about nothing, either because the safety/nickel positions end up pretty interchangeable or because it all just will vary game-by-game depending on opponent and game plan. Heck, for all I know against Colgate maybe Fields will be a spy on the running QB. All of which to say: depth charts are fun to dissect but aren't dispositive and what we see when the games count is what matters. 104.5 hours to go!

"Fields will be a spy on the running QB"... YES. 
And, I think Shaw / Anderson want Fields more in the mix, more tackles, in a 2-5-4 system with Edge Rushers.  Or 3-5-3 on 3rd & Long.
We can play nickel-back on MOST downs.   I could see Fields playing like Justin Reid; a lot of range.

AND, when we get to $UC next week against superstar dual threat QB Caleb Williams, we will need a spy on EVERY down. 
C.Williams at Troy could be a second coming of Marcus Mariota in a Brush-head outfit. 
Colgate is a tune-up for Troyens.