Hatari Byrd...
- Thread starter btcaskey
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Never really thought much of this stuff unless they were behind the wheel.
Little extra work with Schmitty.
Little extra work with Schmitty.
Linkey...In Living Color...
http://www.soonersblog.com/2015/01/ou-safety-hatari-byrd-cited-for-drug.html
http://www.soonersblog.com/2015/01/ou-safety-hatari-byrd-cited-for-drug.html
I'm w/ you BC, but this kind of stuff gets all up Stoops crawl. He'll be in the doghouse and will be monitored closely. It'll be all up to him going forward. Another screw up and he'll most likely be gone. He was a big piece of his recruiting class. I want him to be good to go and deliver.
Here's to hoping he switches to Pepsi gets it together.
Begs the question - who of the DBs is indispensible at this point?
Sanchez,(6 picks, 8 PBU) and then...who?
S: Steven Parker - thought he'd show more as a frosh given the hype, but safety is harder than a CB (6 PBU)
CB: Jordan Thomas - frosh mistakes aplenty, but I thought he flashed decent skills at times (5 PBU)
S: Hatari Byrd - forgettable year (3 PBU and 7 whiskey sours)
CB: Stanvon Taylor - what happened to this guy this past year? (Zero PBUs)
CB: Cortez Johnson - still on the team? 2 games played, no stats
S Ahmad Thomas - 2 PBU (don't confuse him with the other Thomas, Jordan)
CB Dakota Austin - (zero PBUs)
We obviously have huge CB issues if we were starting Wilson there this past year. Major, major concern....
This post was edited on 1/27 2:32 PM by Phaeded
Sanchez,(6 picks, 8 PBU) and then...who?
S: Steven Parker - thought he'd show more as a frosh given the hype, but safety is harder than a CB (6 PBU)
CB: Jordan Thomas - frosh mistakes aplenty, but I thought he flashed decent skills at times (5 PBU)
S: Hatari Byrd - forgettable year (3 PBU and 7 whiskey sours)
CB: Stanvon Taylor - what happened to this guy this past year? (Zero PBUs)
CB: Cortez Johnson - still on the team? 2 games played, no stats
S Ahmad Thomas - 2 PBU (don't confuse him with the other Thomas, Jordan)
CB Dakota Austin - (zero PBUs)
We obviously have huge CB issues if we were starting Wilson there this past year. Major, major concern....
This post was edited on 1/27 2:32 PM by Phaeded
ive stated this as well. The Thomas duo is really bad right now and they need to grow up fast or it will be another long season in the secondary. Parker plays like a freshman, some great plays but also confused at times. When Byrd signed with OU i had high expectations for the guy. Pretty big dude and highly rated.
The Thomas duo were both first years starters, Jordan not even a full year. We are loaded with talent in the secondary...now we gotta let them play.
bcs i get that, they lack of experience. However will experience make up for lacking top end speed? I dont think so. They will improve im guessing but I dont believe to the caliber OU needs for a championship type defense. Neither of them even know how to tackle, thats a bad thing and has nothing to do with being young
I don't think speed is the issue unless we are talking about the speed of their reaction time. Their ability to read the play and offensive allignment(s) and then react to the ball/play/player. I believe theirs is more of the mental aspect of the game than pur athletic speed.
We have average talent in the secondary. Both Mike and PeeWee Woods would probably have started for us last year.
Talent is not the issue. Asking any defense, especially a young secondary, to play chase is to much and will make them look average.
This. I believe scheme and the game slowing down a bit for the younger ones is/was the issue. There was a reason that Wilson unloaded on Mike Stoops last year. It's called frustration. MS was asking the players to do things they couldn't do. If MS doesn't change his scheme for the 2015 season, I expect more of the same.
I believe Parker is probably our most talented while the others seem to be average players. We need to upgrade at that position and Mike Stoops needs to quit telling them to play 15 yards off the receiver. He deserved to be booed during that Baylor game for that pathetic game plan.
Loaded with talent compared to Rice maybe. Playing chase lining up 10-15 yards off the receiver?
Good teams with good coaching don't need to bring in juco's if they are loaded with talent, unless you're KSt.
Good teams with good coaching don't need to bring in juco's if they are loaded with talent, unless you're KSt.
As a freshman in 2013, Stanvon Taylor looked really good in a resolve role but of course made some rookie mistakes. That Jordan Thomas passed him by says a lot about Jordan.
Jordan Thomas showed enough potential this past season to clearly indicate he is a talented athlete.
Hatari Byrd, in a very limited role showed promise considering what we ask of our safeties.
Ahmad Thomas is a physical specimen who was thrown into the fire more than any DB, but down the stretch began to show why he was such a highly touted recruit.
Steven Parker, very similar to Jordan Thomas but with more playing time, looks to be a star.
Zack Sanchez, when healthy, is one of the better cover corners in college football.
If Jordan Thomas, Ahmad Thomas and Steven Parker can all take the expected steps forward that you normally see in second year starters, and we decide to put some pressure on the opposition's wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, I think you can reasonably expect to see a much improved unit as a whole and potential strength of the team. With Sanchez as the leader of that group, I like our odds that his attitude will carry over into their on field play.
Jordan Thomas showed enough potential this past season to clearly indicate he is a talented athlete.
Hatari Byrd, in a very limited role showed promise considering what we ask of our safeties.
Ahmad Thomas is a physical specimen who was thrown into the fire more than any DB, but down the stretch began to show why he was such a highly touted recruit.
Steven Parker, very similar to Jordan Thomas but with more playing time, looks to be a star.
Zack Sanchez, when healthy, is one of the better cover corners in college football.
If Jordan Thomas, Ahmad Thomas and Steven Parker can all take the expected steps forward that you normally see in second year starters, and we decide to put some pressure on the opposition's wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, I think you can reasonably expect to see a much improved unit as a whole and potential strength of the team. With Sanchez as the leader of that group, I like our odds that his attitude will carry over into their on field play.
You have a lot more faith in both the Thomas kids than I do. I've seen freshman who are a lot better than either one of them. Again, they seem pretty average.
There will always be situations like this every year....and it will only worsen.
It has more to do with players coming into a college sports program already with issues or at least the entitled belief that they are above needing discipline. The teams that recruit such kids are really getting the culmination of years of some players being told how great they are and and how much they are above being held responsible for their actions.
Coaches really need to recruit the parents....or parent....first and foremost. Too many kids are being raised by parents who want to be their friend and not their mother and/or father.
Good parents teach values, civility, discipline...... "friends" do not.
It has more to do with players coming into a college sports program already with issues or at least the entitled belief that they are above needing discipline. The teams that recruit such kids are really getting the culmination of years of some players being told how great they are and and how much they are above being held responsible for their actions.
Coaches really need to recruit the parents....or parent....first and foremost. Too many kids are being raised by parents who want to be their friend and not their mother and/or father.
Good parents teach values, civility, discipline...... "friends" do not.
In my opinion they were both terrible thoughout the year. Lack of big time speed, trouble tackling and they were confused a bunch(although this isnt totally on them. As Wnas stated, instincts and coaching make up for a lot of things). Ill stick with this. If we are relying on those 2 guys to bring us back to an elite defense or atleast a good secondary then we are in big time trouble.
Guess we can't all know what we're looking at.
Ahmad Thomas doesn't have great speed but Jordan Thomas looked fine in that department. Thomas simply looked like a freshman about half the time.
Ahmad Thomas doesn't have great speed but Jordan Thomas looked fine in that department. Thomas simply looked like a freshman about half the time.
Byrd and Ahmad Thomas are both 6' tall and weigh around 200 lbs and that's a size that some other OU linebackers are (Striker) and have been (Nelson, Rufus Alexander).....so I wonder if a move to linebacker by either player may be an idea, especially if DeBerry is the lone linebacker recruit coming in.
Such a move (or moves) would not surprise me. Desperate times can mean desperate measures.
Such a move (or moves) would not surprise me. Desperate times can mean desperate measures.
All the aforementioned linebackers were 220 lbs or more. Thomas could probably make the transition but Byrd has range that we need at safety considering what they are asked to do.
And considering that undersized linebackers are already a problem for us, I don't think it wise to move even small guys into the position.
Players can bulk up as Corey Nelson and Eric Striker did.
Forget the size...if a player is prolific at the linebacking position, his physical dimensions should not be a factor as long as his overall ability can be combined with great speed. Corey Nelson was having an All American season when he went down in 2013 and Eric Striker's lack of size was never mentioned after his 2013 season.
My point is not to say that OU should focus on just "small" linebackers......just good ones. If they are bigger, as Ricky DeBerry is at 6'2" 231 lbs, so much the better.
Byrd and Thomas did not impress me that much as safeties but their overall athleticism was evident. Maybe moving one of them to LB is an option.
Forget the size...if a player is prolific at the linebacking position, his physical dimensions should not be a factor as long as his overall ability can be combined with great speed. Corey Nelson was having an All American season when he went down in 2013 and Eric Striker's lack of size was never mentioned after his 2013 season.
My point is not to say that OU should focus on just "small" linebackers......just good ones. If they are bigger, as Ricky DeBerry is at 6'2" 231 lbs, so much the better.
Byrd and Thomas did not impress me that much as safeties but their overall athleticism was evident. Maybe moving one of them to LB is an option.
Seemed like this was the problem with our backers this past season. They couldn't shed blocks and seemed undersized in order to stop a power run game.
That's a good point, but so is the perception that the linebackers were not very good.....and losing Shannon was a killer.
For what's its worth, I heard an interview with Torrance Marshall a week or so ago, and when asked, he said that he thought our linebackers were too light to fight through some of the blocks they get from the big guys on OL and big blocking backs like Rip.
I'd like to see PL Lindley and Shannon in the middle, and Striker and Bond outside.
Shannon still lacks some size but he is an aggressive sure tackler in the mold of Rufus Alexander who uses his speed to his advantage to go along with his excellent ability to diagnose the play.
I think it's pivotal that we use a nickel package in against the teams that call for it.
I don't think we have a true nose guard on the roster with the loss of Phillips but we have several DTs that can play a 3 technique and a 1, but I don't see anybody who can handle the 3-4 nose guard duties. Don't really have a 3-4 end like Ndulue either. Basically all of our defensive lineman are 4-3 guys. Our linebackers are best suited for nickel and 4-3 packages.
Shannon still lacks some size but he is an aggressive sure tackler in the mold of Rufus Alexander who uses his speed to his advantage to go along with his excellent ability to diagnose the play.
I think it's pivotal that we use a nickel package in against the teams that call for it.
I don't think we have a true nose guard on the roster with the loss of Phillips but we have several DTs that can play a 3 technique and a 1, but I don't see anybody who can handle the 3-4 nose guard duties. Don't really have a 3-4 end like Ndulue either. Basically all of our defensive lineman are 4-3 guys. Our linebackers are best suited for nickel and 4-3 packages.