Awesome to see another Houston kid finding success for the 'Cats. Venric the second?
Coco
- Thread starter NU Houston
- Start date
He’s more likely than not headed back to the defensive backfield come spring ball.
So lacking in playmakers on O, have to agree he’s staying put. Is he faster than Anderson?
Yeah, sounds right. I'm just enjoying his strong performance and the Wildcat win for the moment. He's a good athlete who will be successful player for NU in the future.
I don’t think we saw enough of him there for me to agree with that. Plus, with our needs to WR....I dunno. I like McGowan back at WR and Azuma toting it. Seems to be the best combo of speed, size and elusiveness I think we’ve seen.
Either way, this is so different than any convo from any other point this year, actually talking about maybe having a wealth of options at a position.
It’s more fun.
McGowan did not look better, unless you saw him in practice and are using that to formulate your opinion. But if we're looking at how they looked on the field during games (granted, in VERY limited time), hard to say McGowan looked better. Coco's stats today: 7 carries for 123 years and a TD, and looked the part.
McGowan looked much better. Better feet, better instincts as a runner. Azema made some physical plays, but mostly benefited from very good blocking on the edge.
Huge holes. The OL kicked Illinois ass today.
Not sure how you're judging Coco's instincts if his success today was the result of very good blocking and he followed that very good blocking and ran very fast. How were you able to judge the freshman's instincts as less good?
Anderson looked pretty dam good today. Ah, except for that fumble.
But, it seems to me that DB is position where we have greatest need. Not counting, of course place kicker.
We need help are CB. Our starting safeties are good and we are building young depth there.
Azema will be back on defense next year and he will see a lot of playing time.
Yeah this is the best take...
Lots of conflicting opinions here that aren’t far off from agreeing with each other.
1. I think Coco ran really well today. Illinois was not prepared for his speed, and as a result (with the help of good blocking) he blitzed them by out running them to the edge, or sometimes just by blasting up the middle.
2. Coco is not the best all around back we have. When he came in it was a pretty clear tell as to what type of play it would be. He almost never blocked or did creative things out of the backfield. Drake was the early down back and Niro was the 3rd down back that we seemed to trust most to do a wider range of things. Thankfully the vaunted defensive genius Lovie Smith did not seem to figure this tell out (or if he did they still couldn’t stop Coco).
2A. Despite that, he brings something that our other backs don’t have. That our offense hasn’t had since Venric. A breakaway guy who is a threat to go deep whenever he touches the ball. He also read his blocking well and moved nicely when he got to the open field. This comparison includes Kyric, btw. For that reason alone (the breakaway threat), he is worth considering at RB. It seems silly and overly reductive to just dismiss the idea IMO.
3. Despite that, I still lean to keeping him at DB next year and knowing Fitz I think it’s highly likely he ends up there. While Coco would be fun at RB, I think he has a legit chance to be an NFL prospect at DB (maybe at either CB or S) - I haven’t seen much of him at cover corner but he had good instincts in the limited action he saw earlier this year, and when you pair that with his extreme speed, that’s a good combo.
4. Regardless of where he ends up, he was very fun to watch today. And I don’t think it was a simple result of blocking. The kid is talented and did things that others would not have been able to. If this is the last time he gets to play RB in his career, he acquitted himself quite well, and it looked like he was having a blast out there.
Looking forward to more Coco in the future, on either side of the ball!
Go Cats
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Coco is probably 5’9” soaking wet (listed at 5’11”). If we have depth at safety (not sure we do), I’d like to see him get some reps in the backfield.
He was very noticeable on Special Teams in the few games he played.
Did he keep his redshirt or play more than four games? I don’t feel like I saw him out there for more than games. Only remember seeing him in the Wisconsin and Illinois games, though I’m guessing he played in at least one or two others.
He looked considerably taller than 5’9” when on the field to my eyes. When I checked his numbers in the roster I almost thought 5’11” was undershooting his height by an inch, I would have guessed 6’0”.
If there is a “RB” that is over marked in the program, I think it might be Drake at 5’11”...
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