Coach Brown is building quite a pipeline to the pros with McManis and Campbell making it in recent years. Neither was seen as having a high potential for pro ball when he entered NU. Now I see that scouts are already looking at Van Hoose. Jerry did well in years past, but ran into problems when Coach walker seemed unwilling or unable to recruit DBs - Brown worked mostly with failed RB recruits for years. With the guys we have in the pipeline and solid coaching at the position, DB could be a strength for years. Coach McCall, long known as a great QB coach, sure did well with Trevor as well.
Jerry Brown
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"McCall...sure did well with Trevor". If you mean, prepared him for the pros, then I accept the statement. If you mean, prepared him to win games at NU during his junior and senior seasons, I need to know the basis of that opinion
Siemian was prepared to win games as a junior and senior. He just wasn't able to do it without Mark and Jones and most of the roster being out with injuries or playing hurt.
More posts like the OP's and we might see some more fans returning to this site. Doing well in the draft is almost like the shot in the arm we see when the team is winning.
I'm not disagreeing with your broader point, but McManis and Campbell were extremely talented guys from day 1. McManis was a lock down corner by the end of the his true freshman season, and Campbell was already making impressive athletic plays as a redshirt freshman (when he wasn't brain cramping on coverages). To the extent they weren't seen as having high pro potential when they entered NU, they were scouting misses rather than amazing development stories.
I'd give Brown more credit for a guy like Brad Phillips who was an average talent (at best) and who struggled early in his career only to become a very consistent and eventually All B1G player (and big time play-maker) by his Junior year.
McManis wasn't highly touted coming out of high school. I recall seeing the aggregate rating slightly north of 2.0 on a 5.0 scale. While that is as much an indictment of rating services as his high school profile, McManis did not attract a lot of interest during his State of Ohio football career; I'm thinking Northwestern was his only offer from a Power 5 conference school. Yes, McManis had all the tools in hindsight, but the poster correctly identifies Coach Brown as a catalyst for helping marshal that talent.
Cat,
McManis is from Illinois, Peoria I believe, and was a last minute addition to the recruiting class.
Not only did the DBs improve in 2008, but so did the defensive line and linebackers because we were no longer playing in an incoherent scheme (under Colby). No doubt the change in scheme under Hankwitz (and improved pass rush under new DL coach, Marty Long) were major factors in the defense's overall improvement including the play of the DBs.
However, Brad Phillips was a pretty terrible individual performer in 2007 who couldn't cover or tackle. His year-over-year improvement from 2007 to 2008 was nothing short of stunning.
Our single best performing personnel group on both sides of the ball over the past two seasons has been our DBs. Not sure how Jerry Brown doesn't get a little credit for that.
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Fair enough. My only point was that McManis was likely to be a very good B1G football player even if he had average coaching. He was able to do things with his body that could not be coached.
I stand by my original point in that McManis was more of recruiting victory than a developmental victory. Watching true-freshman McManis play man up coverage on Teddy Ginn (of OSU) the way he did in 2006 was truly remarkable. The kid had unusual and obvious talent starting on day one.
You might be thinking of Jordan Mabin, out of Nordonia in Ohio, who was a RB in high school but became an NFL CB under Brown.....Jordan had offers from Indiana, Pitt and Cincy plus several MAC schools.
So maybe I am showing my age around here, but where are all those whiny posters who thought Jerry Brown should be fired 10 years ago because our DB's were not performing. Maybe we should rename the thread the "Jerry Brown I'm Sorry Thread" and let them all take confession with father Fitz
I guess that I am one of them. My view was not from 10 years ago but from the 10 years before that as I watched the steady regression of our defense from the strength of the team to the weakness of the team which appeared to coincide with Coach Brown's ascending up to solo Defensive Coordinator. I did not break down film nor sit in a room with him and ask deep, probing questions. I just watched the defense get worse as he got more authority.
I have gotten quieter since he was "promoted" to assistant head coach to make room for a new DC and the fact that the defense did not immediately improve as much as I would have liked. Now that we have our present DC and are beginning to see overall defensive improvement, Coach Brown appears to be doing a good job at the squad level recruiting and developing a defensive backfield.
However, if I were asked whether I would be pleased if someone told me that he was going to be DC again, I would say "no." Personal opinion.
Yup! Almost everybody ripped on JBrown for being a horrible coach. One jerk even said he was an "Affirmative Action" coach.
Many of these "experts" are screaming to have other assistants fired now.
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The thing I have noticed over all these years (and I only tagged this in Glade's post because he was the last) is the players have consistently expressed a great love for the guy. He is like everyones favorite uncle. Technical skills aside I think he must deliver something special to the locker room and team or family feel.
McManis was a Walker recruit, though an under the radar flyer of an offer to a guy who was hurt his senior year.
The disappointment is that McManis wasn't a first round pick. (Tongue slightly in cheek.) He is the best plaher I've seen at NU. And he was the best when he arrived.
There was next to zero senior tape on him, because he played only 2 or 3 games then get hurt. Late January offer, with NU over, I think, EIU.
There was also Jeff Backes, another Ohioan, who started as a RB but became a pretty darn good CB, an Academic All American as a senior and is now a pretty darn good Orthopedic Surgeon back in Columbus, Ohio......Jeff was Mr. Football his senior year in high school in Ohio and chose NU over OSU among others. He is specializing in sports medicine.
Campbell was one of our highest rated and offered recruits in his class.
The future looks strong as well. Aside from Van Hoose, you have Harris, who may have been the better CB, and waiting in the wings you have a kid like Parker Westphal who was very highly recruited and rated, if he ever gets past his injuries.
Actually, if you look at the 247 data, which I think are the most representative, and the only ranking service which had IC a Safety not a RB, he was behind Colter, Siemian, Jorgenson, Vitabile, Carter and Lawrence. Top to bottom, the 2010 class was the best in recent history.
As far as highest offer, NU lost out on Blake Lueders at DE to Stanford, S Devon Carrington also of Stanford, and Rob Bolden, QB at PSU. You can make the case IC was better than any of those players, but all had much higher ratings per 247 in high school.
Jerry is an easy guy to like and respect. The only time his DB coaching skills have been questioned seem to coincide with Colby defenses. Under Vanderlinden and Hankwitz defenses, his players have generally looked well-coached. (People still gripe about the big cushions sometimes, but that's a function of the Cover 4 coverage that we play less and less of as our corner talent has improved allowing more cover 3,2 and man.)
McManis was hurt earlier in his career and also played a secondary role in the offense until his senior year. He was not hurt during the majority of his senior year. He performed well his senior year, but schools like Iowa had already handed out their scholarship offers and received commitments. That's why it's nice to have a few extra scholarships to pick up those guys who were injured or otherwise invisible as juniors but perform well as seniors.
This - it was eye-opening what McManis did against Ginn as a true frosh.
Still think it was unexcuseable that the JB and the rest of the coaches weren't aware of the communication issue the secondary was having until almost halfway thru the season a few yrs ago.
The improved play of the secondary probably has more to do w/ the increase in talent level, but despite the improvements, the secondary still has this annoying tendency to give up the 3rd and long pass play.
Our secondary has been pretty good the past few seasons. I haven't seen this many coverage sacks since following NU from the 70s. Lot of the 3rd and long issues seemed to be due to the 3 man rush that allows the opposing QB to sit back and pick apart the D. The talent has been upgraded significantly in recent years especially at the corners. Even losing talented young guys like Daniel Jones and Dwight White early in their careers has not set back this unit too badly.
I agree that we often went to a three man rush on third and long and the extra time allowed the QB's time to find guys. I think we also dropped off soft in coverage and it gave too much space. I would like to see us pin our ears back and go for a sack in those situations. Perhaps that would have the opposite effect of leaving someone uncovered early but I think it would pay off.
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