ZaDarius Smith Defensive MVP of E-W Shrine Game
- Thread starter Smashcat
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Dang, a DE won the MVP? He must have had a great game.
I knew it was on and was going to watch it but after watching Duke beat up UL (mixed feelings there, but glad UL lost, too bad someone has to win a game) and watching the UK game I couldn't find it anywhere. UK women's basketball on at 2PM tomorrow.
Happy for him, hope it helped his draft stock a lot, he hadn't gotten a lot of publicity lately.
I knew it was on and was going to watch it but after watching Duke beat up UL (mixed feelings there, but glad UL lost, too bad someone has to win a game) and watching the UK game I couldn't find it anywhere. UK women's basketball on at 2PM tomorrow.
Happy for him, hope it helped his draft stock a lot, he hadn't gotten a lot of publicity lately.
This is what Brumbaugh tweeted:
Jimmy Brumbaugh þ@CoachBrumbaugh 1h1 hour ago
Congrats to pic.twitter.com/2CZmtgY4GX"
Jimmy Brumbaugh þ@CoachBrumbaugh 1h1 hour ago
Congrats to pic.twitter.com/2CZmtgY4GX"
SEC Network did a wrap up of the game and talked about the SEC players in the game and didn't even mention Za'Darius. Pathetic
So, I guess we could look at this two ways:
1. Great that he had a good game, or
2. Why wasn't he playing like this all season long--especially with Bud drawing so much attention? (A reflection on coaches or himself?)--I personally think it's a reflection on coaching; Eliot's/Stoops' defense has been the most disappointing part of the Stoops' era
1. Great that he had a good game, or
2. Why wasn't he playing like this all season long--especially with Bud drawing so much attention? (A reflection on coaches or himself?)--I personally think it's a reflection on coaching; Eliot's/Stoops' defense has been the most disappointing part of the Stoops' era
So do you chalk Bud's performance up to coaching as well or just the negative things the coaches' fault?
Bud's a freak. I'm pretty sure he could have been a decent enough CB in man coverage, the scheme we played wasn't going to slow him much. Our scheme (coaching) put our defense in a position to succeed but it pulled Z away from his natural position of 4-3 SDE often and while he's a plus defender in a college 3-4, it's not to his strength and not a position that would allow him o shine. Playing 4-3 in the bowl as the other DE from the U mentioned gave him both a chance to shine. The scheme (coaching) that allowed for team success this season pulled Z's numbers down and played away from his strengths. I'm sure you know that but you're arguing with a wall right now. Best to use the ignore feature and not quote.
Smith rarely showed the ability to get around or physically beat the better SEC tackles he faced. He had some good plays but many times he was ineffective. Many many times he would try to speed past someone only to be taken out of the pocket area or be flushed at the LOS. I could never figure out if he lacked technique or just not physically good enough. I really like the guy and hope he can get it done in the NFL but I have concerns if he has the ability to really make plays at the NFL level.
I did not see the game but my guess is in this game he was playing DE in a straight up 4-3 scheme (All Star games are characterized by easy to install offenses and defenses; the 3-4 is much trickier than the 4-3).
At UK he was a "DE" in a 3-4 scheme. 3-4 DEs basically align where DTs align in a 4-3. IOW, 3-4 DEs need to be bigger than 4-3 DEs.
Peace
The guy was a 3-4 DE who was third on the team in tackles, second in sacks, and second in tackles for losses. Pretty good production for his position.
as noted by many above, z was playing the three technique this year which limited his pass rushing ability. guy is going to be a steal for whoever drafts him.
Exactly the man started out the season slow but by the time conference play started he was very solid. I don't get the constant hate on the part of some of our fans. The same clowns rag on our coaches, players, AD, ect. I can only assume that most of our football fans are much more knowledgable than the average poster on this board. The man wouldn't be in the Shrine game and the Senior bowl in the first place if he was the giant bust some of you claim
Good point. Hoping he does really well at the next level. I think where fans were somewhat frustrated with him was that he was touted as a bigtime recruit (based on the offers he had) and I think there was a high level of expectation that was tough for him to live up to. He struggled against SEC tackles but at times had some great games and showed flashes of major potential.
As another poster pointed out, he is still somewhat new to football so he may be one of those guys who gets into the NFL and blows up once he is around football 24/7 (training, NFL coaching, etc)
I'm growing to hate the SEC network. They should call it the Alabama Network or the SEC West Network. Unbelievable that they talked about other SEC players who "played well" and they didn't mention Z. Smith at all much less that he won the defensive MVP award. How much time will Finebaum spend on talking about UK's basketball team's dominance of Bama?
He's currently projected as a 3rd to 4th round pick by nfldraftscout.com and I don't believe that takes into the account the recent game. I can see him going as high as the 2nd with a good combine.
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