I said this last week re: Prater

I

iahawk20

Well-Known Member
The importance of this kid is huge. He is absolutely GLUE out there in coverage and going into a game where Arizona has a great Qb in Foles...he is going to be make a major difference!

Next Saturday cannot get here soon enough!
 
Couldn't agree more '20. He is turning into a lock down corner. I'm still not sold on Hyde yet. Though we have to trust Norm, right ;)
 
Agree totally on Shaun.
Imgaine if Shane had made things work in Iowa City...! :rolleyes:
 
I love Hyde's athleticism etc...and yes he is probably going to get picked on a bit this year...but remember he is only a soph...so he is due a few mistakes as he sharpens his learning curve. I think the mistakes will be worth the payoffs not only in the long run but in the short run too...he is pretty solid and will only get better.
 
I see him being immensely important this week. Foles will try to build some rhythm on short passes to the out patterns. If Prater and the LBs can disrupt his early passing attempts, Zona will fall behind and have to take more chances to play catchup. At that point, he'll be throwing it right to Sash and Greenwood. But if Prater gets in trouble and can't shut his man down, we could be in for a frustrating evening.
 
With Prater back ... I love the extra flexibility that gives our D. Our depth at CB is pretty darn nice, regardless. Between our ball-hawking safeties and our top 5 CBs ... I really think that our secondary is "locked and loaded."
 
What is it exactly that gives one pause about Hyde? I keep hearing this and I just don't see it. Is it because he had back to back crappy plays in the first game? So what. Everyone does. Spievey did. He was solid as hell against ISU and his tackling has been excellent in both games. I love that he moves up and drops receivers quickly. I just don't get the criticism. He's started 2 games for gods sake.
 
I'm not too worried about Hyde. In 2002, our top 3 corners were D.J. Johnson, Jovon, and Antwan. 2 freshmen in the top 3. And I'd take Sash/Greenwood over Sanders/Pagel (I loved watching Pagel, but Greenwood is better). Hyde will probably make a few more mistakes this season, that's just the nature of the beast. But one thing that getting picked on does for a young corner: it gives them TONS of experience. Prater was WAY better at the end of 2009 than he was at the start, simply because teams picked on him out of fear for Amari. By the time we see Big Ten offenses with enough good receivers that could REALLY hurt us (see: Michigan State and Indiana), I expect Hyde to already be an improved player
 
I didn't like Prater's face guarding on one play in the ISU game.

I hate to admit it, but I still think about how much better the D would be had Speivey stayed.
 
As I said Friday night, imo Clayborn and Prater are the linchpins to this defense. No doubt all the other parts are key, but when you have a dominate d-lineman to go with a guy that can take away one side of the field, it makes it a lot easier to defend the field. Prater has all the talent to be as good as Spievey was.
 
CAARHawk said:
Like I said, Sash is a lynchpin. Taking away the entire center of the field makes a difference too.
Click to expand...

I could make a pretty strong case for Sash as well. But I also think that taking away Prater takes away a lot of Sash's freedom to play centerfield out there because he's got to give more help to the corner (whether it's Hyde or Castillo). Prater being there lets Sash do what he does best.
 
And vice versa. When a QB is terrified to throw the ball in the middle of the field it cuts down the amount of space a corner needs to cover. Team sport I guess.
 
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