Mike Mickens - B. The corners have struggled this year. Part of that is we don't have a dominant pass rush. With all that, ND ranks 11th in the country in passes defensed and 6th in passes broken up. That's good and for comparison the 2018 secondary ranked 10th in both categories. The corners have produced 16 out of the 34 pass breakups this year so far. In 2019 the corners produced 20 pass breakups. The lack of INTs is the the troubling part for me. Only corner with an INT is McCloud. The lack of INTs brings the grade down for me.
John McNulty - A+. The TE's have been outstanding so far. As a unit the physicality is a big reason for the running game success. At times under Long I felt the TE's didn't block as well as I thought they should have. McNulty did a great job getting Mayer ready and transforming Tremble into a complete TE. I would like to see Tremble used more as a receiver but that's not on McNulty. Home run hire so far.
Tommy Rees - A-. I probably rank his performance higher than some and I understand he struggled against Duke/Louisville but the offense has been really humming lately. I love how the offense is coming together the past several weeks. It's balanced and plays to this teams strengths. Props for building an offense around what he has to work with. Scoring 47 points against a defense like Clemson is what we have all been waiting for. I think he wanted to establish a physical team and that's why they worked on the run game so much early. Pitt was the turning point to this season on offense imo. Overall very pleased and his offense is averaging 37.6 ppg which is the highest since I can't even remember. I dropped the grade due to some problems in the red zone.
Lance Taylor - A+. In his first season as run game coordinator the run game has been efficient no matter who they played. I don't know how much input he has but I think Taylor and Rees have worked great together.
Thoughts?
John McNulty - A+. The TE's have been outstanding so far. As a unit the physicality is a big reason for the running game success. At times under Long I felt the TE's didn't block as well as I thought they should have. McNulty did a great job getting Mayer ready and transforming Tremble into a complete TE. I would like to see Tremble used more as a receiver but that's not on McNulty. Home run hire so far.
Tommy Rees - A-. I probably rank his performance higher than some and I understand he struggled against Duke/Louisville but the offense has been really humming lately. I love how the offense is coming together the past several weeks. It's balanced and plays to this teams strengths. Props for building an offense around what he has to work with. Scoring 47 points against a defense like Clemson is what we have all been waiting for. I think he wanted to establish a physical team and that's why they worked on the run game so much early. Pitt was the turning point to this season on offense imo. Overall very pleased and his offense is averaging 37.6 ppg which is the highest since I can't even remember. I dropped the grade due to some problems in the red zone.
Lance Taylor - A+. In his first season as run game coordinator the run game has been efficient no matter who they played. I don't know how much input he has but I think Taylor and Rees have worked great together.
Thoughts?
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