With all the gloom and doom here, which has been discussed ad nauseum by many, I thought there were some positives to take from the game, which at least merit a discussion:
1. The play of Benjamin Morrison. I said this on another thread, but I think his tight coverage all night on Marvin Harrison, Jr. improved Morrison's NFL draft stock considerably. Harrison has been drawing comparisons to Randy Moss, AJ Green, Julio Jones and other NFL greats. All the mock drafts have Harrison going in the top 5 of next year's NFL draft, and some have him as the top pick. (I don't agree there; it will be Caleb Williams.) Harrison wasn't shut out against ND, but he was a non-factor in the game due largely to Morrison's tight coverage. Egbuka killed us, but Harrison did not.
2. Mitchell Evans! Who knew he could catch the ball so well? Mitchell was great. His one-handed grab against the OSU LB where the refs missed a clear PI call was something else. I think PFF had him as the highest rated player in the game.
3. The play of our freshman. Rico Flores, Jaden Greathouse and Jeremiyah Love all made meaningful contributions. And while ND's coaching staff is being pilloried for what happened late in the game--and rightfully so--hats off to them for letting the freshman play meaningful snaps. That just never seemed to happen with BK.
4. Javontae Jean-Baptiste. I thought he was probably our best player on D. He came to play against his old team. He was disruptive all night. It was also nice to see Jaylen Sneed make a few plays. I haven't seen the snap counts from the game, so I don't know how much Jaylen played, but he factored in to a few big plays. Maybe he is starting to figure things out. I hope so. We need him.
1. The play of Benjamin Morrison. I said this on another thread, but I think his tight coverage all night on Marvin Harrison, Jr. improved Morrison's NFL draft stock considerably. Harrison has been drawing comparisons to Randy Moss, AJ Green, Julio Jones and other NFL greats. All the mock drafts have Harrison going in the top 5 of next year's NFL draft, and some have him as the top pick. (I don't agree there; it will be Caleb Williams.) Harrison wasn't shut out against ND, but he was a non-factor in the game due largely to Morrison's tight coverage. Egbuka killed us, but Harrison did not.
2. Mitchell Evans! Who knew he could catch the ball so well? Mitchell was great. His one-handed grab against the OSU LB where the refs missed a clear PI call was something else. I think PFF had him as the highest rated player in the game.
3. The play of our freshman. Rico Flores, Jaden Greathouse and Jeremiyah Love all made meaningful contributions. And while ND's coaching staff is being pilloried for what happened late in the game--and rightfully so--hats off to them for letting the freshman play meaningful snaps. That just never seemed to happen with BK.
4. Javontae Jean-Baptiste. I thought he was probably our best player on D. He came to play against his old team. He was disruptive all night. It was also nice to see Jaylen Sneed make a few plays. I haven't seen the snap counts from the game, so I don't know how much Jaylen played, but he factored in to a few big plays. Maybe he is starting to figure things out. I hope so. We need him.
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