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Football: Season review — secondary
By Jonathan Okanes
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 11:14 am in off-season stuff.
I remember sitting in the bleachers at Memorial Stadium one day during training camp, having a discussion with another reporter about Syd’Quan Thompson. We were trying to determine just how good he will really be. Sure, he had been steady as a sophomore, but could he ever become a real high-level cornerback, one that would be worthy of All-Pac-10 honors?
We had our question answered after one game.
Thompson had a monster effort in the season-opener against Michigan State, recording five tackles, an interception and three pass break-ups. His level of play never wavered as he emerged as arguably the top cornerback in the Pac-10. Thompson did indeed earn All-Pac-10 first team honors after recording four interceptions, 14 pass break-ups and 70 tackles.
Remarkably, Darian Hagan wasn’t too far behind at the other corner. Even though he was only a redshirt freshman in 2007, he was a mild disappointment because many expected him to win a starting job. He ended up not even being the first backup off the bench.
So it was a mild surprise that he won the starting job this year out of training camp, but Hagan immediately proved it was the right decision. He, too, had a nice game against Michigan State. Although he didn’t have any interceptions, he came close to a handful and was credited with three pass break-ups. Hagan ended up with 15 pass break-ups on the season and became a sure open-field tackler, finishing with 56 for the year.
Thompson and Hagan may have been the top cornerback tandem in the conference and arguably will be one of the best returning duos next season.
The safety position was a concern going into the season, especially with the loss of defensive MVP Thomas DeCoud. But Marcus Ezeff and Brett Johnson were steady, if not spectacular. After Ezeff and Bernard Hicks shared time at rover last season, many thought Hicks would replace DeCoud at free safety and Ezeff would continue to man rover. But injuries limited Hicks and Johnson emerged.
Ezeff had 66 tackles and three interceptions, including two in one game (he returned one for a touchdown). He also had six pass break-ups.
Johnson suffered a shoulder injury late in the year and yielded some playing time to Sean Cattouse. By the Emerald Bowl to end the season, Cattouse had taken over for Johnson, who reportedly was back to full health. That could provide a pretty good competition in the spring.
2008 SECONDARY GRADE: A-
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January 14th, 2009 at 11:52 am
JO, I’m not sure why you gave an A- instead of a full A. The tackling by the secondary was far superior this year than in any year I’ve ever followed Cal football since the mid 90′s. Every player completed their tackles, wrapped up, did what they’re supposed to do by textbook definition, especially the corners. Maybe the switching around at the safety position was the reason they didn’t earn a higher mark, but then again I shouldn’t complain about an A-.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Dball – see 1st half of Maryland and the Arizona game.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
It’s amazing how the 2ndary vastly improved in retrospect. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Coach Simmons is amazing. I hope Tedford already has assigned a graduate student under him, so we can continue to see stellar DB play for years and years and years to come! I have little doubt with they size and atheletic ability of the underclassmen and new commits. Go BEARS!
January 14th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Also worth mentioning is the excellent job that Conte did in the nickel and on special teams (think UCLA fake punt).
January 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Here’s BWNQ’s review of the secondary, in a bit more detail: http://thebearwillnotquit.blogspot.com
January 14th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
With Steve Williams coming in this year and guy’s like Cattouse, Conte, and Hagan complementing a stud like SQT, we’re set in the secondary for the near future. Things are looking up for us – our offensive line and RB recruit pipeline is better than ever, and our secondary is looking great as well. With the success that our LB’s have had in the 3-4, I’m sure our LB recruiting will soar too. If one of these 4 star QB recruits develops into a stud, we’ll finally be able to topple $C.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
the secondary benefited from better play by the line and linebackers…in the past few years the pass rush has sucked so it was taxing on the db’s..this year it all came together and worked
January 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
http://www.insidesocal.com/ucla/
jo, can you please go here and take some notes? I dislike the bruins and their team sucks compared to Cal and yet the coverage is about 100x more thorough. it’s sad to see you so out-worked. everybody has to have a goal. what’s yours? does it have anything to do with getting information? or is it all just about reading a few stories around the net and linking one of them (half your posts) and then writing simple reviews on the positions (the other half). let me help you out:
TE: morrah’s a great pass catcher, should be even better next year b/c his blocking has improved. had a chance to go pro so having him back is a great plus. Tad Smith also impressed for a guy who didn’t play much TE in the past. Physical blocker who made some receptions as well. Can only get better next year. Bears are very high on Anthony Miller who played on teams and is a physical blocker and Spencer Ladner who will be tough to cover by lb’s and safeties since he’s 6’7 and can run.
Sure you fluff it out a little and then you’ll have your TE update. They’re all pretty much like this. Stuff we know. Can you please consider telling us something we don’t know? How about doing some reporting? How come other reporters know what’s going on with home visits and recruiting and have daily updates and you don’t? How come other reporters talk to current players about their status with the nfl, transferring, plans for next season, etc. and you don’t? We don’t need someone whose only sources are through his keyboard. We have our own keyboards.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:22 am
joblo, you’re an asshole. Are you Moron trying to be funny?
January 15th, 2009 at 9:24 am
larry, tell me where i’m wrong.
i really don’t understand how okanes continues to just offer random opinions on the state of affairs that anyone on one of the message boards could offer and keeps his job and feels good about it. go look at the writers in seattle, la or oregon. Tell me that okanes is doing an even mediocre job in comparison.
Tell me that his TE review won’t sound much like mine dashed out in 20 seconds but with a little more fluff.
Rumors that Riley may leave…does Okanes talk to Riley? No.
Rumors that Syd will go NFL…does Okanes call him? No.
Who has submitted paperwork to be evaluated by nfl? Okanes doesn’t know.
Who are the candidates JT has interviewed for line coach? Okanes doesn’t know.
Who are the recruits we’re likely to land? Are there any silent verbals? Okanes doesn’t know, at least any more than he reads on scout and rivals and espn.
Who is considering transfer in or out? Okanes knows as much as you or me. None of us is talking to players.
A guy with a facebook account at uc berkeley and a subscription to rivals and espn can seemingly know way more than okanes about the program. i’d like to know why that’s so.
no offense jo!! Just want to see you be all you can be!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Wow! you must have missed the SC game where Syd’Quan missed at least 4 tackles on sweeps. He flies in low with his head down and goes for the ankles rather than hitting. The SC DB’s really showed up our DB’s in the punishment department. Syd’Quan has a good ball sense, but cannot and will not tackle worth a Damn
January 15th, 2009 at 10:58 am
JOBLO, I gotta say that I agree with you. if you take a look at the UW, SC, and UCLA beat writers they do an in-depth job. they answer tons of fan questions, live chats, and have tons of information. Where as JO seems to always say, “not sure” “haven’t heard about that” “. I mean come on is the school that hard to get info out of? or are the players instructed not to speak much with the media? PERHAPS it’s because of Tedford. I mean come on the practices are nearly all closed except for the 1 prac. in spring. a lot of successful programs open their practices for both the players and fans. hate to say but SC does this and their coach endorses for people to come out and feel apart of the whole thing.
typically newspapers coverage is as good as the services (riv&scout) but not really when it comes to CAL football.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Saint…you say SydGod can’t tackle worth a damn?! Here are some stats for you: Syd had 41 solo tackles (most of any DB on the team), 29 assisted….7.5 for a loss. He also broke up 14 passes, had 4 interceptions, and 2 sacks. In fact, only 2 players on the team had more solo tackles than he did, Follett and Mohamed.
Now for the best analysis of all…..since you all seem to hold USC so dear to your hearts….only 2 players on USC’s defense had more solo tackles than Syd, and both of those were LB’s (Maualuga and Cushing). In fact, only 1 USC DB even approaches Syd’s tackles, Taylor Mays had 38 solo but only 15 assisted, for a total of 53, far below Syd’s 70 total tackles.
So you can throw out some stupid ass comments if you want, but the stats speak for themselves. Syd is a monster out there, and has the stats to prove it.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Sorry Saint, not sure what you’ve been watching. Having a hard time forgetting Tennessee ’06? That’s about the only time Syd’s had a rough time tackling. He doesn’t take head shots at players like $C does, but that doesn’t mean he can’t tackle. I actually didn’t see him get burned 4 times on missed tackles against $C, the only time I saw a bad and blatant miss was against ASU which led to a TD.
Good point, Dball. Normally it’s a bad thing when your DB has so many tackles, but Syd had so many TFL’s, and would often stuff the RB at the line. Anyone who says he can’t tackle is ignorant and hasn’t watched him play since last year.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I generally like Syd’s level of play, but I have a cannot erase from mind the long touchdown he gave up on a simple post pattern to Mike Thomas in the Arizona game. It was mano y mano, and Thomas won. End of game, end of my high expectations for the season.
He is not yet at the level of Deltha O’Neal or Daymeion Hughes, but he could get there in his senior season.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
All Pac-10 1st team honors….having said that, he’s gotten better every year and I’m looking forward to next season already.