Just watched Florida at Bama

[jameszeigler834]

11 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Our new DC can work with that kid though and make him better I think he faced a really good O-line in that game so we will see I would have went differently with the pick myself but I think he will be ok. It was an awesome draft.

As I said yesterday you don't get everything that was a problem the season before fixed in one draft so don't panic we will most likely still have a pretty decent season.

[Valpo2004]

18 hours ago, Lef said:

Based upon their press conference, Pagano and Grigson couldn't be more excited about that draft pick. Maybe they missed those highlights?

 

And what do you expect them to say?  "Oh yeah he's a camp body for sure"

 

They never say anything bad about a player they just picked.  

 

Not saying that this guy can't be a good player but, take press conferences like that with a grain of salt.  

[Defjamz26]

1 hour ago, Smonroe said:

 

Not trying to be negative.  Just trying to understand what the coaches saw in him that would warrant a 4th round pick.  I think most had him as a 7th rounder.  Again, I hope he works out but TBH I have more hope for Meggitt.

It's the same read why Smith and Jack were 2nd round picks. When healthy, Morrison is a talented LB. Maybe not as good as those 2, but healthy he's a 2nd-3rd round pick.

 

He finds the ball really well and has good instincts. Hits really hard and isn't afraid of blockers. What happened to him is a shame. He rushed back after an ACL and also  got Stafh. He didn't show up to the combine because of it and was told not to do his pro day and did it anyways. His teammate Davis will get picked early next year but Morrison was an underrated playmaker on that D. Whatch any Florida tape and you'll see him pop up making plays. He was a steal in the 4th along with Ridgeway. Colts got 2 second round players in the 4th.

[Coffeedrinker]

1 hour ago, ColtsFanMikeC said:

 

1. The best team in the NFL is typically not light years ahead of the worst team in the NFL -- I highly doubt there is any team in the NFL that is as much better than another team than Alabama was better than Florida.  Alabama has probably been the closest thing to an NFL team in college football over the past 7 years, and they dominated Florida in multiple aspects of the game, one major aspect being the 'Bama OL destroyed the Florida DL.

 

2. I'm not sure you can judge him based on hesitation hitting the hole, or choosing a wrong hole without putting significant weight to the fact that his DL was getting manhandled most of the game.

 

3. I agree.

 

4.  I'm quoting things about Ragland, because he was a heavily hyped ILB coming into the draft, and part of that reason is because as an ILB he had the luxury of playing behind a stacked DL.  Also, because Ragland was on the winning side in that game -- had he and Morrison switched teams, there is a good chance Ragland looks poor in that particular game and Morrison looks better.

 

I'm not trying to bash you or anything -- and I get you're "not judging his entire career...", but to pick one game to write about his play, I'm not sure 'Bama is the most fair assessment.

His poor play was not the result of Alabama's great line, watch the game, for much of the time Alabama did not have a guy blocking him and he did not have a positive impact on the game outside of 2 or 3 plays.  #40 for Florida was all over the field and making plays, he was playing being the same DL as Morrison.  If Morrison was the first guy to hit the RB, even if it was downfield I did not count that as a negative against him.  But when he gets blocked by a WR, when he takes himself out of the play, when he stands there and waits for something to happen then let's the play go right past him... none of that has anything to do with how good or poor his dline was playing.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

44 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

His poor play was not the result of Alabama's great line, watch the game, for much of the time Alabama did not have a guy blocking him and he did not have a positive impact on the game outside of 2 or 3 plays.  #40 for Florida was all over the field and making plays, he was playing being the same DL as Morrison.  If Morrison was the first guy to hit the RB, even if it was downfield I did not count that as a negative against him.  But when he gets blocked by a WR, when he takes himself out of the play, when he stands there and waits for something to happen then let's the play go right past him... none of that has anything to do with how good or poor his dline was playing.

 

His play may not have been great, but it was far from '* poor'.

 

I just watched the highlight reel you posted again, and for most of the run plays on that, 'Bama was releasing an OL out to Morrison.  In that tape, #40 looked worse than Morrison, he made a couple of plays because Morrison ate up blockers on the OL allowing him to be free or redirecting the play.  Did he get blocked by a WR so badly that it really impacted any play significantly? If so, it wasn't on that tape.

[SP_21]

1 hour ago, Valpo2004 said:

 

And what do you expect them to say?  "Oh yeah he's a camp body for sure"

 

They never say anything bad about a player they just picked.  

 

Not saying that this guy can't be a good player but, take press conferences like that with a grain of salt.  

You're 100% correct but they didn't have to talk about him for close to 4 minutes. And the way Pagano gushed about him made me think he's someone they are really excited about. 

[SP_21]

49 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

His poor play was not the result of Alabama's great line, watch the game, for much of the time Alabama did not have a guy blocking him and he did not have a positive impact on the game outside of 2 or 3 plays.  #40 for Florida was all over the field and making plays, he was playing being the same DL as Morrison.  If Morrison was the first guy to hit the RB, even if it was downfield I did not count that as a negative against him.  But when he gets blocked by a WR, when he takes himself out of the play, when he stands there and waits for something to happen then let's the play go right past him... none of that has anything to do with how good or poor his dline was playing.

Maybe just maybe they had different responsibilities. I saw Morrison make plays even though it appeared to be #40s assignment. 

 

Im really not sure we watched the same game. 

[dw49]

15 minutes ago, SP_21 said:

Maybe just maybe they had different responsibilities. I saw Morrison make plays even though it appeared to be #40s assignment. 

 

Im really not sure we watched the same game. 

 

Reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode entitled "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

[Steamboat_Shaun]

6 hours ago, tikyle said:

Morrison's coverage skills are below average IMO and that's zone.  He would probably get roasted in man.

Everything I've been reading says that if he's ever on the field during a passing down, it'll be to generate edge pressure, not to drop into coverage. It's all speculation at this point, but if thats the idea, I feel better about the pick. Dude seems like a total wildcard, so IMO, regardless of how it pans out, I think it'll be entertaining to watch how he develops.

[AZColt11]

I think it depends on your perspective.  If you are watching him thinking he's a 1st round talent you will come away less than impressed.  Watch him with a 4th round mentality, compare him to some other players who went in that round, THEN make your assessment.  Not fair to compare him to guys that were picked in the 1st or 2nd round, especially when he came off an ACL.  If he were THAT good he wouldn't have been available.

[Coffeedrinker]

3 hours ago, ColtsFanMikeC said:

 

 

1 hour ago, ColtsFanMikeC said:

 

His play may not have been great, but it was far from '* poor'.

 

I just watched the highlight reel you posted again, and for most of the run plays on that, 'Bama was releasing an OL out to Morrison.  In that tape, #40 looked worse than Morrison, he made a couple of plays because Morrison ate up blockers on the OL allowing him to be free or redirecting the play.  Did he get blocked by a WR so badly that it really impacted any play significantly? If so, it wasn't on that tape.

Well, I can see this is going nowhere so this will be my last post to you on this thread.  People will see what they want to see.  Me, I had no idea what type of player he is/was.  After the Colts drafted him I read several scouting reports on him and thought what many have posted on this thread, it seemed the Colts got a steal in the 4th round with this guy.  He seemed like someone who could learn for a year or two behind DQ and then be a terror for the Colts D.  Then I watched his highlight reel on youtube and I thought, man, there is no way this guy only ran a 5.1 in the 40 he plays so much faster than that.  Then I watched the whole game of him against Alabama and I was disappointed, While watching the clip I started thinking, who is going to get the most pile jumps for the Colts, Morrison or Cole.  Then I thought, well maybe it was just because they were playing Alabama, so I watched the Ole Miss game and while he played better it is easy to see why he was a 4th round draft pick and if the Colts didn't take him there, chance are he still would have been there in the 5th when they picked again.

 

As far as the receiver blocking him. It was right there on the link I posted.  When I have time I will put the video time on there but it lead to the QB scrambling for a 1st down, so yes it impacted the play significantly, if he had not been playing pat-a-cake with the WR, he would have had a clean shot at the QB.

[Defjamz26]

29 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

 

Well, I can see this is going nowhere so this will be my last post to you on this thread.  People will see what they want to see.  Me, I had no idea what type of player he is/was.  After the Colts drafted him I read several scouting reports on him and thought what many have posted on this thread, it seemed the Colts got a steal in the 4th round with this guy.  He seemed like someone who could learn for a year or two behind DQ and then be a terror for the Colts D.  Then I watched his highlight reel on youtube and I thought, man, there is no way this guy only ran a 5.1 in the 40 he plays so much faster than that.  Then I watched the whole game of him against Alabama and I was disappointed, While watching the clip I started thinking, who is going to get the most pile jumps for the Colts, Morrison or Cole.  Then I thought, well maybe it was just because they were playing Alabama, so I watched the Ole Miss game and while he played better it is easy to see why he was a 4th round draft pick and if the Colts didn't take him there, chance are he still would have been there in the 5th when they picked again.

 

As far as the receiver blocking him. It was right there on the link I posted.  When I have time I will put the video time on there but it lead to the QB scrambling for a 1st down, so yes it impacted the play significantly, if he had not been playing pat-a-cake with the WR, he would have had a clean shot at the QB.

You sound like one of the many people who were upset the Colts didn't pick someone else in the 4th. You should really do some research. Look at his play before the injury.

 

Also did you bother to look up why he ran a 5.1 at his pro day? You guys act as if he's some poor ILB prospect. He went in the same range that Perry, Kwiatkoski, Campbell, and Goodson went. Teams waited till round 4 to draft those LBs as well. And these were guys who were healthy and ran faster.

[Coffeedrinker]

38 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

You sound like one of the many people who were upset the Colts didn't pick someone else in the 4th. You should really do some research. Look at his play before the injury.

 

Also did you bother to look up why he ran a 5.1 at his pro day? You guys act as if he's some poor ILB prospect. He went in the same range that Perry, Kwiatkoski, Campbell, and Goodson went. Teams waited till round 4 to draft those LBs as well. And these were guys who were healthy and ran faster.

Well, you are wrong on two counts.  One, I didn't really have anyone in mind for that pick, nor was I even watching the draft at the time to know who was still available or anything.  Like I stated in the post you quoted, when I saw the Colts drafted him I read his scouting profiles on NFL.com, CBSsports, Walterfootball and a couple of others I found and it seemed like the Colts got a steal.

 

As far as the 40 time you should know me better than that by now Defjamz, I put very little stock in 40 times, again like I stated when I watched his highlight reel I thought that is why I don't put much stick in 40 times because he plays fast, especially in that 10 yard diameter that is so important for an ILB.

 

So, after doing those things I was excited about the pick. I was thinking he is one of those guys that fell because he doesn't have the measurables that teams want. It wasn't until I watched him play in two games that I became less excited.

[throwing BBZ]

22 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:

This is a Morrison video but I thought people would like it because it has the Colts first round pick and Morrison.

 

 

 

After watching this, my son and I agree... we were not very impressed with Morrison.  He's hesitant, doesn't attack and when giving a choice between which hole he thought the running back was going to hit, he often went to the wrong hole.

 

On the other hand, I came away more impressed by Kelly than I was previously.  The guy is just so quick off the snap, worked well with his guards, got out to the 2nd level so smooth and so fast and maintained his balance and form while pass blocking.

 

 We passed on some Excellent prospects to take this questionable guy. Strange. A Chuck pick.

[Defjamz26]

44 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Well, you are wrong on two counts.  One, I didn't really have anyone in mind for that pick, nor was I even watching the draft at the time to know who was still available or anything.  Like I stated in the post you quoted, when I saw the Colts drafted him I read his scouting profiles on NFL.com, CBSsports, Walterfootball and a couple of others I found and it seemed like the Colts got a steal.

 

As far as the 40 time you should know me better than that by now Defjamz, I put very little stock in 40 times, again like I stated when I watched his highlight reel I thought that is why I don't put much stick in 40 times because he plays fast, especially in that 10 yard diameter that is so important for an ILB.

 

So, after doing those things I was excited about the pick. I was thinking he is one of those guys that fell because he doesn't have the measurables that teams want. It wasn't until I watched him play in two games that I became less excited.

Those 2 games were probably a bad sample size though. You have to go back pre-ACL injury to really see his potential. Which would be 2014 iirc. He played well this past season all things considered, but that's not his best body of work. It'd be like judging Luck based off the Jets game last season.

 

And I don't see the reason not to be excited. He's not Smith or Jack on tape but he's definitely in that next tier of guys at LB. He got drafted where the all those other guys did as I mentioned before. You could argue that he's just as good as any of the LBs drafted rounds 3-7, maybe even better.

 

 I just don't get why people are slamming the pick as if this guy is a long shot to be good. He's a 2nd-3rd round pick fully healthy.

[SP_21]

1 hour ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 We passed on some Excellent prospects to take this questionable guy. Strange. A Chuck pick.

Who would you have taken?

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

On 5/1/2016 at 3:32 PM, Coffeedrinker said:

This is a Morrison video but I thought people would like it because it has the Colts first round pick and Morrison.

 

 

 

After watching this, my son and I agree... we were not very impressed with Morrison.  He's hesitant, doesn't attack and when giving a choice between which hole he thought the running back was going to hit, he often went to the wrong hole.

 

On the other hand, I came away more impressed by Kelly than I was previously.  The guy is just so quick off the snap, worked well with his guards, got out to the 2nd level so smooth and so fast and maintained his balance and form while pass blocking.

Agree Kelly looked great, Morrison well so so I don't think he makes the team? Was hoping he was better.Maybe he had better games? Looks and plays small to me for a LB.

[Coffeedrinker]

17 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

Those 2 games were probably a bad sample size though. You have to go back pre-ACL injury to really see his potential. Which would be 2014 iirc. He played well this past season all things considered, but that's not his best body of work. It'd be like judging Luck based off the Jets game last season.

 

And I don't see the reason not to be excited. He's not Smith or Jack on tape but he's definitely in that next tier of guys at LB. He got drafted where the all those other guys did as I mentioned before. You could argue that he's just as good as any of the LBs drafted rounds 3-7, maybe even better.

 

 I just don't get why people are slamming the pick as if this guy is a long shot to be good. He's a 2nd-3rd round pick fully healthy.

Again, I was very specific that I was not impressed by what I saw in those two games.  I have not made any comments about how I think he will do with the Colts or in the NFL.

 

I have no doubt he is as good as other LBers drafted in round 4-7.

 

Some people are slamming the pick, I am not, the later rounds are for development guys and the Colts have spent and viewed a lot more resources than me.  I posted the video and started the thread simply because after watching the video I was not impressed with Morrison but I was very impressed with Kelly.

[BrentMc11]

On 5/1/2016 at 6:32 PM, Coffeedrinker said:

This is a Morrison video but I thought people would like it because it has the Colts first round pick and Morrison.

 

 

 

After watching this, my son and I agree... we were not very impressed with Morrison.  He's hesitant, doesn't attack and when giving a choice between which hole he thought the running back was going to hit, he often went to the wrong hole.

 

On the other hand, I came away more impressed by Kelly than I was previously.  The guy is just so quick off the snap, worked well with his guards, got out to the 2nd level so smooth and so fast and maintained his balance and form while pass blocking.

What this means is we should look for great things out of Morrison, and throw that Kelly guy to the curb......  OK....I was teasing ya buddy!!   

 

No.  I like when you say these kind of things.  Your reviews are like mine.  I appreciate hearing your view.  

[BrentMc11]

13 hours ago, Horse Shoe Heaven said:

Agree Kelly looked great, Morrison well so so I don't think he makes the team? Was hoping he was better.Maybe he had better games? Looks and plays small to me for a LB.

This is exactly my thoughts.  You have enormous monsters in his way.  Lets have him lose about 15 lbs and call him a safety.

 

I saw they possibly a chance that Earl Okine moves to LB.  I liked Okine last year...preseason.

[Coffeedrinker]

2 hours ago, BrentMc11 said:

What this means is we should look for great things out of Morrison, and throw that Kelly guy to the curb......  OK....I was teasing ya buddy!!   

 

No.  I like when you say these kind of things.  Your reviews are like mine.  I appreciate hearing your view.  

  Oh, that's not out of the question.  I've liked quite a few players over the years that end up getting cut.

[cbear]

On 5/1/2016 at 0:32 PM, Coffeedrinker said:

This is a Morrison video but I thought people would like it because it has the Colts first round pick and Morrison.

 

 

 

After watching this, my son and I agree... we were not very impressed with Morrison.  He's hesitant, doesn't attack and when giving a choice between which hole he thought the running back was going to hit, he often went to the wrong hole.

 

On the other hand, I came away more impressed by Kelly than I was previously.  The guy is just so quick off the snap, worked well with his guards, got out to the 2nd level so smooth and so fast and maintained his balance and form while pass blocking.

 

CD I usually agree with you on most of your posts, so I was curious to watch this game and was actually looking for a poor performance out of him.  But I must say, I was surprised that he played a decent game.  I did see those plays you spoke of and he whiffed on 2-3 runs in the second half, but overall I thought he had good pursuit and loved contacted.  He also had 2-3 stand out plays on Henry.  He even stood up Kelly on a couple plays.

 

He did look passive at times, but frankly, since I don't know Florida's scheme, I'm not sure.  A couple times, he didn't even move off his stance for a couple snaps and just watched the play develop, so I'm going to guess that he was playing some kind of run zone or something.  When he did attack off the snap, I thought he was pretty decisive and hit the line hard.  He definitely didn't always pick the right hole where the runner ended up when he attacked, but again not knowing what kind of D Florida runs, I don't know if he was hitting the gap that was his responsibility.

 

Overall, I'd say he did ok.  Great for a 4th round pick.  Kid could be something for us at the next level IMO.

 

[Coffeedrinker]

16 hours ago, cbear said:

 

CD I usually agree with you on most of your posts, so I was curious to watch this game and was actually looking for a poor performance out of him.  But I must say, I was surprised that he played a decent game.  I did see those plays you spoke of and he whiffed on 2-3 runs in the second half, but overall I thought he had good pursuit and loved contacted.  He also had 2-3 stand out plays on Henry.  He even stood up Kelly on a couple plays.

 

He did look passive at times, but frankly, since I don't know Florida's scheme, I'm not sure.  A couple times, he didn't even move off his stance for a couple snaps and just watched the play develop, so I'm going to guess that he was playing some kind of run zone or something.  When he did attack off the snap, I thought he was pretty decisive and hit the line hard.  He definitely didn't always pick the right hole where the runner ended up when he attacked, but again not knowing what kind of D Florida runs, I don't know if he was hitting the gap that was his responsibility.

 

Overall, I'd say he did ok.  Great for a 4th round pick.  Kid could be something for us at the next level IMO.

 

All valid points, I disagree but that does not stop this from being an excellent post.

[tikyle]

On 5/2/2016 at 8:53 AM, Smonroe said:

I wish him well, as I do all of our new players.  But I have to ask - what makes anyone think he's better than Herrera? 

 

Whoa!  You went way too far Smonroe.

 

Morrison came off of major injury this year.  Watch his 2013 and more importantly 2014 tape to see what he's really about.  This year he was visibly heavier and slower due to injury.  At his peak he was a lean fast MLB in more of the Freddie Keiaho or Cato June type.  My point is he was a zone guy with good speed and sure tackler.  Our scheme is totally different.  I can't say whether he will accel or get exposed in our man heavy scheme.  Only time will tell.  But at his peak he was a much faster ILB/MLB than we've had in awhile.

[Smonroe]

1 hour ago, tikyle said:

 

Whoa!  You went way too far Smonroe.

 

Morrison came off of major injury this year.  Watch his 2013 and more importantly 2014 tape to see what he's really about.  This year he was visibly heavier and slower due to injury.  At his peak he was a lean fast MLB in more of the Freddie Keiaho or Cato June type.  My point is he was a zone guy with good speed and sure tackler.  Our scheme is totally different.  I can't say whether he will accel or get exposed in our man heavy scheme.  Only time will tell.  But at his peak he was a much faster ILB/MLB than we've had in awhile.

 

Not sure how I went way to far, but I appreciate your information.  Again, I wish him well, but I was reading a lot of good things about Herrara after last years draft.  So I'm skeptical.

[tikyle]

On 5/4/2016 at 4:40 PM, Smonroe said:

 

Not sure how I went way to far, but I appreciate your information.  Again, I wish him well, but I was reading a lot of good things about Herrara after last years draft.  So I'm skeptical.

The only reason I said too far was Herrera was a decent player on a bad D.  Georgia hasn't had a great defense in a while.  And watching UGA games Herrera never stood out to me.

 

Morrison is a vital part of an elite D.  He was never the best player on any of those UF defenses but he showed flashes and he played beside the likes of Dante Fowler, Damian Easley, Vernon Hargreaves, Jonathan Bullard, Keanu Neal and Matt Elam.  I don't know whether his drafting is signaling that we may play more zone this year or if it's a measurables thing.  Only time will tell.

[UKColt13]

You pick a game to judge a defensive player off of and you pick the one where there up against one of the best running offenses in college football?

 

He's fast and aggressive. He's a good replacement for Freeman imo.

[Two_pound]

Morrison, Neal, and Davis were Florida's best players against Alabama. Morrison looked alot better against Ole Miss, ECU, and New Mexico because those teams aren't as good as Alabama. I give Morrison a very good shot at starting this year. He will be a definite upgrade for the lb core.

[Coffeedrinker]

58 minutes ago, Two_pound said:

 

 

1 hour ago, UKColt13 said:

You pick a game to judge a defensive player off of and you pick the one where there up against one of the best running offenses in college football?

 

He's fast and aggressive. He's a good replacement for Freeman imo.

 

58 minutes ago, Two_pound said:

Morrison, Neal, and Davis were Florida's best players against Alabama. Morrison looked alot better against Ole Miss, ECU, and New Mexico because those teams aren't as good as Alabama. I give Morrison a very good shot at starting this year. He will be a definite upgrade for the lb core.

I wish I could see thing like you guys but I just have to focus on the truth.  And in the games I viewed he was not impressive, he may have been more impressive in the games before he got injured, I don't know I haven't watched those.  From the games I watched he has great explosion and gets to his top speed quickly but he's hesitant and waits for a lot of action to come to him and then jumps on the pile.

[GoColts00]

On 5/1/2016 at 5:32 PM, Coffeedrinker said:

This is a Morrison video but I thought people would like it because it has the Colts first round pick and Morrison.

 

 

 

After watching this, my son and I agree... we were not very impressed with Morrison.  He's hesitant, doesn't attack and when giving a choice between which hole he thought the running back was going to hit, he often went to the wrong hole.

 

On the other hand, I came away more impressed by Kelly than I was previously.  The guy is just so quick off the snap, worked well with his guards, got out to the 2nd level so smooth and so fast and maintained his balance and form while pass blocking.

I thought the same thing. To me, it looked like his ankle was injured though. However, when I watched Florida vs Ole Miss it was entirely different. He looked like a completely different player! Pagano probably saw a lot more video of him than fans are able to find. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

[Luck2Hilton4TD]

Florida's defense was also on the field for the majority of that game because their QB couldn't complete routine throws and move the chain. That certainly didn't help matters. 

[tikyle]

54 minutes ago, Luck2Hilton4TD said:

Florida's defense was also on the field for the majority of that game because their QB couldn't complete routine throws and move the chain. That certainly didn't help matters. 

Please don't remind me of the horror of Treon Harris.  You are exactly correct sir.  If you watch the games when Grier was QB the defense played a lot less snaps.

 

Try to get some tape on Morrison from 2014.  The offense was bad that year too but he was healthy then and not coming off of injury.