His recruitment by Sirmon and projected STAR position (fka "The Coin" Safety/LB hybrid) is an interesting one since he played mostly Corner, not safety. Iosefa has a leaner frame, so he doesn't look like he can put on much more weight without sacrificing speed.
Hmmm... actually that's okay.
Watch Fatuvalu's highlight tape. And then remember DeRuyter's defense (now Sirmon's defense, which is reportedly very similar to DeRuyter's). Cal runs a 3-4 front often rushing one of the linebackers (sometime someone from the secondary) to create a 4 man rush. This leaves 4 guys in the secondary to defend against the pass. Cal's defensive back scheme uses a more sophisticated set-up where guys drift in and out of different pre-snap looks in order to create confusion for the QB. It's a lot of fun to watch our defensive schemes. So you'll often have the strong safety actually play a rotating CB to cover another receiver. And as Traveon Beck showed, you don't have to be the biggest guy to be a fearsome tackler.
Now watch Fatu's tape. You'll see his Defensive Coordinator set him up 8, 9, 10 and bigger cushions from him receiver. Where you going, son? That is a crazy amount of cushion to give against any QB with an arm strength. Time and time again - big cushion with a backpedal. But you'll see Iosefa watching the QB, not the receiver, like a safety does. He breaks on the QBs eyes, gets a great jump and eats up all that cushion. He arrives pretty near the time the ball arrives, tackling for a modest gain. So his read/react/sprint game seems pretty sweet already.
He's also got some man-press highlights and they look good too, but the sample size is small. Also, I haven't seen whole game tapes to see the non-cherry picked plays. But I can see what Sirmon sees in the CB that plays like a safety, especially in the Pac-12 - which uses its fair share of H-backs, 11 personnel packages, and quads. It's the defensive evolution in the rock-paper-scissor game of personnel & strategy. Couldn't find any official speed combined figures or track-and-field results. But eyeballs say he's not a burner, but he's fast enough and quick enough. His main strength is his brain - his ability to read and react quickly.
If there's any downside, it's his strength. He's supposed to be 175 lbs, but he looks lighter than that. Sure, he's still a growing high-schooler, but his developing strength resulted in less than spectacular tackling and instances of distinct physical disadvantage when being blocked. No doubt S&C will get him man-strong and ready to play Pac-12 football.
Thanks SGBear, love the analysis. Your 2nd paragraph reminded me of a question that I've had but could never find an answer...
One question for anyone, has there been a definitive reason why Sirmon has taken over as the main defensive play caller and co D-Coordinator? Was this a play to just progress Sirmon and increase his salary, that way preventing him from getting poached by another school? Or is Deruyter close to retiring, and they are just making the necessary changes for succession to be successful? Or is Wilcox unhappy with Deruyter's play calling?
It seemed like the change just happened but I never heard any explanation.
My reading on the situation was this: Tim DeRuyter has been rumored to be potentially interested in getting back to head coaching. He was promoted to Associate Head Coach and DC after a number of years of success. My read was that was to keep him from jumping this off-season and to keep him on for another year. Since it seems likely that he would get a HC job next year, they promoted Sirmon to co-DC this year to start the transition. My understanding is that Sirmon will not be bringing in his own system, simply call the plays for the Wilcox/DeRuyter system. Since DeRuyter is still there, it will continue to be a collaborative approach to game planning and the planned plays for certain situations. That should leave Sirmon ramped up to call the plays next year without DeRuyter around when DeRuyter leaves.
His recruitment by Sirmon and projected STAR position (fka "The Coin" Safety/LB hybrid) is an interesting one since he played mostly Corner, not safety. Iosefa has a leaner frame, so he doesn't look like he can put on much more weight without sacrificing speed.
Hmmm... actually that's okay.
Watch Fatuvalu's highlight tape. And then remember DeRuyter's defense (now Sirmon's defense, which is reportedly very similar to DeRuyter's). Cal runs a 3-4 front often rushing one of the linebackers (sometime someone from the secondary) to create a 4 man rush. This leaves 4 guys in the secondary to defend against the pass. Cal's defensive back scheme uses a more sophisticated set-up where guys drift in and out of different pre-snap looks in order to create confusion for the QB. It's a lot of fun to watch our defensive schemes. So you'll often have the strong safety actually play a rotating CB to cover another receiver. And as Traveon Beck showed, you don't have to be the biggest guy to be a fearsome tackler.
Now watch Fatu's tape. You'll see his Defensive Coordinator set him up 8, 9, 10 and bigger cushions from him receiver. Where you going, son? That is a crazy amount of cushion to give against any QB with an arm strength. Time and time again - big cushion with a backpedal. But you'll see Iosefa watching the QB, not the receiver, like a safety does. He breaks on the QBs eyes, gets a great jump and eats up all that cushion. He arrives pretty near the time the ball arrives, tackling for a modest gain. So his read/react/sprint game seems pretty sweet already.
He's also got some man-press highlights and they look good too, but the sample size is small. Also, I haven't seen whole game tapes to see the non-cherry picked plays. But I can see what Sirmon sees in the CB that plays like a safety, especially in the Pac-12 - which uses its fair share of H-backs, 11 personnel packages, and quads. It's the defensive evolution in the rock-paper-scissor game of personnel & strategy. Couldn't find any official speed combined figures or track-and-field results. But eyeballs say he's not a burner, but he's fast enough and quick enough. His main strength is his brain - his ability to read and react quickly.
If there's any downside, it's his strength. He's supposed to be 175 lbs, but he looks lighter than that. Sure, he's still a growing high-schooler, but his developing strength resulted in less than spectacular tackling and instances of distinct physical disadvantage when being blocked. No doubt S&C will get him man-strong and ready to play Pac-12 football.
Welcome to Cal, Fatu.
Thanks SGBear, love the analysis. Your 2nd paragraph reminded me of a question that I've had but could never find an answer...
One question for anyone, has there been a definitive reason why Sirmon has taken over as the main defensive play caller and co D-Coordinator? Was this a play to just progress Sirmon and increase his salary, that way preventing him from getting poached by another school? Or is Deruyter close to retiring, and they are just making the necessary changes for succession to be successful? Or is Wilcox unhappy with Deruyter's play calling?
It seemed like the change just happened but I never heard any explanation.
My reading on the situation was this: Tim DeRuyter has been rumored to be potentially interested in getting back to head coaching. He was promoted to Associate Head Coach and DC after a number of years of success. My read was that was to keep him from jumping this off-season and to keep him on for another year. Since it seems likely that he would get a HC job next year, they promoted Sirmon to co-DC this year to start the transition. My understanding is that Sirmon will not be bringing in his own system, simply call the plays for the Wilcox/DeRuyter system. Since DeRuyter is still there, it will continue to be a collaborative approach to game planning and the planned plays for certain situations. That should leave Sirmon ramped up to call the plays next year without DeRuyter around when DeRuyter leaves.
Go Bears!
Awesome, love our presence in Hawaii under Wilcox.
Another good add for Wilcox & Co.
Great news!
Awesome!!! Go Bears! Keep em coming!!