Thursday, July 9, 2009

The cornerbacks

I've written this before: I think the New Mexico State Aggies are going to get strong play out of their cornerback position this year.

Here's the situation: Davon House is a junior and has been starting since his freshman season. Davon has gotten stronger and has become a better player over time. He should be a leader on the unit and could be an all-conference performer. He has a knack for the big play.

I'm also excited to see the play of Jonte Green at the other cornerback spot. Green is a redshirt sophomore who is expected to start at the other corner spot. The coaching staff was high on him coming out of spring ball and I expect him to step in and perform immediately.

Another intriguing player is Eric Hunter, a freshman, from Los Angeles, Calif. Will Hunter play right off the bat? Tough to say, but the talent is there for him to make an impact.

It's going to be wild to see the transformation the Aggies make this year on the football field. They will be much better defensively. One of my biggest complaints the last few years was that the talent wasn't dispersed evenly throughout the roster. The team would have seven receivers who could make plays and two defensive backs who were forced to fend for themselves. Things will be more balanced this year.

NMSU needs to be steady throughout all phases of its game. That means having a good ground game, to not turn to ball over when throwing, play stout defense and a have kicking game that plays field position battles well. Will it happen overnight? No. Are the pieces starting to be built? I think so.

Can't wait for Week 1. I really can't wait anymore.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll add one brief comment. I think play inthe kicking game will be critical to the level of success of the Aggies this year. When you have a defensive emphasis, a good punt well covered, a field goal here and there are often the difference in the game.

I will also make another prediction. I think the Aggies will beat Idaho. Here's why. Early games often goto the team withthe better defense. I think the Vandls will be ahead of the Agies offensively, but the Aggies will be ahead of the Vandals defensively. It was embarrassing lst year to watch the Vandals cut throught the Aggie defense, running over tackle then back to the middle. The aggies did not adjust and it did them in in the second half. I did not personally think that the Vandals offense was physically better than the Aggie Defense. It was execution. From what I hear, Walker will address that on defense.

My concern is that the Aggies will not get their offense going. We'll see in a few weeks.

andgar said...

What do you think about David Quiroga, or is he going to be a safety.

Teddy said...

Andgar

Quiroga was moved to safety and will get an opportunity to compete for playing time this season.

“We're definitely going to give him an opportunity,” coach DeWayne Walker said. “He'll decide (his playing time) once we get things going.”

During spring ball, Junior Fasavalu and Stephon Hatchett saw the majority of the snaps as the starting safeties.

Anonymous said...

I, for one, was getting tired of the offense putting up points and the defense giving up even more points. I am hopeful that that won't be the case this year and that our offense will put up some points and our defense giving up even less.

And I agree with the previous poster on the kicking game. The Aggies must have a good kicking game if they expect to compete.

Anonymous said...

I think David Quiroga will start.

owlfinder said...

http://insidesocal.com/ucla/2009/07/warner-and-new-mexico-state.html

A differnt topic, but here is a July 7 article from the LA Daily News saying that Branden Warner is attending summer school at NMSU.