How about Craig Dahl??

celticdb15

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Quietly he has made his way to be a starter at free safety for the Giants.
 

backrow

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yeah, but as soon as their starting safeties come back he will be demoted... still, nice to see him play and do well! you never know, if he does well enough he could pull Considine and actually overtake a black safety on the depth chart.
 
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He played highschool ball near my hometown. Not surprisingly he did not get recruited by his homestate Gophers. Good to see this "longshot" excelling. Most of the draft experts said the same old crap. "Lacks speed". He did however run a 4.5 40 at the combines and was one of the fastest SS there. Different white guy, same story.

Surprisingly the Giants scouts were about the only ones who praised his speed. All others just saw him as a tough specail teams ace.
 

whiteathlete33

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Its great to see Dahl starting at least for now. As for Considine, according to the "NFL experts", he is one of the worst starting safities in the NFL. Ha
 

Stonewall

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On another note, I watched the Pats-Jets game on NFL Replay last night. Jets safety Eric Smith looked really good, he made a nice pass deflection on a throw to Moss look easy.


Smith looked really confident out there. I saw that he's a 2nd year man out of Michigan State. Anyone have more background on him?
 

Thrashen

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"Smith looked really confident out there. I saw that he's a 2nd year man out of Michigan State. Anyone have more background on him?"

I remember watching Eric Smith at Michigan State. This guy was a defensive MVP who was constantly around the ball. Great LB / safety type player with great size and decent speed. Honesty, I never thought he would get drafted at all (and by the caste-Jets even). He ran OK at the combine, but not fast enough for a WHITE DB to get drafted.

Like I said before, it's very strange to see which white players the NFL "allows" to have a career in the NFL. I suppose Eric Smith was "chosen" by the powers that be for whatever terrible fate they have in store for him...

In a fair NFL, guys like Smith would be on every team. I'm sure we've all seen white DB's in college with twice the talent of Smith...However, I'm still very happy he was given a shot to succeed.
 

Stonewall

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Thanks Thrashen for the info on Smith.


The first thingI noticed about Smith was his confident swagger. Our best white players have this swagger and cockiness, they know they belong. Unfortunately, as has been alluded to many times on this forum, far too many whitesfall victim to the myth of white athletic inferiority.


You're right, Thrashen, Smith has good size. He cango after the ball with any receiver and is not afraid to be left alone with top line receivers (Moss).


Smith should be a starter for a long time. He has the "it" factor that says "Hey, I can be an impact player in this league". Plus, he possesses the physical attributes. I think he'd thrive in Buffalo.
 

Don Wassall

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I dug up this stereotype-filled 2003 article on Smith from the site's College Football Archives. Smith hung around blacks at MSU to the point of attending black social functions on campus and being referred to as "black" by his black teammates. Is something like this a factor when the NFL decides which few white players "fit in" the NFL's black-oriented locker rooms and style of play?


Spartans safety defies skeptics and stereotypes
October 9, 2003

BY JEMELE HILL
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

EAST LANSING  He had good speed and size. But there was just one problem with Eric Smith.

He was white.

An assistant coach at a Division II school in Ohio told Smith in high school that he didn't want a white player in the secondary. He wasn't the first college coach to doubt Smith, who had become accustomed to being called too slow, too small  everything except too good.

"He said he'd rather take a black player than me," Smith said.

But it's interesting how life can work out. The guy who was too slow, too small and er, too white, is the starting strong safety for Michigan State  the only Division I school that offered the 6-foot-1, 196-pound sophomore a scholarship.

In fact, Smith not only is a starter, he's a playmaker. Smith, who runs the 40 in 4.6, leads the team in tackles with 49 and was Big Ten player of the week following a 12-tackle, two-sack performance against Notre Dame. He also has seven pass-breakups, which is tied for the team lead, and his 59-yard interception return against Louisiana Tech is the longest by the secondary this season.

"People look at me and say, 'He's a white guy. He won't be able to play,' " Smith said. "I just like to go out there and prove them wrong."

What's ironic is that while Smith occasionally catches flak for being a white safety, he's comfortable being in the minority  on and off the field.

His black teammates refer to him jokingly as "just another black guy" because Smith usually attends the campus social functions for black students.

"At all the black functions that go on, on campus, he's right there," defensive end Greg Taplin, who is black, said as he laughed.

"He puts himself in the position where he's the minority and it's cool to him. We can appreciate that."

Smith is comfortable around all races because his high school, Groveport-Madison (Ohio), had the highest percentage of black students in his county. Smith's roommates are linebackers Ron Stanley and Seth Mitchell, and defensive end Mike Bazemore  all of whom are black.

"In high school, I hung out with everybody and got along with everybody," Smith said. "It was no big deal to me."

Smith's nature has made him a favorite among his teammates. But they also appreciate the player he has become.

"Eric has been one of those guys back there that has been taking up for a lot of people," said safety Jason Harmon, the starter opposite Smith. "When he came in, a lot of people kind of underrated him. But he's one of those smart guys that does everything right and is always in the right places. He rarely makes a mistake. He takes care of business. He's been surprising a lot of people."

Smith's football intelligence makes up for whatever physical tools he may lack. He admits he's not the fastest player on the field.

"I'm not that slow," Smith said, smiling.

But the Spartans put a lot of trust in him in their defensive scheme.

The safeties are responsible for making the defensive calls. They alert the linebackers and corners about what coverage the team is in.

"He puts himself in the right position to make plays," defensive backs coach Paul Haynes said. "The great thing about him is he knows his limitations and he works on those limitations. He makes up for it with his intelligence. I wouldn't trade him for anyone else."
 

whiteCB

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Stonewall said:
On another note, I watched the Pats-Jets game on NFL Replay last night. Jets safety Eric Smith looked really good, he made a nice pass deflection on a throw to Moss look easy.


Smith looked really confident out there. I saw that he's a 2nd year man out of Michigan State. Anyone have more background on him?

Yeah he was a track and football standout at Groveport-Madison high school which is just SE of Columbus. I've heard nothing but great things about him both on and off the field. Oh and by the way Groveport is in no way a ghetto school just because they have a high black student percentage. It's in a good safe middle class neighborhood.
 

backrow

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he tore his ACL this week, let's hope he makes a full recovery by the training camp
 

backrow

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Craig was waived after "faliling his physical". well d'oh, he tore his ACL two months ago starting for them and doing a great job of it!

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I can't figure this one out. Even for the Caste System its really bizzare. What do the Giants gain from releasing Dahl? The guy was a street free agent, so he can't be making much more then the league minimum. He played well enough to start for the eventual Super Bowl Champioins. The Giants now have 1, I repeat 1, Safety under contract (Rookie Michael Johnson), as the rest of their Safties are Free Agents. There was obviously no crunch at that particular position. Something is very fishy with this move, my guess is that Dahl is injured far worse then the typical ACL injury, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some "chemistry" issues that contributed to this.
 

Don Wassall

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It's probably more a reflection of Tom Coughlin's Super Bowl winning formula. During the heyday of the Jaguars rise to Super Bowl contender as an expansion team, Coughlin played as many white players on defense as any team. Then the Jags went all black on D, and then totally black after Coughlin left. With the Giants he has kept the white dominated offense and all black defense that led to the ultimate success this year, so I don't expect theG-Men to have any white players contributing on defense any time soon.
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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Well, according to a Giant newsletter I read. Craig Dahl was released for cap reasons b/c of his injury; which really doesn't make much sense b/c he had a cheap undrafted FA contract. However, supposedly Dahl will be rejoining the Giants for training camp this season if his rehab continues to go as planned. Supposedly his rehab is going well!
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white is right

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Well we know Coughlin won't cut his son in law, his granddaughter has to be able to be fed and clothed.
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backrow

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ToughJ.Riggins said:
Well, according to a Giant newsletter I read. Craig Dahl was released for cap reasons b/c of his injury; which really doesn't make much sense b/c he had a cheap undrafted FA contract. However, supposedly Dahl will be rejoining the Giants for training camp this season if his rehab continues to go as planned. Supposedly his rehab is going well!
smiley4.gif

he's back as of today. we'll see if he will stick and get a chance to play this season.
 
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