And now the campaign has begun to make Peterson a backup safety (article below posted by Draft Daddy), as he gets the Schweigert-Considine-Archuleta treatment. Black DBs get beaten regularly and many don't know how to tackle, but a white DB must play perfectly at all times. Given that Caste clown Mike Sherman is now the head coach, Petersonwould appear to nothave a chance:
<H3>Cyrus Gray, Goodson shine during Aggies' scrimmage</H3>
Here a few observations from early Saturday morning's scrimmage:
Freshman running back Cyrus Gray and junior tailback Mike Goodson are two very special players, who will certainly make the explosive plays first-year head coach Mike Sherman needs this season.
They were easily the highlights of the three-hour scrimmage at Kyle Field.
On the first possession, Gray impressed those in the stands for the 7:30 a.m. start with a tackle-breaking 30-yard touchdown run. And then on the third offensive possession of the game he topped that with an over the shoulder catch against Arkeith Brown for a 60-yard touchdown pass from Stephen McGee.
Not to be outdone, Goodson had a couple spectacular scores himself. He took a short dump pass from McGee and
then proceeded to make free safety Jordan Peterson and the rest of the defense look silly en route to an 80-yard touchdown play.
Later in the day, McGee hit Goodson on a short slant route in which he spun out of couple tackles on the way to the end zone. It was an especially good day for Goodson, who had maybe gotten behind the other running backs in the new coaching staff's mind after missing several days with a groin injury.
Another interesting point is it looks as though this staff will try to put Gray and Goodson on the field at times with one dropping into the slot to provide a more explosive package.
"I thought our running backs as a whole played well," Sherman said. "(Goodson) made some big plays. Cyrus had the long catch on the inside seam route, and Goodson saw that and came back with a play of his own. Goodson finished very well today which was good to see coming off that injury. He was a little bit behind, but he had determination to finish things today."
But as good as the running backs looked, the defense showed many signs for concern. The biggest being overall team speed. There were too many times
Goodson and Gray just simply out ran guys like middle linebacker Matt Featherston and Peterson.
One area of the defense that should be watched closely is the safeties, where Peterson has become the unquestioned No.1 free safety in his first year at the position after shifting from cornerback. Devin Gregg, the Aggies most experienced defensive member (29 career starts, 26 straight) and Alton Dixon (11 career starts) _ both seniors _ are engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the strong safety spot. Dixon ran mostly with the No.1 unit Saturday after several good practices.
The thing is Gregg seems much more suited for the free safety position, while Dixon and his physical style is a natural strong safety.
I asked Sherman following Saturday's scrimmage about the decision to take his two most experienced safeties and make them compete for one position and virtually give Peterson the free safety job.
Sherman said it came down to Peterson's ability to communicate and get the defense in its right sets.
"We just feel like we have depth at both positions and Peterson does a great job of getting us lined up over there," Sherman said. "We feel very comfortable with him over there.
"We just feel we have the competition at that spot (strong safety). We feel like our depth is fine at the position, we have really good safeties competing. One day Devin is the starter and the next day it's the other guy. It's just competition. But of all of them Peterson gets us lined up the best."
So that is the major difference?
"If you put all of our safeties in a bucket, what does Peterson do for us? He's played a lot of football (11 starts and seen actions in 18 games at corner over the last two seasons), No.1.
He's a natural safety.
"Some guys are great communicators and sometimes they talk a little too much, you know?" Sherman continued. "He's a good player on the field. There are great players who just don't like to talk, they just want to take care of their deal. Peterson is not a quiet kid. He likes that part of the game and that's an added dimension that he gives. We would struggle if he wasn't out there with that."
Some of that certainly makes sense.
The problem is Peterson was a liability at corner the last two years and it looks like more of the same may be in store this season with several big plays made on him Saturday. But hey, the Aggies were in the right defenses.
What are your thoughts?
[url]http://blogs.chron.com/aggies/2008/08/cyrus_gray_and_goodson _shine_d.html[/url]
