Our Film Room articles have always been one of our most popular features – I know I’ve learned a ton from the smart guys on here who actually know what they’re talking about with this stuff. We’re trying something new with the film room that we hope brings another perspective, something we’re calling “Film Room Live.” (It’s not live-live, but it makes for a snappier name and we’re all about marketing here.) I’ll put together regular segments with our cognoscenti and then publish them up to YouTube; I’ll ask the armchair quarterback questions, and they’ll say the smart stuff.
We’ll bring you some insights on technique, like in this video here, or on play design, or other things that might catch our eye during the game. It needs a bit more polish, but rest assured that we’ll tweak things as we go along to improve your experience as much as possible. Bear with us in the early days. This first episode features Tyler Hack, who generally covers recruiting for us; Tyler was a defensive back in his glory days and will give us some insight on Notre Dame’s secondary play against Georgia.
What’s Under Review
- Nick Chubb’s 30-yard run on his first carry of the game
- Javon Wims’s 31-yard catch to put Georgia in range for the game-winning field goal
- Nick Coleman’s 3rd down stuff on Georgia’s third drive
- Drue Tranquill’s interception just before halftime
Yes, Tranquill isn’t technically a defensive back, but he looked a lot like one on this play. We’re fudging his hybrid status a bit to justify reviewing a very good play. Anyway… Enjoy!
I’m really curious to see how Tranquill does he rest of the season. He can disappear at times and make silly mistakes, only to all of a sudden show up out of nowhere two plays later, blowing up a sweep in the backfield. He’s got such an edge to him, and he wants to make guys feel every hit the next morning. I hope Elko has found the right place for him in this defense, because I think he’s got the chance to keep making some game changing plays the rest of the year.
A lot of guys have taken huge developmental steps since last year. I think Coleman has to sit alone at the top of the list – like I said in the video, he didn’t look like he belonged on a college field last year, and this year he’s been no worse than solid and at times spectacular. Tranquill isn’t far behind, though. As hard a worker as he is and as hard as he takes failure, I don’t know that VanGorder’s mess of a system hurt anyone more than it hurt him. In Elko’s system, with a clear head and a more appropriate role, he has been great. Yeah, a couple of breakdowns, but mostly he’s been great.
One of my favorite defensive trends of 2017? Drue Tranquill morphing into the Destroyer of Screens. That could be a monster contribution to back up an aggressive defense.
I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you’re right; taking some of the decision making out of his hands and just allowing him to react to 1 decision point has to be a big part of why he’s blowing up so many plays. It’s been fun to watch.
It has indeed… He’s too good a kid to come out and say that the previous system stunk and stressed him out, but it hasn’t been all that hard to read between the lines of his comments on Elko’s system. In one of his preseason interviews he said something like, “It’s so much easier this year now that I only have to worry about my job instead of getting the DL, LBs, and DBs lined up right.” It was less direct than that, I think, but not by much.
We saw flashes of this player when he was a freshman, and his instructions were just “go wreck things.” The really fun part is that he has a fifth year available.
It really reminds me of Harrison Smith. He was just awful under Weis, constantly slow and out of position, but turns himself into a draft pick when Diaco’s system gave him a clearly defined role and just let him play.
mad props here. This is super awesome and looks like it took a ton of work. Only downside is it’s tough to sneak in 25 minutes of video watching in during the work day.
My thoughts exactly. I wonder if doing one video per play would be helpful on that score. Not sure if that really makes it any easier or harder on your end with the work though.
Thanks guys! We’re looking at some ideas to tighten things up – it ran a little longer than we expected too. Definitely a work in progress. Stick with us!
I’ll second the motion for one video per play.
Also, my video speed plug-in doesn’t work for videos on this site, apparently. Not sure if there’s anything you can do about that.
Video speed plugin? Que?
This is great stuff here, I’m always appreciative of in-depth breakdowns on what’s going on during a play.
Have you guys thought about doing a podcast? That’s pretty much the only medium you’re missing at this point.
Eric used to do a podcast – it’s a decent amount of work and, unfortunately, we didn’t get much engagement. We might end up publishing these videos via podcast too, but we’ll figure that out after we get rolling for a little while.
And thanks!
I gotcha, if you guys ever decide to go that route you’ll at least have one listener in me.
Nice stuff, will be interesting to see how Watkins matches up to some teams with better passing games (USC, Miami FL)
But…no telestrater action?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITZCr6gR8gA
25 minutes spent breaking down game film? We’re certainly not at SBNation anymore…
But seriously, great stuff. The only suggestion I have is echoing Irishchamp and possibly breaking the video up into individual plays, kind of like how the non video film room posts do it.
I loved it guys. I’m a YouTube-a-Holocene already. This just gets bed me another reason to watch it.