Three Things are abundantly clear at this point: 1. Statalyzer "gets it" with the disproportionate and unfair criticism Gideon gets from some fans. Arguably the best DC and DB coaches in America have started him since the first game of his true frosh year (almost unheard of for a FS, the QB of the defense), and the coaches in the Big 12 have awarded him with all conference status, yet a bunch of anonimous posters single him out for criticism while ignoring the far inferior play of several of his fellow DBs. 2. Rex Kramer has a particularly irrational hatred for Blake Gideon (see e.g. "always the worst of 22 players on the field...") that doesn't even bear refuting. Anyone that would actually make that statement knows nothing about football and is operating from some combination of animus/bias/ignorance, none of which is worthy of counter-argument. 3. Rex Cramer has the most disturbing signature picture ever.
I concur with Zona about 90%. The only thing that I will mention is that Earl is one of those special athletes that makes everyone around him that much better. I did not know it at the time, but losing Earl was very very huge for our defense last year. Why Blake is the scape goat is beyond me. The player that drives me nuts is Robinson, how is that guy one of our best three Linebackers? He never fills the right hole, bounces off Running Backs like he has the ball and once an OL gets on him, his play is over.
WOOD is right...never seems to get to lay the WOOD... I do not see Gideon as a TRUE play maker like others in the secondary over the last few years... I also will never be able to get out of my mind his dropping the interception at TT on that fated October evening...cost us a Heisman and maybe a National Championship...you just HAVE to catch those...
Wow...I started this thread and had no idea it would prompt so much discussion. All good stuff... I don't mean to pick on Gideon (opposing offenses didn't seem to mind this year), but he needs to knock off all of this chest bumping stuff and just make plays. He wants to be a vocal leader on this team...I love that. But giving up 69 yard bombs to Baylor and 59 yard runs up the gut doesn't earn most people's respect. Sure, there are other players out there that need to make the play too - but he is the safety - his job is one of the most critical on the D. You can argue (as you have) about his merits vs others on this team, all I know is I'm disappointed and want/need more next year...from not only Gideon -- all of them. Muschamp included. His D's collapse was unreal this year...Offensive woes were expected (just not to this degree). I suppose some of us will forever have the drop in Lubbock and a few other plays etched into our minds the rest of our lives regardless of what happens from here...unfair, but that's how it goes. His legacy is likely set unless he goes crazy next year... Muschamp played safety at Georgia. If anyone should be crazy over missed assignments and blown coverage at this position, it should be him!
A 10 yard run up the middle is the safety's fault?? I would assme the 10 yard run ended when the safety tackled the runner after he has scampered/plowed/ran untouched past the D Line and linebackers?
Christian Scott had FAR more to do with the ineptitude of the safety position than Blake Gideon. If you could weigh "inept" on a scale, Gideon wouldn't even register if Scott was on the other side. Does anyone remember Scott's pick against Baylor? The reason he got it was because he was so incredibly out of position when the ball happened to hit him in the hands. Gideon was constantly trying to cover the mistakes of the rest of the defensive backfield, which in turn was a mistake. But that falls just as much on Akina as it does on Gideon. If you have someone in the band who plays louder than everyone else because everyone else isn't playing the right notes, then it's the director's job to fix both problems.
Open Field tackling and the Running Back, WR, or TE only fell for an additional two yards? I will take that every time.
Gideon made two really bad decisions that cost us against Baylor. First he dove at the receiver instead of sticking and wrapping with the result being a TD, and second was when he tried to jump on a slant route and the QB threw over him for a second TD. I don't think he played any worse than the rest of the secondary this year, but his play was way off from last season.
Rex -- I had to google Ron Washington (I'm not a Dallas baseball fan) and that kid's picture came up. Pretty funny costume once you have the context, actually, but still very distrubing. As for Gideon, we can agree to disagree. I've followed him pretty closely since he was first recruited (way back to when he had a serious back injury and UT took him anyway). I have followed Akina since he was a coach at Zona back in the Desert Swarm days, so I spend an inordinate amount of time paying attention to UT DB's (and did the same with Zona. Check Cecil is my all time favorite player, with the possible exception of Colt McCoy). I have pulled for Gideon ever since the dropped INT vs. Tech (I dropped a few myself back in the day -- that is why you end up at DB). I think that most fans value him as a player, and Akina and Muchamp clearly do. By some fans seem to get off by ripping him (while I disagree with your assessment, it at least seems to be based on observation, prior hyperbole aside). IMO, the kid is a good player, and has done an impressive job given the postion he was thrown into as a frosh. The only position harder to step into as a true frosh than FS is QB -- it is extremely rare. The fact that he was given that job is a testament to his ability, intelligence, effort, accountability, etc. It seem to me (and others, appparently) that he gets a lot more criticism than he deserves. That is probably because he has had a few glaring mistakes, but my sense is there are other issues in play, some of them based on stereotrypes. You obviously can't prove that, of course, but singling him out as the biggest culprit on our defense is just not defensible on the merits IMO. Again, it sounds like you are not doing that, and that we just have a difference of opinion about how he has played this year. I would give him a B (and probably B+ or A- last year). There is almost no chance that he will be honorable mention this year -- Acho is probably the only guy who will get any run off of our defense. That is what happens with 5-7 teams. Incidentally, a few people above insinuated that it was Gideon's fault that AW got hurt on that hit. That is just a ridiculous opinion in my opinion. I was on the receiving end of almost exactly the same hit -- I got knocked cold by my own guy trying to hit the same player. Neither of us saw each other and the crown of his helmet hit me in the temple (lights out; game over). Blaming Gideon for that play is just stupid -- those things happen in football. Indeed, most of the serious injuries in football are sustained where players they didn't see (and thus didn't brace for) hit them going full speed. Its a collision sport.
Giddeon is not an all American....is that his fault too? He is a damn good coilege db that pulls his weight, imo.
