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Who has seen Tracey Howard play live?

A

ABizzle

Recruit
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
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62
I want Tracey in Orange and Green... I want him bad! but opI must admit that when I say that I'm being a complete star *****... Regardless of how good he is, there is a great importance in signing the LOCAL 5 star #1 in the country cornerback... That has an effect on recruiting not only this year but for years to come....
So I'm curious to know, who has actually seen this kid play? Live games, camps or whatever... Is he that good? Brandon Harris good? PJ good? Jenkins good? What is he good at? What does he need to improve?
 
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Not live but I have watched multiple games live. The one thing you notice is how little his name gets called. I would say he is on par with Brandon Harris, but NOW as a high school player. He will only get better with college coaching as he learns more sophisticated schemes.
 
Isn't he more like DVD in that he doesn't like contact? I thought I'd read that on here.
 
LA'Cane818 said:
Not live but I have watched multiple games live. The one thing you notice is how little his name gets called. I would say he is on par with Brandon Harris, but NOW as a high school player. He will only get better with college coaching as he learns more sophisticated schemes.
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For those who don't understand CB's, that's a good thing. If he's locking down his man, the QB won't throw his direction, so Howard's name won't get called much.
 
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I saw him play twice live on the internet. Both games he was dominant. He looked as solid as you can get in both run and pass defense.

I also saw a lot of the drill video from the Nike Sparq camp at Univ of Oregon. It was a collection of the best talent in the nation. Tracy Howard was beaten in drillwork with regularity. It almost looked like he didnt belong. Bakas also noted another camp (UA maybe?) where Howard did not perform well.

But again, he was dominant all season long against everyone he faced in HS.


This is why I was not surprised to see both Fishbean and Bakas have such differing opinions on the kid at the same time. (for those that saw the canestime premium thread)
 
DBs are ALWAY at a disadvantage at camp settings, much like OL. I wouldn't put much stock in him getting "beat" with no pressure on the QB and no secondary help against a WR who basically has all day to beat him.
 
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Duval904 said:
i don't care if he can't tackle....i just want my corners to COVER
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Well, you should care if they can't tackle. I'm sick of watching are weak corners get pushed 10 yards down the field
by WR's. These guys can't get off a freakin block. They can't set the edge. 4 yrd runs become 20 yrd runs. Yeah,
you do need to be able to tackle.
 
Vacanesfan said:
Duval904 said:
i don't care if he can't tackle....i just want my corners to COVER
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Well, you should care if they can't tackle. I'm sick of watching are weak corners get pushed 10 yards down the field
by WR's. These guys can't get off a freakin block. They can't set the edge. 4 yrd runs become 20 yrd runs. Yeah,
you do need to be able to tackle.
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Exactly! Tackling skills are more important for college corners than NFL. That's why so many big corners do well in college but not the pros. ****, we play Ga Tech every year. Our corners better ****-well know how to tackle.
 
Travis Bickle said:
DBs are ALWAY at a disadvantage at camp settings, much like OL. I wouldn't put much stock in him getting "beat" with no pressure on the QB and no secondary help against a WR who basically has all day to beat him.
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Howard looked BAD in camp settings on more than one occasion. I would not discount that. In Oregon he kinda looked like he didnt belong. Again, there was a thread on Canestime premium board a couple weeks ago. I found it interesting that Fishbean called Tracy Howward the best DB prospect in well over a decade outside of Patrick Johnson. Mike Bakas called him a very good HS DB who has the skillset of an average college DB. Again, Mike's seen this kid primarily in camp settings and Fish has seen him in HS varsity settings.

Having seen both, I would not be surprised if either guy turned out to be correct.
 
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I saw him play against Columbus in the State Semi's. He was quiet for most of the night because Columbus barely threw at him. Just from watching him move you can tell he has a real nice burst and is very fluid. As for if he can tackle, he did lay one nasty hit on a Columbus WR in the redzone and got flagged for helmet to helmet. He is definitely not afraid to mix it up as I saw him sticking his nose in on several tackles. One thing that jumped out at me that I didn't expect was that he was pretty small. Well built but pretty looked pretty short from my view.
 
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AL CANE said:
He was quiet for most of the night because Columbus barely threw at him.
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This is what you want, how often do you hear or see Nnamdi Asomugha. Really only when the announcers want to slobber all over his nuts.
 
Miami82 said:
Isn't he more like DVD in that he doesn't like contact? I thought I'd read that on here.
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Yeah, Im not buying this. I have seen him come up to the line of scrimmage and put his head and shoulder down multiple times. His stats were on the low side bc in addition to never being thrown to it almost looked as if the opposing teams would intentionally line up their primary targets in front of Tracy to draw him away from the play. Miramar's defense was exceptional last year in the fact that in spite of this strategy Tracy very rarely had to clean up team mates mistakes so he wasn't in on very many plays.

Like I said, very rarely do you notice his name called.
 
As far as camp settings go, those environments don't necessarily let a player like Tracy showcase his strengths, which in my opinion are technique and pure football instinct. He is brilliant at knowing his assignment on each and every play and not being out of place. He will routinely play a opponent into where he knows he has help then recover to weakside areas of the field. This is why he's so great at locking down his half.

Camps IMO are great for showcasing athleticism, which TH has but definitely not an athletic freak like Bush. This is why the both of them will be a solid db combo IMO whether Bush plays FS or opposite Tracy, Tracy's cover skills will allow Bush to roam and make plays. It will be a great combination IMO. Like having Brandon Harris on one end and Patrick Peterson on the other.
 
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