BUSTER SKRINE

[YtownBacker]

I thing to remember about Skrine is that he was a 5th round pick. He is a developmental project and might not see the field much until his learns better technique. Speed isn't everything when it comes to CBs, nice to have but there's a reason he was available in the 5th round.

Best thing you can say about Skrine at this point is that he has speed and has shown the potential to be a solid corner if he learns better technique.

We aren't talking first round pick here who is suppose to step on the field day one and impact the game. This pick is telling Wright to get his head out of his ass because someone will be breathing down you back once he gets both feet on the ground and learns the NFL game.

[Brown Warrior]

Agreed. Someone who knows way more than me wrote that later picks from small schools are attractive because those guys haven't been coached at an elite level yet. It suggests upside when they refine their game.

Sometimes it shows up after a month or two of really good DB coaching.

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

I thing to remember about Skrine is that he was a 5th round pick. He is a developmental project and might not see the field much until his learns better technique. Speed isn't everything when it comes to CBs, nice to have but there's a reason he was available in the 5th round.

Best thing you can say about Skrine at this point is that he has speed and has shown the potential to be a solid corner if he learns better technique.

We aren't talking first round pick here who is suppose to step on the field day one and impact the game. This pick is telling Wright to get his head out of his ass because someone will be breathing down you back once he gets both feet on the ground and learns the NFL game.

[YtownBacker]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

Agreed. Someone who knows way more than me wrote that later picks from small schools are attractive because those guys haven't been coached at an elite level yet. It suggests upside when they refine their game.

Sometimes it shows up after a month or two of really good DB coaching.

What's sad is that these guys will be behind and basically lose all that coaching early because of this lockout.

It's not the guys like Taylor or Sheard that will be hurt but it's guys like Skrine, Cameron and Little that will be behind where they should be.

All the teams are in the same boat but the elite teams with all their players and the same coaching staff will be ok. Teams looking to build with youth aren't going to be able to fully develop the newer, young players. Not just the Browns, but the mid round guys that would normally be counted on to contribute might not make any impact this year.

For that, I see teams dipping into FA (when it comes), for veterans, because the young guys won't be ready to play.

JMO

[Brown Warrior]

Yeah, it's like "Inside Job," where the haves keeping adding advantages over the have-nots. Stable franchises running the same systems for years, teams keeping the same QB in the same offense... they'll be in better shape than teams making transitions.

Unless the league year really does kick in next week, which looks promising.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

I love you, Tom... you know I do... but you ask some of the funniest leading questions this side of a Montgomery County Courthouse. Am I "excited" about insulting Joe Haden?
.

Forget all the collateral stuff to divert attention. This is 2 friends disagreeing on your Haden comment of "Speed Receivers aren't Haden's forte." You based that off 1 post pattern where our entire secondary bit on a playaction fake and there was no deep Safety help to shut that centerfield throw down. You made the 1 exception to the rule the rule. The first time we played Pitsburgh, he actually intercepted Ben in the red zone.

Without retyping every point I already made about Haden's skills that combat your opinion - here's a small cut and paste of where I disagree with your comment about Haden's forte: The SEC totally disagrees with your slow WRs theory considering they've recently stockpiled the NFL with guys like Julio Jones, AJ Green, Mike Wallace, and Randall Cobb just to name a few. Anyway, Haden earned 1st Team All SEC matching up with those types; and did his best work shutting out Julio Jones who runs 4.3s. When somebody like that earned consensus best corner appreciation-level pre-draft, he wasn't doing it against the Angelo Go-slows of North Dakota State.

Let's confine it to that.

[Vegasdogg]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

. but I don't get any responses until I say the chink in his armor is that he lacks elite speed and is most vulnerable against guys like Mike Wallace, which somebody else had already pointed out.

He here is the point - you have not made your case. You basically are reading from his mock draft report, and then pointing to the Wallace play, and somehow piece together "his weakness is speedy WR's."

Who has given this kid trouble? Where can you point to with your own eyes and say "speedy WR's are the chink in his armor."

I don't care what Mayock, Yourcock or Mycock said, I am asking for empirical evidence, or as we history majors like to say "original sources."

What players in the NFL that were speedy WR's chinked his armor?

[Vegasdogg]

I think if I had to point to a weakness of Haden, it isn't speedy WR's, but a smaller, quicker, shiftier guy, someone who gets in and out of cuts very fast in man to man coverage. A guy like Wallace is not the kind of WR that bothers Haden. He has excellent ability to stay in stride with fast receivers and those long arms and leaping ability don't hurt either.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

I thing to remember about Skrine is that he was a 5th round pick. He is a developmental project and might not see the field much until his learns better technique. Speed isn't everything when it comes to CBs, nice to have but there's a reason he was available in the 5th round.

Best thing you can say about Skrine at this point is that he has speed and has shown the potential to be a solid corner if he learns better technique.

We aren't talking first round pick here who is suppose to step on the field day one and impact the game. This pick is telling Wright to get his head out of his ass because someone will be breathing down you back once he gets both feet on the ground and learns the NFL game.

Great points Ytown! Once he gets all coached up, I think we're gonna like Toast Buster.

[BernietheKid]

Relentless cornerback forces his way into NFL
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 05:50 p.m. EDT, May 06, 2011

After dislocating his right elbow on a kickoff return in the 2010 season opener, Tennessee-Chattanooga cornerback Buster Skrine vowed he would miss only one game.

''You just kinda laugh, 'Yeah, right,' '' Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman said by telephone Thursday. ''The trainers were saying five or six weeks.''

By force of will, Skrine made his prediction come true. Chattanooga's training staff outfitted him with a cumbersome brace that kept Skrine from fully extending his elbow and dropping it to his side. He made a one-handed interception against Eastern Kentucky in his first game back.

Huesman said that Skrine played in the brace for four or five weeks and that it probably should have been longer, but the trainers relented because of his constant begging to take it off.

''As soon as it happened I thought we'd lost the kid for a year,'' said Huesman, who coached Skrine for the past two years. ''He misses one game. Pretty remarkable. But from Day One we kind of had a feeling he was a special person and player.''

Skrine stands 5-foot-91/2 and weighs 186 pounds. But his combination of speed and strength intrigued Browns General Manager Tom Heckert, who drafted Skrine in the fifth round with 137th overall pick.

''He's a kid that is super athletic and he can fly,'' Heckert said.

During the summer of his junior year, Skrine ran the 40-yard dash on campus in a school-record 4.22 seconds. At the NFL Combine, he clocked 4.37 but said he stumbled about 10 yards into it. Skrine also set a combine record of 10.75 seconds in the 60-yard shuttle.

Asked in a conference call last weekend if he'd ever played against anyone faster than him, Skrine said, ''No, sir.''

Huesman saw all of Skrine's skills in the 2009 opener against Glenville State. Skrine returned a blocked extra-point kick 80 yards for a touchdown, taking a defensive lineman's lateral and weaving his way downfield.

''Buster ran about 600 yards,'' Huesman said. ''I think he was pretty tired when he finally got in the end zone.''

Skrine is also stronger than he looks. Just before he left school he bench-pressed 360 pounds, best among Chattanooga defensive backs.

''He's a worker,'' Huesman said of that feat. ''I don't believe he ever missed a minute of any time we had. The coaches, once they get around him for a while, they'll fall in love with him.''

Helping Skrine make up for his lack of height is his 37-inch vertical jump, which ranked him 11th among cornerbacks at the combine.

''During training I was jumping 40-41 inches,'' Skrine said. ''I felt like I didn't warm up enough right before the jumps because that was our first event.''

Skrine said his NFL idol is Asante Samuel, an eight-year veteran cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles who stands 5-10. Heckert said he'd like all his cornerbacks to be 6 foot, but didn't let that dissuade him from picking Skrine.

''I play bigger than what I am,'' Skrine said. ''The size thing doesn't really get to me. I am definitely going to be able to run with taller receivers and I can jump, so jump balls shouldn't be an issue. Also, I am physical and I have good technique so that helps me with the tall receivers.''

Nicknamed ''Buster'' because he and his father share the name Daryl, off the field Skrine is a quiet leader who was voted a team captain. Huesman told the Chattanooga Times Free Press, ''I would love to have Buster for my own son.''

''He's just a joy to be around,'' Huesman said. ''Not one time did I have an issue with him off the field, academically, socially. On the football field, anything you ask him to do, he did without question.''

When pro scouts visited Chattanooga's practice, Huesman said many told him Skrine would be an ideal nickel back in the NFL. A Cincinnati native who played high school football at Moeller under Gerry Faust, Huesman coached future Pro Bowl safety Darren Sharper of the New Orleans Saints at William & Mary, along with Philadelphia Eagles secondary coach Sean McDermott.

''He's got really good hands,'' Huesman said of Skrine. ''He's got great leaping ability, great explosion. Probably 90 percent of the time in our defense he was playing man coverage.''

Huesman said that might be why Skrine finished his four years with just five interceptions. But he contributed 155 tackles (113 solos), eight tackles for losses and 21 pass breakups.

Skrine also averaged 22.3 yards on 40 career kickoff returns. Huesman said Skrine will be a ''beast'' on special teams because he's physical and loves contact. That might open the door for Skrine to play as he makes the transition from the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly Division I-AA, to the NFL.

Skrine will be determined to get on the field, if his elbow injury is any indication.

''When he came back he wanted to return kicks,'' Huesman said. ''He begged me to do it. He said, 'I'll put it in my left arm.' You can't put the ball in your left arm, you have no chance to cover it up when you need to. By the time he got the brace off, he hadn't taken a hit with the ball in his hand. It was too late.''

It might have been one of the few times the relentless Skrine didn't get his way.

Ohio.com - Relentless cornerback forces his way into NFL

[Koa]

Biggest thing to love about the Skrine pick: He has a speed/strength ratio to be an elite corner, with one caveat, proper coaching.

Keep in mind that Chattanooga, more than likely, had less than adequate teachers. This isn't mentioning the absurd level of turnover (3-4 coordinators came and left during Skrine's tenure). With that said it's tough for any corner to learn proper technique and fundamentals. Now that he's in a stable system with NFL calibre instruction there is a ton of promise for this kid.

He's raw, but this could be an absolute steal folks.

[Sez.EJ]

I have heard he was criticized for taking chances and getting burned. However, I read they spoke with the college coach and he was TOLD to gamble to make plays. So who knows what he looks like in a system with other good players around him. I think he has a shot to contribute/develop into at least a role player if not eventual starter/nickle guy.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I have heard he was criticized for taking chances and getting burned. However, I read they spoke with the college coach and he was TOLD to gamble to make plays. So who knows what he looks like in a system with other good players around him. I think he has a shot to contribute/develop into at least a role player if not eventual starter/nickle guy.

Very good info about the coach Sez. I've said the same stuff about nickle/dime packages as well as believing he'll end up starting at some point. One has to believe a corner that tested out second in every change of direction drill at Indy projects extremely well; especially when we factor in the top ranked 40s under 4.3. Skrine earned first team All Conference honors twice as a corner so this wasn't a fast guy like Mike Oliphant feeling like he's in the wrong sport.

If Jauron truely prefers the zone coverage schemes that Eric Wright said he wasn't excited about last year - I'd rather see the more interested player on the field even at the expense of a mistake or 2. There's mistakes and then there's watching Boldin score 3 of his 7 season total TDs while Wright is posing for animal crackers. Replays showed there was only 1 DB not interested enough to get in a pre-snap stance, which of course forecasts who will be competing and who doesn't give a rat. The NY Jets found the same stuff in film prep and it came to the same fruition at crunch time in a game the rest of the team was competing hard in.

Wright is either stupid, disinterested or uncoachable so the reality is that 3 strikes seats every batter. If someone wants to say he didn't wake up a bad football player one day - my reply to that is I never saw evidence where he ever woke up as a good football player. I've really never seen more than 1 INT vrs the Giants since we drafted this guy to get excited about. Just being honest, he liked to blitz so he tried hard when that was asked of him. Even that NY game for the diehards here that remember everything - there was a preseason game vrs NY when some former Akron WR (Domenik Hixon) toasted him for something like 180 yards, 2 TDs on 4 or 5 receptions. The GOOD corners don't stay in the toaster like that. I can't stand knowing we've got a quitter like him out there. We need 45 hitters and no quitters.