meh, i can remember a few times where he missed a tackle near the line of scrimmage and it ended up going for a big gain, especially late in the year. I went back and tried to look at a few highlight tapes but couldnt find a clip. I did watch the iron bowl highlights and while I didnt find the clips of the poor tackling, there were plenty of clips of EJ. Wow, he could have given up like 5 TDs. Seemed like every time AU took a shot at the endzone they went after EJ.

I just think he's a very average tackler. Hopefully he improves on that.

As for physicality in coverage, dont watch the IB highlights. Duke Williams was abusing him. Duke is a big strong receiver and some of those plays might have come after a push off, but it was ugly.

Anyways, i dont mean to pile on the kid. I hope he does very well at safety. I just am not convinced he's an above average tackler for a CB and I'm worried about him supporting the run from the SS spot. Maybe someone can find a clip to convince me otherwise.

ETA:
Here yall go, check out the play at the 0:45 mark. And I know that RB is a beast, but this is the play I cant get out of my head. I feel like there were a few other similar ones.
LINK

This post was edited on 4/13/15 at 6:39 pm

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Posted by sarc

Member since Mar 2011

9997 posts

Posted on 4/13/15 at 6:45 pm to SECSolomonGrundy

I remember his freshman year he came up and made strong, physical tackles from the CB spot. That combined with his play in coverage indicated he could be a complete, elite CB.

Last year he had 2 or 3 very prominent missed tackles late in the season. I don't know for sure, but it could be due to lack of confidence in his knee causing him to play hesitant. I remember Hightower playing with hesitation the year after his knee injury and it greatly affecting his play. Hopefully EJ can have a bounce back year in year 2 following his knee injury the way Hightower did.

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