Spence Update

Agreed! The only knock on him was his size,he was a tackling machine at the U. They raved about his intelligence and Tomlin said his read and react skills were phenomenal. I'm sure his read ability is still there because most of that comes from instinct and film study. The hope is that his reaction skills haven't suffered due to his injury.
IMO they are downplaying his level of recovery because they want him to keep grinding and they want to keep him motivated and also they don't want to get too far ahead of themselves . When he was first cleared to resume practice there was a short video of him doing drills, he looked pretty good to me. I know it's not game action but it was also months ago,I'm sure he progressed even further. I have high hopes and my fingers crossed.

 

LOL @ injury prone.

Tough crowd we got here.

 

Actually, he has been injured twice - didn't he break his hand last year after a couple of practices?

 

+1 Blast.

 

Yes it does, but thinking along injury/ performance scenarios, I think it's legit to imagine Timmons rotating to olb... Thus we need the depth inside as well. Plus we signed a billy goat that's scripted as both in or outside. It frees him up to contribute solely on the outside, wether or not he can play the spot is unknown to me. just speaking on depth related stuff.

 

If you think Foote was anything above low end average than may I prescribe you some medication? Foote made tackles by getting in the way, and the opposition falling over him. Williams didn't take anyone's job. He got it, as I said by default due to a lack of depth and Spences injury. I have been all over the Steelers taking an ILB in May as we need an anchor and I don't see Williams as that guy. Could be wrong? Hope I am, but Williams seems to be just an average ILB and that has been the trend for this entire team.... Average.

 

There's a long list of rookies that appeared avg and went on to become big time ballers. Not saying Williams will be the next, but give him a little credit heading into his sophomore year.

 

You are right, maybe he will blow up into something special. I will not knock him for stepping up. Still holding out hope for the next Patrick Wills. With that being said its time to watch some UK basketball. GO CATS! This is the time I would inset an emoticon with those things holding hands in brotherhood, but I can't find that one? Lol only 23 weeks til opening weekend!

 

The only issue with that is that you don't want to have Timmons flopping to the OLB position. He did that for a year and it was his worst year.

 

Kion Wilson is who V. Williams took the starting job from, and he held off Terrence Garvin who really showed some potential when he was in during sub package looks. While I agree with you that Williams earned the job, there's really no debating how poor Foote was in his second stint in the Black and Gold. I'm glad Williams and Garvin stepped up, because between the two they are definitely an improvement over Foote. I think there is enough potential and solid depth (hopeful for Spence, along with Moats and Wilson) to keep the Steelers from drafting an ILB early in this year's draft.

 

Playing Timmons outside would be harming two LB positions at once. He gets zero pass rush off the edge. He is a force inside and we should do what we can to keep him there.

 

Just playing scenarios out guys... Not saying I want him on the outside at all. Talking depth necessities at the lb spots

 

what gets me though BF is a lot of the mistakes were not from the young guys. it was Timmons being caught out of position that gave up some big plays, by his own admission. granted it was a little rocky with the rookies at first, but there was definitely improvement every week. without foote. we also had two rookies on that side of the formation and another OLB that just was never any good on that side. I think that made things compound themselves early on. we should see improvement out of all the guys that got field time last year. Thomas, garvin, Williams, jj, and even arnfelt and I'm going as far as mclendon too. they got more reps in practice than just your average 3rd on the depth chart rookies or PS player. another set of OTA's, meetings, mini camp and camp, not to mention weight program they seem to be working in and we could have a vast improvement from a year ago.

I'm not real worried about the defense. it's young and should improve with age. my trouble is depth on defense. baby's teaching baby's. to finish this year off, I'd love to see keisel back and Harrison back as depth. nothing big, but better than vet min. a foote like contract. what happens if heyward goes down? we would be in deep chit. unless they are just going to go youth come hell or high water, these two could be very useful. I do however think if they go with the youth movement, we finally have a staff of coaches that should be able to get them up to snuff. my God the years of knowledge we have coaching right now is fantastic.

 

Lets just hope it translates onto the field. raying:

 

He beat out Garvin at the beginning of the season when Garvin was invited to camp. Garvin started the Green Bay game. Spence is a huge unknown and people are expecting way too much out of him. A lot of you are setting him up for failure with these expectations. From the pictures I've seen he looks a lot bigger then wen he came here. He has bulked up a lot and that leads me to believe that speed isn't there anymore and he is trying to become more of a traditional lber.

 

Thank you. It's that simple.

 

I hate to say it, but I think Spence is done. I can't remember anyone suffering a knee injury devastating enough to miss 2 entire seasons, ever coming back and having a successful career.


On a side not, I'm amazed that with all the talent the Miami Hurricanes have supplied the NFL the past 3 decades, the Steelers have missed almost all of it. We haven't had a decent Miami alum since Leon Searcy, and that only lasted 4 years before he left for Jacksonville ... and before that you have to go all the way back to Gary Dunn. Since 1983 the Canes have had 183 players drafted. The Steelers have drafted 4 of them ...

Warren Williams RB - 1988 - 6th round pick - extremely pedestrian backup RB

Leon Searcy OT - 1992 - 1st round pick - very good starter for 3 seasons and then left

Orien Harris DL - 2006 - 4th round pick - bust

Sean Spence LB - 2012- 3rd round pick - serious injury/yet to play


In that time former Canes have accounted for 135 spots on Pro Bowl rosters ... not a single one of them for us. It's like it rained talent for 40 days and 40 nights, and we barely got wet. Amazing!

Even more amazing is that we manged to win more than just about every other team while missing out on all that talent.

 

Those stats aren't bad. They say that we don't select them often, but our success rate is okay.

The 6th rounder was pedestrian? He was a 6th rounder. Success rate for that point in the draft is low. I don't remember him, but according to his stats, Williams played for us for 5 years and had consistently better stats than Verron Haynes, a 5th rounder who I would consider successful during his time here. Haynes was never a starter, but a helpful role player who served us well and was worth the pick. Williams looks like he did well for a 6th rounder.

The 1st rounder was a very good starter? That's great.

The 4th round pick was a bust? Yeah he was, but the word "bust" is always a little strong for the 4th round. You want your 4th rounders to work out, but what's the success rate here? Half?

The 3rd rounder looked on his way to being a great player before his unholy injury.

Seems like we do just fine when we go to Miami. And as you said, it seems to be working out for us just fine.

 

we didn't draft him but we had DVD for a couple of years. not much production though.

 

Thats why it's a big deal that he's even got a shot at coming back. Every other guy that has sustained the same injury has had their career ended by it, so yeah you're right... he is probably done with competitive football. While there is optimism around here, I'd be shocked if anyone thinks he can return to or surpass his play prior to the injury. It would be awesome if he did, but also nothing short of a miracle. He has already succeeded and surpassed expectations by making it this far. For his sake I hope he makes it to camp in good enough shape to give it a go. He's worked really hard and hasn't given up yet. It's hard not to root for guys like Sean Spence.

 

Heres to hoping its one of those there always is a first time, type of scenarios.