Ex-Illinois coach Ron Zook lauds Tavon Wilson's versatility

[patfanken]

Why all the hate for folks named Wilson?

That was a swing and a miss by you, PWP. Read it again. He's got my complete support. I just think that if your ONLY asset is that you are versatile, its not enough. You have to be good. BB thinks Wilson is good enough to make him the 3rd best S in this draft, so I know its not JUST versatility.

My post was a reaction to the media's constant reference to Wilson as "versatile", like he's the ugly step sister who has a "nice personality". Seems like they are trying to say something nice about him, but don't have a clue, so they call him "versatile".

I just want to see some stuff that just says this is an outstanding football player that should be a starter for us in 2-3 years

 

[Gumby]

Tavon Wilson to the Patriots - YouTube

Some good stuff. Shows him off better than the one [other video] where he got no safety help and got burnt by Ebert. I especially like the TD celebration.
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Act like you been there before.

 

[Water Boy]

Indeed, AJ drafted a Safety on the next pick at #49.

San Diego drafted Kendall Reyes with #49. They took Brandon Taylor in the 3rd at 73.

 

[PittPatriot]

Ron Zook's first name should be "Ex-" because he was never a great coach (record or longevity-wise)….but he did have the privilege of coaching former Patriot-great and 3 year NFL player Guss Scott. The highlight of Guss's pro career was being drafted in the 3RD ROUND by the Pats. I wonder what Ex-coach's opinion on Scott was that led us to I could find Zook's opinion on Scott.

By the way, to add to our excellent run of DB-ery in drafting DB's - that was the same draft when we took Two-time SB champ and 3-year NFL participant Dexter Reid. Here is what his former coach at UNC said about him:

"If I had 11 Dexter Reids, we'd be the best defense in the country. I can't say enough good things about him. He is an all-around football player and brings great leadership to our defense."

Dexter's Wiki page has as much info about his time with the Pats as it does about his marijuana felony.

My point? You rarely hear a coach downgrade his players. If Ron Zook gets a call from ESPN Boston to comment on Tayvon, what do you want him to say? He basically said Wilson is versatile and durable - excellent qualities that will hopefully improve an oft-injured group on our team.

I WANT Tayvon Wilson to be the steal of the draft…but with our DB drafting history, I am not holding my breath.

 

[Urgent]

Mother lauds daughter's great personality.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Ron Zook's first name should be "Ex-" because he was never a great coach (record or longevity-wise)….but he did have the privilege of coaching former Patriot-great and 3 year NFL player Guss Scott. The highlight of Guss's pro career was being drafted in the 3RD ROUND by the Pats. I wonder what Ex-coach's opinion on Scott was that led us to I could find Zook's opinion on Scott.

By the way, to add to our excellent run of DB-ery in drafting DB's - that was the same draft when we took Two-time SB champ and 3-year NFL participant Dexter Reid. Here is what his former coach at UNC said about him:

Dexter's Wiki page has as much info about his time with the Pats as it does about his marijuana felony.

My point? You rarely hear a coach downgrade his players. If Ron Zook gets a call from ESPN Boston to comment on Tayvon, what do you want him to say? He basically said Wilson is versatile and durable - excellent qualities that will hopefully improve an oft-injured group on our team.

I WANT Tayvon Wilson to be the steal of the draft…but with our DB drafting history, I am not holding my breath.

If you want to help the discussion at patsfans.com......

Actually hold your breath and go sit over in the corner.

Gee, Einstein...way to not like........connect the dots. Sucky coaching and "falling through the cracks" are like kinda correlated...sort of.....

Ya know, like just a thought.

What's really, really scary is you most likely think you posted something intelligent and insightful.

 

[RayClay]

Ron Zook's first name should be "Ex-" because he was never a great coach (record or longevity-wise)….but he did have the privilege of coaching former Patriot-great and 3 year NFL player Guss Scott. The highlight of Guss's pro career was being drafted in the 3RD ROUND by the Pats. I wonder what Ex-coach's opinion on Scott was that led us to I could find Zook's opinion on Scott.

By the way, to add to our excellent run of DB-ery in drafting DB's - that was the same draft when we took Two-time SB champ and 3-year NFL participant Dexter Reid. Here is what his former coach at UNC said about him:

Dexter's Wiki page has as much info about his time with the Pats as it does about his marijuana felony.

My point? You rarely hear a coach downgrade his players. If Ron Zook gets a call from ESPN Boston to comment on Tayvon, what do you want him to say? He basically said Wilson is versatile and durable - excellent qualities that will hopefully improve an oft-injured group on our team.

I WANT Tayvon Wilson to be the steal of the draft…but with our DB drafting history, I am not holding my breath.

Zook failed to predict that Scott would blow out his knee.

 

[RayClay]

That was a swing and a miss by you, PWP. Read it again. He's got my complete support. I just think that if your ONLY asset is that you are versatile, its not enough. You have to be good. BB thinks Wilson is good enough to make him the 3rd best S in this draft, so I know its not JUST versatility.

My post was a reaction to the media's constant reference to Wilson as "versatile", like he's the ugly step sister who has a "nice personality". Seems like they are trying to say something nice about him, but don't have a clue, so they call him "versatile".

I just want to see some stuff that just says this is an outstanding football player that should be a starter for us in 2-3 years

Let's compare him to our first round safety, shall we? Did nothing the first year, then played well, got worse as he went along, decided to freelance, got benched, continued to have character problems, cut for no compensation, in trouble with the law again.

By contrast...ready to step in on special teams, maybe nickel or regular cornerback or safety. Great character guy, from all indications, great team player (will do anything), willing to learn, I think that's apparent.

First year, advantage Wilson (might help anywhere).

Second or third year, a versatile team player who learns the system, again advantage Wilson. All pro year in between? Probably not. You don't get All pro when you change positions often.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

That was a swing and a miss by you, PWP. Read it again. He's got my complete support. I just think that if your ONLY asset is that you are versatile, its not enough. You have to be good. BB thinks Wilson is good enough to make him the 3rd best S in this draft, so I know its not JUST versatility.

My post was a reaction to the media's constant reference to Wilson as "versatile", like he's the ugly step sister who has a "nice personality". Seems like they are trying to say something nice about him, but don't have a clue, so they call him "versatile".

I just want to see some stuff that just says this is an outstanding football player that should be a starter for us in 2-3 years

ken

"PittPatriot" likes your comment so it's time to admit your mistake.

Have a "come to patsfaninpittsburgh" moment.

Being able to do many things (ie versatile) is quality onto itself because of the flexibility "versatility" provides. You also realize that someone who does many things over a period by definition will not "excel" in one thing?

....like "jump out on tape"......

The projected "excellence" will be in you don't know what he's doing next.

It's obvious why Zook said this. BB wanted and zeroed in on Wilson because of the myriad of things the kid could do.

 

[Ivan]

Honestly, you think BB is god or something like that?

I love BB, he is a top 5 coach of all time. But he makes mistakes, you know?

Did you know players Bill has drafted, have busted? Can you believe that?

And I'm not saying Wilson will bust. I think he was a reach, but it doesn't mean he is a mistake.

Actually I just think he's the best coach and leader of a franchise in the NFL, and I have said many times that he has not only missed on players but on entire drafts, what I don't buy is the idea that you guys and Mel frigging Kiper know better, and I have demonstrated why to a point where I felt I should stop rather than pile on.

If you have actually read what i said you would know that like everyone else I wanted many other players, however I'll give the Patriots the benefit of the doubt that they did their homework and know why they took him, and unlike some here I don't think it was to piss off Mel Kiper or Patriot fans, I actually believe that he took him to make the Patriots better and the idea that messageboard posters and Mel kiper know better is absurd.

 

[Gronkandez]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece

I watched Tavon Wilson a little bit while I was watching Whitney Mercilus and I saw a guy that should be able to play centerfield-style FS for the Patriots. He’s a bit undersized and he’s certainly not the Patrick Chung clone I was dreading the Patriots would take.

He ran a 4.52 at his pro day and was not invited to the combine. He doesn’t have the greatest ball skills, and he likely won’t help out much in man coverage. He’s also not an overly physical player who should help out in the box. As much as we hear about how Belichick likes safeties who can play both positions, Wilson looks like a pure FS to me.

We all know the Patriots need in the secondary and here’s the defensive back we were all hoping for, right? Wilson will likely compete with Steve Gregory to start at safety beside Chung when the season starts.

Patriots Draft Tavon Wilson, Shock the World | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece




Patriots Draft Tavon Wilson, Shock the World | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

Why are you reading that guy?

He makes Kiper look like Lombardi.

 

[Ivan]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece




Patriots Draft Tavon Wilson, Shock the World | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

Lmao, great work, you found a guy with blog who agrees with you.

I have nothing against the folks at NE Patriots Draft but quoting them as authorities over Belichick is as ridiculous as every other argument used so far against Wilson.

 

[BradyMossWelker]

....and because Wilson was a safety......he was right there with a pass rusher!!!!!

There aren't enough words.

I'll just leave it here because I'm not wasting my time with someone that has no idea what he's talking about.

 

[BradyMossWelker]

Actually I just think he's the best coach and leader of a franchise in the NFL, and I have said many times that he has not only missed on players but on entire drafts, what I don't buy is the idea that you guys and Mel frigging Kiper know better, and I have demonstrated why to a point where I felt I should stop rather than pile on.

If you have actually read what i said you would know that like everyone else I wanted many other players, however I'll give the Patriots the benefit of the doubt that they did their homework and know why they took him, and unlike some here I don't think it was to piss off Mel Kiper or Patriot fans, I actually believe that he took him to make the Patriots better and the idea that messageboard posters and Mel kiper know better is absurd.

Never argued with that.

Only thought it is stupid to say this is a great pick just because BB made it, or because his coach from Illinois praised him.

And to say experts have never seen tape on him is plain ******ed.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

There aren't enough words.

I'll just leave it here because I'm not wasting my time with someone that has no idea what he's talking about.

If I took the same approach.....

You would be consigned to knowing complete squat.

Yeah, you were "scouting" a pass rusher and that makes you an expert on a DB:singing:

.......that nobody heard of.

Nice try, there Aristotle.....now put the pointy hat on and go back into the corner.

 

[Deus Irae]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece...

Time will tell on the kid. At this point, there's not much use talking about him. Until passing camps, these guys are basically going to be static in terms of us having anything new to deal with.

 

[BradyManny]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece




Patriots Draft Tavon Wilson, Shock the World | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

Ninja has done us all a service and put plenty of videos up of him and all the other draftees. There's no reason to take anyone else's word for it. NEpatriotsdraft is one of my favorite sites and I think they are spot on most of the time, but like PFF and other places, they aren't professional scouts - so we can take things with a grain of salt.

And even the so-called "professional" scouts have been off-the-mark on this guy so far.

Everyone should take a half hour, watch the tape of this guy on Youtube (see Ninja's thread) and decide what they think for themselves.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Doesn't sound very versatile in this piece




Patriots Draft Tavon Wilson, Shock the World | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

The fact is that he has played a lot of CB, so he has a versatile set of experience and skills. We won't know much more than that until we see him on the field.

 

[mayoclinic]

Nice read from Chris Price yesterday on Wilson:

patriots - Was Tavon Wilson worth a second-round pick? - WEEI | Christopher Price

Some things stand out:

1. Price notes:

There was debate over the pick: Should the Patriots have used a second-round selection on a player who was off almost everyones’ radar screen?

Not sure what Price's basis for this statement is, but if true it sounds like the Pats were very aware of the issue. Not surprising.

2. According to former Illinois DC Vic Koenning,

"[Wilson's] secondary coach was Mike Gilhammer -- who was with us at Illinois last year before joining the Colts -- and I think probably some of the confidence that he was coached by a guy who had been in the NFL probably didn’t hurt him.”

The Colts were one of 7 teams with whom Wilson had visits prior to the draft.

3. Price discusses how Koenning sees Wilson's versatility as being a good fit given the evolving nature of NFL pass-oriented offenses:

Koenning, who is now the associate head coach for defense and inside linebackers coach at the University of North Carolina, has seen the game change over the last few years, and said that with the emphasis on spread offenses, you need versatile defensive backs, and he believes that Wilson can fill the bill.

“The spread offense in the NFL has kind of made linebackers obsolete in many ways,” Koenning said. “Offenses can now work on mismatches with linebackers in the passing game. If you have a safety that’s big enough who won’t embarrass themselves in run support, you have the best of both worlds. What you have in a guy like Tavon is someone who has played enough man -- both press and off the line -- to make the adjustment. He’s comfortable with different zones, and he’s comfortable near the box. We did a bunch of different stuff with him.”

4. And finally there's this little tidbit from Koenning about convincing teams to take a chance on Wilson:

"I convinced a team a few years back they should take a chance on a guy named DeMarcus Ware, so I have some credibility here."

Koenning was the DC at Troy from 2003-2004, and was very close with Ware.

I have no idea how Wilson will turn out. And Koenning has lauded other former Illinois players, including Martez Wilson last year and Whitney Mercilus this year. But it's a nice read.