Film Review: Michigan State's Vayante Copeland and What to Expect in '16

Many Spartan fans were delighted with RS FR Vayante Copeland's performance last season, despite playing less than two games due to injury. I was able to go back and watch his short game and was actually more surprised than my initial reaction. Although there are areas that need to be improved, he has shown great natural ability. In this article, I will review Copeland's film and give my opinion on where it will be shown in the future.

observations

• Copeland played most of his time for Field CB
• Often, but not always, alternated in the MSU Blitzpack
• While healthy, he played more frequently against Oregon, but also played for Boundary CB. He ended up playing his last game of the season in a game in Oregon and suffered a season-ending injury.
• Most understand Oregon's talent at WR, but I think it's important to note that WMU also had a pretty good pair of WRs. One will likely start in the middle of the B1G teams, the other will be the middle or late draft pick when announcing the NFL draft. The competition he played was good.

Well
eye discipline
Earlier this season, Michigan State played much more MOD (Man Only Deep) coverage than their MEG (Man Everywhere He Goes) base. This was probably the reaction of two things: 1) several reaction teams managed to isolate security on the ground in the alcove (the MOD provides outside support so you can not walk from two sides) and 2) the youth of the SL Position.

Copeland is at the top of the screen here. See it open before the snap and play on the cover. If he goes vertical, WR Copeland will play for the man, if he does not, he will be saved in a deep quarter of the field. But to protect himself from the script, he reads in to play every pass quickly, and that's exactly what he does here. Number 1 breaks out inside and tries to block OLB. He responds immediately on the field, maintains a good relationship with the ball carrier, keeps his cap on the outside shoulder of the ball, breaks up and plays a nice game in space. But this game starts with its visual discipline and does not lose with the # 1 vertical threat.

Here's a great example of what WR is trying to do when it comes to burglary and finding the # 2 to maintain the right relationship and launch a powerful attack.

Here's another screen threat, more than a bubble, it's a tunnel screen. But again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes. Yes, he did well not to return with the initial vertical threat, he remained patient (more on this subject later, but it was an incoherence in his game and there was an intelligent choice for WMU to try d) 'Attack). But when he saw the receiver return the ball to him, he identified the no. 2 and work under the screen, forcing him to play further inside. All this was done because he has good visual discipline.

Hip Tilt - In Rotation
Let's now look at some examples of Copeland's ability to switch quickly and have a good relationship with the receiver. Here the WR threatens no external release and immediately penetrates the inside. Note that in most cases Copeland does not block. It's MEG, it's purple, but it's not a lockdown, that's what MSU is known for. Spartan is another common aspect of defense early in the season.

The WR gets a bit of play with a quick tilt, but it's a narrow window. While Copeland wants a slightly stiffer hip, he has support within the OLB and security, and maintains a good hip-to-hip ratio. QB never gets to that point in his progress but the coverage is good so the points are still standing.

Something similar, good first turn but losing gets too easy but has internal grip. shows consistency. Here it is at the bottom of the screen.

Flip hips - turn out
This is a great example of Copeland's natural flexibility outside. He moves his hips with ease and does not lose momentum. This allows you to maintain phase coverage along the route. WR never got the chance to work inside, Copeland has been in contact with WR his entire career (he saw his back hand slightly late in the game, but he looks at the ball again because he is on stage) and is still never threatened. His ability to move his hips in this case made it almost impossible for him to land that shot.

Here comes and goes the recipient and never threatens from within. This is MEG coverage all the way. WR goes outside and Copeland easily sticks with him. Note that when you turn, you get a good inside arm slap on the WR's inside shoulder. He then goes to court, maintains contact, controls the WR and maintains his relationship in court over the court and in the recipient (arms prevent the WR from working inward).

Note that the four-way open receiver is a bust made by OLB, take the hook from # 2 and move it to four. This has been the problem MSU has had with Star since the start of the season.

Another example is at the top of the screen.

More specifically ... (top screen)

Flip Hips - Repair

Here's the shot. It twists and bounces easily in and out of the WR, with plenty of praise from outside. But he recovers as you will as his hips turn. Here he can, despite LOS errors, recover and return to the stage almost immediately.

attack block

One of the things that immediately jumps off the screen with Copeland is the urge to be physical. This is evident in both his style of play and his willingness to attack the block.

Here he loses visual discipline that was usually strong. He's too close to the WR in front of him and too late to start the 4-point pass, which causes him to make a play, but when the receiver realizes the ball is flat, he goes forward and low. , bend your knees and pull your outstretched hands while keeping your helmet off the blocker. He has a defensive sideline and does not leave the field unusable.

This time he sees the game but reacts a little late. He seems nervous about starting from the front of the attack (given the situation, which is probably the right choice), so he does not wall the attacking point as quickly as he would like to see. But the most important positive here is how he takes the screen and gives the defender access to the ball.

need fertilizer
Reduction during breaks
Probably the biggest problem I saw at Copeland was the reaction to a second round. I mean, once Copeland moved his hips in the first round, he sometimes lost the receiver a bit, lost contact and contact, and fitted out in the second round.

Here it is at the top of the screen. He turns around but loses contact with the receiver, which prevents him from sending the CB. When it comes to cutting the WR from the inside out, Copeland has a long way to go and he can not easily break and go through the WR. The problem is therefore twofold: he loses contact with the WR and can not slow down, and his straight steps make it difficult for the receiver to collapse when he collapses in the field.

It may seem like a small thing, but here's the happy medium. The biggest problem here is that there is not enough patience. WR wants to connect and Copeland opens immediately. Once he opens the WR he gets the ball, Copeland can not maintain contact with the WR because he opened the receiver's field too much (he opened early and did not stay on his forehead, he was rather passed) and with multiple mistakes to complete, then the game is far behind. So he can not even silver in space and the result is almost a TD.

A couple later plays again without having enough patience with their technique. Loses inner lever force and connects to opening, giving the QB a pitch that goes inside on a turn that is not thrown but open (especially in a red zone situation).

make your way

It was covered in the previous issue, but it was more about being too early or committing in the first round. But his focus is linked to the closure. Copeland looks far away. This means that there are some issues with the conversion when it is running. I admire Copeland's ability to stand on all fours and swing his hips from behind, but he struggles to reorient himself in space.

Here is an example where he first plays the blur cut and does a good job with the eyes. He adapts to the recipient by having the right relationship and being able to use his body. This allows him to get his eyes on the ball again, which he does, and he plays an almost excellent match, breaking the receiver and shrugging his shoulders. But because of his pace, he shifts his center of gravity outward and shoots around a bit so the receiver can play the ball. It's true that he does great things, but he does not complete the work.

The third deep match
Background: MSU has a flash system that plays in 3 deep coverage areas. It was often the case that MSU DBs were not as strong in this coverage, and MSUs have disappeared because they are so good at applying fast forward pressure since they disappear behind. MSU does not practice this technique as often because the reward does not make sense. It should not be. So this is not a revelation for MSU CB.

The difficult part of zone defense, especially for young players, is getting the man to play right on the court. Copeland fails to find the right receiver-to-back relationship to play man and ball. Consequently, it does not stop the receiver from moving forward, he loses the man by leaving too much difference behind. It keeps the field open even if it misses the QB.

I realized early on that the MSU Blitz was very exciting. My feeling is that they felt more comfortable playing 1/3 deep with other guys. This is something I honestly do not see in the future, there is not a part of his game that prevents him from being as good at that technique as he was earlier in the season in that game.

Inconsistency with hands and patience.

I was aware in advance that Copeland had a lot of media coverage, but not a lot of improvisation techniques. That does not mean you should avoid contact. Good coding technique is difficult. If you do not master the technique, you are in the dust. As a young player at Copeland, Dantonio and Kie, he probably chose to play faster without blocking to avoid redundancy. But that does not mean it is a practical approach, it just means using your hands a little lower when dropping the receivers on the floor (this is different from a blocking technique, where you avoid putting them all together to drop). .

What you see here is a jam technique. Copeland is slipping and trying to stop his inner salvation. But he sells it and catches it while trying to keep it in its proper position while moving inside. But when you get caught up on improvisation techniques, you are often burned out because you do not have the power to control the catcher. This is what's happening here. It is incompatible with hands, but comes first with feet and then patience (patience is in my opinion the most difficult aspect of teaching / learning jam techniques), which leads to hands not being used. . It's the meme chooses to be touched in the lower middle, not necessarily with the bad position of the main, or the lack of force to play, starting with the high foot in bass, and the problem is still at the level Foot.

This enables a clean structure of the WMU WR. However, as long as he gets the split and is briefly open, you will see Copeland's ability to twist his hips and play good coverage when he decides to throw the QB to hit back hard. I showed a clip earlier where he did everything right except for the finished part. Here he makes a mistake early in the game but immediately goes all out and QB decides not to shoot.

Once again, our patience runs out. He moves quickly outwards and is able to break loose from the inside, which is dangerous in this position. Now he's a good enough athlete that he does not allow much separation from the ball, but that is the difference between a no-YAC catch and a no-potential catch.

cloud support

Copeland mostly played for Field CB. This is the normal development path for CB MSUs, as they typically start in the field as they have fewer compliance responsibilities (they can mostly focus on their coverage and not worry about the rest). Here is the limit. Oregon is out of balance and Copeland is in charge of cloud support with the current season. CBs do not spend much time managing tabs, but MSU's best have done very well in the past. But RS FR was not very polite with that technique, and it could not really play a game the way we wanted (it did not keep the rocket right, it did not break it).

Closure

areas of power

• Four-stroke eye discipline
• Ability to swing hips from flat feet and back.
• resilience
• Be physically on the verge of attack

areas for improvement

• break (final phase)
• The third deep zone plays in a flash
• Consistency with the hands and patience in the jam technique
• cloud support

Like I said, the first impression surprised me more than what I saw in the movie. Copeland seems to be a very easy player. He moves his hips very well without accelerating / exploding on the first lap. Given the MSU scheme, it allows him to play constantly with strict coverage. As a young player he still has some technical problems. His biggest concern today is his footwork and patience once he gets the WR clear. MSU played a lot of pressure and MOD with Copeland, but he did not play as often as in the past. When appealing to Copeland to intervene, Copeland sometimes lost receiving position (despite showing great rebounding ability). Also, he sometimes has a lack of patience. I said in the article it's one of the hardest things to learn and do consistently, but it often comes too early and goes too far on the track, puts you out of position and lets you win. rest in the lower field. Although he did not actually experience many double movements, this can be worrying according to what we see in the film.

But from a technical point of view and from a patient point of view, it can be solved with more experience and work. This is not an athletics problem or anything. He twists his hips well, recovers well, has a good frame. More difficult to solve is the ability to enter space in one step. Closing your step and lowering your hips to respond to disruptions on the track can be a number of physical problems, and it has at least something to do with the way you run, which makes it harder to solve . So while many of your concerns about the game can be addressed, there are some questions about what level you can reach: is it ultimately All American, All B1G, or something else? Her natural ability, structure and visual discipline suggest that she will eventually break the CB line and have the ability to become an all-conference performer. If you can solve some of your own concerns or improve your technique enough to correct some of your mistakes, it might be even better. The return to spring training has been great for MSU and they can expect Copeland to return in the autumn. The technique requires practice, which takes time, and it requires repetition, and Copeland needs more repetitions. Got them in the spring. He appears to be a player who will surprise some teams in the fall despite a year left.