Kristy*
Omaha
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- Jun 16, 2015
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What a lot fail to mention was Kirkland was out of position and over running plays early but he corrected that as the season went on. Yes Jumper was out of position some but was where he supposed to be most of time he just failed to make some plays and he got some PI's called against him that hurt the team badly.
If we would have started with a easier schedule that progressively got harder I think Kirkland would have started from day 1even though he was a Freshman.
There was one play by Jumper that stood out to me more than those: it was a goal-line play (maybe the Georgia game). He was in the end zone. He fills the gap, RB runs his way. Jumper stays completely flat-footed, doesn't move until the RB crossed the goal-line. He didn't seem to have 'it.' Had Kirkland been in that gap, he may have guessed wrong or overran the juke, but he would have forced the RB make a move, and he would have given us a chance at the stop.
Jumper may be in position, he may know the position well, he may know the proper techniques. But I don't think the instincts part can always be learned. In live game situations.
With all this being said, I would love to see him improve ten-fold. I just won't believe it for myself until seeing it on the field. The coaches were bragging on him last off-season also. And well. . .