My Take on Wake - Picking on Kenny

Picking on Kenny

The word is out. Bud Noel is a tough nut to complete a pass against, one of the toughest I’ve seen in the ACC this season.

The upshot is that the Deacons’ other starting corner, Kenny Okoro, had better buckle his chinstrap because he’s going to be a busy man the rest of this season. If Duke has as much success throwing on Okoro as Virginia Tech did last week, then the Deacons might have to score as many points (54) as they did a year ago to pull out their 12th straight victory over the Blue Devils.

“One thing that got Kenny a little bit Saturday was I think he was trying to pick it—he was trying to make interceptions,’’ coach Jim Grobe observed. “He’s got to start with `Don’t let the guy catch it’ and then we’ll worry about whether we can get it or not.

“But I think Kenny was trying to play the ball too much instead of the receiver and he let the receiver get too much separation and then, if the ball’s not underthrown, you’re in trouble because they’re going to catch it.

“I think those two (Noel and Okoro) are guys that want to make plays. They want to get out there and make plays. Sometimes you try too hard and get hurt.’’

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 10/20/2011 (11:38 am)

Comments

Glad to see Kenny get a pick to the end the game. We will still need him (and pretty much everyone else, for that matter) to play better down the stretch, but I think that this game was an improvement from the VT game.

DC on 10/22/2011 (4:04 pm)

I am afraid that the days of “look like you’ve done it before” are long gone. I really don’t mind being enthusiastic and celebrating in terms of a play being positive for the team.

What I take issue with is bringing all the attention to yourself especially when it involves making a play that should be routine. In Kenny’s case he seems to be bringing enough attention his way and that’s not a good thing. To borrow a political line from the past….Kenny Okoro is no Alphonso Smith!

Deacon23 on 10/21/2011 (9:21 am)

Glenn, I don’t mind a little swagger (I loved when Alphonso Smith, and now Bud Noel, brought that to our team).

But I agree with you. You have to back it up. Arm pumping and finger wagging doesn’t look too good when the only reason you didn’t get beat for a touchdown is because the QB overthrew the wide receiver that just smoked you (again) doesn’t look good.

DC on 10/20/2011 (3:59 pm)

I’m with Glenn on this one - too much showboating this year by the secondary. Why doesn’t Coach Grobe put a stop to it?

Matt on 10/20/2011 (3:16 pm)

Maybe I’m “old school” - but the second
I saw #6 hopping up and down and woofing, arm pumping, and finger wagging after all of
5 minutes of game time, I thought “uh-oh”...
do we really need to wake up these sleeping dogs - and right in front of the VTech bench at that. Hey guys, they laid 59 on us last year. Play to the gun and then jump around all you want. Act like you’ve been there. I’ve seen more of that in the last years than I saw in all of Jim’re previous seasons combined. Just stop it.

Glenn Williams on 10/20/2011 (2:27 pm)

Thanks, Dan. Anyone can have a bad game (and Okoro sure made his count last week!), so I don’t want to hit on Kenny’s stinker against Virginia Tech too much. We’ve seen him play well before, and I fully expect him to bounce back in a couple of days against Duke. Go Deacs!

DC on 10/20/2011 (1:21 pm)

Noel has been really impressive. The national media seems to agree as SI has him as a 2nd team all American in their mid-season awards. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/10/20/midseason-all-americas/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a3

deac of the north on 10/20/2011 (11:57 am)