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Cal-Texas: Marvin Jones Can Levitate, Yo

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Sophomore wide receiver Keenan Allen may receive most of the attention for his headline-grabbing play this season and the fact that the starting quarterback is his brother, but senior Marvin Jones is just as big and athletic as Allen at 6-3, 200 pounds.

Plus, as you might notice from the picture above, Jones has some sick ability to elevate. Talk about high-pointing the football. It's also worth mentioning here that Jones also had the body control to make sure his foot came down in-bounds here despite being pushed by the defensive back.

Though Jones has dealt with injuries throughout his career, he led Cal in receiving in both 2009 and 2010, with similar production in 2011 even with Allen stepping into the leading role in the receiving corps. During the regular season, Jones had 54 catches for 758 yards and three touchdowns from his split end position.

Star-divide

Given his leaping ability, Jones will be a tough match-up for sophomore cornerback Carrington Byndom, who will likely draw the assignment. In an effort to get the proper numbers against the Golden Bear rushing attack to keep Maynard from picking up yardage in chunks on the zone read or speed option may keep the Longhorns from giving Byndom safety help over the top.

And if he does end up on an island, Maynard showed the willingness and ability against Stanford to find the one-on-one matchups and throw accurate touch passes to take advantage. In fact, Maynard is probably at his best when throwing passes that require touch rather than the out routes that require more arm strength.

If Maynard can put the ball where only Jones can catch it, as he did on the pass shown above, there will be virtually nothing that Byndom can do to stop it. But when Maynard doesn't, the Longhorns will need Byndom to make some plays against a guy who will probably be playing in the NFL next season at this time.

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Yeesh..

Dude has some serious ups..

Me: "Hunny, how much is our Wedding budget?"
Fiance`"No, You can't have Craig Way call our wedding.."
Me: "Damnit.."

by mccoy12 on Dec 19, 2011 1:03 PM CST reply actions  

I think Maynard will be running for his life too much to have much success doing this
put the ball where only Jones can catch it.

"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.

by HookTech on Dec 19, 2011 2:04 PM CST reply actions  

Okafor should seriously have a great game. Multiple sacks. Him and Jeffcoat both. If I were a QB, I would not want to see those guys.

Me: "Hunny, how much is our Wedding budget?"
Fiance`"No, You can't have Craig Way call our wedding.."
Me: "Damnit.."

by mccoy12 on Dec 19, 2011 2:11 PM CST up reply actions  

Given Maynard's running ability, I think sacks will probably come from Whaley doing his shot out of a cannon trick from the interior.

If Maynard has any time to notice a pash rush Okafor and Jeffcoat will probably have to be resigned to tackling him in contain duty.

"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.

by HookTech on Dec 19, 2011 2:20 PM CST up reply actions  

Thing is

that Maynard is dangerous when scrambling to his left (he’s left-handed), so the Longhorns will have to contain him because he can cause problems when he gets outside the pocket.

Against Arizona State, Maynard was flushed, ran left, forced a defender to come up to keep him from picking up yardage scrambling, so he threw a nice touch pass over the defender to his wide-open running back who took the ball more than 60 yards to the end zone.

I think Texas fans are generally underrating Maynard based on his poor performances early in the season without taking into account the fact that he minimized his mistakes late and was putting Cal in a position to win games against some solid teams.

Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Dec 19, 2011 2:25 PM CST up reply actions  

Agreed about underrating him

He’s not a bad player. Was very good against ASU, from what I saw.

Follow me on Twitter @GoHornsGo90

by GoHornsGo90 on Dec 19, 2011 2:28 PM CST up reply actions  

I think there was an adjustment period

for both Maynard and Tedford. It appears that both are beyond that now. There are still some flashes of bad Maynard at times, but they seem to be much more rare now.

Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Dec 19, 2011 2:31 PM CST up reply actions  

You're ruining my irrational optimism.

Just kidding. I just hope that Carrington is the beneficiary of some good pass rush, and that Okafor and Jeffcoat can do a good job containing Maynard.

"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.

by HookTech on Dec 19, 2011 2:34 PM CST up reply actions  

Whoever is rushing Maynard

from the left needs to go a good job of contain to keep him from escaping in that direction. Cal also likes to run some play-action bootlegs to keep him out of the pocket and give him some run-pass options.

Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Dec 19, 2011 2:50 PM CST up reply actions  

Good point

One symptom of ‘Bad Maynard’ is that, when the edges of the pocket collapsed, he would try to back up and/or run around the tackles instead of stepping up in the pocket. And by making the decision to run, he would usually preclude any chance of finding an open receiver. On the other hand, if he gets out into open field or throws while moving to his left, he can be very, very dangerous. So whoever is rushing from the left could have a huge impact on this game.

p.s. great post!

FUTBALL IZ SRS BUSINESS GUYZ // ONLY HAVE FUN WHEN ROZ BWL
--Thoroughbred

by sec119 on Dec 19, 2011 10:42 PM CST up reply actions  

Blackmon

is a top 10 pick. There are not many comparisons

by codaxx on Dec 19, 2011 3:50 PM CST up reply actions  

Speed is similar

I would say from what I have seen of Jones that he is not as physical, but he’s a big taller and may have better leaping ability. Still, he’s not on the same level as Blackmon overall.

Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Dec 19, 2011 4:03 PM CST up reply actions  

Good analysis guys

Seriously, if we beat you, in large part it will be because we have two awesome receivers, who have routinely baled out our QB. You mentioned Blackmon, and true, Jones is not quite at that level, but he’s really close (he’ll play on Sunday) and there are two of them, and Keenan Allen is even better.

Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?

by Cugel on Dec 20, 2011 11:36 PM CST reply actions  

While I appreciate (and agree with mos of) the post

..for anyone who has watched Stanford’s secondary this year I wouldn’t necessarily say owing them is a major accomplishment…

by KevinJ on Dec 21, 2011 1:07 AM CST reply actions  

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