http://msn.foxsports.com/florida/st...ing-with-koa-misi-at-middle-linebacker-060214
Misi is a solid football player, who do you trust manning the middle, Koa Misi or Ellerbee?...
He can do it, he's physical, he can take on a block, he has some good athleticism for the position, and he pursues to the ball..I will take that physicality and lack of exp over a man that simply cannot hold down the bloodzone..misi can drop as well, don't get it twisted, he's not nearly as bad against the pass as the perception would tell you, he's not nearly as bad as Ellerbee against the pass..
Bottom line, there's is some trust there because what he has shown in a dolphin uniform,I believe the guy will get it done, and I really like what Philbin said about his leadership, maybe he's been ready to get in some asses all along and this is his chance..
Koa......The Constrictor..
Earn that nickname and we will chant.
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Two mentions of the Cheerleader Gallery... and nothing.
Dissapointed.Da 'Fins, Pandarilla, Tone_E and 4 others like this. -
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I think he will be a more effective blitzer then Ellerbe, not as good in coverage physically but will know his assignment at least, something Ellerbe seemed to hesitate in doing last season, and with Soliai gone he has a better shot at taking on G and C's then Ellerbe and making plays.
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It it seems like Coyle is moving towards more of an attacking, gap penetration style DL and away from the 2 gap hold your ground stuff of the past. If that's the case then Misi makes sense in the middle but IMO switching him out w Ellerbe is more of a give and take than an upgrade.
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As small a chance of it happening, my secret wish is that Tripp lights it up and wins the middle spot, and Misi moves back outside. But, I have confidence Misi will do well.
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I think Koa Misi's not going to provide much more through this transition than better run-stopping ability, which is fine. Brandon Spikes level play would be my expectation from him, but I still think you're going to see plenty of Jelani Jenkins coming in for Misi/Ellerbe on passing downs. I think out of any LB benefiting from this switch, Philip Wheeler will have the biggest uptick in play as it sounds like from OTA reports and pictures that he's playing Koa Misi's position from last year.
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Misi moved around a lot last year but he was almost always on the same side as Soliai or whoever was playing the 1 tech. Is that common, and how do you think Wheeler (or Ellerbe) would do in that role? -
I don't really know entirely how I feel about Misi in the middle yet. I think you can expect him to perform better than most when blockers reach him, but other than that I'm not entirely sure. I don't know if we can assume he's good in pursuit, good at working through traffic, or he's going to have the mental aspect down well enough to be high quality at the position.
If he were kicking over and playing over an uncovered guard in a 3-4 it'd be a bit different, but I'm not sure how much that's going to be true.Vengeful Odin and GMJohnson like this. -
In essence, this team's got a LB who is playing on the strong-side that is more of a coverage guy. That appears to be Dannell Ellerbe this year (was Wheeler last year and Burnett in 2012). About the only thing Ellerbe did well last year was man-to-man coverage, and even then, you're still left with something to be desired there and I feel like Jelani Jenkins will push him for playing time.
With Wheeler, I'm not worried about him. The only time I see it being a detriment is against run-heavy teams (Bills, Jets), where his lack of size on the edge could come into play.
As Disgustipate said, with Misi, I think he's going to stop the run. I feel like he'll be able to get through trash and off blockers better than Dannell Ellerbe was able to last year; but that certainly doesn't guarantee quality play, which is why I think playing like Brandon Spikes is a reasonable, max expectation for him.
In short, I'm betting the house on Miami having to redo the linebacking corps after next year more so than I'm betting on them to flourish just by shifting positions.GMJohnson likes this. -
Idk, I feel pretty good about Misi being ok at the mike..he's got the profile, he's underrated athletically, strong at the POA, the unknown is all mental, I really look forward to seeing this player make this type of transition at the pro level.
Can't say it's as impressive as going from big 12 wide receiver to Qb, but excited nonetheless. -
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I think Misi has better athleticism than Spikes, but I doubt he has the same understanding of the position.
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I think he will be better at stopping the run. He will have his hands full this season. Our run D would always seem to break at the most inopportune time. I actually think he could be sufficient in coverage, but having a stout yet athletic front seven would be great. This is something which I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens. I'm seriously hoping it works out. Jenkins stepping would be an extra plus fo sho.
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Joe Philbin has told Armando Salguero that Koa Misi's job at middle linebacker is pretty much inked.
He said that things could always change but it would have to be Misi failing to get people lined up, failing to make a "left call" or a "right call"...and if they lost confidence in him that way they could just switch back to Ellerbe...but he's confident that's not going to happen and "barring the roof caving in" it looks like Misi will man the mike linebacker position.
One interesting thing he said about the motivation behind the move was that Misi graded out among the highest on the defense, but he only got like 500 snaps. He says that if Misi is playing football the way they like it to be played, then he's thinking why don't we get him on the field more.
That's interesting because it points to Misi not just moving to the middle in base formations, but also being on the field as one of the two linebackers in nickel. I other words, he's no longer a 500 snap guy...he's more like a 1000 snap guy.
Philbin also had praise for Philip Wheeler saying that he looks a lot better in coverage during OTAs so far, that he's controlling his body better and that last year a big part of the problem was him playing out of control.
It certainly sounded like Dannell Ellerbe is the odd man out. And he's the highest paid among them.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...ns-linebacker-experiment-is-over-success.htmlPandarilla, 77FinFan and Disgustipate like this. -
Dannell Ellerbe is the highest paid linebacker of the three. Both his annual salary and his overall cap figure for 2014 are bigger than those of Cameron Wake.
But he appears headed toward being the 500 snap player that Koa Misi was a year ago. -
PhinFan1968 To 2020, and BEYOND! Club Member
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I saw some practice clips...I saw some real quickness fillin the hole, some really good coverage movement..one play where he recognized it, shot like a rocket thru the whole and would of dropped the back as soon as he took the handoff.