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Ra'shede Hageman: Focused, Ferocious


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http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2015/6/3/8718183/rashede-hageman-focused-ferocious

Ra'Shede Hageman was a pick that I liked from the very beginning. He had some red flags, including a potential maturity issue, but his athleticism was undeniable. Luckily for the Falcons, he has had the perfect position coach to rein in those issues.

Hageman spoke to the media after practice yesterday and sounded like a guy who is headed in the right direction. His changed physique has drawn praise from fans, and he noted that he has indeed lost some weight. But it's not just about his weight, it's about family and his overall health. "...obviously I'm trying to excel at a higher level and it's not gonna work being at 320, 325," Hageman said. "Just for myself, you know, I have a son, and long term I want to be healthy."

He played at 325?! Wow! Family isn't the only thing that has suggested he has matured over the past year. When asked what he changed to get in shape, he mentioned his son but also a mentality that "this is a job". It is a job, but it's nice to see him grasp that for both his family and his professional career.

Hageman also appreciated that Coach Cox has stuck around, but added that he feels he is coachable. "At the end of the day, I feel like I'm able for any coach to coach me, especially at this technique they've got me in. I've been playing it since college," he noted. "Last year it was a little different, because I had never played a mirror step. I was playing a 3-4 and I had never played that before, but we're back to a 4-3 and I love it."

Perhaps a subtle dig at his previous defensive coordinator in Mike Nolan there. In addition, he was asked what he felt was going to be different this year in the 4-3. His response shouldn't surprise you, given a few things he did last year. "Instead of playing on the line like we did last year, we definitely get off the ball," Hageman said. "That's one thing I'm good at, just shooting straight and disrupting the backfield."

That statement should both come across as an indictment against the way Nolan did things last year versus what he does on field goal block. What is a lineman supposed to do on field goal block? Go forward and disrupt. What did Hageman do surprisingly well last year? Field goal block. Now Quinn is having him act the same way on the defensive line? Ohhhhhh man.

Your thoughts on Hageman's improvement over the winter and projections for how well he'll do this year?

Edited by MayorWest13
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had him doing a mirror step? somebody please explain?

Probably not technically correct with this, but as I understnd it, a mirror step is literally what it is. You mirror the offensive lineman. You step where he steps. So it doesn't allow you to shoot the gap and get up field.

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Probably not technically correct with this, but as I understnd it, a mirror step is literally what it is. You mirror the offensive lineman. You step where he steps. So it doesn't allow you to shoot the gap and get up field.

So basically the player is getting blocked on purpose?

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Sadly many fans thought he was a slacker.. Mostly because of HardKnocks

They definitely made a story out of nothing there. Probably had to because outside of Roddy White, there aren't too many characters on this team.
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A lot of ppl are discounting playing in a system not suited for a player. I saw many fans just putting it all on talent level. Well talent level has a lot to do with knowledge of what you're doing too besides just raw talent. Part of talent is repetition. Something you've done over and over and over and over until it becomes second nature. When I was getting recruitment letters in high school, part of my decision in picking a school was running the I formation. Why? Because it's what I ran my whole football life. Was I asked to play other positions? Yes. I was a good wr and cb but RB was my best. You take a positional group and switch up on them and ask them to play heavier to help stop the run you're gonna look slow and out of place. I do like that none of them are throwing Smitty and Nolan under the bus. That's great character.

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Sadly many fans thought he was a slacker.. Mostly because of HardKnocks

First, I am very happy that he is at least appearing to knuckle down, take things seriously, and is preparing to unleash his full potential.

But the "slacker" label was not a creation of HBO. I didn't have HBO, so it certainly didn't impact me. That was a rep he earned with inconsistent effort and inconsistent results while at Minnesota.

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mirror stepping means you watch which foot leads on the man in front of you to match their steps and square up and contain the O Lines push. It's basically to contain the run while the LB's and other players are meant to shoot the gaps, except our guys get whipped out lol. No talent to get sacks and no scheme trying to make up for it...just terrible...cant wait for Hag and Beas to become stars

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So basically the player is getting blocked on purpose?

If you watch the games...

Just saying. It's on tape. You wonder why our pass rush looks like a mush rush against even pocket passers? They were playing to hold up blockers, not attack. Just look at the Saints game and the player comments after it.

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mirror stepping means you watch which foot leads on the man in front of you to match their steps and square up and contain the O Lines push. It's basically to contain the run while the LB's and other players are meant to shoot the gaps, except our guys get whipped out lol. No talent to get sacks and no scheme trying to make up for it...just terrible...cant wait for Hag and Beas to become stars

Why on earth would Nolan run a defensive scheme like that with the linebacking corps we had last year?

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mirror stepping means you watch which foot leads on the man in front of you to match their steps and square up and contain the O Lines push. It's basically to contain the run while the LB's and other players are meant to shoot the gaps, except our guys get whipped out lol. No talent to get sacks and no scheme trying to make up for it...just terrible...cant wait for Hag and Beas to become stars

Let me ask you as question:

If you're running a scheme to mirror step, which we can now confirm, and your DL consists of Kroy/TJax/Soliai/Babs, do you really expect any pass rush?

Like you said, no talent to get sacks but not because we had talentless guys. Scheme was whipping our defense's arse before the offense even snapped the ball. I died laughing watching that combo rush by week 10.

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