Smart was asked yesterday about DK, and the reporter said he'd heard some impressive analytics about his play so far.
Smart's took the opportunity to give his thoughts on PFF and analytics in general.
“I don’t know what analytics you’re going by… I think those things are a joke really, personally. When we go talk to NFL scouts, they laugh at PFF, or whatever the source may be. What they do, they use them to pull up and evaluate guys. A lot of times, PFF is a guy that works at another job during the day and that’s just his secondary job to chart whether or not (Derion) or Nakobe Dean or Travon Walker or Warren McClendon or Jamaree Salyer do their job. Their evaluation is probably not as supported as ours. With all that said, I’m very pleased with what (Derion) is doing, but I’m not going to base it off what a statistician says. I think statistics are for making decisions on whether you go for it or you don’t or whether you do this or do this, but not evaluation of the players.
"I’m going to reserve that for the people in our building that have laid eyes on people for a long time and (Derion) is doing a really nice job, doing a phenomenal job of practice, taking notes, and understanding importance. You have to understand, (Derion) came in with a foundation similar to what a senior would be for us. He played really good defense, played in a scheme diverse defense, under Coach (Brent) Venables. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with how he handles practice, walkthrough, he is a consummate, dedicated senior to getting the little things right. When you correct him, he handles it really well. Everything those guys said about him over at Clemson, that he’s very coachable, that he wants to do it right, all those things have been true, so I’m very pleased with that. Can he get better on the field? Absolutely. And he’s been protected by a really good rush as well. He’s had some chances to make plays and he’s made some and then some others he wishes he had back but goes against some really good wideouts every day in practice so I’m pleased with what he’s doing but not by way of anything out there that’s evaluating people outside of our coaches."
Smart's took the opportunity to give his thoughts on PFF and analytics in general.
“I don’t know what analytics you’re going by… I think those things are a joke really, personally. When we go talk to NFL scouts, they laugh at PFF, or whatever the source may be. What they do, they use them to pull up and evaluate guys. A lot of times, PFF is a guy that works at another job during the day and that’s just his secondary job to chart whether or not (Derion) or Nakobe Dean or Travon Walker or Warren McClendon or Jamaree Salyer do their job. Their evaluation is probably not as supported as ours. With all that said, I’m very pleased with what (Derion) is doing, but I’m not going to base it off what a statistician says. I think statistics are for making decisions on whether you go for it or you don’t or whether you do this or do this, but not evaluation of the players.
"I’m going to reserve that for the people in our building that have laid eyes on people for a long time and (Derion) is doing a really nice job, doing a phenomenal job of practice, taking notes, and understanding importance. You have to understand, (Derion) came in with a foundation similar to what a senior would be for us. He played really good defense, played in a scheme diverse defense, under Coach (Brent) Venables. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with how he handles practice, walkthrough, he is a consummate, dedicated senior to getting the little things right. When you correct him, he handles it really well. Everything those guys said about him over at Clemson, that he’s very coachable, that he wants to do it right, all those things have been true, so I’m very pleased with that. Can he get better on the field? Absolutely. And he’s been protected by a really good rush as well. He’s had some chances to make plays and he’s made some and then some others he wishes he had back but goes against some really good wideouts every day in practice so I’m pleased with what he’s doing but not by way of anything out there that’s evaluating people outside of our coaches."
