Mellen / Dearth Injury Updates | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Mellen / Dearth Injury Updates

Bomberry and Fusco were lead communicators last few years. Not sure if Mellen was this year but important. Close gets bigger and more physical with Murphy. Mellen usually held his cover in check relative to their averages but he also wasnt pitching shutouts. Team defense is what matters most and perhaps off ball play improves. Who knows but should be ok as long as no more injuries while Mellen is out. Hopefully back soon.
 
DoctahLexus said:
This is definitely a situation where you have to say "Thank god we have Kennedy." There isn't really anyone we will face where I think to myself "Mellen could handle that guy but Kennedy couldn't." They both seem equally capable of erasing a teams number one threat. I have no worries about Kennedy going up against Nichtern for Army instead of Mellen. If (hoping this is not the case) he has to go up against Epstein instead of Mellen I still don't feel overly worried. He erased Griffin Brown from the game after he was clearly giving Mellen some trouble.

While defensive communication could be an issue, it honestly seems to be one of Mellens relatively week points. Often he shows a reluctance to leave his man or switch off of a pick. There is a chance that Kennedy will be better there. Communication will be an issue no matter what with a ton of new faces in all D positions. Would still be an issue with a healthy Mellen.

On top of that I have a lot of faith in Helmer to take on team's top middies and Murphy in taking on a teams second best dodging attack (assuming he takes the place of Kennedy's role on close). Both have improved their speed after the year of short stick and shown they can operate well with a long pole.

Hoping the Colgate game was a wake up call for the defense to improve its communication and slides.
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All good points. I am not so much concerned about Mellen being out because we don't have another Alpha Defender (as stated I think Kennedy can be that guy, he'll have to be that guy next year), it's the fact that the defense will be playing without a current starter, and that has got to impact the performance when he comes back. This team really needs to gel and be a cohesive unit. Maybe they'll do that when he's out, but they'll still have to reintegrate him when he is healthy.

Mellen is a very good defender but he's also very unique, in that he usually does very well against the smaller/shiftier attackmen that other teams with bigger stronger defenders can't keep up with. If he is closer to the goal against a typical X attackman, he's excellent. His feet are incredible. But, I don't think he has the best end to end speed - I think Brown was successful against him because he brought him out away from the goal, Brown was a midfielder last year after all. In the one instance where Mellen guarded a middie (two years ago against Navy) it did not go well. Mellen is almost like a secret weapon, because so few teams have defenders like him with his specific talents.

Kennedy on the other hand has a very good balance of speed and aggressiveness. I agree he'll do well against players like Epstein and Nichtern (Mellen did very well against both last year), but part of me wonders how he would do against Sowers or Ament. Good thing neither are on the schedule, but it's worth thinking about.
 
Powellfan said:
All good points. I am not so much concerned about Mellen being out because we don't have another Alpha Defender (as stated I think Kennedy can be that guy, he'll have to be that guy next year), it's the fact that the defense will be playing without a current starter, and that has got to impact the performance when he comes back. This team really needs to gel and be a cohesive unit. Maybe they'll do that when he's out, but they'll still have to reintegrate him when he is healthy.

Mellen is a very good defender but he's also very unique, in that he usually does very well against the smaller/shiftier attackmen that other teams with bigger stronger defenders can't keep up with. If he is closer to the goal against a typical X attackman, he's excellent. His feet are incredible. But, I don't think he has the best end to end speed - I think Brown was successful against him because he brought him out away from the goal, Brown was a midfielder last year after all. In the one instance where Mellen guarded a middie (two years ago against Navy) it did not go well. Mellen is almost like a secret weapon, because so few teams have defenders like him with his specific talents.

Kennedy on the other hand has a very good balance of speed and aggressiveness. I agree he'll do well against players like Epstein and Nichtern (Mellen did very well against both last year), but part of me wonders how he would do against Sowers or Ament. Good thing neither are on the schedule, but it's worth thinking about.
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no one does well against Sowers and Ament. They are superlative players.
 
My concern is that Mellen came in to the Colgate game with an injury, and aggravated it on the play where he went down. That might explain why he was abused during the early part of the game.
 
Last thing I'll say about this, because I'm clearly over thinking it, but a lot of times number one defensemen get ignored in a game - opposing teams do their best to stay away from them. Mellen may have come in against Colgate and let his guard down thinking he wasn't going to get tested much. Hopefully it was an eye opener.
 
SDCuse114 said:
Maybe it’s minor then. Hopefully he recovers fully in time for Hobart.
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Doesn't need to come back too soon or we could lose him even longer. I think our defense can hold up against Hobart & Hopkins. We need Mellen at 100% for ACC play
 
Orangelax said:
Doesn't need to come back too soon or we could lose him even longer. I think our defense can hold up against Hobart & Hopkins. We need Mellen at 100% for ACC play
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Agreed... should be able to beat Hobart without him. We don't need a relapse.
 
If it is a hamstring issue, they are just such a PITA. So hard to assess when they're really fully mended. Rush him back and he could easily have it go chronic and he'll be out for the season.
 
Teams will heavily test him upon return after his colgate performance and layoff. Game movements especially when reacting to others are much more strenuous than running on sidelines. Even at 90% there is a risk of turning a supposedly minor injury into a chronic hindrance. No sudden game day decisions at this early stage, that come after a couple of scaling up practices to gauge he is 100% . Cant project a game return until a return to practice is first learned..
 
ivorytower said:
Teams will heavily test him upon return after his colgate performance and layoff. Game movements especially when reacting to others are much more strenuous than running on sidelines. Even at 90% there is a risk of turning a supposedly minor injury into a chronic hindrance. No sudden game day decisions at this early stage, that come after a couple of scaling up practices to gauge he is 100% . Cant project a game return until a return to practice is first learned..
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Agree. When Mellen comes back, I would like to have him play the opponents number 2 and leave Kennedy on the number 1. It might be blasphemous, but it would take the pressure off Mellen physically and mentally. Also, the Orange needs to stay away from physical mismatches when he returns.
 
Faegan said:
If it is a hamstring issue, they are just such a PITA. So hard to assess when they're really fully mended. Rush him back and he could easily have it go chronic and he'll be out for the season.
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It also doesn’t help that cold weather is conducive to tight hammy’s so hard to predict when he’ll be back

I guess a silver lining to all this is that the other D long poles are getting additional playing time under their belt which could only help in the long run.
 
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