Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Pair of B1G DBs land impressive PFF grades for Week 7 performance

Scott Green

By Scott Green

Published:

Pro Football Focus has some high praise for Maryland’s defense back Deonte Banks and Illinois cornerback Jartavius Martin.

PFF’s weekly performance grades are based on a film study and assignment execution which are graded on a 1 to 100 scale. Banks, against Indiana, earned an 83.4 and Martin earned an 80.4 for his performance against Minnesota.

Per PFF’s official Twitter account:

For context, an average defensive back will be graded in the 50 to 60 range and any grade of 70 or more is considered above average or good. Indiana ranks 39th in Passing Offense, a measure of total yardage and volume, and uses a lot of tight formation to add confusion on where receivers intend to go. As they swapped to more open sets, Banks adapted and continued to play well by isolating his area.

Minnesota ranks 25th in Passing Offense and uses a lot of spread looks to help isolate one on one matchups. That stresses players like Martin to make plays in the open field and challenge contested catches play after play.

Additionally, Martin has several effort plays by chasing down the Golden Gopher’s running back. Overall, Martin executed not only in his assignment but also two or three effort plays.

Both defensive backs played against some unique looks and mitigated a lot of what their opponent’s wanted to do. Martin’s interception and effort earned him his top 5 spot for week 7. Banks had several key solo tackles and an interception which put him in PFF’s top 3.

Scott Green

Scott Green has been covering and following college football since 2017. After primarily covering the Georgia Bulldogs, Scott began to branch out and build relationships with other national media members. He played football and graduated from the LaGrange College in 2014. He currently is enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard after deploying with them in 2019 to Afghanistan.